Evaluation of the severity of harm to health by gastrointestinal injury caused by blunt trauma

A total of 226 forensic medical conclusions in traumas of the gastrointestinal tract with blunt objects, 111 of these with lethal outcomes, are analyzed. The types of injuries, clinical course, medical care, complications, flaws in medical care and their consequences, and pathomorphology of the injury were analyzed. Criteria of harm inflicted to health are determined and a table of qualifying signs is suggested for cases with blunt injuries of the gastrointestinal system, with consideration for the type of injury.     

Determination of heavy metals in some human organs, tissue, and fluids under normal conditions

A table has been created, presenting normal levels of heavy metals (Hg, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, Ni, Zn, Sn, Tl, Ag) in human biological media. In contrast to other handbooks, the authors use the normal values derived on the basis of their own investigations at the spectral laboratory of Bureau of Forensic Medical Expert Evaluations, Public Health Committee of Moscow and published reports. Comparative analysis was carried out for each element in human organs, tissues, and urine, which will facilitate expert work. Every laboratory engaged in expert evaluations and analysis in cases with suspected poisoning with heavy metal salts is to have reference values of these elements' concentrations in human organs and tissues obtained in this very laboratory on available equipment with consideration for specific features of its biogeochemical region.     

Hypophyseal damage in persons with cerebrocranial injuries and who died in the hospital

The pituitary was examined in patients with craniocerebral injuries who died in hospital in various periods after treatment. Control group consisted of victims died at the site of accident. The results indicate the significance of examining the pituitary in craniocerebral injuries for the diagnosis of thanatogenesis, particularly in patients died in hospital. Causes of traumatic changes in the organ were determined, highly incident in the practice of forensic medical experts: directly during injury, as a result of skull bone fractures; during development of dislocation syndrome and in disorders of blood and lymph circulation in the brain matter; resultant from augmenting traumatic edema of the brain.     

Detecting Deception in Children's Testimony: Factfinders' Abilities to Reach the Truth in Open Court and Closed-Circuit Trials

This study examined the influence of closed-circuit television (CCTV) on jurors' abilities to detect deception in children's testimony. Children ages 7–9 individually played games and made a video movie with a male confederate. In the guilty condition, stickers were placed on exposed body parts (i.e., the child's arm, toes, and bellybutton). In the not-guilty and deception conditions, stickers were placed on the child's clothing rather than on bare skin. Approximately 3 weeks later, mock jurors recruited from the community viewed child participants testify either in a traditional courtroom setting or via one-way CCTV. The mock jurors responded to questions about the child witness and the defendant as well as deliberated to reach a verdict. Children in the deception condition were asked to testify as if the stickers had been placed on exposed body parts rather than on their clothing. Predeliberation, jurors were less likely to convict when a child testified in the deception condition as opposed to the guilty condition. These differences disappeared following deliberation. There was no support for the notion that jurors reach the truth better when children testify in open court versus via CCTV. Implications for jurors' abilities to reach the truth are discussed.     

Clinico-morphological parameters of heroin abuse and pathology connected with it

Morphological manifestations of narcomania in heroin users are described. Diseases associated with heroin narcomania and causes of death of heroin users are presented. Morphological manifestations at the site of injections and inflammatory reactions in parenchymatous organs are characterized. The authors pay special attention to the productive inflammation which can serve as one of the signs that confirm narcomania in cases with parenteral injections of crude heroin. The authors refer the granulomas to toxic allergic form of granulomatous hypersensitive inflammation.     

Glucose and lactate in vitreous humor compared with the determination of fructosamine for the postmortem diagnosis of diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic illness responsible for a great number of deaths. In postmortem diagnosis, because of the difficulty involved in interpreting blood glucose levels and relatively nonspecific pathologic features, biochemical markers in vitreous humor are useful. The aim of this study was to compare the results obtained for the combined determination of lactate and glucose with fructosamine levels recorded in the vitreous humor of two diagnostic groups (one diabetic and the other nondiabetic). The authors intended to ascertain the capacity of different markers measured in vitreous humor to diagnose diabetes mellitus. Fifty-one cadavers (mean age, 58.7 years; standard deviation, 17.09) were studied. The mean postmortem interval was 16.4 hours (standard deviation, 9.05). Cases were assigned to two diagnostic groups according to whether they were previously diagnosed as either diabetic or nondiabetic. Statistically significant differences for glucose, fructosamine, and the sum values of glucose and lactate were found between the two diagnostic groups. The highest levels were obtained in the group of cases with a previous diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. After the comparison of receiver operating characteristic curves, the sum values of glucose and lactate in vitreous humor is a better predictor of antemortem diabetes mellitus than the fructosamine.     

