NCJ Number
117407
Journal
Japanese Journal of Legal Medicine Volume: 43, Supplement Dated: (May 1989) Pages: 76
Date Published
1989
Length
1 page
Annotation
Studies of methods of determining the time of death are reported, with emphasis on the factors that influence the time course and range of scatter of various parameters and the use of objective measurement rather than verbal descriptions.
Abstract
An analysis of 270 cases showed the relevance of electrolyte imbalances at the moment of death and showed a higher slope and range of scatter in cases with urea values above 100 milligrams per deciliter than in those with values below 100 milligrams per deciliter. The slope was also higher in ambient temperature of 20 degrees Celsius than for temperatures of 5 degrees. In other parts of the research, a verbal description of the electrical excitability of skeletal muscle was replaced by a measurement of the force of muscular contraction after excitation with specific intensities of current. A sensitive force transducer was used to measure the contractions. The decrease of the maximum force and the increase of relaxation time were the two parameters used to determine the time since death. 3 references.