[Forensic medical characteristics of fatal injuries in a traffic accident in the car cabin]. / Sudebno-meditsinskaya kharakteristika smertel'nykh povrezhdenii, prichinennykh pri dorozhno-transportnom proisshestvii v kabine legkovogo avtomobilya.

The study objective is to identify the most common fatal injuries in car accidents and observe the trends of the proportion of deaths at the scene, in an ambulance, and a hospital. We analyzed all forensic examination reports (protocols) of those who died in the car due to a traffic accident in Moscow from 2018 to 2020. Male drivers died 15 times more often than female drivers, and male passengers died twice as often as females. Most of the victims were young and middle-aged. Both drivers and passengers most commonly had traumatic brain injury with fractures of the bones of the vault and base of the skull, intracranial hemorrhages, crushing, and dislocation of the damaged brain. At the scene of traffic accidents, the cause of death was fatal bodily injuries. An increased risk of fatal traffic accidents was identified in autumn and winter.

[Statistical parallels of mortality indicators and alcohol intoxications according to forensic autopsies in Moscow]. / Statisticheskie paralleli pokazatelei smertnosti i alkogol'nykh op'yanenii po dannym sudebno-meditsinskikh vskrytii v Moskve.

The aim of work is to study dynamics of frequency of alcohol intoxications incidence revealed at forensic examination of corpses in Moscow. Frequency of intoxications incidence was determined as index making a share part of cases where ethyl alcohol was found in blood of corpses, comparing to total number of forensic autopsies. For every calendar year of the five-year period from 2014 till 2018 the comparative analysis of frequency of incidence of alcohol intoxications at concrete types of death was carried out. We defined the trend and the rate of changes of alcohol intoxications frequency. During the period from 2014 to 2017 we discovered the strong tendency to reduction of number of alcohol intoxications at violent death. In 2018 the rate of reduction decreased.

[Features of obtaining of biological material during emergency incidents with human victims, its referral and forensic chemical examination]. / Osobennosti iz"yatiya, napravleniya i provedeniya sudebno-khimicheskoi ekspertizy biologicheskogo materiala pri chrezvychainykh situatsiyakh s chelovecheskimi zhertvami.

In this article, we consider features of the referral of biological material and assessment of medical and legal chemical researches at emergencies of technogenic character, plane crashes, the fires with the numerous human victims. Practical recommendations on obtaining of biological material for a research on volatile organic compounds, including ethyl alcohol and its metabolites, volatile products of burning, including monoxide of carbon and cyanides are made. Features and the recommended order of conducting judicial and chemical examination at emergencies are designated.

[Morphological markers of liver function in alcohol intoxication]. / Morfologicheskie markery funktsional'noi aktivnosti pecheni pri alkogol'noi intoksikatsii.

The aim of this study was to find additional diagnostic markers characterizing the functional state of the liver to substantiate the cause of death from ethanol poisoning. A total of 95 deaths from acute ethanol poisoning and 15 deaths from craniocerebral injury were studied. Signs of steatosis, chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis were taken into account in histological examination of the liver. The histochemical activity of ethano-locking enzymes was determined in structurally functional zones of the acini: portal pathways (Zone 1), liver beams (Zone 2) and central veins (Zone 3). Quantitative indices characterizing functional-metabolic activity of the liver during acute ethanol poisoning were obtained.

[The morphological characteristic of the cerebellar cortex in the case of a burning injury]. / Morfologicheskaia kharakteristika kory mozzhechka pri ozhogovoi travme.

The objective of the present study was the development of the additional forensic medical criteria for the diagnostics of the intravitality and prescription of the burning injury making use of the morphological changes in the cerebellar cortex. A total of 82 cases of the death from the second- and third a, b-degree flame burns in 63 men and 19 women at the age from 20 to 65 years were available for the analysis. The condition of the cerebellar cortex was evaluated within 0 to 72 hours after the trauma had been inflicted. The routine histological staining technique using hematoxylin and eosin were employed as well as the Nisslin staining carried out in the combination with the immunohistochemical reaction based on the application of the antibodies against the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). In the case of death during the acute period after the burning injury, the histological study revealed a characteristic complex of the morphological features including the acute swelling of neurons, the increasing expansion of perivascular and pericellular spaces, as swell as hyperoxyphilia of microglia. The astrocytes of cortical II-III layers proved highly sensitive to tissue hypoxia as appears from their reaction with anti-GFAP antibodies. It is concluded that the results of the evaluation of the blood supply of the cerebral hemisphere cortex with the use of immunohistochemical methods may be helpful as the additional criteria for the purpose of forensic medical documentation of intravitality and prescription of the burning injury.

[The HIV-associated diseases encountered in the practice of forensic medical autopsies]. / VICh-assotsiirovannye zabolevaniia v praktike sudebno-meditsinskikh vskrytii.

