Piegari, Giuseppe (2018) New Insights In Veterinary Forensic Medicine and Pathology. [Tesi di dottorato]

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Item Type: Tesi di dottorato
Resource language: English
Title: New Insights In Veterinary Forensic Medicine and Pathology
Creators:
Creators
Email
Piegari, Giuseppe
giuseppe.piegari@unina.it
Date: December 2018
Number of Pages: 156
Institution: Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
Department: Medicina Veterinaria e Produzioni Animali
Dottorato: Scienze veterinarie
Ciclo di dottorato: 31
Coordinatore del Corso di dottorato:
nome
email
Cringoli, Giuseppe
cringoli@unina.it
Tutor:
nome
email
Oliva, Gaetano
UNSPECIFIED
Paciello, Orlando
UNSPECIFIED
Date: December 2018
Number of Pages: 156
Keywords: veterinary forensic medicine
Settori scientifico-disciplinari del MIUR: Area 07 - Scienze agrarie e veterinarie > VET/03 - Patologia generale e anatomia patologica veterinaria
Area 07 - Scienze agrarie e veterinarie > VET/08 - Clinica medica veterinaria
Date Deposited: 20 Dec 2018 09:46
Last Modified: 30 Jun 2020 08:55
URI: http://www.fedoa.unina.it/id/eprint/12600

Collection description

Over the last years, the knowledge on the veterinary forensic medicine and pathology has experienced a rapid increase as evidenced by number of peer- reviewed publications, textbooks and inclusion of the topic in many veterinary medical conferences. However, most of the information in veterinary forensic medicine is still acquired by human forensic literature. This lack of information is currently considered a serious problem in veterinary forensic medicine. Indeed, although it is undeniably true that the mechanisms of forensic injuries as well as the post-mortem cadaveric changes are similar between humans and animals, the different morphology, weight and tissue resistance of animals compared to human anatomy and other species-specific factors make the information validated in human forensic medicine not always applicable in the veterinary forensic field. In addition, in human forensic medicine, the macroscopic examination associated with the histological analysis is often not sufficient to determine the victim’s cause and manner of death “beyond all reasonable doubt". Therefore, in human medicine, a range of ancillary tests have been proposed to confirm specific causes of death such as the diatom test for the diagnosis of drowning or a seminal fluid test for the diagnosis of Animal Sexual Abuse (ASA). Although the application of some of these tests has been sporadically described in veterinary medicine, their use in veterinary forensics practice requires additional rigorous validation studies. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis work is to summarize the studies carried out throughout the PhD scholarship, which were based on development of new methodological approaches in veterinary forensic medicine and pathology. Attention was paid to these sub-fields of the veterinary forensic medicine: 1) Forensic photography 2) Forensic traumatology 3) Post mortem interval 4) Diagnosis of drowning and 5) Forensic microbiology. As regard the forensic photography, we assessed the suitability of “Google Glass device” in veterinary forensic photographic documentation; furthermore, in forensic traumatology field, we reported the first case of cardiac rupture following non-penetrating chest trauma (NCT) in a cat. Moreover, we presented unusual cases of cardiac rupture with NCT in two dogs. As regard the post mortem interval, we investigated the correlation between time since death and post mortem muscle proteins degradation in dog. In addition, as regard the diagnosis of drowning, we evaluated: 1) the macroscopic and microscopic findings in drowned animals and the contribution of necropsy and histological examination to determine the cause of death in drowning cases in veterinary forensic pathology 2) the differences in the number and location of diatoms between animals who died in drowning and nondrowning conditions and 3) the correlation between the time of permanence in water and the number and location of diatoms in animals dead for causes other than drowning and subsequently used for experimental drowning in standard conditions. Finally, in forensic microbiology field, we assessed the contribution of post-mortem microbiology in establishing a cause of death in young dogs who died of sudden and unexpected death. The results of my thesis showed that Google Glasses were usable in the veterinary forensic pathology of pet animals allowing a reduction in the mean execution time of necropsy and the acquisition of images useful for forensic documentation purposes. Furthermore, as regard the post-mortem modification of the muscles, we observed a time depend post-mortem degradation of the muscle proteins such as desmin and dystrophin. In addition, as regard the diagnosis of drowning, we reported a statistically higher diatom number in the tissues of drowned animals than in the tissue of nondrowned animals and experimentally drowned cadavers. In contrast, similar macroscopic and histological injuries were observed in both nondrowned and drowned animals. Finally, as regard the forensic microbiology, we observed a high frequency of viruses and bacteria detected in cases of animals who died of sudden and unexpected death such as the following: Canine Parvovirus type 2, Clostrifium Perfrigens and Canine Distemper Virus. Together, these findings will provide useful tools to increase the knowledge in veterinary forensic medicine by reducing the acquisition of information from the human medical literature which, although very complete, does not provide information that are perfectly applicable to the species of veterinary interest

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