coronis

Asclepios, the first physician-demigod in Greek mythology, was born in Thessaly of the God Apollo and Coronis, a mortal mother. Asclepieia were healing sanctuaries dedicated to Asclepios. Asclepieia were located throughout the Eastern Mediterranean area, in ancient Greece and the Roman world. Travelers from all over the Mediterranean area seeking healing made pilgrimages to the Asclepieia, the early forerunner of "medical tourism".

INTRODUCTION: Acute alcohol toxicity is a significant component of alcohol-related mortality. The study aimed to: (i) determine the circumstances of death and characteristics of fatal alcohol toxicity cases, 2011-2022; (ii) determine their toxicological profile and major autopsy findings; and (iii) determine trends in population mortality rates. METHODS: Retrospective study of acute alcohol toxicity deaths in Australia, 2011-2022, retrieved from the National Coronial Information System...

Spit hoods have been used for decades to reduce the ability of people to spit and bite police officers, corrective services officers, paramedics, doctors and nurses. However, historically and in public consciousness they have sinister resonances and often induce fear, panic and distress in persons to whom they are applied or in whose presence they are worn. Problematically frequently spit hoods have been used on detainees from ethnic minorities, including in Australia, on Indigenous persons, individuals with mental illnesses and children taken into custody...

BACKGROUND: Vital signs assessment is critical for patient surveillance and safety. Research has found, however, that this assessment is often neglected in clinical practice. The reasons for this are unclear as few studies have explored this issue. Those studies that have are small, single site studies and found that culture and poor understanding are contributing factors. AIM: The aim was to explore the link between the clinical neglect of vital signs assessment and patient mortality and provide a better understanding of factors influencing vital signs assessment in the context of acute patient care...

Coroners' inquests in Australia and New Zealand are no longer formally part of the criminal justice process. However, they can take place after the resolution of criminal charges and, although coroners' findings cannot be expressed in terms of persons' criminality, inquests can also result in referrals to prosecuting authorities. In addition, referrals to professionals' disciplinary regulators can be made by coroners. The potential for such adverse outcomes for the individuals affected makes it essential for those representing parties or witnesses at coronial hearings to consider carefully the forensic strategies that they deploy and, in particular, the advice that they provide, including in relation to claims to the privilege against self-incrimination...

Suicides are likely to be underreported. In Australia, the National Coronial Information System (NCIS) provides information about suicide deaths reported to coroners. The NCIS represents the findings on the intent of the deceased as determined by coroners. We used the Queensland Suicide Register (QSR) to assess the direction, magnitude, and predictors of any differences in the reporting of suicide in Queensland. Therefore, we conducted a consecutive case series study to assess agreement and variation between linked data from the NCIS and QSR determinations of suicide for all suicide deaths ( N = 9520) in the QSR from 2001 to 2015 recorded from routinely collected coronial data...

Dermoid cysts are ectodermal inclusion lesions which can occur at the bregma, preventing complete closure of the anterior fontanelle. Various management strategies have been suggested for children presenting with such lesions. We describe the experience of managing a series of 13 consecutive patients at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, including pre-operative workup, operative strategy, post operative care and follow up. Referred patients underwent a form of cross-sectional cranial imaging. All patients were given a general anaesthetic and had a small coronial incision over the lesion, large enough only to expose the lesion...

BACKGROUND: A range of factors including mental disorders, adverse events and history of self-harm are associated with suicide risk. Further examination is needed of the characteristics of suicides which occur without established risk factors, using national surveillance systems. METHODS: Data on all suicides in Ireland from 2015 to 2017 were drawn from the Irish Probable Suicide Deaths Study (IPSDS). Variables examined included socio-demographics, psychiatric history and precipitant stressors...

The communicating safely policy, publicised by the catchphrase See Something, Say Something was released by the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia in 2019. It was developed to support medical radiation practitioners (MRPs) upholding the obligation to communicate urgent or unexpected findings in a timely manner, when identified on medical images. Prior to this policy being part of the professional capabilities, several untimely deaths occurred-the majority of whose causal factors could have been mitigated if imaging findings were urgently communicated by MRPs...

BACKGROUND: Illicit drug use is overrepresented in music festival attendees compared with the general population. Drug use often involves a wide range of substances with the potential to cause drug toxicity. Law enforcement-centred strategies intended to deter drug use and supply at these mass gatherings have been implemented throughout Australia. However, many have been criticised for their lack of effectiveness, with evidence suggesting that they can inadvertently increase the risk of drug harm...

