Characteristics of morphological manifestations of anaphylactic shock in response to the administration of pharmaceutical preparations encountered in the practice of forensic medical expert-histologist

The authors report the results of a forensic medical investigation of 6 cases of death associated with the administration of pharmaceutical products documented by forensic medical experts of the Russian Centre of Forensic Medical Expertise. The results of the study are compared with the clinical data and summarized using the methods of tanatogenetic analysis. The following main clinical variants of iatrogenic anaphylactic shock (IAS) are distinguished: bronchospastic IAS (n = 1), asphyxic IAS (n = 1), hemodynamic IAS (n = 3), and combined (bronchospastic plus hemodynamic) IAS (n = 1). The signs of all these variants are described allowing for their diagnostics and differentiation diagnostics. These data can be used for the purpose of forensic medical diagnostics and elucidation of the mechanisms of tanatogenesis.     

The transnational political criminal nexus of trafficking in women from Ukraine

Throughout the 1990s, tens of thousands of Ukrainian women were trafficked into prostitution. This phenomenon was researched by collecting data through interviews and surveys in Ukraine, media reports, governmental and non-governmental (NGO) reports on trafficking, and participant observation in conferences. Trafficking occurs because of a transnational political criminal nexus, which is comprised of individual criminals, organized crime groups, corrupt police and governmental officials, foreign governments, and NGOs. Traffickers' methods of operation are flexible and adapted to ease of recruiting victims, cooperation of corrupt officials, risk of being detected, and profit. In destination countries, victims are controlled by confiscation of travel and identity documents, debt bondage, threats, and violence. Political components of the nexus include foreign governments that support NGOs that ignore the views of civil society in Ukraine, and instead, support the foreign governments' positions on trafficking and prostitution, resulting in a corruption of civil society. Some foreign governments also support changes in laws that enable a legal flow of women into their sex industries.     

Trafficking in women and children for purposes of sexual exploitation: The criminological aspect

Trafficking in women and children for purposes of sexual exploitation increases annually, generating an estimated 7 billion to 12 billion dollars a year. Although Ukraine supports international initiatives opposing trafficking and imposes criminal penalties for those responsible, only a few non-governmental organizations have been successful in searching for and rehabilitating victims. Government instability, poor public health, and high unemployment rates in Ukraine distract government resources that could be directed at the trafficking problem and reducing the hopelessness of many Ukrainian women who turn to the sex industry for work. The goal of this study was to examine legislation and law enforcement practices in Ukraine that have been unsuccessful thus far, and suggests meaningful prevention possibilities and intervention opportunities.     

Detection of group-specific antigens of the ABO system in fish blood

The subject of the case study was blood of 8 fish species. It was examined within the ABO system. 68 tests of stains of fish blood mixed with human blood were made. It was shown as possible to differentiate between human blood and fish blood in mixed stains.     

Pathology of the heart conducting system in the thanatogenesis of sudden death from alcoholic cardiomyopathy and coronary heart disease

The present literature review is focused on the contribution of various pathological changes in the heart conducting system to the tanatogenesis of sudden death from alcoholic cardiomyopathy and coronary heart disease viewed from the perspective of a forensic medical expert. The currently available data on the disorders in the heart conducting system in the subjects with these diseases are presented. Various aspects of pathology of the heart conducting system are considered in the modern and historical contexts. The prospects for the further investigations into the tanatogenic mechanisms of sudden death by reason of alcoholic cardiomyopathy and coronary heart disease are outlined.     

Forensic and medical evaluation of vascular malformations of the brain in cranio-cerebral trauma

A classification of vascular malformations (VM) is defined in the article including a differentiation between their macroscopic and histological variations; an independently-authors-observed case of arterial-and-venous malformation (AVM) in a minor cranial-cerebral trauma (CCT) is described. Published data reflecting the forensic-and-medical value of AVM and cavernous malformations as well as of telangectasias and of arterial-and-venous fistulas in minor head traumas are analyzed. Issues of the forensic-and-medical expertise of VM and remote consequences of CCT are under consideration. VM are assessed in CCT patients with epilepsy and other pathologies. An algorithm of the forensic medical expertise of VM is suggested.