Russian Journal of Forensic Medicine

BACKGROUND: A detailed understanding of cricoid cartilage dimensions is essential for various medical procedures, including surgical and emergency medicine, accurate identification in forensic medicine, and analyzing neck injuries. However, there are no dedicated studies on the morphology and morphometric analysis of the cricoid cartilage in the adult Russian population.

AIM: To collect and analyze the morphometric parameters of the adult cricoid cartilage in the Russian population and to compare the findings with similar studies on other populations.

METHODS: This observational cross-sectional single-center study included adult cadavers of either sex with no prior history of significant laryngeal surgery or pathology. Seventeen morphometric measurements were performed using a digital Vernier caliper and an electronic balance to assess sexual dimorphism and anatomical variation.

RESULTS: Sixty-seven formalin-fixed human larynges (37 M, 30 F) were examined. The study confirmed significant sexual dimorphism, with male cartilages being consistently larger than female cartilages across all parameters. No significant bilateral asymmetry was observed. In a global comparison, the dimensions of the Russian cohort were found to be larger than those of Western Indian populations, but smaller than Nigerian populations, showing the closest alignment with data from German and Korean cohorts.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings demonstrate that cricoid cartilage morphology is significantly influenced by sex and population ancestry. This study provides a valuable anatomical baseline that can enhance surgical planning, improve radiological assessments, and increase the accuracy of identification in forensic medicine, particularly for unidentified remains.

BACKGROUND: Skeletal fractures are one of the most common consequences of mechanical injury in forensic medicine. Diabetes mellitus and osteoporosis can affect bone microarchitecture, leading to its mechanical failure. These conditions should be considered by forensic pathologists when grading harm and determining the type and mechanism of injury.

AIM: The study aimed to evaluate bone strength in diabetes mellitus and osteoporosis to improve forensic medical methodology for harm grading in these conditions.

METHODS: This was an experimental single-center, selective, controlled, non-randomized, open-label study. Rats were used to model fractures associated with osteoporosis and type 2 diabetes mellitus. A total of 24 mongrel female rats weighing 155–160 g were selected. The rats were divided into four groups of six animals: group 1, intact controls; group 2, rats with induced obesity and hyperglycemia, mimicking type 2 diabetes mellitus; group 3, rats with bone changes corresponding to stages III–IV of human osteoporosis, induced by sequential tibial osteotomy; group 4, rats subjected to identical osteotomy procedures, complicated by obesity and hyperglycemia. These were conditions that aggravated bone loss. The statistical data was processed using Microsoft Office Excel 2016. The mean value and standard error were calculated for each group. A two-tailed Student’s t-test was used at a significance level of p < 0.05 to compare the intact animal group with one of the experimental groups.

RESULTS: Diabetes mellitus makes bones more susceptible to bending and twisting deformities. Osteoporosis is characterized by a greater decrease in bone tissue strength and elasticity. Mineral and organic bone components were both affected. The most severe changes in bone microarchitecture occur in the combination of diabetes mellitus and osteoporosis.

CONCLUSION: Systemic diseases such as osteoporosis and diabetes mellitus have been shown to directly affect bone strength. They increase bone fragility and pose a high risk of fracture, especially during physical activity. Quantitative data from an animal experiment shows that bone strength decreases substantially in cases of osteoporosis and diabetes mellitus associated with severe bone destruction. These data can be extrapolated to humans and used as evidence that the resulting fractures are pathologic ones or that they occur with substantially less force than similar fractures in patients without comorbidities.

BACKGROUND: Every scientific research involves searching for relevant sources. We used neural network technology to accelerate and broaden the search.

AIM: The study aimed to determine the feasibility of using neural networks to retrieve and analyze research information on bone fractures using finite element analysis.

METHODS: We used the following neural network platforms: Perplexity, Ai2 ScholarQA, Elicit, and Consensus.

RESULTS: Using neural network models reduced the time spent translating English and Chinese articles and writing summaries for each publication by approximately 40%. Neural network-enhanced searching identified 16 times more relevant papers and expanded the analytical corpus 8.5-fold compared to standard PubMed queries. However, the use of neural network models was limited by their hallucinations; in most cases, the platforms produced erroneous citations, requiring additional verification of the generated results.

CONCLUSION: A review of publications on the use of finite element analysis in forensic medicine revealed fracture patterns in various parts of the human body, as well as a trend toward creating personalized mathematical models to predict fracture location. We propose an algorithm that uses neural network models to deliver faster and more complete reviews.

A sudden unexplained death poses a significant challenge to forensic scientists. The etiology and pathogenesis of sudden autopsy-negative death are currently not well understood. Major diagnostic challenges include interpreting cardiac structural changes of unknown significance, identifying structural and functional aberrations in the brain's regulatory systems, and determining the relevance of advanced postmortem molecular genetic testing (molecular autopsy).

This review summarizes the current concepts of the etiopathogenetic mechanisms of sudden unexplained death in different age groups, focusing on using molecular autopsy in forensic medicine to determine the exact cause of death. The reviewed papers confirm the importance of a thorough postmortem diagnosis in cases of sudden autopsy-negative death. Standard clinical or forensic autopsy is often insufficient to establish the cause of death, so current autopsy protocols should be expanded to include additional methods. A multidisciplinary team of pathologists, geneticists, and cardiologists is required to determine the cause of sudden autopsy-negative death, as it could be caused by various conditions. The integration of advanced techniques into forensic practice helps overcome the limitations of standard autopsy protocols, providing more profound insights into the true causes of sudden death and offering an opportunity to prevent it in the victim's relatives.

This review examines the current state of forensic diagnostics in drowning cases and the determination of postmortem immersion time. The analysis focuses on methods used to establish both the fact of drowning and the duration of body immersion in an aquatic environment. Specialized data on the diagnosis of drowning and the determination of postmortem immersion time were analyzed. A total of 73 sources were reviewed, including 20 Russian and 53 international publications.

In determining postmortem immersion time, the primary method remains the evaluation of skin maceration degree. However, additional approaches are also explored. For instance, it has been shown that hair mass stabilizes after a certain period of water exposure, which can serve as an indicator of immersion duration, though such analysis requires specialized laboratory equipment. Furthermore, the article reviews the temperature effect on the decomposition rate, which varies with environmental conditions. Histological and microbiological methods play an important role in refining the time a body spent in water, as well as in analyzing the species composition of algae and other microorganisms involved in postmortem tissue transformation.

In forensic practice, establishing the fact of drowning and estimating the duration of immersion require an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to enhance diagnostic accuracy and objectivity. However, the ambiguity in interpreting the results obtained using existing methods highlights the need for further improvement of traditional forensic examination approaches and techniques. The development and implementation of novel diagnostic technologies based on modern instrumental, molecular, and digital techniques remain highly relevant tasks.