Official Publication of the International Academy of Legal Medicine It is the aim of the International Journal of Legal Medicine to improve the scientific armamentarium necessary for the elucidation of crime and for related forensic applications at a high level of evidential proof. The subject will be dealt with in:    Review articles tracing development in specific areas and providing up-to-date analysis of them    Original articles discussing recent research results of a high standard    Case reports describing interesting and exceptional cases    Population data papers    Short Communications discussing research results on a maximum of 4 pages    Letters to the Editors, in which the readers have the opportunity of expressing their comments on new results reported or indeed on other matters, and    Technical notes, which appear in a section originally created for rapid publication of data in the dynamic field of DNA analysis. Other fields have already made valuable contributions, however, and of course these are also welcome. This section is designed to provide a forum for discussion of innovative protocols and methodologies: papers submitted for publication have should provide clear and concise information on the advantages over existing methods and/or new data. DNA manuscripts can also deal with short validation studies, population data, quality control studies, etc. Manuscripts should not exceed 6 typescript pages in length; much shorter contributions are also very welcome.    Forensic imaging related papers will be considered if directly related to forensic medicine issues. Either forensic clinical or postmortem imaging papers using X-ray, computed tomography, magnetic resonance tomography, sonography, 3D-surface scanning, angiography techniques or other technology may be submitted whereas papers related digital image forgery issues will not be considered within the International Journal of Legal Medicine.  The International Journal of Legal Medicine will continue to be a regular source of essential information in the areas of: - Forensic pathology, including sudden death, thanatology, and demonstration of vital reactions - Clinical forensic pathology, including such topics as non-accidental injury and rape - Forensic haemogenetics, with special emphasis on the recent advances in DNA technology and PCR - Forensic toxicology, as it relates for example to alcohol and drug addiction, and recent technology - Traffic medicine, with special reference to reconstruction, causal connections, and medical complications.