Souvenir knife: a retained transcranial knife blade

Upon necroscopic examination of a homeless male found comatose in the street and pronounced dead at a medical center 12 hours later, a sharp tip of a knife lodged in the right parietal region of his skull was incidentally discovered. The blade transected the diploe and penetrated the cerebral cortex. Subsequent police investigation revealed that this was the remnant of a stabbing attempt on his life several months prior to his death. The cause of death was determined to be unrelated to the metallic blade fragment, thus making it a truly incidental and rare finding of a "souvenir knife." Nevertheless, since the injury sustained in the stabbing was potentially life threatening, the investigation into that assault was reopened.A case report is presented, along with a brief review of the literature on "souvenir objects."     

Mandibular fracture following stab injury with a knife

Stab injuries of the face accompanied by fractures of the jaws are rare. The report deals with the case of a young man, who suffered a penetrating stab injury to the cheek and fracture of the mandible in an assault. The forensic questions to be answered were if the findings were compatible with a stab and subsequent fracture, if one of the confiscated instruments could have been the causative weapon and if the injury had to be assessed as life-threatening. Both the soft and the hard tissue injury confirmed the assumption that they were caused by a stab. It was not possible, however, to assign the injury to a specific knife from the submitted exhibits on the basis of the clinical findings. In the discussion the serious nature of stab injuries in the facial region is emphasized.     

Puncture wounds caused by glass mistaken for with stab wounds with a knife

Three cases are presented where fatal puncture wounds caused by broken glass were very similar to stab wounds inflicted by a knife with a single-edged blade. Thus, all three cases caused a murder investigation to be initiated. It could only be determined that these wounds had been caused by glass after a detailed forensic autopsy. In two of the three cases, the only evidence for this was the identification of glass fragments in the wounds. The importance of X-ray examinations is underlined because modern glass in common use is radiopaque. Glass fragments lodged in the wounds can reduce the loss of blood and thus, prolong the capacity to act despite severe injuries.     

Conversations with Russian mafiosi

Open interviews and unplanned conversations with criminals are an important part of ethnographic research in criminology. This paper presents an analysis of conversations with members of Russian criminal groups. An attempt is made to explore the value of these informal interviews, the danger of informal contacts with criminals, and the reliability of the information received.

Similar skin lesions in victim and perpetrator caused by a knife with a serrated blade

Reported in this paper is an attack of two adolescents on a man who was killed in the fight, with several kitchen knives being used, including two with grooved and wave-grooved blades. One of the offenders held the victim tight from behind and was injured by his attacking accomplice++. A grid mark on the left side of the victim's face and the left forearm of the second offender in the back supported the assumption of a knife with simple wave profile. Skin lesions of finer structure below the left ear and on the left forearm of the victim suggested involvement of a smaller kitchen knife with groove-milled wave profile. Offender-victim position and course of offence were verified and confirmed by evaluation of these specific findings.     

The Lessons of a Russian

It appears that immediately after the Central Electoral Commission totalled up the preliminary results, postelection fever and hysteria broke out, embracing not only politicians and journalists but a portion of the public as well, and that very widespread myths took hold, serving as the base on which public consciousness has attempted to adapt to a new political reality. A calm professional analysis now shows, however, that much of what happened to us simply could not have occurred otherwise, that clear roots and obvious causes existed. There is much we simply did not want to notice or to acknowledge, while attempting to pass off the desirable for the real and reality for a myth. But timidity of the mind has taken its toll, and the time has now come to draw some lessons.     

A comparison of fatal with non-fatal knife injuries in Edinburgh

Assault using a knife is a common problem in the United Kingdom. Between February 1992 and December 1996, 120 individuals died or received hospital treatment in Edinburgh after being assaulted with a knife. Twenty individuals (17%) died as a result of their injuries. Comparison of the survivors with non-survivors revealed both groups to have similar age and sex distributions, but those who died had significantly more severe injuries when scored according to the Abbreviated Injury Scale. Eight individuals died of unsurvivable chest injuries at the scene of the attack and of the remainder, only five reached hospital with signs of life. Analysis of hospital treatment using TRISS methodology revealed there to be two unexpected survivors and no unexpected deaths. The risk of death appears to depend mostly upon injuries sustained and also to a lesser extent upon other factors such as alcohol consumption and the presence of a bystander capable and willing to request emergency medical assistance. There does not appear to be much potential to save lives by improving hospital treatment for those assaulted with a knife in Edinburgh. Instead, greater focus needs to be placed upon rapid transfer to hospital and upon restricting the possession and use of knives.     

