PubMed · 10127347
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B Bartley. 1993. Expecting the unexpected.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10127347/
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A case is reported that involves the commingled skeletal remains of two individuals who died in a helicopter crash in 1969 during the Vietnam War. The incomplete portions of two bodies were initially recovered soon after the crash. These portions were identified by personnel at a U.S. Army Mortuary in Saigon and were returned to the next-of-kin. While searching for scrap metal in 2002, a Vietnamese citizen unexpectedly discovered human remains and personal effects interspersed with buried aircraft wreckage. The personal effects correlated with the individuals who died in the 1969 incident. These newly discovered remains and artifacts were subsequently received at the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (CILHI) for analysis. As part of the CILHI analysis it was necessary to segregate the commingled remains into specific individuals for identification purposes. Details regarding various sorting techniques are described that provide a solid framework for systematically dealing with small-scale commingling. The sorting techniques used in the resolution of this case consist of visual pair-matching, articulation, process of elimination, osteometric comparison, and taphonomy. These techniques, when used in conjunction with each other, provided a solid basis for the individualization of most skeletal elements.
BACKGROUND: In the aftermath of a cargo aircraft crash in Amsterdam in 1992, indications of autoimmune disorders appeared in some of the affected population. METHODS: This epidemiologic study sought to determine the possible long-term autoimmune health effects of the aircraft disaster on professional assistance workers. Exposed professional firefighters (n = 334) and police officers (n = 834) who performed at least 1 disaster-related task and hangar workers who sorted and investigated the wreckage (n = 241) were compared with reference groups of nonexposed colleagues who did not perform any disaster-related tasks (n = 194, n = 634, and n = 104, respectively). Data were collected a mean of 8.5 years after the disaster. Questionnaires were used to assess disaster-related tasks and 11 autoimmune-like symptoms. All serum samples were tested for the presence of antinuclear antibodies, rheumatoid factor, and antineutrophil cytoplasmic and anticardiolipin antibodies. RESULTS: Compared with nonexposed colleagues, exposed workers reported significantly more autoimmune-like symptoms. They reported the following symptoms significantly more often: tingling sensations, myalgia, loss of strength, easily fatigued, and a feeling of sand in the eyes (all groups); infection proneness (firefighters); skin abnormalities and nocturnal transpiration (police officers and hangar workers); and vasculitis-like symptoms and Raynaud discoloring (police officers). In contrast, we found no significant difference between exposed and nonexposed workers in autoantibody prevalence. CONCLUSION: Occupational exposure to the aircraft disaster resulted in an excess of long-term self-reported autoimmune-like symptoms in exposed professional assistance workers, but there was no difference between exposed and nonexposed workers in the prevalence of autoantibodies.
BACKGROUND: Patients with blunt or penetrating cardiac injury usually present with cardiac tamponade and hemorrhagic shock upon hospital arrival. Many victims die before they reach hospital. In this study, we present a detailed analysis of hemopericardium-related fatalities. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medicolegal autopsy records of hemopericardium-related fatalities that occurred from 1994 to 2003. The parameters investigated were demographic characteristics, hospitalization before death, the cause of death, the manner of death, the mechanism of death, the location of the entrance wound, the number of wounds reaching the target and the site of target perforation. RESULTS: Seven women (mean age: 45 +/- 23 years) and 33 men (mean age: 34 +/- 12 years) were included in the study. Only 5 patients (12.5%) with cardiac activity reached the hospital. Twenty individuals (50%) were victims of stabbings, which was the most common cause of death. The most commonly encountered manner of death was homicide (79%). Thirty-one (77.5%) victims died of hemorrhagic shock and 9 (22.5%) of cardiac tamponade. Entrance wounds were frequently located on the left chest (n = 26). The perforated cardiac chambers were the left atrium (n = 1), the left ventricle (n = 12), the right atrium (n = 2) and the right ventricle (n = 15). One victim had coronary artery perforation. Nine victims had perforations on the intrapericardial part of the aorta. CONCLUSIONS: In our series, the hemopericardium-related deaths occurred predominantly in men. Stabbing was the most common cause of death. Entrance wounds were most commonly located on the left chest, and perforated sites were ventricles. Death at the scene was also frequent, and the mechanism of death was hemorrhagic shock.