Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 46 in total

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  1. Lee WC, Khoo BE, Bin Abdullah AF, Abdul Aziz ZB
    J Forensic Sci, 2013 May;58(3):658-63.
    PMID: 23488634 DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.12103
    Bloodstain photography is important in forensic applications, especially for bloodstain pattern analysis. This study compares the enhancement effect of bloodstain photography using three different types of light source: fluorescent white light, near-ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diode (LED) light, and 410 nm LED light. Randomized complete block designs were implemented to identify the lighting that would statistically produce the best enhancement results for bloodstains on different types of surfaces. Bloodstain samples were prepared on white cotton, brown carpet, tar road, and wood. These samples were photographed in darkroom conditions using a Canon EOS 50D digital SLR camera, with Canon EFS 60 mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens. Two-way analysis of variance and Fisher's least significant difference test were used to analyze the contrast of the images. The statistical analysis showed that 410 nm light is the best among the tested lights for enhancing bloodstains on the tested surfaces, where the contrast of bloodstain to background was the highest.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine/methods*
  2. Low WZ, Khoo BE, Abdullah AF
    J Forensic Sci, 2016 07;61(4):1093-9.
    PMID: 27364293 DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.13063
    Nondestructive techniques for gathering evidence are important in the field of forensics. Due to the geometry of the substrates, nondestructive visualization of fingermarks on curved surfaces remains challenging. A novel contactless technique was developed for visualizing and recording fingermark patterns on nonporous curved surfaces of circular cross section. The technique utilizes a plane mirror to transmit rays from a light source to illuminate the area of interest for fingermark visualization. The fingermark acquisition system consists of a digital single-lens reflex (SLR) camera, a plane mirror, and a white light source. Mathematical equations are used to calculate the mirror size. Experiments were performed on various curved surfaces to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of the technique. Spectral Image Validation and Verification (SIVV) was used to analyze the captured images. The results of this study indicate that the technique described here is able to reveal fingermark patterns on curved surfaces of circular cross section.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine
  3. Azwandi A, Abu Hassan A
    Trop Biomed, 2009 Apr;26(1):1-10.
    PMID: 19696721 MyJurnal
    This study was carried out in an oil palm plantation in Bandar Baharu, Kedah using monkey carcasses and focuses in documenting the decomposition and dipteran colonization sequences in 50 days. This is the first study of Diptera associated with the exploitation of carcasses conducted in the north of peninsular Malaysia during the dry and wet seasons thereat. During the process of decomposition in both seasons, five phases of decay were recognized namely fresh, bloated, active decay, advance decay and dry remain. In this decomposition study, biomass loss of carcass occurred rapidly during the fresh to active decay stage due to the colonization and feeding activity of the Diptera larvae. The duration of the fresh and bloated stages of decay were the same in wet and dry seasons but later stages of decay were markedly shorter during the wet season. Twenty one species of adult Diptera were identified colonizing carcasses in the study period. Among the flies from the family Calliphoridae, Chrysomya megacephala Fabricius and Chrysomya nigripes Aubertin were recognized as the earliest arrivals on the first day of exposure. Adult Ch. nigripes was abundant for approximately two weeks after placement of the carcasses. By comparing the percentages of adults collected during the study period, the calliphorids abundance in percentages in wet season was 50.83%, but in dry season, the abundance was only about 35.2%. In contrast, the percentage of Sphaeroceridae in wet season was only 3.33%, but in the dry season, the abundance was 20.8%. Dipteran in family Phoridae, Piophilidae, Sepsidae, Drosophilidae and Dolichopodidae colonized the carcasses for a long period of time and were categorized as long term colonizers.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine/methods
  4. Mujtaba G, Shuib L, Raj RG, Rajandram R, Shaikh K, Al-Garadi MA
    J Biomed Inform, 2018 06;82:88-105.
