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Biomedical subjects

H J Mittmeyer

Publications and source records attributed to H J Mittmeyer.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

[Severity of injury of alcohol intoxicated pedestrians in street traffic].

The evaluation of 251 autopsy cases of pedestrians who suffered fatal accidents in road traffic documents that the influence of alcohol entails an additional risk of injury for pedestrians in motor car accidents. In particular, severe trauma to the head, thorax and abdomen occur, whilst injuries to the pelvis and limbs are generally not more serious than in sober pedestrians. In the classical collision constellation of the pedestrian at the front end of cars, the upper part of the body is evidently especially endangered in the further movement phase. This phenomenon might be connected above all with the impairment of the voluntary reaction capacity due to alcohol during the sequence of evidents in the accident.

Accidents, Traffic

[Urinary alcohol content/blood alcohol content quotient with reference to bladder filling].

The blood alcohol concentration, the urinary alcohol content and the urinary volume were determined in 245 autopsy cases. Irrespective of the bladder filling, a large variation of the UAC/BAC ratios could be detected in BAC values of up to about 1 g/kg. The ratios were very much more stable at higher blood alcohol concentrations, but showed a certain dependence on the degree of bladder filling. With the increase of urinary volumes, the mean ratio rose. Provided that blood alcohol concentrations were in excess of 1 g/kg, the UAC/BAC ratio was 1.3 at a volume of less than 5 ml, about 1.4 at up to 100 ml, between 1.4 and 1.5 up to 200 ml and about 1.5 with a volume in excess of 200 ml. The differences can be explained by the real-life conditions with regard to drinking behavior and micturition. Accordingly, the urinary volume is also to be taken into consideration for practical purposes.

Alcoholic Intoxication

[Comparative studies of the degree of trauma and cause of death in male and female traffic accident victims].

Comparison with regard to the degree of injury, the survival time and the cause of death in 318 male subjects killed as pedestrians in road traffic as compared to 220 female accident casualties revealed appreciable sex-specific differences in some cases. The injuries suffered were less serious in relative terms in the women. Traumatizations of the ISS classes 10 to 20 and 20 to 30 were most prominent (about 20% in each case). In men, deaths predominated at ISS 75 with 30% to 40%. About 40% of the men died of a craniocerebral trauma, between 15% and 20% of a multiple or trunk trauma, just under 10% of pneumonia and between 5% and 10% of embolism or shock. In women, fatal craniocerebral trauma was very much rarer (26%), whereas secondary causes of death were present in more than 40%. In particular, the raised risk of embolism is to be emphasized (18% as compared to 7%). The results can be interpreted in the following terms, namely that women are more gravely endangered quod vitam in the presence of comparable accident injuries.

Abbreviated Injury Scale

[Age-dependent injury tolerance exemplified by fatal pedestrian accidents].

The evaluation of forensic autopsy material from pedestrian accident casualties comprising more than 500 cases confirms that the tolerance of injuries greatly depends on age. Slightly to moderately severe injured persons with ISS values under 30 have a very much lower risk of death from comparable traumatizations in the third and fourth decade of life as compared to children and above all compared to elderly persons. In the case of 20 to 30 year olds, only just under 10% with such accident injuries die as compared to the percentage of deaths in infants is almost 30% and more than 50% in casualties over 70 years old. Longer survival times determine the fatal course. In casualties under 50 years old, the rate of complications (10%-15%) is relatively low, whereas it is about 40% in those over 50 years old. Embolism, pneumonia and protracted shock are at the forefront. The relative intolerance of injuries in elderly traffic accident casualties is essentially due to secondary complications.

Accidents, Traffic

[Investigations to determine the time of death, late post mortem, by means of electrophoresis of inner organs (author's transl)].

In CAF-electrophoresis, extracts of cardiac muscle and of kidney tissue, after storage at 4 degrees C, show a roughly linear increase of the equivalent to the Albumin fraction. This increase depends on the time elapsed and is explained by the relatively high stability of this fraction compared to organ proteins, which appear in the globulin region. Thus, a sort of internal standard exists and can be used as a parameter for the determination of the post mortem period. Hepatic tissue is less suitable for this kind of investigations as the relation of the post mortem period and the values of the relative concentration of the fraction do not show the linearity found in cardiac muscle and kidney tissue. Splenic tissue shows no distinct trend and the findings are of little value. The present investigations were arranged in such a way that taking the order of magnitude for the equivalent of the Albumin fraction as a guideline led to a determination of the maximum post mortem period, i.e., the maximum period of time the body lay after the hour of death. The tables of this paper show the figures for the individual organs.

Death

[Time-dependant changes in the protein spectrum of blood from living and dead persons by means of electrophoresis in cellulose acetate (author's transl)].

Protein electrophoresis on cellulose acetate shows that with increasing hemolysis of ante- and postmortem blood an extragradient in the alpha2-globulin field is created, which influences the relative ratio in the electropherogram. Strong hemolysis causes a fusion of the alpha2- and beta-globulin chains. In order to make a diagnostic interpretation of postmortem blood by means of electrophoresis, it is therefore essential to take into account the degree of hemolysis. Changes in the electrophoretic pattern due to hemolysis correlate best with the period of storage. With regard to timing for forensic purposes, the value is, however, limited.

Alpha-Globulins