[The morphological features of a 20 mcl blood stain].

The objective of this work was to study blood stains of small volume (20 mcl). It was shown that the fall of a blood droplet from the height of 5 to 200 cm at the angle of 90 degrees on a smooth non-absorbing surface (glass) leaves round stains. Their size increases with increasing height of the fall. The character of the stain edges also depends on the height of the fall. The edges are even when the drops fall from the height of less than 20 cm but become wave-shaped with blunt projections when the height of the fall is increased to 30-90 cm. The fall from the height of 100 to 200 cm gives rise to the stains with the scalloped edges having the rectangular or nearly rectangular protrusions. From one to three additional Plateau drops can be observed near the main one.

[The modern non-invasive methods for the evaluation of the age-specific changes in the skin].

The present review article is designed to analyse the current state-of-the-art in the field of diagnostics of the main morphological and functional parameters characterizing the involutional processes in the facial skin. The possibilities of the practical application of the available non-invasive methods for the evaluation of the age of the living people in the framework of the forensic medical identification expertise are considered. The main problems and vectors of the further development of methodological approaches to the determination of the biological age based on the results of the studies of skin and its appendages are discussed.