The objective of the present study was the development of the additional forensic medical criteria for the diagnostics of the intravitality and prescription of the burning injury making use of the morphological changes in the cerebellar cortex. A total of 82 cases of the death from the second- and third a, b-degree flame burns in 63 men and 19 women at the age from 20 to 65 years were available for the analysis. The condition of the cerebellar cortex was evaluated within 0 to 72 hours after the trauma had been inflicted. The routine histological staining technique using hematoxylin and eosin were employed as well as the Nisslin staining carried out in the combination with the immunohistochemical reaction based on the application of the antibodies against the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). In the case of death during the acute period after the burning injury, the histological study revealed a characteristic complex of the morphological features including the acute swelling of neurons, the increasing expansion of perivascular and pericellular spaces, as swell as hyperoxyphilia of microglia. The astrocytes of cortical II-III layers proved highly sensitive to tissue hypoxia as appears from their reaction with anti-GFAP antibodies. It is concluded that the results of the evaluation of the blood supply of the cerebral hemisphere cortex with the use of immunohistochemical methods may be helpful as the additional criteria for the purpose of forensic medical documentation of intravitality and prescription of the burning injury.

The detection of grade II-III central obesity on a corpse in conjunction with the identification of two additional criteria (such as arterial hypertension and impaired glucose tolerance) provides, if combined with the autopsy data (including the visual reduction of muscular mass, the increased total amount of the adipose tissue, gynecomastia in men together with hypertrophied abdominal adipose tissue accumulation, decreased face and body pilosis), a basis for diagnostics of metabolic syndrome (MS). The objective parameters for this purpose are waist circumference measurements, corpse weight and height, the degree of visceral obesity, narrowing of the renal arteries as a result of their compression by the surrounding adipose tissue, and accumulation of epicardial fat confirmed by the results of the biochemical analysis. The signs of plasmorrhagia combined with fibrinoid degeneration of the vascular walls in the microcirculatory bed make it possible to suspect, with a high degree of probability, the development of hypertensive crisis that may result in a sudden death of the patients presenting with metabolic syndrome.

The well apparent signs of the proliferative reaction and activity of the nucleolus organizer in astrocytes within the zone of injury and at its periphery are considered to be the indicators of the participation of these cells in all the phases of the inflammatory and reparative processes associated with the brain injury. The objective of the present study was the evaluation of the changes in the number of the nucleoli in the nuclei of astrocytes during the acute post-traumatic period following the craniocerebral injury. A total of 26 cases of death of the men and women at the age from 36 to 50 years caused by the craniocerebral trauma were available for the examination. The tissue samples were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, based on the use of the Perls' Prussian blue staining protocol or by means of the AgNOR staining technique. The astrocytes in the regions immediately adjacent to the sites of brain injury were shown to undergo areactive necrosis during the first hours after the damage had been inflicted. The evaluation of the changes in the astrocytes required taking into consideration the influence of autolysis on the character of the signs being identified. The increase of the number of points in the astrocytes in which RNA replication occurs within days 2-4 after the injury can be accounted for by the accumulation of the granules containing silver in the cell nuclei. The cross reactions between hemosiderin and RNA await further investigations. It is concluded that the methods employed in this study may be of diagnostic significance for the purposes of forensic medical histology if used in the combination with other specialized techniques for determining the prescription of the craniocerebral injuries. The combination of the morphological and functional studies opens up the promising prospects for the investigations into the necrotic and proliferative processes in astrocytes associated with brain injuries of different origin.