An end to a rumour.

Mardin, is a city in the southeastern part of Turkey where people from different cultures and religions have been living together peacefully for centuries. The province hosted many valuable historical constructions representing different civilizations. Kasimiye Medresse, one of the most important educational centers of its times, has a sacred value for people in Mardin. The reason is that the stain on the wall of Kasimiye Medresse is considered to be Sultan Kasim's blood. Our study aims to analyze if the stain in question is blood. Serological tests are performed by using "Kastle-Meyer" and "Luminol" reactives on the scrapped samples taken from stained and unstained parts of the wall. At the end of the analysis, the stain is turned out to be a dye made of herbal roots ending the rumour of centuries.

Road traffic accidents and disability: a cross-section study from Turkey.

PURPOSE: To investigate socio-demographic features, lesions which caused disabilities and the rate of disabilities caused by particular lesions and thus to reveal how disabilities are evaluated and general characteristics of disabilities due to road traffic accidents in Turkey. METHOD: In this study we retrospectively reviewed 563 victims of road traffic accidents evaluated by the Department of Forensic Medicine, Ankara University, between 1 July 1993 and 31 December 2002 to determine whether they had disabilities and to estimate the rate of disabilities. We collected data about age, gender, trials outcomes, affected body parts, surgical interventions, lesions taken into account in estimation of disabilities, the rate of disabilities. RESULTS: 64.7% of the cases were male and 35.3% were female. The mean age of the cases was 33.11 (SD:16.70) years. The most frequently affected body part was lower extremities and 73.6% of lesions taken into account in estimation of the rate of disability were located in the pelvis and lower extremities. CONCLUSIONS: In order to prevent these injuries, the mechanisms of the injuries should be determined and to this aim findings obtained at the scene, hospital records and findings obtained at the physical examination of the victims should be linked. Larger studies are needed to determine preventive measures for elimination of the causes of accidents, prevent permanent disabilities, plan education programs and make recommendations about the preventive measures.

Investigation of alcohol use disorders in a group of driving-while-intoxicated offenders.

This preliminary study was carried out to investigate alcohol use disorders and personality profiles in a group of driving-while-intoxicated offenders. Thirty nine volunteer offenders were assessed by CAGE, while 21 of them were assessed by SCID-I Alcohol and Drug Use Disorders module and 14 drivers completed MMPI test. According to CAGE scores, 11 was found to have an indication of alcohol problem and 7 had clinically significant alcohol use disorder. Within 21 drivers, 4 had a DSM-IV diagnosis of alcohol abuse. Independent of their diagnosis, MMPI profiles revealed the psychopathic personality characteristics which might explain drinking while driving as a risky behaviour in this group. These results suggest that, besides legal applications, referring offenders to associated centers, in order to be evaluated and informed about alcohol use disorders, would be an important step in the prevention of recurrent alcohol impaired driving as well as alcohol related incidents.

[Legal liability and medico-legal problems of surgeons in Turkey]. / Türkiye'de genel cerrahin yasal sorumluluklari ve medikolegal sorunlari.

Medicine, as a profession, is quite a hard commitment, with the main aim of giving care to patients. Physicians assume professional accountability not only to their patients and relatives but also to legal authorities. In case of insufficiency in exercising this multi-dimensional accountability, they may confront legal and ethical issues. A high index of awareness of responsibility and accountability may help them avoid getting involved in unwilling situations. This article revisits physicians' and, in particular, surgeons' legal liability to medical legislation and jurisprudence in Turkey, with emphasis on medico-legal consequences.