International Journal of Medical Toxicology and Forensic Medicine
Volume:13 Issue: 2, Spring 2023

Although many studies have investigated the prevalence of hospital infections during the COVID-19 pandemic, the results are still challenging.

In this routine data-based study, the medical records of 2213 poisoned patients admitted to the Toxicological Intensive Care Unit (TICU) of the Loghman Hakim Hospital from 2018 to 2022 were retrospectively reviewed. After the implementation of exclusion criteria, 220 patients were separated into the control and case groups. The information of the patients was extracted based on a preplanned form and analyzed with SPSS software, version 26.

Unlike the prepandemic period, when Staphylococcus aureus was the predominant pathogen, during the pandemic period, the predominant pathogen in tracheal culture was Acinetobacter spp., which increased from 11.3% in the prepandemic period to 14.9% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, coagulase-negative staphylococci in blood culture and Enterobacter spp. in tracheal culture both significantly decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic (P=0.035 and P=0.05, respectively), while Streptococcus viridans in the tracheal culture and Enterococcus in the urine culture both significantly increased (P=0.013).

Although in the prepandemic period, S. aureus was usually the most common pathogen among poisoned patients in TICU, the predominant pathogen changed to Acinetobacter spp. during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Some hospital-acquired infections decreased and others increased in a different way between the two groups.

An accurate histopathological assessment and reporting of testicular biopsies require an appropriate tissue fixative. We assessed the histological, histochemical, and immunohistochemical quality of testicular biopsies, comparing 10% formalin versus Bouin solution as tissue fixatives.

This experimental study utilized 20 adult male albino rats equally divided into five cages for 30 days. By the end of the experiment, all animals were anesthetized, and both testes were removed and weighted; one testicle was fixed in 10% formalin and the other testicle in Bouin solution, offering 40 specimens and then subjected to histological, morphometric, histochemical, and immunohistochemical assessments.

Formalin revealed high-quality cytological details and better nuclear chromatin detail (P=0.03). At the architectural level, the Bouin solution showed better quality details with less cytoplasmic shrinkage of seminiferous tubule germ cells (P=0.001). Bouin’s fixed tissues were more suitable for staining by trichrome methods but unsuitable when subsequent immunohistochemistry was requested. The diagnostic concordance between the Bouin solution versus formalin-fixed biopsies was 91.7%.

This study supports that the morphology of testicular tissue fixed with Bouin solution was nearly comparable to those fixed with 10% neutral buffered formalin. However, the Bouin solution cannot substitute formalin when subsequent immunohistochemistry is considered.

Time of death estimation is crucial to help investigators to solve a case. In this study, Forensica application, version 4, an android-based mobile phone application was developed as a tool to educate and calculate the time of death estimation. This study aimed to compare the level of knowledge between medical students that studied using the application and textbook.

Both groups had the same study duration and answered the same questions. Participants had then filled out a questionnaire about the Forensica.

Statistical analysis shows that gender differences do not result in significant differences. The mean of the post-test result shows significant improvement (P=0.00) in both groups when compared to the pre-test result.

The result shows that generally, the respondents feel that learning with Forensica was easier, faster, more fun, more practical, and more exciting than learning compared with textbooks. Thus, Forensica application can be a better learning method alternative to textbooks that is easier, faster, more fun, more practical, and more exciting.

Child physical abuse (CPA) is prone to occur in developing areas. Aside from stressors in the home, the presence of a stepfather is another cause of CPA. The case reported here is of a 3-year-old girl who experienced fatal physical abuse by her stepfather. On external examination, bruises were found on the forehead, right and left cheeks, chin, chest, back, upper and lower left arms, pubic lips, upper and lower right legs, and lower left legs, and blisters on the lips. On internal examination, severe damage was found to internal organs. This paper also discussed how this case was viewed from the Indonesian legal framework.

M ass poisoning is defined as the poisoning (with or without a fatality) of three or more victims in a single location and event. Also, serial poisoning refers to the poisoning at different time intervals (over days, months, or years)

H1N1 swine flu is an acute disease that infects the upper respiratory tract and can cause inflammation of the upper respiratory tract, trachea, and possibly the lower respiratory tract. The known course for H1N1 swine flu is varied from one to four days, on average for most people about two days, but in some cases, it can be up to seven days