The forensic sciences are under review more so than ever before. Such review is necessary and healthy and should be a continuous process. It identifies areas for improvement in quality practices and services. The issues surrounding error, i.e., measurement error, human error, contextual bias, and confirmatory bias, and interpretation are discussed. Infrastructure is already in place to support reliability. However, more definition and clarity of terms and interpretation would facilitate communication and understanding. Material improvement across the disciplines should be sought through national programs in education and training, focused on science, the scientific method, statistics, and ethics. To provide direction for advancing the forensic sciences a list of recommendations ranging from further documentation to new research and validation to education and to accreditation is provided for consideration. The list is a starting point for discussion that could foster further thought and input in developing an overarching strategic plan for enhancing the forensic sciences.

SummaryIntln~elling, cuffi 'd, tiinrielled, central cenous (Hicknzan)

Primary intraventricular haemorrhage is a rare presentation of a dural arteriovenous fistula. We describe the case of a 52-year-old woman with a past history of idiopathic intracranial hypertension who presented with sudden-onset severe headache The CT scan on admission showed primary intraventricular haemorrhage with no associated haemorrhage in the brain parenchyma or the extra-axial compartment The cerebral angiogram demonstrated a dural arteriovenous fistula involving the left sigmoid and transverse sinuses which was successfully embolised transvenously. Subependymal venous congestion and rupture secondary to retrograde venous drainage has been proposed as the cause for this presentation.

Sl'~DIA!n' III illfallts IIlld pz/;lets sulijected to periods of circulatory arrest at ;!()GC there u.'as close corrclatiol1 bet1£'eell duratioll of arrest alld de/a)' in return of c/ectroel1ceplza/ographic actit'ity. Post mortem studies demonstrated histological lTidelIce of brain damage in patients after circulatory arrest at 20°C. Similar histolor;ical changes lt'ere demonstrated in piglets, including some wlzo had complete I,'.E.(;. and clillical rcc07'ery fro/ll circl/latory arrest. In a pre\'ious stud~' of the effects of circulator~' arrest at :WcC in the infant pig (Fisk et al. ] 974), we found lesions in the cerebral cortex of pigs subjected to circulatory arrest for a period of one hour at 20°C and then allowed to survivc for 1 0 da~'s before being killed. These lesions were not found in pigs subjected to continuous perfusion at 20°C or at ;)72C. \\'e suggested tha~ the delay in return of electrocncephalogram (E.E.G.) activity after such circulatory arrest may be a useful index of the degree of ischaemic cerebral insult. BreclmtT et al. (HI;)~I) showed an eXjlonential relationship between the period of circulatory arrest at :~OcC in patients undergoing open-heart surgny and the time taken for return of continuous E.E.G. activity. They suggested that this provided a guide to the severity of the ischaemic insult of the brain. In this pillwr we report on E.E.G. activity and postmortem histological examination of the brain in infants SUbjected to circulatory arrest for open-heart surgery, and on the results of a study of infant pigs subjectcd to various periods of circulatory arrest at 20°C. \\'c have attempted to "correlate the period of arrE'st and the associated delay in return of E.E.C. activity with the presence of detectable histological changes in the cerebral cortex in surviving piglets.