Saga Prefectural Police

The concealed information test (CIT) is a psychophysiological memory-detection technique. The judgment to assess whether an examinee recognizes crime-relevant information is based on the difference in autonomic responses between the crime-relevant information and the crime-irrelevant information. The present study examined the within-questionnaire consistency of the differential physiological responses, which is a key point in the above judgment. The mock theft CIT data obtained from 167 participants were modeled into three possible models, and Bayesian estimation of parameters and model selection were performed. Results of model selection implied that participants in the encoding group were not clearly divided into high consistency responders and non-responders. Bayesian estimates of parameters revealed that the within-questionnaire consistency of the differential physiological responses had different characteristics among the physiological measures. Most participants showed high consistency for heart rate and respiratory speed, while some participants show low consistency for skin conductance response, respiratory amplitude, and respiratory rate.

Inform ation T est Naohiro Yam am oto (Forensic Science Lab, Yam ag ata prefectural police H.Q .)Key Words：Concelaed Inform ation T est, within a set judg m ent m ethod, kernel density estim ation

The effects of chronic administration of methamphetamine on pancreatic tissues were histopathologically studied in experimental models. Methamphetamine (1 ml/kg body weight/day) was subcutaneously injected into 14 five-week-old male Wistar Kyoto rats (WKY) for 12 weeks. Age and sex matched 5 WKY rats served as controls. With light microscopy, some scattered edematous lesions and moderate vacuolization were demonstrated in the pancreas of 8 of the methamphetamine treated rats. However, in 4 of the rats, severe regional hemorrhage, partial acinal cell necrosis, destruction of the acinal cells, neutrophile infiltration, interstitial vessel dilatation, interstitial edema and fatty cell invasion were observed after the injections of methamphetamine. In 2 other animals, fibrosis and cirrhosis-like lesions with destruction and degeneration of the acinal cells were observed the small vessels had a slight degeneration of the endothelial cells. In the control animals, no lesions, except for some edematous lesions were found. In all cases, there were no nesidioblastosis-like lesions or necrosis of the Langerhans's islets. In the immunohistochemical study using anti- alpha 1-chymotrypsin antibody, more positive reactive cells were demonstrated among the interstitial and inter acinal cells, both in number and degree, in the methamphetamine treated rats. In addition to the animal model, there were 4 autopsy cases of sudden death in chronic methamphetamine abusers. The autopsies demonstrated a severe acute necrotic hemorrhagic pancreatitis, with only scattered slight hemorrhaging in the brain and lungs. These findings indicate that chronic administration of methamphetamine to rats evoked significant changes in pancreatic tissues including some degeneration of the endothelial cells of the small vessels in this hypoxia-vulnerable organ.

Eighty-five cases of infantile asphyxia were examined in relation to the degree of conjunctivae petechial hemorrhages and histological and immunohistochemical findings of the lungs and the pancreas. In very young cases, even in the strangulation cases, conjunctivae petechial hemorrhages were unremarkable and sometimes absent. The lungs showed remarkable to moderate congestion, while the pancreas showed only slight to moderate edema and cell infiltrations. Many pancreata of cases of accidental and homicidal asphyxia had hyperplasia and nesidioblastosis of islet cells. In adult asphyxia cases, remarkable congestion has been the main finding in the lungs and the pancreas. This study shows many similarities between the findings in homicidal suffocation and in genuinely accidental suffocation, both in inspection and on histological examination. So, we here, stressed on the necessity of legal necropsy for various infantile asphyxia cases, in the speculation of the cause of death, in order to not only study infantile sudden death cause but also not to mis-diagnose genuine accidental asphyxia cases or homicidal cases using suffocation for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).