Biomedical subjects

C Hernández-Cueto

Publications and source records attributed to C Hernández-Cueto.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Advances in the diagnosis of wound vitality: a review.

The diagnosis of the vital origin of wounds in many cases remains an unsolved problem for the forensic pathologist. Practical experience enables the expert to diagnose the vital or postmortem origin of wounds on the basis of macroscopic examination. In some cases, optic microscopy is used to confirm the diagnosis. In many other cases, additional more sensitive and specific markers of vitality are required. In the past 50 years, comprehensive research on this topic has resulted in a better understanding of the acute inflammatory reaction. The development and application of sensitive and specific markers through research in the areas of histochemistry, enzymology, and biochemistry has provided a partial solution to the problems involved in wound vitality diagnosis. A review of this challenging area of forensic pathology, including an explanation of these methods and markers, is presented in this paper.

Biomarkers↗

PubMed1995

Diagnostic ability of D-dimer in the establishment of the vitality of wounds.

The potential of skin measurements of D-dimer (DD), a specific derivative of crosslinked fibrin, for the diagnosis of the vital origin of wounds was investigated in 67 human vital skin wounds and homolateral control pieces of skin from 53 autopsies performed at the Institute of Legal Medicine of Coimbra (Portugal) during 1992. Our results demonstrate that DD levels for the incised vital skin wounds (n = 50) were much higher on average than their controls (P < 0.01) which were actually incised injuries produced postmortem at the autopsy. We did not find any statistical difference in average DD levels among the remaining injuries (seven abrasions and ten contusions) in comparison to their respective controls. DD may be used, with certain limitations, as a marker of the vitality of incised wounds. The authors believe this is the first time this marker has been applied in forensic pathology. It is an example of an easy and quick application technique, with the added advantage of low cost.

Autopsy↗

PubMed1994

Prostaglandin F2a (PGF2a): an inadequate marker of the vitality of wounds?

We have studied the viability of PGF2a as a vitality marker in skin wounds. Incised vital skin wounds and homolateral control pieces of skin were obtained from 20 autopsies performed at the Institute of Legal Medicine of Coimbra University (Portugal). We have also studied 10 fresh skin samples from the Department of Dermatology of the University Hospital (Granada). Our results show that PGF2a is not suitable for the diagnosis of the vitality of wounds because of its irregular behaviour.

Biomarkers↗

PubMed1993

Cathepsin D as a vitality marker in human skin wounds.

This paper shows the results obtained by studying the lysosomal enzyme Cathepsin D as a potential marker for the vitality of wounds in human specimens. We have analyzed 53 samples using enzymological and histological techniques. Our results show the ability of Cathepsin D to establish the vital origin of wounds inflicted 5 minutes or less before death, where the specific activity of cathepsin D reached 0.055 units at the wound edge and 0.01 units in their respective controls (P < 0.001). As previously demonstrated in an experimental series, Cathepsin D seems to be a very useful marker of high forensic interest in especially difficult cases. Further studies are in progress to check the influence of different factors such as drugs intake and clinical conditions on Cathepsin D activity.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

[Acetate metabolism: experimental study].

Plasma levels of ethanol and acetate, which is the end product of hepatic ethanol oxidation, have been studied in 60 rats. Animals were divided into two groups: 1) Control rats, and 2) Alcohol-treated rats. Ethanol and acetate were measured without any previous handling (endogenous levels) and after intraperitoneal injection of a single dose of ethanol. Blood specimens were taken at 30, 60, 120, 180 and 240 minutes after ethanol injection. Plasma levels of ethanol and acetate were performed by Head Space Gas Chromatography. Alcohol-treated animals had higher plasma acetate levels than control ones. There were statistically significant differences for acetate between both groups of rats at 0, 30, 120 and 180 minutes.

Acetates↗

PubMed1990

Plasmatic levels of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) in drowning. A pilot study.