    PMID: 29738820 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbi.2018.04.013
    Text categorization has been used extensively in recent years to classify plain-text clinical reports. This study employs text categorization techniques for the classification of open narrative forensic autopsy reports. One of the key steps in text classification is document representation. In document representation, a clinical report is transformed into a format that is suitable for classification. The traditional document representation technique for text categorization is the bag-of-words (BoW) technique. In this study, the traditional BoW technique is ineffective in classifying forensic autopsy reports because it merely extracts frequent but discriminative features from clinical reports. Moreover, this technique fails to capture word inversion, as well as word-level synonymy and polysemy, when classifying autopsy reports. Hence, the BoW technique suffers from low accuracy and low robustness unless it is improved with contextual and application-specific information. To overcome the aforementioned limitations of the BoW technique, this research aims to develop an effective conceptual graph-based document representation (CGDR) technique to classify 1500 forensic autopsy reports from four (4) manners of death (MoD) and sixteen (16) causes of death (CoD). Term-based and Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) based conceptual features were extracted and represented through graphs. These features were then used to train a two-level text classifier. The first level classifier was responsible for predicting MoD. In addition, the second level classifier was responsible for predicting CoD using the proposed conceptual graph-based document representation technique. To demonstrate the significance of the proposed technique, its results were compared with those of six (6) state-of-the-art document representation techniques. Lastly, this study compared the effects of one-level classification and two-level classification on the experimental results. The experimental results indicated that the CGDR technique achieved 12% to 15% improvement in accuracy compared with fully automated document representation baseline techniques. Moreover, two-level classification obtained better results compared with one-level classification. The promising results of the proposed conceptual graph-based document representation technique suggest that pathologists can adopt the proposed system as their basis for second opinion, thereby supporting them in effectively determining CoD.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine/methods*
  5. Heo CC, Mohamad AM, Ahmad Firdaus MS, Jeffery J, Baharudin O
    Trop Biomed, 2007 Dec;24(2):23-7.
    PMID: 18209704 MyJurnal
    This preliminary study was carried out in a palm oil plantation in Tanjung Sepat, Selangor in 17 May 2007 by using pig (Sus scrofa) as a carcass model in forensic entomological research. A 3 month old pig (8.5 kg) that died of pneumonio was placed in the field to observe the decomposition stages and the fauna succession of forensically important flies. Observation was made for two weeks; two visits per day and all climatological data were recorded. The first visitor to the pig carcass was a muscid fly, seen within a minute, and followed by ants and spiders. Within half an hour, calliphorid flies came over. On the second day (fresh), few calliphorid and sarcophagid flies were found on the carcass. Two different species of moths were trapped in the hanging net. The first larva mass occurred on the third day (bloated) around the mouthpart, with some L1 and L2 found in the eyes. Reduvid bugs and Staphylinidae beetles were recovered on the fourth day (active decay), and new maggot masses occurred in the eyes and anus. L3 larvae could be found beneath the pig carcass on the fourth day. On the fifth day (active decay), new maggot masses were found on neck, thorax, and hind legs. Advance decay occurred on the sixth day with abundant maggots covering all over the body. The main adult fly population was Chrysomya megacephala (day 2 to day 6), but the larvae population was mainly those of Chrysomya rufifacies (day 4 to day 14). The dry stage began on the eighth day. Hermetia illucens adult was caught on day-13, and a larvae mass of Chrysomya rufifacies was seen burrowing under the soil. This forensic entomological research using pig carcass model was the first record in this country.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine/methods*
  6. Heo CC, Mohamad AM, John J, Baharudin O
    Trop Biomed, 2008 Apr;25(1):93-5.
    PMID: 18600210 MyJurnal
    During a forensic entomological study conducted in a palm oil plantation in Tg.Sepat, Selangor in September 2007, a spider (Arachnida), Oxyopes sp. (Oxyopidae) was found to predate on a calliphorid fly (Chrysomya rufifacies). The female spider laid a silk thread, or "drag line", behind it as it moved. This spider bites its prey by using a pairs of chelicerae, and injecting venom into the fly. The fly was moving its wing trying to escape, however, it succumbed to the deadly bite.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine/methods
  7. Heo CC, Mohamad AM, John J, Baharudin O
    Trop Biomed, 2008 Apr;25(1):23-9.
