Dear Colleagues,
In a recent publication, we showed the amount and composition of gas bubbles found in stranded marine mammals: Bernaldo De Quirós, Y., González-Diaz, O., Arbelo, M., Sierra, E., Sacchini, S., and Fernández, A. (2012). Decompression vs. Decomposition: Distribution, Amount, and Gas Composition of Bubbles in Stranded Marine Mammals. Frontiers in Physiology 3. This time we are glad to announce a new publication, where environmental and individual variables were control to the maximum extent possible using animal models, enabling us to establish the statistical differences between putrefaction gases compared to atmospheric air embolism and gases produced by decompression: Bernaldo De Quirós, Y., González-Díaz, O., Møllerløkken, A., Brubakk, A.O., Hjelde, A., Saavedra, P., and Fernández, A. (2012). Differentiation at autopsy between in vivo gas embolism and putrefaction using gas composition analysis. International Journal of Legal Medicine. DOI: 10.1007/S00414-012-0783-6 The article is available from: http://www.springerlink.com/content/y08jp31h757j6824/ ABSTRACT Gas embolism can arise from different causes (iatrogenic accidents, criminal interventions, or diving related accidents). Gas analyses have been shown to be a valid technique to differentiate between putrefaction gases and gas embolism. In this study, we performed systematic necropsies at different postmortem times in three experimental New Zealand White Rabbits models: control or putrefaction, infused air embolism, and compression/decompression. The purpose of this study was to look for qualitative and quantitative differences among groups and to observe how putrefaction gases mask in vivo gas embolism. We found that the infused air embolism and compression/decompression models had a similar gas composition prior to 27-h postmortem, being typically composed of around 70–80 % of N2 and 20–30 % of CO2, although unexpected higher CO2 concentrations were found in some decompressed animals, putting in question the role of CO2 in decompression. All these samples were statistically and significantly different from more decomposed samples. Gas composition of samples from more decomposed animals and from the putrefaction model presented hydrogen, which was therefore considered as a putrefaction marker. Regards, Prof. Antonio Fernández PhD Yara Bernaldo de Quirós
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