Objective: The aim of this study was to develop and validate a forensic recording form for firearm injuries and test the feasibility and reliability of its application. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. The first version was developed using knowledge from the literature search and was checked for validity by 3 forensic physicians using the Content Validity Index (CVI). Feasibility was tested among physicians working at 4 district hospitals. Its reliability was analyzed by 2 forensic physicians using prevalence-adjusted and bias-adjusted kappa. Results: The validity of a developed recording form for firearm injuries was good, with a CVI of 0.8. All items were rated to be feasible, and the format of the recording was rated from good to excellent. The reliabilities ranged from poor agreement to perfect agreement. After considering the validity, feasibility and reliability tests, a final, forensic recording form was established. Conclusion: A systematically constructed forensic recording form for firearm injuries, for any physicians, with less experience in the field of gunshot cases, was developed. This form will be helpful in assisting physicians in the completion of information for any gunshot cases, which may decrease the consequences from incomplete information.

The aim of this case report is to present an unrecognized case of human rabies with an unusual chief complaint-chest pain-at presentation. The patient had been vaccinated for rabies, presented multiple times at the emergency room, was discharged each time, and was eventually found dead at his house with an unknown cause of death. A post-mortem examination along with a trans-orbital necropsy and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test were performed. The results showed rabies virus in the brain tissue.

Objective: To assess the pre-analytical factors including hand-side, representative collection technique and individual forensic physician for foreign deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) detection in specimen collected from deceased’s fingernails. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study, of an initial 164 samples from the fingernails of both hands, of 82 deceased caseworks; from 2010 to 2018, at the Forensic Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University. The autosomal short tandem repeats profile fingernail DNA results, pre-analytical factors, and the deceased’s characteristics were obtained from the records. The fingernail DNA outcomes were evaluated and ranked into five groups, i.e., high-level profile, low-level profile, or residual profile; if foreign alleles of more than 11 alleles, 4 to 11 alleles, or less than 4 alleles were detected, respectively. The non-specific profile group consisted of foreign DNA being detected; however the peak signals were below the decisional threshold. The unidentified group consisted of no foreign DNA being detected. The full model underwent both directional stepwise model selection, and the resulting model with the lowest Akaike information criterion was selected as the final model. The final model was analyzed by ordinal logistic regression for significant associated factors: at a 95% confidence level. Results: The representative collection technique is an associated factor, via the use of fingernail swabs (adjusted odds ratio (ORa)=13.44, 95% confidence interval (CI)=2.89–62.45), and had a larger effect size than using fingernail cuttings (ORa=6.84, 95% CI=1.47–31.86). Conclusion: At post-mortem examination, for the collection of foreign DNA from fingernails, the use of fingernail swabs, as a collection technique, is of particular interest.