Bromazolam is a newly emerging benzodiazepine drug which is not licensed for medicinal use. It may be sourced as a New Psychoactive Substance (NPS) for its desired effects or be consumed unknowingly via counterfeit Xanax® or Valium® preparations. As part of our Coronial workload, we observed an increase in the detection of bromazolam from September 2021 to November 2022. We report a series of 96 cases in which bromazolam was quantitated by high resolution accurate mass - mass spectrometry (HRAM - MS) in post-mortem blood...

INTRODUCTION: The emergence of benzodiazepine-type new psychoactive substances (NPSs) are a growing international public health concern, with increasing detections in drug seizures and clinical and coronial casework. This study describes the patterns and nature of benzodiazepine-type NPS detections extracted from the Emerging Drugs Network of Australia - Victoria (EDNAV) project, to better characterise benzodiazepine-type NPS exposures within an Australian context. METHODS: EDNAV is a state-wide illicit drug toxicosurveillance project collecting data from patients presenting to an emergency department with illicit drug-related toxicity...

Agriculture is one of the most important and also hazardous industries in Australia. Having a sound knowledge and understanding of the circumstance of injury events is critical to developing evidence-based intervention programs. This paper aims to provide a brief historical snapshot of the development of data systems underpinning the assessment of fatal farm injury in Australia and how it has impacted on safety policy and practice. The first Australian studies used coronial information to explore agricultural fatalities, these studies reviewed paper based records (in-situ) and collected the information for analysis and reporting...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Mortality rates among people who use heroin are estimated to be 15 times that of the general population. The study aimed to determine (1) the case characteristics and circumstances of death of heroin-related toxicity deaths in Australia, 2020-2022; (2) their toxicological profile and major autopsy findings; (3) the proportion of cases in which blood 6-acetyl morphine (6AM) was detected, as a proxy measure of survival times; and (4) compare 6AM positive and negative cases on toxicology, circumstances of death and acute clinical presentation...

Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping technologies can generate investigative leads for human remains identification, including estimation of biological sex, biogeographical ancestry (BGA), externally visible characteristics (EVCs), identity, uniparental lineage and extended kinship. The ForenSeq® Kintelligence Kit provides forensic laboratories with the ability to apply this suite of genetic tools to forensic samples using one panel targeting 10,230 SNPs (including 56 ancestry-informative, 24 phenotype-informative, 94 identity-informative, 106 X chromosome, 85 Y chromosome and 9867 kinship-informative SNPs) sequenced on the MiSeq FGx® Sequencing System...

BACKGROUND: To inform preparedness and population health action, we need to understand the effects of COVID-19 on health inequities. In this study, we assess the impact of COVID-19 on opioid toxicity deaths among people who experience incarceration compared to others in the general population in Ontario, Canada. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study for the period of January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2020. We accessed and linked coronial data on all opioid toxicity deaths in Ontario with correctional data for people aged 18 years and older who were incarcerated in a provincial correctional facility...

BACKGROUND: There is a need for both descriptive and analytical evidence on the factors associated with older adult homicide. The current landscape is insufficient because most published research is confined to the United States, and contains insufficient data about the homicide context. This study protocol describes the proposed method for examining the characteristics and factors associated with older adult homicide in the Australian state of Victoria, using data generated for the criminal and coronial investigation into these deaths stored in the Victorian Homicide Register (VHR)...

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) service was expanded from three to seven cases per day to help mortuary services and avoid invasive autopsy. Additional targeted angiography and pulmonary ventilation procedures were stopped and triage rules relaxed to allow more indications to be scanned, including those requiring toxicology. A service evaluation was performed for the first 3-months of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the equivalent period the previous year to study the impact of these changes...

Post-mortem computed tomography (CT) can provide useful insights into coronial and forensic pathological investigation of the fire-damage victim. Understanding the pathological changes that can occur in fatalities caused by fire, particularly in relation to fire damage to the body, is paramount in attempting to distinguish ante-mortem and peri-mortem blunt traumatic injuries from fire-related damage to the body. Understanding the fire-damage features on post-mortem CT may also assist in determining cause of the fire and associated fire-damage...

A retrospective observational study of Victorian deaths involving MA between 2010 and 2019 was conducted to determine the prevalence and contribution of methylamphetamine (MA) toxicity to death in the absence of other factors. Demographics, autopsy findings, toxicology, and the cause of death were reviewed. Coronial cases were categorized into five groups: deaths due to MA toxicity in the absence of other factors (Group A1); deaths due to MA toxicity in the setting of other potentially contributing factors (Group A2); deaths due to MA toxicity in the setting of significant natural disease (Group B); deaths primarily due to multiple-drug toxicity (Group C); and deaths primarily due to natural causes (Group D)...