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Sampling strategy is one of the deciding factors in DNA typing success rates. Small amounts of bodily fluid traces and (skin) contact traces are currently not visualized in standard forensic practice. Trace recovery is usually based on the information available in a particular case and on the experience and 'forensic common sense' applied by the trace recovery expert. Interactions between an offender and a victim may have characteristic features, resulting in specific trace patterns. Understanding these interactions, and their resulting trace patterns, might improve crime related trace recovery as well as DNA typing success rates. In this study, we examined the interactions between offender and victim when a body has been relocated from one position/location to another. The contact between the hands of the offender and the body of the victim was visualized using a fluorescent dye in a lotion that was applied to the hands of the individual undertaking the relocation. The contact locations were scored and patterns were analyzed based on both victim and offender characteristics (height, weight, age, gender). The resulting patterns were compared to current trace recovery practices in the Netherlands. The results of this large-scale study facilitate evidence-based sampling supporting both investigative and evaluative forensic examinations., (Copyright © 2018 The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

An arterial sheath with a proximal hemostasis valve and a side-arm extension tube was used in 562 consecutive patients undergoing cardiac catheterization and angiography via the femoral approach. Serious complications were rare. There was one death, one peripheral embolism, and one episode of delayed groin hemorrhage. The incidence of minor complications, including hematoma formation, in this series compares favorably with our own and the reported experience of others using the conventional percutaneous femoral approach. The sheath technique facilitated catheter exchanges and reduced patient discomfort. In addition, femoral artery pressure could be monitored via the side arm of the sheath during the catheterization. This proved helpful during retrograde catheterization of patients with aortic stenosis, as well as in detection of damping of coronary artery catheter tip pressure during coronary arteriography and hypotension following left ventriculography. Based upon this experience, use of an arterial sheath has become our standard practice when left heart catheterization is performed via the femoral approach, and the use of several different catheters is anticipated.

The use of percutaneous nephrostomy with or without placement of a ureteric stent has been of increasing aid in treating both acute and chronic ureteral obstruction in recipients of renal allografts. Eight patients who underwent transplantation, had ureteric obstruction develop and were treated by this means are reported herein. The technique is standard and can be performed in an arteriography suite. Once a catheter is inserted into the allograft collecting system, a nephrostomy tube or a stent, or both, is easily inserted. Three of the patients had acute ureteric obstruction secondary to clot forming after needle biopsy of the transplant kidney. Percutaneous nephrostomy tubes were passed, the renal pelvis and ureter irrigated and the clots lysed. Operation was unnecessary. In five patients with declining renal function secondary to chronic obstruction, percutaneous nephrostomy placement allowed return of renal function to base line levels, while placement of a stent through the ureter into the bladder facilitated location of the ureter at operation for ureteral reimplantation. The technique of percutaneous nephrostomy is simple, convenient and allows patient recovery preoperatively. It has become part of our standard armamentarium in transplant recipients.