GHB. Club drug or confusing artifact?

GHB can be produced either as a pre- or postmortem artifact. The authors describe two cases in which GHB was detected and discuss the problem of determining the role of GHB in each case. In both cases, NaF-preserved blood and urine were analyzed using gas chromatography. The first decedent, a known methamphetamine abuser, had GHB concentrations similar to those observed with subanesthetic doses (femoral blood, 159 microg/ml; urine, 1100 microg/ml). Myocardial fibrosis, in the pattern associated with stimulant abuse, was also evident. The second decedent had a normal heart but higher concentrations of GHB (femoral blood, 1.4 mg/ml; right heart, 1.1 mg/ml; urine, 6.0 mg/ml). Blood cocaine and MDMA levels were 420 and 730 ng/ml, respectively. Both decedents had been drinking and were in a postabsorptive state, with blood to vitreous ratios of less than 0.90. If NaF is not used as a preservative, GHB is produced as an artifact. Therefore, the mere demonstration of GHB does not prove causality or even necessarily that GHB was ingested. Blood and urine GHB concentrations in case 1 can be produced by a therapeutic dose of 100 mg, and myocardial fibrosis may have had more to do with the cause of death than GHB. The history in case 2 is consistent with the substantial GHB ingestion, but other drugs, including ethanol, were also detected. Ethanol interferes with GHB metabolism, preventing GHB breakdown, raising blood concentrations, and making respiratory arrest more likely. Combined investigational, autopsy, and toxicology data suggest that GHB was the cause of death in case 2 but not case 1. Given the recent discovery that postmortem GHB production occurs even in stored antemortem blood samples (provided they were preserved with citrate) and the earlier observations that de novo GHB production in urine does not occur, it is unwise to draw any inferences about causality unless (1) blood and urine are both analyzed and found to be elevated; (2) blood is collected in NaF-containing tubes; and (3) a detailed case history is obtained.     

Blood carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide concentrations in the fatalities of fire and non-fire associated civil aviation accidents, 1991-1998

To evaluate pathophysiological significance of post-mortem urinary myoglobin levels in determining the cause of death, we investigated 210 forensic autopsy cases, partially in comparison with serum levels. Post-mortem serum myoglobin levels were extraordinary high in most cases possibly due to post-mortem change. Urinary myoglobin levels did not correlate with the serum levels, showing possible post-mortem elevation in cases of a prolonged post-mortem period over 48h. A high (>1000 ng/ml), moderate (100-1000 ng/ml), slight (50-100 ng/ml) and not significant (<50 ng/ml) elevation of urinary myoglobin were observed in 26, 43, 31 and 110 cases, respectively. Half the highly elevated cases were those with a survival time over 24h. In cases of minor muscle injury such as head trauma, elevation of urinary myoglobin level was closely related to longer survival. In acute/subacute deaths with a post-mortem interval within 48h, a significant difference was observed in relation to the blood carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) levels of fire victims: myoglobinuria over 100 ng/ml was more frequently and markedly observed in cases with COHb below 60% than over 60%, suggesting muscle damage in fatal burns. Similar elevation was observed in heat stroke victims, and also in some cases of acute and subacute death from polytrauma, asphyxiation, drowning, electricity and spontaneous cerebral bleeding, but not in myocardial infarction. Thus, it was suggested that high post-mortem urinary myoglobin levels in acute and subacute death cases may be a possible indicator of antemortem massive skeletal muscle damage as well as exertional muscle hyperactivity or convulsive disorders associated with hypoxia.