[Not Available]. / [The life-work and heart of Peter Beron in historico-medical and patomorhological aspect]

The authors investigation the life-work and health of the well-known Bulgarian writer of the Bulgarian national revival (1799-1871), with complex methods. During the summer in 1998 they made investigation and represervation of the heart of Peter Beron, which was preserved in the museum of town Kotel (Museum of the writers of the Bulgarian national revival). They made historical reconstruction of his teeth condition. The investigation was devoted to two hundredth anniversary of doctor Peter Beron.

A unique case of naturally occurring mummification of human brain tissue.

When skulls and bones were exhumed from a mass grave in Bulgaria and subjected to medicolegal examination they were found to originate from 39 humans aged 36-60 years old who had been buried approximately 45-50 years ago. Solid structures which strongly resembled shrunken human brain tissue were found inside 2 intact skulls. Among other bones 5 similar structures were found one of which was an almost entirely preserved human brain, and the others were fragments from different regions of the human brain. Samples of these structures were immersed in 15% aqueous glycerol solution to soften and were examined by light and electron microscopy. Samples of this material and of fresh human brain were subjected to elementary atomic spectral analysis. These complex studies indicated the samples to be naturally mummified human brain tissue and that this process had occurred due to specific conditions within the cranial cavities after burial.

[Age-related structural changes in the stimuli-conducting system of the human heart]. / Altersbedingte Strukturveränderungen in dem Reizleitungssystem des menschlichen Herzens.

The cardionectors of 32 patients who had died at different ages without clinical or morphological indications of heart disease were examined. The autopsy was performed 8 to 24 h after death. Histochemical and histomorphometric tests were used to detect age-related changes in the conduction system (sino-auricular and AV nodes). The proportion of connective tissue increases in the cardionector and diminishes in the muscle tissue with increasing age, the changes being more pronounced in the sino-auricular than in the AV node. In the age group over 60, for instance, the proportion of connective tissue by volume is over 120% higher, in the sino -auricular node and 90% higher in the AV node than in the age group under 10. The correlation coefficient between age and proportion of connective tissue is also higher in the sino-auricular node (0.65) than in the AV node (0.53).

[Quantitative K and Na levels in different parts of the heart in cases of sudden death from coronary disease, acquired heart valve defects and violent death]. / Kolichestveno sudurzhanie na K i Na v razlichnite uchastutsi na surtseto v sluchai na skoropostizhna smurt ot koronarna bolest, pridobiti klapni porotsi na surtseto i nasilstvena smurt

The quantitative potassium and sodium contents in the separate regions of the heart and m. rectus abdominis in cases of sudden and violent death were investigated. The disturbances of the electrolyte metabolism of potassium and sodium were established to be the earliest changes in coronary disease (acute coronary insufficiency resulting from functional disturbances of the coronary circulation and myocardial infarction). The decrease of the quantitative potassium contents and sodium increase in myocardium depend on the ischemia duration and the stage of the myocardial lesion. The highest potassium decrease was observed in the left ventricle and right auricle. Not very high but even decrease of potassium and sodium contents in the separate heart regions was observed in the deceased by electrocution and strangulation, the decrease being most negligible in the deceased by electrocution. The changes observed in potassium and sodium contents are not pathognomic signs of coronary disease. Only the sharp, focal decrease of the contents of those element is a reliable sign of myocardial infarction.