{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,21]],"date-time":"2026-07-21T00:11:32Z","timestamp":1784592692606,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2014,6,24]],"date-time":"2014-06-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1403568000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Med Sci Law"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2015,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>A diagnosis of drowning is a challenge in legal medicine, as there is generally a lack of pathognomonic findings indicative of drowning. Diatom analysis has been considered very supportive for a diagnosis of drowning, although the test is still controversial for some investigators. We assessed diatoms association with drowning in the peripheral tissues of drowned rats and the effects of the drowning medium on the diatom yield. A modified acid digestion method was optimised for diatom recovery in water and rat tissues. Eighteen adult Wistar rats were employed for the study, subdivided into six groups of three rats. Groups 1, 3 and 5 were drowned in seawater, lake water, or river water respectively, while groups 2, 4 and 6 were controls (immersed after death in seawater, lake water or river water respectively). Water samples were taken from the sea, lake and river in M\u00e1laga and C\u00f3rdoba (Spain) for the purposes of diatomological mapping and drowning of the rats. Diatoms were successfully recovered from all water samples and matched with tissues of the drowned rats. There were significant differences in diatom numbers between control and test samples for all the tissues studied, as well as within test samples. Histological investigations conducted on lung samples obtained from drowned rats provided complementary and valuable information. This study demonstrates the feasibility of the diatom test as a reliable method for the diagnosis of drowning, especially if adequate precautions are taken to avoid contamination, and if interpretation of the analysis is performed in light of other complementary investigations.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0025802414538791","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2014,6,25]],"date-time":"2014-06-25T23:12:49Z","timestamp":1403737969000},"page":"228-235","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Diatoms in forensic analysis: A practical approach in rats"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"55","author":[{"given":"Isaac K","family":"Badu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Legal and Forensic Medicine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eloy","family":"Girela","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Legal and Forensic Medicine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cristina M","family":"Beltr\u00e1n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Legal and Forensic Medicine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ignacio","family":"Ruz-Caracuel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department Morphological Sciences (Section of Histology); Faculty of Medicine, University of C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ignacio","family":"Jimena","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department Morphological Sciences (Section of Histology); Faculty of Medicine, University of C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2014,6,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.forsciint.2004.10.027"},{"key":"bibr2-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1201\/9781420042412.ch15"},{"key":"bibr3-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"395","DOI":"10.1201\/b13642","volume-title":"Knight\u2019s forensic pathology","author":"Saukko P","year":"2004","edition":"3"},{"key":"bibr4-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-20659-7_3"},{"key":"bibr5-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.1921.02630470036013"},{"key":"bibr6-0025802414538791","first-page":"454","volume":"56","author":"Durlacher S","year":"1953","journal-title":"Arch Pathol"},{"key":"bibr7-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0379-0738(94)90250-X"},{"key":"bibr8-0025802414538791","first-page":"159","volume":"214","author":"P\u00e9rez-C\u00e1rceles MD","year":"2012","journal-title":"Forensic Sci Int"},{"key":"bibr9-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jflm.2009.07.016"},{"key":"bibr10-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.proeng.2011.11.067"},{"key":"bibr11-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/BF01882178"},{"key":"bibr12-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0379-0738(83)90104-4"},{"key":"bibr13-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.forsciint.2006.08.020"},{"key":"bibr14-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00200290"},{"key":"bibr15-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1520\/JFS14112J"},{"key":"bibr16-0025802414538791","volume-title":"Diatoms of North America","author":"Vinyard WC","year":"1979","edition":"2"},{"key":"bibr17-0025802414538791","volume-title":"Les algues d\u2019eau douce. Algues jaunes et brunes","author":"Bourrelly P","year":"1981"},{"key":"bibr18-0025802414538791","unstructured":"Stidolph SR, Sterrenburg FAS, Smith KEL, et\u00a0al. Diatom atlas. In: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2012\u20131163. http:\/\/pubs.usgs.gov\/of\/2012\/1163\/(2012; accessed 15 July 2013)."},{"key":"bibr19-0025802414538791","unstructured":"Spaulding SA, Lubinski DJ and Potapova M. Diatoms of the United States. 2010. http:\/\/westerndiatoms.colorado.edu (2010; accessed 1 July 2013)."},{"key":"bibr20-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0379-0738(80)90180-2"},{"key":"bibr21-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0379-0738(99)00056-0"},{"key":"bibr22-0025802414538791","first-page":"6","author":"H\u00fcrlimann J","year":"2000","journal-title":"Int J Legal Med"},{"key":"bibr23-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.forsciint.2006.08.022"},{"key":"bibr24-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/PAF.0b013e318221b857"},{"key":"bibr25-0025802414538791","first-page":"425","volume":"41","author":"Ludes B","year":"1996","journal-title":"JFSCA"},{"key":"bibr26-0025802414538791","volume":"7","author":"Singh R","year":"2006","journal-title":"Internet J Forensic Med Toxicol"},{"key":"bibr27-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.forsciint.2008.09.004"},{"key":"bibr28-0025802414538791","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Uchiyama T, Kakizaki E, Kozawa S, Nishida S, Imamura N and Yukawa N. A new molecular approach to help conclude drowning as a cause of death: Simultaneous detection of eight bacterioplankton species using real-time PCR assays with TaqMan probes.\n                      Forensic Sci Int\n                      2012; 222: 11\u201326.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.forsciint.2012.04.029"},{"key":"bibr29-0025802414538791","volume-title":"Forensische Histologie","author":"Janssen W","year":"1977"}],"container-title":["Medicine, Science and the Law"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0025802414538791","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/0025802414538791","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0025802414538791","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T08:29:56Z","timestamp":1777624196000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0025802414538791"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2014,6,24]]},"references-count":29,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2015,7]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/0025802414538791"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0025802414538791","relation":{},"ISSN":["0025-8024","2042-1818"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0025-8024","type":"print"},{"value":"2042-1818","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2014,6,24]]}}}