Background: Forensic medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with applying medical knowledge to establish facts in civil or criminal cases, such as investigations into the cause and time of death. In Iraq, people's knowledge about forensic doctors' profiles is unknown, so this study aims to assess the general population's knowledge regarding forensic doctors. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that involved 644 participants from different provinces in Iraq using a self-administered questionnaire published via social media websites. The survey involved questions about the sociodemographic status of participants and twelve questions about forensic doctor duties, which were listed in the Iraqi constitution. These were tested for internal consistency with an alpha Cronbach value of 0.82. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social science (SPSS) version 23. Results: The mean number of questions correctly answered was 7.35 with a standard deviation of 3, 9.5% of the sample answered all the questions correctly, 30.4% answered from 9 to 11 questions, 20.5% from 7 to 8, 28% from 4 to 6, 9.4% from 1 to 3 and 2.2% answered all questions wrongly. The highest awareness was about the duty of dissecting bodies, identifying the remnants' identity, and identifying the cause of death. The lowest awareness was about public morality issues as a duty of the forensic doctor. There was a statistically significant association between the number of correctly answered questions and gender, age, marital status, and education level. Conclusion This study shows moderate knowledge and awareness about forensic doctors among Iraq's general population.

the application of immunohistochemistry has opened a new era for examining the age of the wound by forensic specialists, The aim of our study was to illustrate the use of immunohistochemical marker of mast cells activation (mast cell tryptase "MCT") as a reliable and promising factor of wounds vitality and to Identify the role of pro-inflammatory cytokines: IL 1 beta and IL 6 as parameters of wound age determination.The study was done in the Medico-Legal Directorate of Forensic Medicine (MLD) in Baghdad. The specimens were sera and skin tissues for immunohistochemistry examination, and staining procedures and immunohistochemistry (MCT) ELISA sandwich plate will measure the levels of interleukins. Total autopsy cases were 88 and divided into study group (SG) and control group (CG) .We found that density of Mast cells in sample group was significantly high and higher infiltration that correlates with time passing in the study group as compared by other group in dermis of the sample and control lesions and positive relationship between levels of IL 1‫ـ‬beta & IL‫6ـ‬ level and time progress of wound..

Background: Drowning is a main universal community health problem. In medico-legal practice, the autopsy diagnosis of drowning presents one of the major problems especially when there is delay in recovering the victim from water. Objective: To gather the autopsy findings with the serology test "Surfactant-associated protein A" (SP-A) procedures to reach more accurate diagnosis of drowning and to clarify the significance of serology test (SP-A) procedures. Methods: This study was performed at Medico-legal Directorate (MLD) in Baghdad for (12) months within the period from 1/1/2018 to 31/12/2018. Full proper autopsy including external and internal examination of the body for all cases was performed, after obtaining complete medico-legal history, in addition to serology test (SP-A) procedures to determine the cause of the death as due to drowning. Results: The study included (60) cases, (52) males and (8) females with their ages ranged between (15-44 years old) for male, while ages ranged between (1-44 years old) for females. Drowning was the cause of death in all cases. The most important result of this study is that the serum SP-A concentration showed increment alongside with period that had been passed since the event of drowning. The highest value was (1042.167 ng /L) after 48 hours from the event. Conclusion: The concentration of SP-A increases with increasing duration of immersion in water and an important marker in the diagnosis of drowning together with the autopsy findings. Keywords: Medico-legal study, SP-A, drowning Citation: Hussein HN, Hashim NG, Abdulla MA. Surfactant Protein Type-A in diagnosis of drowning cases. Iraqi JMS. 2020; 18(1): 21-28. doi: 10.22578/IJMS.18.1.4

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