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.     

Assessment of harm to the health in proximal hip fractures

The analysis of expert certification on isolated hip fractures has shown that some experts make errors of underestimation of harm to the health basing on the criterion "duration of health impairment". How to prevent such errors and to improve quality of forensic medical certification is proposed. Such measures will raise social value of medical forensic expertise.     

The nature of the deposit of substances in gunshot injuries from a smooth-bore hunting rifle]

Direct microscopic examinations of plain-barrel hunting gun-shot wounds may reveal on the victim's skin or clothes starch or paraffin particles or impressions thereof (a secondary shell trace). These data may evidence a specific charge of the cartridge and be used to specify the distance from which the shot was made, with an obligatory experimental shot made in each case.     

Obturation, aspiration, and inhalation in case of mechanical asphyxia

This paper aims at updating terminology employed for the characteristic of selected forms of mechanical asphyxia. The medical terms "obturation", "aspiration", and "inhalation" are not infrequently used by forensic medical experts and pathological anatomists engaged in diagnostics of mechanical asphyxia, elucidation of the mechanism of the accompanying injury and causes underlying its fatal outcome. It is argued that the use of these terms for the purpose is sometimes either unjustified or incorrect or both. To begin with, they have different meanings in different situations. Second, the mechanism of death from mechanical asphyxia is variable and associated with specific morphological features that are directly dependent not only on the route by which a foreign body enters the respiratory tract but also on its size, weight, structure, shape, properties, and aggregated state. Third, it is necessary to differentiate between inhalation of a toxicant in case of poisoning and inhalation of a gaseous substance leading to mechanical asphyxia.     

The expert assessment of gunshot entry holes in the cranial vault

Expert must evaluate with great attention the calibre of a gun from which a shot was made as expert errors are not rare. Diameter of inlet wound at the skull vault bones may significantly exceed the bullet calibre. The final decision on the calibre of a gun used to produce body injuries can be made after experimental shots at biomannequin.     

Modeling Risk for Intimate Partner Violence among Recent-Era Veteran-Partner Dyads

Using an actor-partner interdependence model, we examined whether veterans’ posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) contributed to partners’ drug abuse symptoms, whether partners’ drug abuse symptoms contributed to intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, and whether drug abuse symptoms mediated PTSS-IPV perpetration associations. Participants were recent-era veterans who participated in the Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center Post-Deployment Mental Health study. Veterans who took part at one site and their partners (N = 49 couples) completed a follow-up study in which drug abuse symptoms and IPV perpetration were assessed. Veterans’ PTSS contributed to veterans’ drug abuse symptoms. Veterans’ drug abuse symptoms were associated with their IPV perpetration (i.e., an actor effect) and their partners’ IPV perpetration (i.e., a crossover effect). Drug abuse symptoms mediated the association between veterans’ PTSS and partners’ reports of IPV perpetration. Findings suggest complex relationships between PTSS, drug abuse problems and IPV perpetration among these dyads.