The present article deals with the problems pertaining to the forensic medical diagnostics of the HIV-associated pathological conditions taking into consideration the materials available from the Moscow City Centre for AIDS Prophylaxis and Control with special reference to the number and structure of the diagnosed HIV-associated diseases. We undertook the analysis of co-morbid HIV/AIDS causes of violent and sudden deaths documented at the Bureau of Forensic Medical Expertise of the Moscow Health Department during the period from 2013 till 2016. The study revealed the tendency toward a rise in the number of deaths from the HIV-associated infections including tuberculosis, pneumonias, chronic immunodeficiency conditions refractory to the treatment, and from malignant neoplasms. A peculiar feature of the aforementioned period was the increased age of the deceased subjects. In the cases of violent deaths, the HIV-associated conditions were diagnosed as the concomitant diseases, with the markedly predominant ones being acute drug and alcohol intoxication, injures, and attempts at suicide. The available results of the studies give evidence of the necessity and importance of the cooperative work of the specialists for the further improvement of forensic medical diagnostics and monitoring of HIV-associated conditions.

[The characteristic of protein biosynthesis in brain neurons with chronic alcohol intoxication]. / Kharakteristika biosinteza belka v neironakh golovnogo mozga pri khronicheskoi alkogol'noi intoksikatsii.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the possibilities for the use of the changes in the AgNOR staining patterns in the neurons of the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) for the purposes of the medical differential diagnostics of the cases of death from chronic alcohol intoxication. We elucidated the characteristics of the activity of protein biosynthesis including the number and the area of the nucleoli in the nuclei of the neurons of the individuals who had died from chronic alcohol intoxication (n=20) in comparison with the subjects of the control group (n=13). To reveal the morphological structures associated with protein biosynthesis in the nucleoli of the serotoninergic neurons of the dorsal raphe nucleus in the brain, the histological preparations were stained with the use of the silver-staining technique for nucleolar organizer regions (AgNOR). The comparative statistical analysis of the results thus obtained with the calculated confidence coefficients was carried out. The aggregated analysis of all the dorsal raphe subnuclei revealed the impairment of the AgNOR staining characteristics in the neurons of the subjects who had died from chronic alcohol intoxication in comparison with those of the subjects comprising the control group. It is concluded that the results of the study can be used for differential diagnostics of deaths from chronic alcohol intoxication and other causes.

[Alcohol-associated mortality in Russia (based on the materials for the period from 2011 till 2016)]. / Alkogol'-assotsiirovannaia smertnost' v Rossii (po materialam 2011-2016 gg.).

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the frequency of alcoholic drunkenness documented during forensic medical expertises (investigations) of the corpses carried out in this country throughout the period from 2011 till 2016. The investigations were conducted with the use of medical statistics methods by calculating the fractional difference, dynamics, and rates of detection of the cases of alcoholic intoxication depending on the cause of death. The study has demonstrated the high frequency of the cases of alcoholic drunkenness revealed during forensic medical expertises (investigations) of the corpses that amounted to 30.5% [15, 16]. The total number of the corpses examined in 2016 was 8.6% higher than in 2011. The frequency of the documented cases of alcoholic drunkenness during the same period decreased by 19.7%. The frequency of the documented cases of alcoholic drunkenness in the cases of violent death was 2.8 times that in the cases of death from various diseases (52.8 and 19.0% respectively). The enhanced frequency of alcoholic drunkenness in relation to the number of the conducted forensic medical expertises was documented in the cases of death by drowning and from hypothermia whereas the lowest frequency of alcoholic intoxication was recorded for the corpses of the people who had died from malignant tumours and diseases of the nervous system. Various regions of Russia differed in terms of the frequency of alcoholic drunkenness recorded among the recently deceased people.

[Monitoring HIV infection morbidity in Moscow based on the data of forensic medical expertise].

The objective of the present study was the retrospective analysis of the cases of rapid diagnostics of the HIV status of the corpses referred to the pathologo-anatomical departments of Moscow. The standard statistical methods were used for this purpose. The structure of H IV infections is described in terms of age and sex of the affected subjects as well as stages of the disease. It was shown that cooperation of forensic medical services with AIDS control and prevention centres is of primary importance for the substantiation of the diagnosis, improvement of the quality of the relevant statistical information about the causes of death, enhancement of the objective value of epldemiological data on the occurrence of HIV infection and HIV-associated diseases in the city of Moscow.

Induction of NO-synthase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase in neurons of human cerebellar cortex during chronic alcohol intoxication.

Induction of NO-synthase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase in Purkinje cells, basket-like neurons, and microvascular endothelium of human cerebellar cortex was detected in patients with chronic alcohol intoxication. It was hypothesized that the neuromodulating effect of NO is associated with mechanisms protecting neurons from toxic effects of ethanol and acetaldehyde.