The objective of this work was to study the eye shape of the Chinese and Malay in Malaysia in order to establish a photofit database for these two groups of people. A total of 188 subjects (94 males and 94 females) ranging from 18 to 25 years old were randomly chosen from the population of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The eye width and intercanthal distance of each subject were measured for eye shape classification. SPSS analysis suggested that there was significant differences in the types of inter eye distance (p<0.05) and inter eye distance measurement (p<0.01) amongst the Chinese and Malays. Gender difference was found to be highly significant across inter eye distance measurement (p<0.05) however the opposite was noted across the types of inter eye distance (p>0.05). There was also significant differences across ages for types of inter eye distance (p<0.05) whereas insignificant results were obtained across the inter eye measurement parameter (p>0.05). Two-way between group ANOVA indicated that there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between races and gender; between races and ages; and between gender and ages; for inter eye distance measurement. This study also highlighted that race and gender plays a significant role across the types of inter eye distance and inter eye distance measurement. Wide set eyes appeared to be dominant in comparison to close set eyes across both races and gender. As an outcome of this study, an eye shape photofit database representing the Chinese and Malay population in Malaysia was made possible and can be used for forensic identification purpose.

High blood alcohol content has been associated with fatal accident, traumatic death, and violent death. The question of alcohol concentration in the body is often raised in the court of law. It is important to estimate the level of alcohol which could cause impairment or lethality. One issue faced by pathologists when performing an autopsy is an inadequate blood sample to measure Blood Alcohol Concentration (BLAC). Most often they are left with a urine sample to interpret the alcohol level in the body. Therefore, it is important to understand the relationship between blood and urine alcohol concentrations. This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted to interpret the relation between BLAC and Urine Alcohol Concentration (UAC). A total of 473 postmortem cases with blood and/or urine samples were sent for alcohol analysis in the year 2016 at Hospital Kuala Lumpur. Total of 229 cases were analyzed for BLAC and UAC. About 2.76% of cases where urine alcohol was detected the blood alcohol was negative. There was a significant average difference between BLAC and UAC (t46 = -4.638, p < 0.001), however both were relatively strong and positively correlated (r = 0.609, p < 0.001). Regression formula could be represented using BLAC = 71.326 + 0.437 (UAC) with r = 0.609. When BLAC or UAC was detected over 50% of the cases were associated with a road traffic collision death. Prevalence of blood alcohol value above the legal limit of 80 mg/100ml was 24.6% amongst all the 142 motor vehicle accident cases sent for BLAC analysis. The average ratio of UAC/BLAC for true positive of the determined prevalence was 1.29 ± 0.22.

Rapid detecting, visualizing, and photographing latent saliva stains in the field remain as a challenge to the forensic science community. A more challenging situation is such an attempt on black color surfaces because traditional methods, e.g., blue lights and U.V. lights are usually unable to produce strong light for a better contrast. Under a quasi-experimental study, this paper reports detection and visualization of latent saliva stains on a pistol grip using three different light sources of blue light (450 nm), a U.V. light (365 nm) and a blue laser (447 nm) for a comparative purpose. The preliminary results indicate that the laser method is much superior to the blue and the U.V. lights since the laser possesses three unique technological strengths: a compact diode pump solid-state laser (447 nm wavelength), a 1 nm color-purity bandwidth, and a special yellow filter/goggle. Essentially, the laser device can detect and produce an excellent image of the latent saliva stain on the pistol grip almost simultaneously. The forensic value of the study lies in the fact that once saliva stains are located on a surface, a swab for a DNA test can follow immediately. To date, this new method may represent a new fieldbased approach to detect latent saliva stains at crime scenes. Finally, this work may progress toward the ultimate goal of rapidly detecting latent biological evidence (e.g., sweat residues) that would otherwise remain undetected using traditional development methods.

Human and animals have many adaptive mechanisms against extreme thermal conditions. Failure of these mechanisms induces various alterations in many organs especially brain. This study was performed on rats to investigate the effect of exposure to extreme cold till loss of consciousness or until death. Serum levels of glucose, Triglyceride (TG), Cholesterol (CHO), Total Protein (TP) and cortisol were determined. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC) were estimated in brain tissue. The genetic alteration of hypothermia was studied by measuring DNA damage using comet assay. Additionally, histopathological and immunohistochemical alterations in brain tissue were recorded. Hypothermia, significantly decreased serum glucose and CHO while increased TG and cortisol levels but had no effect on TP level. Also, marked increase in MDA level and DNA damage in brain tissue concurrently with reduction of TAC were recorded. Histopathological alterations including vasogenic perivascular edema, necrosis/ loss of Purkinje cells of cerebellum, neuronal degeneration/ necrosis and perineuronal edema in cerebrum and hippocampus were observed. Moreover, hypothermia decreased the immunopositivity of synaptophysin and neurofilaments but temporary increased the Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) in brain tissue. In conclusion, hypothermia, despite several adaptive mechanisms, induced lethal harmful biochemical, genetic, pathological and immunohistochemical alterations which can be used as useful markers for hypothermia.

In criminal cases, the potential transfer of bloodstain is one possibility of discussion on Court. Therefore we developed an experimental model in which the conditions are standardized and thus reproducible. However, in this model, the transfer of blood from a first support to a second support is only possible if the bloodstain is still wet and if it is not strongly attached on the first support. In conclusion, this study defines the limiting conditions of bloodstain transfer.