Suddenly deceased young individuals autopsied at the Department of forensic medicine, Brno - analysis.

UNLABELLED: Determination of the cause of death in sudden deaths of young people is a relatively common problem in routine medical practice. In cases of poor or negative morphologic findings at autopsy and poor or negative test results from laboratory, diagnostic quandary can occur. The grant project IGA MZ CR (Internal Grant Agency of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic) targets cases of the sudden deaths of young people under 40 years of age, where, even after an autopsy performed, and other laboratory examinations at the Department of Forensic Medicine are completed, it fails to detect the exact cause of death and death as a possible etiology is supposed malignant cardiac arrhythmias. The project aims to introduce a genetic analysis of these sudden deaths of individuals and determine the frequency of genetic pathologies related to malignant arrhythmias and cardiomyopathies, as well as clinical examination of direct relatives of the deceased by cardiologist, focusing on the identification of families at risk of sudden cardiac death. This examination and identification of causes of death will offer bereaved relatives prevention of sudden death and appropriate therapy. This article summarizes a retrospective analysis of sudden deaths of young people with a focus on monitoring diagnosed and unspecified cause of death and an analysis by age, gender and time of day. In the age range 1-40 years, the authors found less than 15 % of sudden death cases where it was not possible after performing autopsies or laboratory examinations to establish a clear cause of death. In such cases, it is considered category of hereditary channelopathies such as largely the congenital long-QT syndromes as possible etiology of sudden cardiac death. The authors consider useful to offer cardiological investigation to the relatives of the deceaseds, as well as genetic analysis of sudden deaths (molecular autopsy) and their relatives, which in the Czech Republic is not usually performed. KEYWORDS: sudden and unexpected death - malignant cardiac arrhythmias - LQT syndrome - molecular autopsy.

[Forensic interpretation of postmortal ethanol neogenesis in blood samples of cadaverously decomposed bodies]. / Forenzná interpretácia postmortálnej neogenézy etanolu v krvných vzorkách z kadaverózne dekomponovaných tiel.

There is no real possibility for detail knowledge of postmortal changes of blood alcohol concentration in the near future, so that it is necessary to comment alcoholaemia with special aspect on empirical practice. Potential use of alternative (more resistant to putrefaction) body fluid or tissue can help to distinguish ratio of endogenous and exogenous ethanol. It seems that using of vitreous (eventually urine) is the best way to avoid desinterpretation mistakes of alcoholemia in cadavers. In cases where these fluids are missing we are not able to comment alcoholaemia of saprogenic blood.

[The correlation of results of breath analysers and laboratory blood examinations of blood-ethanol concentration (Czech and Slovak study)]. / Mezirepubliková Cesko-Slovenská studie korelace výsledku dechových analyzátoru a výsledku laboratorní analýzy pri zjistování hladiny alkoholu v krvi.

The target of this study was to compare the results of breath analysers and "lege artis" laboratory blood examinations when determining alcohol levels. This was then used to determine whether any differences exist between the two methods, and how large these differences are. 610 cases from 11 workplaces in the Czech Republic and Slovakia were analysed. The type of breath analyser was not taken into consideration. All cases had to be in the elimination phase. Difference of time between breath test and blood test were rectified through the use of reverse recomputation. It was detected that only 20.8% of the results of respiratory analyser tests correspond to the detected real alcohol level in blood. The maximum difference when a respiratory analyser measured more than a blood test was 1.34 g x kg(-1). and the maximum difference when the analyse measured less was 1.86 g x kg(-1).

[Death of pedestrians after trafic accidents with motor cars]. / Umrtí chodcu PO doprabiních nehodách SE stretem S osobními automobily.

It was analyzed 431 cases of pedestrians hit by cars who died during years 1996-2005 and their body was examined in the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Brno. In the study there were observed factors of traffic accident, time of the accidents, day in the week, production mark of the car, time of surviving of pedestrians, type of the hit, severity of the injury and cause of the death. The results of laboratory examination of ethylalcohol and drugs were studied. The statistical results were discussed and compared with the literature. The most frequent age category were persons 71-80 years old. The most frequent day of traffic accident were Wednesday and Friday and in the evening. The most frequent period of year were months since November till January. The less accidents happened during the summer. The most accidents were localized on municipal roads, the less on highways. There was observed the significant accumulation of accidents on crosswalks after changing of traffic rules from the year 2001. No drugs were found by the victims but the occurrence of ethylalcohol was very high. In the laboratory examinations was ethylalcohol positively tested in 70 percents by men and 25 percents by women. The most frequent category was heavy drunkenness. The most frequent type of a hit was the one from lateral direction, the second was behind hits and the third from the head-on direction. The other types of the hit including crossing were found in eight percents. The numbers of injuries of the parts of the body by various types of the hit were examinated by statistical methods.

[The legal aspects of manipulation of dead body in the department of legal medicine and pathology]. / Právní aspekty zacházení s telem zemrelého na soudne-lékarských a patologicko-anatomických pracovistích.

Recent updates (novelizations) of Czech medical laws are very strict with regards to manipulation with corpses. The authors refer to several instances where healthcare personnel come to contact with corpses and state the relevant regulations (laws) including applicable penalties in case they are not adhered to.

[Fatal wounding of the journalist and writer, Rudolf Tesnohlídek in 1928 in the light of new findings]. / Smrtelné zranení novináre a spisovatele Rudolfa Tesnohlídka v roce 1928 ve svetle nových poznatku.

Presented paper describes the tragic end of the writer Rudolf Tesnohlídek, the author of the well-known and congenial masterpiece Liska Bystrouska. In archives of the Brno municipal clinics new documents have been found which may bring a new light on the circumstances of his tragic death.