[Clinical pathomorphology and tanatogenesis of various forms of alcoholic intoxication]. / Klinicheskaia patomorfologiia i tanatogenez razlichnykh form alkogol'noi intoksikatsii.

The objective of the present study was to identify the clinical and pathomorphological changes in the internal organs for the elucidation of the cause of death associated with various forms of alcoholic intoxication (chronic alcoholic intoxication, poisoning with surrogate alcohols, etc.). The analysis of the clinical conditions resulting from alcohol abuse has demonstrated that the principal pathology underlying the fatal outcome is complemented by a variety of non-lethal somatic disorders aggravating the patients' condition and enhancing its severity. The clinicians are known to give more attention to the accompanying somatic complications than to the cause underlying the main pathology (alcoholism). Such attitude in the absence of the adequate treatment of the alcohol dependency is neither clinically efficient nor economically appropriate. Poisoning with surrogate alcohols is characterized by the pulmonary-cerebral variant of tanatogenesis in the combination with hypercoagulation and the erosive processes in the gastrointestinal tract whereas death from alcoholic intoxication is usually associated with heart tanatogenesis.

[Pathology of the heart conducting system in the thanatogenesis of sudden death from alcoholic cardiomyopathy and coronary heart disease].

The present literature review is focused on the contribution of various pathological changes in the heart conducting system to the tanatogenesis of sudden death from alcoholic cardiomyopathy and coronary heart disease viewed from the perspective of a forensic medical expert. The currently available data on the disorders in the heart conducting system in the subjects with these diseases are presented. Various aspects of pathology of the heart conducting system are considered in the modern and historical contexts. The prospects for the further investigations into the tanatogenic mechanisms of sudden death by reason of alcoholic cardiomyopathy and coronary heart disease are outlined.

[Hair as a study object in case of poisoning with heavy metal salts].

The objective of the present work was to analyse the results of morphological studies of hair taken from the children with suspected thallium poisoning. The findings obtained by isoelectrofocusing, spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy were compared with the relevant literature data. Original investigations included a comparative microstructural study along the hair length and cross section. We failed to observe formation of black-purple structures in the hair bulb and root region of the shaft usually associated with thallium poisoning. It is concluded that thallium poisoning can not be diagnosed based on the presence of a black pigment, knob-like swellings, and spindle-shaped bulbs since they are normal elements of healthy hair. More sensitive methods for the determination of trace elements and their combination with morphological investigations are needed for the definitive diagnosis of thallium poisoning.