Bodies found in water may cause problems for forensic pathologists who have to differentiate drowning from postmortem immersion or fresh from salt water drowning. The exact physiopathology of drowning is still controversial and complementary tests can not exactly establish the exact cause of death if macroscopic findings at autopsy are not conclusive. We have employed atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) as a marker in an experimental series of fresh and salt water drowning, comparing their results with a non-drowned control series. There are differences between the plasma basal levels of the control series (79 pg/ml) and the levels in animals drowned in fresh water (358 pg/ml, P less than 0.001) and between control and rabbits drowned in salt water (190 pg/ml, P less than 0.001). According to these values, there are also differences between fresh and salt water drowned animals (P less than 0.001). We propose this peptide as a new marker in cases of drowning, with the ability to differentiate drowning from postmortem immersion and fresh from salt water drowning.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed1990

The usefulness of lung surfactant phospholipids (LSPs) in the diagnosis of drowning.

The authors have studied the usefulness of some lung surfactant phospholipids (LSPs) isolated from lung tissues as markers of drowning. Two different groups of rabbits were sacrificed by drowning in fresh and salt water, and their phospholipid compositions were compared with those of a non-drowned control series. For the phospholipids studied in lung lavages (phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl ethanolamine, and phosphatidyl glycerol) the proportions differed between the control group and the drowned group, and between the fresh-water and salt-water drowned animals. According to these results, the lipids we have analyzed can be employed as markers in forensic autopsies, where it is necessary to differentiate between death by drowning and postmortem immersion and between fresh-water and salt-water drowning. In lung tissue, only phosphatidyl choline and phosphatidyl inositol showed significative differences. These results also confirm that LSPs are strongly affected in drowning.

Animals↗

PubMed1989

Postmortem stability of some markers of intra-vital wounds.

We have studied the diagnostic value of several markers of the intra-vital nature of wounds - cathepsin D (EC 3.4.23.5) and ions (Ca, Mg, Cu, Zn and Fe) - after the influence of putrefaction. For this purpose, we have inflicted vital wounds to six pigs, which were killed 20 min later. Ten minutes after death, wounds were excised with 5-6 cm of skin around the incision and maintained at three different temperatures (4, 18 and 28.5 +/- 13.4 degrees C). After varying periods of postmortem interval from 0 to 48 h, aliquots of each wound were taken and analyzed with atomic absorption spectrophotometry for ions and with UV-spectrophotometry for cathepsin D. Our results demonstrate that ions conserve their diagnostic ability to differentiate vital from postmortem wounds after the influence of putrefaction. Nevertheless, cathepsin D does not show this ability in these experimental conditions.

Animals↗

PubMed1989

Postmortem stability of the rat atrial natriuretic peptide in blood and atrial tissue.

The postmortem stability of the rat Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP) has been studied as a necessary and previous step to be applied in the forensic field as a postmortem marker. This peptide--whose extreme sensitivity to slight changes in blood volume is well known--could have great importance in thanatochemistry to establish a correct diagnosis when macroscopical observations and classical parameters are not conclusive or cannot be employed. The results show high stability in atrial tissue, where values are similar from 0 hours (108.99 pm/mg) to 8 hours (109.41 pm/mg) and decrease uniformly until 15 pm/mg) at 32 hours, time of our last determination. Blood ANP showed similar stability from 0 h (105.43 pg/ml) to 8 h (106.62 pg/ml).

Animals↗

PubMed1987

Study of cathepsin A, B and D activities in the skin wound edges. Its application to the differential diagnosis between vital and postmortem wounds.

The aims of the authors in this paper has been to check the diagnostic ability of the Cathepsin A, B and D concentrations in the skin wound edges to the differential diagnosis between vital and postmortem wounds. We have studied 56 domestic pigs grouped in seven experimental series consisting of 8 animals in each, according to the time (0, 5, 15, 30 min and 1, 3 and 6 h) after the injury. The enzymatic activities were investigated following the methods by Bowen and Davison Biochem. J., 131 (1973) 417-419, Suhar and Marks J. Biochem., 101 (1979) 23-30 and by Anson (modified by Yamamoto, Eur. J. Biochem., 95 (1979) 459-467) for Cathepsin A, B and D, respectively. For the differential diagnosis between vital and postmortem wounds, our results showed that the most useful markers studied are the Cathepsin A and D activities, Cathepsin D that of the first one.

Animals↗