    PMID: 18600201
    This entomological study was conducted in a man-made freshwater pond in a palm oil plantation in Tanjung Sepat, Selangor from 23 July 2007 by using pig (Sus scrofa) as a carcass model. A 1.5 month old piglet (5 kg), which died of asphyxia after being accidentally crushed by its mother, was thrown into a pond. Observation was made for ten days; one visit per day and climatological data were recorded. On the first two days, the piglet carcass sunk to the bottom of the pond. The carcass floated to the surface on the third day but no fly activities were seen. The blow fly, Chrysomya megacephala and Chrysomya rufifacies started to oviposit on the fourth day. Other than adult flies, a spider (Arachnida) was also observed on the carcass. Bubbles accumulated at the mouthpart, and the abdomen was greenish black. A lot of blow fly eggs were seen on the body surface on the fifth day (floating decay), along with first and second instars C. megacephala crawling under the piglet's skin. On the sixth day, adult blow fly, C. megacephala,and C. rufifacies,and muscid flies, Ophyra spinigera and Musca domestica were observed on to the carcass. High numbers of first and second instars of flies were observed wandering around the body surface with C. megacephala larvae being the predominant species. Two prominent maggot masses occurred on seventh and eighth days. Bloated deterioration stage began on day eighth exposing rib bones, humerus bones and intestines. Carcass was partially sinking and the maggot masses were at the water level. On day ninth, the carcass was partially sinking and three maggot masses were observed on the exposed surface. There were very few adult flies, including a scarab beetle was sighted on the carcass at this stage. The carcass along with the maggots sunk on day tenth, leaving an oily layer on the water surface.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine/methods
  8. Chuah SY, Tan WF, Yap KH, Tai HE, Chow ST
    Forensic Sci Int, 1994 Oct 21;68(3):169-80.
    PMID: 7982636
    The distributions of the D1S80 alleles and genotypes in the Chinese, Malays and Indians in Singapore were determined by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AMP-FLP) analysis. The distributions of the observed genotypes for the three races conformed to Hardy-Weinberg expectations. The system was applied to 19 families whose paternity had been established by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. In all cases, Mendelian inheritance of the alleles at the D1S80 locus could be demonstrated. D1S80 typing on DNA recovered by differential extraction of forensic specimens which included vaginal swabs, urethral swabs and seminal stains yielded consistent results.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine/methods
  9. Bin Abdul Rashid SN, Rahim AS, Thali MJ, Flach PM
    Forensic Sci Med Pathol, 2013 Mar;9(1):82-7.
    PMID: 23404531 DOI: 10.1007/s12024-012-9395-1
    Fatal acute methamphetamine (MA) poisoning in cases of internal drug trafficking is rarely described in the literature. This case study reports an MA 'body packer' who died from fatal methamphetamine intoxication due to leaking drug packages in the alimentary tract. The deceased was examined by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT), and the results were correlated to subsequent autopsy and toxicological findings. The deceased was arrested by the police when he was found disoriented in the city of Kuala Lumpur. He was transferred to the emergency department on suspicion of drug abuse. The initial drug screening was reactive for amphetamines. Shortly after admission to the hospital, he died despite rigorous resuscitation attempts. The postmortem plain chest and abdominal radiographs revealed multiple suspicious opacities in the gastrointestinal tract attributable to body packages. An unenhanced whole body PMCT revealed twenty-five drug packages, twenty-four in the stomach and one in the transverse colon. At least two were disintegrating, and therefore leaking. The autopsy findings were consistent with the PMCT results. Toxicology confirmed the diagnosis of fatal methamphetamine intoxication.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine/methods*
  10. Sarvesvaran R, Hasnan J
    Malays J Pathol, 1994 Dec;16(2):167-71.
    PMID: 9053568
    The deliberate inhalation of solvents among children and adolescents "for kicks" is becoming more common in the West. It was generally regarded as a relatively harmless practice and consequently little attention had been paid to the isolation of the toxic agent from the variety of substances used. It is now well recognised that solvent abuse not only can result in sudden death but also cause pathological changes to the liver, kidney, brain, heart and lungs. A case of toluene associated death in Malaysia is discussed both from a medico-legal and pathological standpoint.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine*
  11. Rumiza AR, Khairul O, Zuha RM, Heo CC
    Trop Biomed, 2010 Dec;27(3):373-83.
