Background: Eight Medical Reserve Corps’ (MRC) Units from Darke, Shelby, Miami, Champaign, Clark, Preble, Montgomery, and Greene counties in Ohio conducted Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and Active Shooter (AS) training for MRC volunteers. The purpose of the training was to improve regional Mental Health (MH) emergency response capacity.

Methods: MHFA training was provided by certified trainers. AS training was provided by law enforcement officers. Volunteers were randomly assigned to three conditions: Contact (C) with assailant, Barricade (B), Survive (S) in 3 different orders: Group 1 exposed in CBS order, Group 2 BSC, Group 3 SCB. Survival during the AS scenarios were keyed to responses to a disgruntled person, run-hide-fight, and perimeter safety.

Results: Willingness of volunteers to provide MHFA was not changed by AS training (p=0.679). There was no difference in MH knowledge of (p=0.823) or attitude (p=0.138) among volunteers with previous MH training. Among those without MH training, participation in the AS scenarios increased their ability to provide MH services from awareness to novice level (p=0.019). Volunteers who had prior training in MHFA had higher AS survival rates than those with other MH trainings (86.1% versus 70.3%, p=0.024). Survival from an AS event was higher among volunteers who had prior MH training than those without (89.8% versus 75.5, p=0.004)

Conclusions: When the ‘staged’ AS training introduced realism (guns firing, injured and dead moulage victims, escaping to survive while holding hands up to move past armed police) survival increased compared to others with less direct exposure. There was a dose-linear response in survival rates with ‘early-on realistic exposure’ resulting in greater survival. Realistic and dramatic AS training increased survival and among novice volunteers, ability to provide MH services. Individuals with pastMH trainings did not demonstrate improved MH knowledge, their AS survival increased.

Forensic education is yet to gain a foothold in the Nigerian educational system even though there are several well-trained practitioners plying their trade in the country. The near absence of forensic education emanates from low manpower in the academia, dearth of facilities, non-regulatory policy and lack of awareness amongst others. For such a rich discipline to gain its roots in our educational system and to make it standardized in conformity to global best practices, the need for a regulatory body to unveil and enforce well-coded guidelines for its practice cannot be over emphasized. In this paper, the authors propose a national forensic education accreditation body- the Forensic Education Programmes Accreditation Commission (FEPAC), which would be in charge of regulating the practice of forensic education in Nigeria. The body when fully operational would work with the National Universities Commission (NUC), the Forensic Research and Development Centre (FORDEC) and foreign-based forensic agencies for the overall functioning of forensic education in Nigeria. The different roles of the commission are spelt out alongside the numerous benefits of such a commission on the different stakeholders in the country.

LMC (Low Melanin Content) and HMC (High Melanin Content) subjects have respectively low and high melanin content in both skin and eyes; LMC has white skin and blue eyes and HMC has dark skin and eyes. Comparative investigation between frequencies of genetic variants in LMC subjects versus HMCsubjects may indicate which polymorphic variant is associated with melanin synthesis in skin and eyes. Coordinately, studies with Snow White-Like (SW) subjects may be informative to reveal any tissue-specific expression, since these individuals have white skin and dark eyes.

The LMC - HMC - SW model was used to analyze the allelic distribution of eight biallelic SNPs in pigmentrelated genes in admixed South Brazilian individuals. Based on allele frequencies of different human populations, allele “L” was used for the alleles associated with low melanin content populations (LMC subjects), and allele “H” was used for the alleles associated with high melanin content populations (HMC subjects). Allelic distribution of eight SNPs showed that 100% of LMC subjects (N=73) had less than eight H alleles, and 82% of HMC subjects (N=61) had eight or more H alleles. The AUC (Area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve) value was 0.99, and the calculation of PGL (Pathway Genetic Load) and GP (Genetic Probability) showed that the SNP set presented 93% and 91% concordance between DNA genotype and phenotypes, respectively. Factorial Discriminant Analyses (FDA) performed in the SW group (light skin and dark eyes; N=116) showed a positive association between SNPs rs16891982 (SLC45A2), rs8045560 (MC1R), rs1426654 (SLC24A5), rs2733832 (TYRP1) and rs1042602 (TYR), and the LMC cluster for skin phenotype, and a positive association between SNPs rs4778138 (OCA2), rs12913832 (HERC2) and rs916977 (HERC2), and the HMC cluster for eye phenotype. The understanding of gene functionin externally visible characteristics is important for the prediction of skin and eye colors in humans; the analyses presented here are an important contribution to the forensic DNA phenotyping scenario.

Human identification is an absolutely paramount in any forensic investigation. Scientific methods are employed both in forensic laboratory and crime scenes to achieve identification and subsequent testimony in court. Physical evidence is a key element for forensic identification. One such evidence left unintentionally by the perpetrator is foot-impression. Anthropologists assist in identification by constructing a biological profile. Human foot-impressions have been used to determine stature, gender, body weight, age and race. Foot-impression is classified into Two Dimensional (2D) and Three Dimensional /foot-outline (3D) that are lifted through different techniques for forensic examination. One way of lifting a 3D foot-impression is by the tracing technique. Because feet bear body weight, the foot-impressions are likely to correlate with weight. The utility of foot-impression as an indicator of body mass has been less explored. It is mandatory that racial and cultural aspects of foot morphology must be considered in determination of height, body weight, gender and race. The present study’s aim is to determine living body weight from foot-outline (3D) anthropometry of indigenous Bidayuhs, residing in Malaysian Borneo. The foot-outlines and body weights from the consented subjects have been collected following the standard procedure. The data obtained was computed with PASW 20 computer software and derived population specific regression equations to determine living body weight from foot-outline length measurements. The result shows that all foot-outline lengths exhibit statistically significant positive correlations with body weight. It is concluded with caution that it is erroneous to utilize these derived equations to any populations either in Malaysia or any populations in the world for body weight determination.

The present study declares the relationship between the cause of death and postmortem alterations in some body fluids (CSF, serum and plasma). Immuno-histochemical and micro architecture examination of brain tissue of White New Zealand rabbits were applied at different Postmortem Interval (PMI) after Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Thirty adult male White New Zealand rabbits were divided into two groups; the first group was killed by cervical dislocation and the second through head trauma. Each group was subdivided into three times of PMIs (zero, 6, and 12 hrs PM). CSF was used to detect the levels of K+, Na+, Ca++, and albumin. While, lactic acid, hypoxanthine, ammonia and uric acid concentrations were measured in plasma. Estimation of High Mobility Group Box-1 (HMGB1), Interleukin-1-beta (Il-1B) and Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-α) were assessed in serum. In addition, immunohistochemical observations of Bcl2 and P53 apoptotic proteins in brain tissue. The results revealed that some of the examined markers as K+, Na+, albumin, ammonia, hypoxanthine and High Mobility Group Box-1(HMGB1) had the potential role in estimation of PMI at examined time periods in physical and traumatized death. Traumatic death induced severe cerebral hemorrhages and necrosis of cerebral parenchyma than physical death. Immunohistochemical results of P53 and Bcl-2 in brain tissue declared focal positive reactions of some neurons, astrocytes and microglia in different degrees with time since death. It was concluded that biochemical analysis of some body fluids, tissue pathological changes and apoptotic markers are applicable tools for assessing accurate PMI after traumatic brain injury and could have a crucial role in legal medicine.