Odontology

Computer Forensics Career – What Does a Computer Forensic Investigator Actually Do?

Computer forensics is a division of overall forensic science specifically involved with exploring evidences that are hidden in various digital computing devices. This particular field of study basically retrieves unearthing hidden data from digital storage devices such as hard disks, CD-ROMS, flash memories and cell phones.

Throughout the years, this particular field of study has branched and spread its branch to other fields such as retrieving email files, processing systems and data packets traveling on a network. Generally, any information explaining a sequence of events that can be retrieved from a digital computing device can be used as court evidence.

Currently, technology has been widely exploited in order to commit serious crimes including ID thefts, phishing and other online fraudulent crimes. In order to keep a step ahead of these criminals, various detective and investigative agencies from different countries; have strengthened their forces and prepared them with the expertise to fight such crimes. Firewall forensics, database forensics and network & mobile device forensics are some of the many fields that have emerged out of computer forensics in the last decade.

Normally, an investigation of this area is divided into five broad sections:

Preparation of an investigation
Collection of data from digital computing devices
Examination of the data
Analysis of the data
Reporting

Much like any other forensic investigation, evidences based on this particular investigation can be used to charge the culprits in court. Computer forensic investigators normally work in the lab for hours – sometimes they have to stay overnight in the lab looking for important leads in some criminal cases.

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Biologic Dentistry – Today’s Paradigm Shift

After graduating from dental school in 1983, I felt I had received an excellent education. I thought I had the proper dental skills necessary to help my patients restore, repair and maintain their teeth and periodontal (the tissue and structures surrounding and supporting the teeth) health for years to come.

I also believed my job was to save teeth at all cost. The mechanical skills that were taught to me, i.e., fillings, crowns, root canals, implants and periodontal therapy, would indeed provide my patients the opportunity to fulfill these objectives.

During the first ten years of my professional career, everything seemed to pass by without incident. I thought I was providing an excellent service for my patients. I was restoring mouths and relieving pain just as I was taught in school.

For some reason I kept thinking that there was more that I should be doing for my patients. I realized that I was part of the health profession, but I really didn’t feel like I was actually contributing to my patients overall health. I was looking, I was searching. I wasn’t sure what I would find. There had to be something more than just, “drill, fill and bill.”

In 1996 I happened to be paging through a health magazine, The Townsend Letter: The Examiner of Alternative Medicine. One of the articles discussed the potential dangers of mercury fillings and how they may be compromising the health of our dental patients! I must admit when I first read this, I simply could not and would not believe that there was any truth to this inflammatory article.

No one ever discussed this topic while I was in dental school. I never read about this in any of my dental journals. Nor was it a topic of discussion with my fellow colleagues. However, I was always taught to check my facts before making a decision. So the research began.

It soon became apparent that the more articles and papers I read regarding this controversial topic, the more I began to believe that there really was some truth to mercury sensitivity. Are we using materials in dentistry that are harmful to our health? Why isn’t there more information available to dentists and to the public about the potential hazards of mercury toxicity?

To my surprise, I discovered that the “mercury debate” has been a hot topic among dentists and research scientists for over 150 years! Not only mercury, but root canals and their efficacy have been challenged as well.

Is it possible that a “dead tooth” could cause systemic complications (those that spread to other parts of the body)? Do focal infections (localized bacteria in the teeth and gum areas that cause infection elsewhere in the body) actually exist?

What about cavitations (holes, empty spaces) or lesions (abnormal structural change) found in the jawbone? What impact do these have on the jawbone and the rest of the body? G.V. Black, the father of modern dentistry, described the process of cavitations in 1915 as a progressive disease of the jawbone.

Needless to say, I became more intrigued. Consequently, I realized there were more questions that simply needed to be answered. Most of these topics have been around for a long time. Unfortunately, for some reason, the significance of these findings was lost along the way.

In 1997 I was introduced to the term “biologic dentistry” by several colleagues whom later became my mentors. It was through their logic and wisdom that I was taught to think outside the standard conventions. I was taught to visualize dentistry as a key component in the holistic approach of treating the entire body.

Once I understood this concept, my dental practice would never be the same. I developed a new approach and philosophy on how I would treat my patients. I realized through my continuing educational process and clinical experiences that dentistry does play a major role in the health of one’s entire body.

Imagine when you were first born or as a young child; you had no fillings, crowns, root canals or implants; however, as you got older, the dental work soon began. With good intentions, dentists restored these mouths the best they could with the best materials and latest techniques available at the time.

