Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34999927›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of legal medicine2022

Use of cadaveric vitreous humor as an innovative substrate for diatoms research and forensic diagnosis of drowning.

Stefano Tambuzzi, Guendalina Gentile, Paolo Bailo, Salvatore Andreola, Riccardo Zoja

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in International journal of legal medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
2.2field-weighted citation impact, top 14% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. European radiology experimental · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Stefano TambuzziDipartimento di Scienze Biomediche Per La Salute, Laboratorio di Istopatologia Forense e Microbiologia Medico Legale, Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli, 37, 20133, Milano, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4711-5545
Guendalina GentileDipartimento di Scienze Biomediche Per La Salute, Laboratorio di Istopatologia Forense e Microbiologia Medico Legale, Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli, 37, 20133, Milano, Italy. guendalina.gentile@unimi.it.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4407-9844
Paolo BailoDipartimento di Scienze Biomediche Per La Salute, Laboratorio di Istopatologia Forense e Microbiologia Medico Legale, Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli, 37, 20133, Milano, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7041-838X
Salvatore AndreolaDipartimento di Scienze Biomediche Per La Salute, Laboratorio di Istopatologia Forense e Microbiologia Medico Legale, Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli, 37, 20133, Milano, Italy.
Riccardo ZojaDipartimento di Scienze Biomediche Per La Salute, Laboratorio di Istopatologia Forense e Microbiologia Medico Legale, Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli, 37, 20133, Milano, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3347-2541
University of Milan · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The search for diatoms is the test that most of all may contribute to the forensic diagnosis of drowning. Diatoms can be extracted through different methods, which are all complex and long. In this preliminary study, we assessed human vitreous humor as an innovative substrate on which to research diatoms. Sampling and analyses were performed on 3 groups of 10 corpses each. The first one was composed of drowned victims. The second one of victims of traffic accidents with subsequent projection in water; based on the severe traumatic injuries reported at autopsy, we considered such victims as ideally assimilable to bodies immersed in water postmortem. The third group was composed of subjects who died for natural causes and without any relationship with water. The vitreous humor was centrifugated and cytocentrifuged and spotted on two different histological slides: one was left blank and the other one was assessed with hematoxylin and eosin staining. Microscopic observation successfully revealed diatoms in all cases of the first group; in the second group diatoms were not detected in 6 cases; in the third group, no diatoms at all were observed. Diatoms were always qualitatively and quantitatively consistent with those found in the corresponding viscera and waters, which had been investigated through classical acid digestion. Our analyses have demonstrated that the vitreous humor behaves in a completely similar way to the other viscera in cases of drowning. Although further investigations are necessary, vitreous humor has proved to be an innovative, suitable, and reliable substrate for the forensic research of diatoms.

Indexed as

DiatomsDrowningCadaverEosine Yellowish-(YS)Forensic PathologyHematoxylinHumansLungVitreous BodyWaterEosine Yellowish-(YS)HematoxylinWaterDiatomsDrowningForensic pathologyVitreous humor

Identifiers

PMID34999927
OpenAlexW4205903580

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.