The investigation of the density of human hair in the forensic medical expert assessment of its similarity

Principally new, simple and objective method for investigation of human hair density is suggested. Hair identity in relation to a concrete person can be confirmed or excluded by statistical processing of the results obtained.     

Reading the novel Stone Dreams on the 100th anniversary of the “Great Catastrophe”

The article analyzes the Stone Dreams novel by the famous Azeri writer Akram Aylisli. Published in the Russian literary journal Druzhba Narodov (Friendship of the People) in December 2012, it condemned anti-Armenian pogroms in the republic and in the cities of Baku and Sumgait in particular at the end of the 1980s. The novel also refers to the massacre committed by Turkish troops on Christmas of 1919 in the midst of the Armenian Genocide, 1915–1923. At that time, Turkish commander Adif-bey ordered the mass execution of the Armenian population in the author’s home village Aylis (Agulis in Armenian). Almost all Armenians were killed, with the exception of a few young girls who by the late 1980s had turned into gray-haired women. The writer knew them when he was a young man, and the whole of his narrative was based on the stories that were told by the older people in the village. The novel caused mass outrage in Azerbaijan, for allegedly being one-sided. This included mass demonstrations in front of the author’s house and the public burning of his books.     

Histochemical changes in the hypothalamus, hypophysis, and adrenal glands observed in ethanol poisoning

A comprehensive morphological-and-histochemical study of neuroendocrinal internals in cases of ethanol poisonings was undertaken. Actual forensic medical materials were used (62 cadavers) to make morphometry examinations of the hypothesis and adrenal glands. Besides, the distribution of alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase was investigated in the mediatory differential brain sections, i.e. cerebellum, locus coeruleus, dorsal raphe nucleus, hypothalamus and adrenal glands. A differential distribution of ethanol-oxidizing enzymes as well as their changes in ethanol lethal poisoning were established; additionally, a variety of morphological signs were defined, which enable the differential diagnosis of a death reason in acute alcoholic intoxication.     

The activity of ethanol- and aldehyde-oxidizing enzymes of the brain in ethanol intoxication

The distributed activity of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADG) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (AldDG) was histochemically studied in neurons of locus coeruleus, nuclei of raphe, substantia nigra and in cerebellar cortex in death or intoxication of ethanol (IE). The enzymatic activity was found to be changing depending on whether there was IE or not. Both higher ADG and lower AldDG were registered in the examined brain sections, which differ by mediatory structure of the neuronic centers. The detected regularities can be used within the forensic medical diagnosis of IE.     

Forensic medical diagnostics of acute and chronic alcohol intoxication

The principal characteristics and results of experimental studies on the problem of acute and chronic alcohol intoxication are presented. The mechanisms of toxic action of ethanol and acetaldehyde are considered with special reference to the comprehensive qualitative estimation of these toxicants and their pathomorphological effects in the target organs. The influence of ethanol-oxidizing enzyme systems in the brain on the development of alcohol tolerance is illustrated. The mechanisms of hormonal regulation via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the case of exogenous alcoholemia are considered. The dependence of pathological morphological changes in the brain, hypophysis, and adrenal glands on the stage and severity of alcoholic intoxication has been elucidated. Criteria for the morphological and histochemical evaluation of the degree of alcohol-induced lesions and the severity of abstinence syndrome have been developed. The role of alcohol effects in tanatogenesis associated with alcohol-induced diseases is discussed.     

The possible use of the dielectric indices of human hair in forensic medical expertise]

Method of measuring dielectric parameters of human hair was developed. It was shown that values of relative dielectric permeability of hair may serve as objective criteria in the course of determination of their similarity.     

Ethanol-oxidizing enzymes of the adrenal glands in acute alcoholic intoxication

Complex morphological-and-histological examinations of the adrenal glands were performed on actual forensic-medical samples in acute alcoholic intoxication (AAI), i.e. 107 death cases of men and women, aged 17 to 60, due to mechanical trauma, lethal ethanol intoxication and somatic complications of chronic alcoholism. A differentiated distribution of ethanol-oxidizing enzymes was defined, i.e. of alcohol-dehydrogenase and acetyl-dehydrogenase in the structural-and-functional zones of the adrenal cortex and medullary substance. A differential activity of enzymes was established that correlated with the level of exogenous alcoholemia. Sets of morphological signs related with examinations of the adrenal glands, which enabled a differential diagnosis of death causes in AAI, were specified.