It is my educated opinion that it’s in the best interest of my patients that I choose not to place mercury restorations in teeth nor perform root canals in my office. I also believe that cavitations exist in the jawbone, can be identified, and removed in a conservative fashion. There is much evidence in the thousands of peer reviewed studies and tens of thousands of clinical cases in the dental and medical literature.

I believe a paradigm shift in dentistry is inevitable. It is in its infancy but building a slow momentum. Changes in the practice of dentistry are occurring as we continue to pay more attention to the materials we use and procedures we perform.

Biocompatibility (the compatibility of dental materials with one’s body) will become the buzzword in dentistry. We no longer can restore the mouth as if we were building a house. Mechanical solutions alone are not enough. We must consider the biological effects that dentistry can have on the entire body.

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Types of Forensic Science

Criminalistics is the application of various sciences to answer questions relating to examination and comparison of biological evidence, trace evidence, impression evidence (such as fingerprints, shoeprints, and tire tracks), controlled substances, firearms, and other evidence in criminal investigations. Some of the forensic science disciplines are detailed under.

Forensic odontology is the study of uniqueness of dentition of all human beings. Also known as Forensic Dentistry, it deals with proper handling, examination and evaluation of dental evidence, which is then presented in the interest of justice. The evidence that may be derived from teeth is the age, in case of children, and also identification of the person to whom the teeth belong. This is done using dental records or ante-mortem that is, before death photographs. The other type of evidence is that of bite marks, left on either the victim (by the attacker), the perpetrator (from the victim of an attack), or on an object found at the crime scene. Bite marks have often been found on children who are abused.

Forensic toxicology refers to the use of toxicology to aid medico-legal investigation of death using poisoning. Several toxic substances do not produce characteristic lesions. In such as case, if a toxic reaction is suspected, visual investigation may not suffice. A forensic toxicologist must consider the context of an investigation, in particular, if any physical symptoms are recorded, as also any evidence collected at the crime scene that may narrow down the search, such as pill bottles, powders, trace residue, and any available chemicals. Armed with this information, a forensic toxicologist can determine which toxic substances were present, in what concentrations and the probable effects of those chemicals on the person. Determining the substance ingested is often complicated by the body’s natural processes, as it is rare for a chemical to remain in its original form once in the body.

Forensic engineering deals with the causes of failure of devices and structures. It is the investigation of materials, products, structures or components that fail to operate or do not function as intended. A criminal aspect is possible in any investigation but is not always the case as civil cases are much more common. Generally, the purpose of any forensic engineering investigation is to locate cause or causes of failure with a view to improve performance or life of a component. It also involves the investigation of intellectual property claims, especially patents. Methods used in forensic investigations include reverse engineering, inspection of witness statements, a working knowledge of current standards, as well as the examination of the failed component itself. The fractured surface of a failed product can reveal much information as to how the item failed and the loading pattern prior to its failure.

Forensic economics is the study and interpretation of the economic damage evidence that includes present day calculations of lost earnings and benefits, the lost value of a business, lost business profits, lost value of household service, replacement labor costs and future medical care costs. Forensic accounting on the other hand, is defined as the study and interpretation of accounting evidence

Forensic psychology and forensic psychiatry deals with the legal aspects of human behavior. They deal with the application of psychological principles and knowledge to various legal activities involving child custody disputes, child abuse of an emotional, physical and sexual nature, assessing one’s personal capacity to manage one’s affairs, matters of competency to stand trial, criminal responsibility and personal injury and advising judges in matters relating to sentencing regarding various mitigates and the actuarial assessment of future risks.

Forensic anthropology is the application of physical anthropology in a legal setting, usually for the recovery and identification of the skeletal remains of the dead body whereas Forensic entomology deals with the examination of infesting insects in, on, and around human remains to assist in determination of time or location of death. Forensic evidence is referred to as the scientific evidence collected from a crime scene.

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Pathological Condition – Acute Myocardial Infarction

Acute Myocardial Infarction (MI) can be defined as condition in which, there is death or necrosis of myocardial cells. It is generally diagnosed at the end of the ambit of myocardial ischemia or acute coronary condition. Myocardial infarction occurs once myocardial ischemia oversteps a critical threshold and overcomes myocardial cellular repairing mechanism that is contrived for maintaining normal operating function and hemostasis. Ischemia at such critical threshold level for quite a longer period ends up in irreversible myocardial cell damage or in worst cases, even its death.