    PMID: 21399577
    This study was designed to mimic homicide or suicide cases using gasoline. Six adult long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis), weighing between 2.5 to 4.0 kg, were equally divided into control and test groups. The control group was sacrificed by a lethal dose of phenobarbital intracardiac while test group was force fed with two doses of gasoline LD50 (37.7 ml/kg) after sedation with phenobarbital. All carcasses were then placed in a decomposition site to observe the decomposition and invasion process of cadaveric fauna on the carcasses. A total of five decomposition stages were recognized during this study. This study was performed during July 2007. Fresh stage of control and test carcasses occurred between 0 to 15 and 0 to 39 hours of exposure, respectively. The subsequent decomposition stages also exhibited the similar pattern whereby the decomposition process of control carcasses were faster than tested one. The first larvae were found on control carcasses after 9 hours of death while the test group carcasses had only their first blowfly eggs after 15 hours of exposure. Blow flies, Achoetandrus rufifacies and Chrysomya megacephala were the most dominant invader of both carcasses throughout the decaying process. Diptera collected from control carcasses comprised of scuttle fly, Megaselia scalaris and flesh fly, sarcophagid. We concluded that the presence of gasoline and its odor on the carcass had delayed the arrival of insect to the carcasses, thereby slowing down the decomposition process in the carcass by 6 hours.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine/methods*
  12. Azman AR, Mahat NA, Abdul Wahab R, Ahmad WA, Ismail D
    Sci Rep, 2022 08 30;12(1):14780.
    PMID: 36042359 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-18929-8
    The discovery of forensic evidence (e.g. weapons) during forensic underwater investigations has seen an increasing trend. To date, small particle reagent (SPR) has been one of the routinely used methods for visualising fingerprints on wet, non-porous substrates. However, the long term use of SPR is detrimental to humans and environment due to the use of toxic chemicals. Although previously we have successfully developed and optimised a greener nanobio-based reagent (NBR), its suitable practical use in a more realistic scene (e.g. outdoor pond) was not evaluated. Therefore, this present research is aimed at (1) investigating the performance of NBR against the benchmark SPR in visualising fingerprints immersed in a natural outdoor pond and (2) evaluating the greenness of NBR against the analytical Eco-Scale. Results showed that the performance of the optimised NBR was mostly comparable (University of Canberra (UC) comparative scale: 0) with SPR at visualising fingerprints on three different non-porous substrates immersed in a natural outdoor pond. Observably, the NBR had higher preference towards aged fingerprints (up to 4 weeks of immersion). In addition, its greenness assessment revealed 76 points, indicating 'excellent green analysis'. The findings gathered here further supported the practical use of the NBR in forensic investigations.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine/methods
  13. Kumar V, Mohanty MK, Kanth S
    J Forensic Leg Med, 2007 Jan;14(1):3-6.
    PMID: 17046310
    The purpose of this study was to record and evaluate the causes and the magnitude of the fatal burn injuries retrospectively. An analysis of autopsy records revealed 19.4% cases of burn injuries amongst the total autopsies done over 10years period (1993-2002) in the mortuary of the department of Forensic Medicine of Kasturba medical College, Manipal. The majority of deaths (78.5%) occurred between 11 and 40years of age group with preponderance of females (74.8%). The flame burns were seen in 94.1% of the victims followed by scalds and electrical burns in 2.8% and 2.5% cases, respectively. The majority of burn incidents were accidental (75.8%) in nature followed by suicidal (11.5%) and homicidal (3.1%) deaths. The percentage of burn (TBSA) over 40% were observed in most of the cases (92.5%). The majority of deaths occurred within a week (69.87%) and most the victims died because of septicemia (50.9%).
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine
  14. Ong BB, Kaur S
    Malays J Pathol, 1997 Dec;19(2):111-4.
    PMID: 10879250
    The duty of confidentiality in the normal doctor-patient relationship is well recognized. However, the duty of confidentiality between the pathologist who performs the autopsy and the requesting authorities and the next-of-kin is not as clearly spelt out. This article discusses the problems faced by the pathologist with regards to hospital and medico-legal autopsies in Malaysia. A proposed ethical guideline is included on how to deal with peculiar issues regarding confidentiality and the pathologist.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine
  15. Asif MK, Nambiar P, Ibrahim N, Al-Amery SM, Khan IM
    Leg Med (Tokyo), 2019 Jul;39:9-14.
