Hypertension and Occupational Health: A General Overview and Expert Consensus Suggestions.

Hypertension is a common public health issue, and its incidene increases parallel to age. It is inevitable that certain occupational conditions may pose risks for high blood pressure or cause difficulties in managing blood pressure. Working under specific circumstances may compromise the safety of individuals with hypertension and potentially others. Therefore, it is crucial to implement activities that enhance awareness of hypertension, to ensure regular periodic examinations, and to establish necessary precautions in the workplace for the health of employees and the public. Given the limited resources offering guidance on hypertension in the context of occupational health, the authors of this paper, who hail from different disciplines, have prepared a set of consensus-based suggestions.

Shot range estimation of shotgun grain-loaded cartridges.

Commercial grain-loaded cartridges for shotguns have been recently associated with injuries and fatalities. These cartridges are generally used as a scare gun for large animals, with a little probability of causing harm. Almost all grain-loaded cartridges contain one type of cereal grain, such as bulgur wheat, wheat or vetch seed, instead of lead pellets. Our study aimed to investigate the shot range estimation of grain-loaded cartridges and assess the variations from conventional lead pellet cartridges. In this study, eight different brands of grain-loaded cartridges were used. The inspections and measurements were made with cartridges that contain cereal grains, gunpowder and wads. Shots were made from 50, 100, 200, 300, 500cm with modified and improved cylinder chokes. Diameter of grain distribution patterns on targets were measured. These measurements were evaluated statistically considering brand, choke and distance variables. Both satellite entry holes and central entry holes were detected in all shots that were fired from 50cm distance. The smallest average diameter of grain distribution pattern between 8 different brands were measured as 14.3, 38.3, 58.5 and 83.4cm for 100, 200, 300 and 500cm respectively with modified choke. Gathered data from this study was compared with the studies conducted with conventional cartridges and differences were determined. It was detected that the grain-loaded cartridges showed much wider distribution on targets at the same shooting distance with the same and similar barrel lengths and choke values compared to conventional lead pellet containing cartridges.

Planned complex suicide: report of three cases.

This article presents three planned complex suicide cases. The first case was a 46-year-old man, who had taken some antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs before cutting his right wrist and ingesting a large amount of concentrated hydrochloric acid. In the second case, a 34-year-old man was found dead in his home, hanging by his neck, with a suicidal stab wound on the left side of the chest. In the third case, a 22-year-old woman was found dead, hanging by her neck from a ceiling beam of her grandmother's a storage room, after taking of a solid rodenticide. The histories revealed psychiatric problems in all cases. The investigation of scene, the method employed, the autopsy findings and the interview with their relatives altogether pointed toward a suicidal etiology.

Deaths due to hunger strike: post-mortem findings.

Hunger strike is described as voluntary refusal of food and/or fluids. Prolonged starvation may produce many adverse events including even death in rare circumstances. Here, we present three fatal cases (all males, 25-38 years) died from hunger strike. In all corpses, obvious muscle wasting with reduced subcutaneous and internal fat deposits, and atrophy in some organs were demonstrated at autopsy. The extraordinary long starvation period before death could presumably be linked to the thiamine uptake in this period, which had been discontinued by all subjects before the death occurred. Prolonged caloric deficiency with subsequent complications such as multiple organ failure, severe sepsis and ventricular fibrillation could account as major causes of death in these subjects. The competence of the physicians working with hunger strikers about the processes and potential problems is of great importance since they have to acknowledge about them to their patients.

Cannabis-induced coronary artery thrombosis and acute anterior myocardial infarction in a young man.

Information concerning acute myocardial infarction after cannabis usage is limited and the actual mechanism of cannabis-induced myocardial infarction is not well known. In the report, we described a young man with an acute myocardial infarction and cannabis-induced coronary thrombosis.

Hemopericardium-related fatalities: a 10-year medicolegal autopsy experience.

BACKGROUND: Patients with blunt or penetrating cardiac injury usually present with cardiac tamponade and hemorrhagic shock upon hospital arrival. Many victims die before they reach hospital. In this study, we present a detailed analysis of hemopericardium-related fatalities. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medicolegal autopsy records of hemopericardium-related fatalities that occurred from 1994 to 2003. The parameters investigated were demographic characteristics, hospitalization before death, the cause of death, the manner of death, the mechanism of death, the location of the entrance wound, the number of wounds reaching the target and the site of target perforation. RESULTS: Seven women (mean age: 45 +/- 23 years) and 33 men (mean age: 34 +/- 12 years) were included in the study. Only 5 patients (12.5%) with cardiac activity reached the hospital. Twenty individuals (50%) were victims of stabbings, which was the most common cause of death. The most commonly encountered manner of death was homicide (79%). Thirty-one (77.5%) victims died of hemorrhagic shock and 9 (22.5%) of cardiac tamponade. Entrance wounds were frequently located on the left chest (n = 26). The perforated cardiac chambers were the left atrium (n = 1), the left ventricle (n = 12), the right atrium (n = 2) and the right ventricle (n = 15). One victim had coronary artery perforation. Nine victims had perforations on the intrapericardial part of the aorta. CONCLUSIONS: In our series, the hemopericardium-related deaths occurred predominantly in men. Stabbing was the most common cause of death. Entrance wounds were most commonly located on the left chest, and perforated sites were ventricles. Death at the scene was also frequent, and the mechanism of death was hemorrhagic shock.

Confirmation of alleged falanga torture by bone scintigraphy-Case report.

Any objective persisting signs of previous torture would be very valuable in the late assessment of the individual claiming such abuse of human rights. We present the case of a 32-year-old man referred to our hospital for an opinion on alleged torture by the falanga method. Magnetic resonance imaging and bone scintigraphy were evaluated and compared as methods of confirming such torture.