Forensic radiology with cross-section modalities: spiral CT evaluation of a knife wound to the aorta

We describe the extraordinary case of a penetrating knife wound to the aorta. The localization of the tip of the knife was documented with a Computed Tomography examination and subsequent two- and three-dimensional reconstruction. Based on this case report, the utilization of computed tomography in forensic science and its potential for vizualization are discussed.     

Biomechanics of knife stab attacks

In the past it has been assumed that the fingerprints of women tend to have "fine" epidermal ridge detail while men have "coarse" ridge detail. Past studies have examined this hypothesis but have not clearly demonstrated if observed differences are statistically significant. The goal of this study is to determine if women have significantly higher ridge density, hence finer epidermal ridge detail, than men by counting ridges that occur within a well defined space. If significant gender differences do exist then the likelihood of inferring gender from given ridge densities will be explored. This study focused on 400 randomly picked ten-print cards representing 400 subjects. The demographic composition of this sample population represents 100 Caucasian males, 100 African American males, 100 Caucasian females and 100 African American females all within the age range of 18-67. Results show that women tend to have a significantly higher ridge density than men and that this trend is upheld in subjects of both Caucasian and African American descent (F = 81.96, P < 0.001). Application of Bayes' theorem suggests that a given fingerprint possessing a ridge density of 11 ridges/25 mm2 or less is most likely to be of male origin. Likewise a fingerprint having a ridge density of 12 ridges/25 mm2 or greater is most likely to be of female origin, regardless of race.     

The Russian Federation Needs a New Criminal Code

The 1996 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation [CC RF] is very incomplete, as is particularly evident in many of its statutes. For instance, Article 2, Part 1, in defining the purpose of the code, cites the social values safeguarded by criminal law in a sequence corresponding to their relative importance in the Constitution of the Russian Federation: human rights and freedoms, property, public order, public safety, the environment, and the constitutional order of the Russian Federation.     

氩氦刀治疗肝转移癌引发医疗纠纷1例

氩氦超导手术系统 (简称氩氦刀 )是一门新兴的具有微创特征的外科技术 ,其以安全性高、并发症少、治疗范围广、治疗过程易于监测及疗效可靠而被推广。本文就一氩氦刀治疗肝癌致死引发医疗纠纷的案例进行讨论 ,分析引发医疗纠纷的原因 ,以期为临床避免同类事件的发生提供借鉴。案例资料某男 ,69岁。因右肾卵泡细胞癌术后 3年 ,双肺及肝转移 1年 ,伴头昏、乏力 1月余入院。入院第 3天 ,在B超引导下行肝脏转移病灶氩氦刀治疗 ,手术临近结束时 ,患者突然出现血压下降 (75/ 60mmHg) ,随即给予升压药、输血等抢救 ,血压无回升 ,考虑为肝癌破裂出…     

National-Ethnic Conflicts and the Formation of a Russian State

From the moment of the collapse of the USSR, the central problem of Russian politics has been the question of the formation of a state system. This question is not only of domestic but also of international significance. Russia's status and role in contemporary world affairs depends on what kind of state it becomes.     

Russian Citizens Await a Radical Reform of the Police

The public opinion survey of St. Petersburgers reveals that most of them demand the replacement of MVD leadership, beat cops, and traffic police.     

转型时期俄罗斯的陪审制度

陪审制度作为司法民主的重要标志,其具体形态和兴衰,与一个国家的政治民主程度息息相关。一百多年来俄罗斯经历了三次社会巨变,陪审制度也在巨变中几经沉浮,自十九世纪六十年代沙俄时期借鉴英国法创建陪审制,到十月革命后改行人民陪审员制度,再到俄罗斯联邦时期陪审制的重建,三个阶段的兴衰都与巨大的社会变革紧密相连,而在制度层面上又影响着社会变革,其利弊得失,见仁见智。沙俄时期的陪审制度作为沙俄制度的组成部分曾受到当时社会各界的抨击,但新时期的俄罗斯改革者们却通过反思历史,对陪审制度价值重新认识,将其视为克服人民陪审员制度弊端和推进司法改革的灵丹妙药。而在实践中,面对来自社会各方面的批评,以及陪审制度在全球范围内日益式微的趋势,其在当代俄罗斯的命运还只能是个未知数。     

氩氦刀治疗肝转移癌引发医疗纠纷1例

氩氦超导手术系统(简称氩氦刀)是一门新兴的具有微创特征的外科技术,其以安全性高、并发症少、治疗范围广、治疗过程易于监测及疗效可靠而被推广.本文就一氩氦刀治疗肝癌致死引发医疗纠纷的案例进行讨论,分析引发医疗纠纷的原因,以期为临床避免同类事件的发生提供借鉴.