Forensic pathological characteristics of explosion trauma in confined space terrorist mass fatalities classified with a 3-dimensional model.

BACKGROUND: Explosion fatalities are the severest type of violent crimes. These involve the use of explosive devices in terrorist like activities in confined spaces in civilian or military settings, with mass number of people present all around. A stark dearth of literature for the forensic interpretation of such catastrophes is astonishing. PURPOSE: Characterization of the pattern of the multitude of injuries in explosions in confined spaces as guide for investigations and growth of literature on this entity. METHODOLOGY: A review of the archives of the forensic examinations of mass fatalities due to an explosion in a metro car was undertaken. It was combined with the reconstruction of the events by developing a three-dimensional model of this incident that involved seventeen fatalities. RESULTS: All the decedents showed differential pattern of fatal injuries under the influence of damaging explosion factors (DEFs). The causative forces were characterized as gas-detonation (in all the cases), damaging effect by shock waves (59% of the cases), and impact of fragmentation and collision of the body (thrown off) with nearby objects. Traumatic effect due to shrapnel as well as blunt force was noted in 82% of the cases. Gross destruction of head due to combined effect of gas-detonation and fragmentation was seen in 29% of the cases. CONCLUSION: An interpretation of the nature and pattern of injuries in confined space explosions can help to estimate the location of deceased/s with respect to the epicenter and the type of DEFs.

The Role of Oral Organs in Local Immunity with Elements of Morphology of Lingual Glands.

In postnatal ontogeny, the topographic relationships of the tongue glands and lymphoid structures in the thickness of the tongue have clear age-related features. In this article, we discuss the features of the glandular-lymphoid relationship in the thickness of the tongue, which is of particular scientific and practical importance for more precise understanding of the mechanisms providing local immunity in the oral cavity.

[The current state of the issue on explosive injury]. / Sovremennoe sostoyanie voprosa vzryvnoi travmy.

The review summarizes and systematizes the literature data characterizing the forensic medical aspects in the complex assessment of injuries received because of the impact of damaging factors of explosion in different peacetime conditions. The current state of forensic-medical examination of the explosive trauma is considered; the problems are revealed and the perspective directions in their solution are outlined. The analysis of publications on the issue of forensic examination of blast trauma injuries has shown that a more detailed characterization is given in the domestic literature than in the foreign one. Further study of this problem will make it possible to determine the formation laws of injuries received in explosive trauma, the distance from the epicenter of the explosion, the position of the victims and conditions of body trauma in confined spaces, as well as to refine the classification of explosive trauma depending on the conditions and circumstances of the explosion.

[Current concepts of the mechanisms of formation of gunshot fractures].

The mechanisms of formation of gunshot fractures in flat bones inflicted by a semispherical bullet were investigated using expert and experimental materials. The process of crack formation was considered in terms of the Hertzian contact problem and the Hill-Johnson model. It was shown that the fracture develops as a result of combination of stresses and strains in the bone tissue leading to the formation of a hydrostatic nucleus prior to tissue fragmentation. Dynamic fluctuations (waves) generated in the zone of hydrostatic compression resulting from the gunshot injury propagate with the velocity of sound from the nucleus in the direction of the bullet movement. According to the Hill-Johnson model, the waves propagate in the direction of the impact within a parabolically expanding space; this accounts for the mechanism of formation of parabolic cracks and the specific shape of the defect that the bullet produces in the flat bones. The dynamic load applied by means of an indentor forms at a higher rate than the velocity of sound in the affected material. It gives reason to consider the effect of a bullet moving with the speed of 250 m/s as quasi-static loading. The results obtained in this study make a contribution to the theory of impact effect of a bullet and provide a deeper insight into the physical nature of the direct and sideway action of a gunshot projectile. Moreover, they explain the cause behind the widening of the outlet part of the perforating fracture in the flat bones.