    PMID: 31158731 DOI: 10.1016/j.legalmed.2019.05.003
    Three-dimensional imaging has improved the method of analysis in many forensic science investigations. The study aimed to derive regression equation for age estimation by investigating the relationship between chronological age and surface area of the developing mandibular 3rd molars apices. Furthermore, other predictor variables: ethnicity (Malay and Chinese), gender and status of the root development completion (open/closed apices) were also investigated in terms of fit to the age estimation model. One hundred and twenty eight training and 55 validation samples of intact mandibular 3rd molars were selected from 183 CBCT scans. The samples comprised of 93 Malays and 90 Chinese, ranging in age from 13 to 24 years. Three-dimensional image modeling and surface area analysis of the developing mandibular 3rd molars apices were performed using Mimics and 3-Matics software. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to derive age estimation model using chronological age as a dependent variable and surface area of the apices, ethnicity, gender and status of the root development completion (open/closed apices) as predictor variables. A strong inverse correlation (r = 0.95, SD = 1.144) was observed between chronological age and all the predictor variables. The results showed that 89.6% of the variation in age can be explained by the predictor variables. Mean absolute error (MAE) value of 0.8223 was observed when the derived regression equation was tested on the independent validation sample. In conclusion, three-dimensional surface area analysis of the developing mandibular 3rd molars apices can be used as a reliable method for age estimation.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine/methods*
  16. Al-Qershi OM, Khoo BE
    Forensic Sci Int, 2013 Sep 10;231(1-3):284-95.
    PMID: 23890651 DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2013.05.027
    Currently, digital images and videos have high importance because they have become the main carriers of information. However, the relative ease of tampering with images and videos makes their authenticity untrustful. Digital image forensics addresses the problem of the authentication of images or their origins. One main branch of image forensics is passive image forgery detection. Images could be forged using different techniques, and the most common forgery is the copy-move, in which a region of an image is duplicated and placed elsewhere in the same image. Active techniques, such as watermarking, have been proposed to solve the image authenticity problem, but those techniques have limitations because they require human intervention or specially equipped cameras. To overcome these limitations, several passive authentication methods have been proposed. In contrast to active methods, passive methods do not require any previous information about the image, and they take advantage of specific detectable changes that forgeries can bring into the image. In this paper, we describe the current state-of-the-art of passive copy-move forgery detection methods. The key current issues in developing a robust copy-move forgery detector are then identified, and the trends of tackling those issues are addressed.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine
  17. Pinakini KS, Kumar TS
    J Clin Forensic Med, 2006 Jul;13(5):274-6.
    PMID: 16442830
    Poisoning is one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries like India. Anticholinesterase compounds like organophosphates (OP) and carbamates account for the majority of these poisoning cases because of their easy availability and agricultural use. Carbamates are as popular as OPs as insecticides that often go undiagnosed. A fatal case of carbofuran poisoning is presented where serial cholinesterase estimation played a major role in the diagnosis of the same. The pertinent medical literature on carbofuran poisoning is reviewed. The establishment of poison information center in each state is needed for proper diagnosis and management of poisoning cases.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine
  18. Lee HL
    Malays J Pathol, 1996 Dec;18(2):125-7.
    PMID: 10879234
    Forensically important entomological specimens recovered from 95 forensic cases of human cadavers from April 1993 to May 1996 in Malaysia were identified and analysed. The results indicated that 73.7% of these specimens were Chrysomya species, occurring either as single or mixed infestations. Of these, the most prominent species were Ch megacephala (F.) and Ch rufifacies (Macquart). Other fly maggots recovered included Sarcophaga spp., Lucilia spp. and Hermetia spp., mostly occurring together with other calliphorine flies. A member of Muscidae fly, Ophyra spp. was also recovered for the first time.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine*
  19. Lee HL
    Malays J Pathol, 1989 Aug;11:33-6.
    PMID: 2632998
    A total of 101 entomological specimens recovered from human cadavers were processed and studied. Analysis of the data indicated that about 95% of these specimens were maggots of flies. Maggots of the blowfly Chrysomya (Family: Calliphoridae) especially Ch. rufifacis and Ch. megacephala were predominantly found in 77 cases (76.2%) while larvae of several other flies of the genera Sarcophaga, Calliphora, Lucilia and hermetia were also recovered. It was notable that Musca domestica or other related flies were not found in all these specimens. The age of these larvae was useful in the determination of the minimum time lapsed after death. However, more biological studies on animal carcases should be conducted for more accurate determinations. Methods of collection, preservation and despatching of specimens were also discussed.
    Matched MeSH terms: Forensic Medicine*
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