Classical symptoms of acute MI include fulminant chest pain (a typical radiating pain that travels from the left arm or left side of the neck to the heart), dyspnea (shortness of breath), nausea and/or vomiting, palpitation, profuse perspiration and anxiety (often called as sense of impending doom).

Statistics say that women might experience less typical symptoms as compared to that of the men, most commonly dyspnea, weakness, gastrointestinal disturbance, and tiredness. Roughly, about one quarter of all myocardial infarctions are silent i.e. they do not show any chest pain or other signs.

Most of the cases of myocardial infarction are caused due to a commotion in the vascular endothelium that is linked with unstable atherosclerotic plaques those stimulate the formation of an intracoronary thrombus that ultimately ends up in coronary artery blood flow block. If such blockage persists for longer duration (approximately 20 to 40 min) there will be irreversible myocardial cell damage and cell death. The development of atherosclerotic plaques occurs over a period of years and even to the decades.

However, the reason for initial vascular lesion that leads to the development of atherosclerotic plaques is still illusive.

Generally, it is high level of cholesterols in the bloodstream that restrict the blood flow to the cardiac tissues. Excessive body fats, high cholesterol and/or lipid profiles can be few of the main culprits for myocardial infarction. The blood vessels are nothing but the hollow pipe or tube-like cylindrical structure that allows the blood to flow flawlessly. High cholesterol levels start accumulating onto the walls of blood vessels and this, in turn, results in narrowing of the blood vessels. The blood supply is reduced and over the times, it could be cut-off for a while (ischemic conditions, where there is transient loss of blood supply). When the affected organ is heart, it is ischemic heart attack.

The damage

The severity of myocardial infarction is dependent on three main factors: the degree of the occlusion in the coronary arteries, the tenure of time of occlusions, and the presence or absence of circulation of the collateral blood. Usually, if there is more proximal the coronary occlusion, there will be more extensive chances of myocardium at risks of necrosis. Simply putting, larger the myocardial infarction, greater is the chance of death because of mechanical complications or pumping failure. If vessel occlusion is for prolonged period, there are more chances of permanent myocardial damage distal to that occlusion.

As the continuance of the occlusion will increase, the area of myocardial cell death will expand that finally extends from the endocardium to the myocardium (middle layer) and finally to the epicardium (innermost layer). The area of myocardial cell death will then spread laterally to area of watersheds or collateral perfusion and usually, after 6-8 hours have passed of coronary occlusion, most of the distal myocardium would have died. The magnitude of myocardial cell death reflects the extent of the myocardial infarction. If blood flow is successfully restored before the major damage to the myocardium, more heart muscle can be saved from the permanent damage or death and the life can be saved.

Dr. Albert Culbreath, UGA Dept. of Pathology reports on evaluation of production systems using breeding lines with resistance to leaf spot and tomato spotted wilt virus to improve net farm profits.

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Love Quotes
Love is an emotion which brings with it some unknown happiness and some unwanted tears, it fills the heart with fantasized dreams which seem to be almost true. Being in love is just so pure it brings you even more close to God. Someone rightly said “Love creates a better person out of you.”

 Here is a beautiful love quote:

“Akele baithe the kal teri yaadon ne humein ghair liya
  lab muskura rahe the par aansuon ne aankhon ko bhigo diya,
Poochha humne dil se ki unse agli mulakat kab hogi
  jo adhuri reh gayi thi woh baat kab hogi,
Dil ne kaha kuch rishte adhure hee achhe hote hain
  beshak dur sahi par inmein pyar ke ehsaas sache hote hain.”

Sometimes we fall short of words to express our heartiest feelings and sometimes the words hold the power and beauty to express our inner feelings. Quotation is one such form in which thoughts and feelings are beautifully knitted with the essence of love, romance, friendship and some also have a tinge of sadness. My site Everyday Quotes assimilates not only quotations but also inspirational sayings which are useful in our day to day life.
 
Hi Friends, This is Inderjeet, These Quotes are my own compilation… If you like to comment favourably or otherwise, please don’t hesitate… Good Luck
 
Visit Everyday Quotes for More Love Quotes
 
This blog has quotes for all, dealing with the emotions of love, romance, friendship, some also have a tinge of sadness. Inspirational sayings in this blog are useful in our day to day life.
 

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