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March 2008 • VOLUME 31 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine
THE GOVERMENT OF SAINT-PETERSBURG 3.
Methods of analysis and conditions of setting of the experiments:
Expert
analyses were carried out consistent with general methods used in forensic medicine
for crime-detection studies to identify the effects of striking with a blunt instrument and also of mechanisms of bullet and explosive trauma (including, “through the armor trauma” of the human body, when wearing individual body-armor, i.e. a bulletproof vest).
3.1 The first
stage: studying and generalization of the data was conducted:
a) Specialist equine sports literature: photos and
video materials from various competitions, where riders were using equestrian sports whips. Types of strikes accepted in equestrian sports, and sphere
of whip strikes, as well as possible force of given strikes, were investigated.
b) Special crime-detection expertise literature
about types and qualities of damages that appear:
- From the
strike by blunt objects with limited traumatic surface with different
energy (speed and force) on different biological objects;
- During
blunt-object “through the armor trauma” of the human body, dressed in individual items of
armor protection (body armor, helmet etc);
c) Materials from the archives of
crime-detection expertise of damage to victims that received a trauma from
a strike by a blunt instrument with limited traumatic surface of small size, i.e. in
conditions typical to those of strikes by a whip in equestrian sport;
d) Archive and video materials of veterinary
studies of the bodies of dead horses with weal marks from a whip used in equine
sports;
Differential-diagnostic tables were assembled as a result of
studies of databases (See appendix
1).
3.2 As
a means of influence a standard whip (not a new one) common in equestrian sports was
used; of a type of mass production with a part for hitting
made of leather, stitched lengthwise in four machine rows using thick
thread.
3.3 For the
application of strikes statists that had different physical
characteristics and force were used .
3.4 While the
application of strikes, their force, types of strike and range of
movement of the hand with the whip, were consistent with variants of regular
strikes, accepted within equestrian sport.
3.5 For
objective verification of the force of given strikes by the whip,
measurement of this parameter on a special measuring system for studying
ballistics of trauma by a blunt instrument to a subject behind a barrier, were used.
3.6 Experiments
were carried out on biological and non-biological imitators, analogical by their density to soft tissues of a living horse (blocks of ballistic plastic).
In order to define exact boundaries of damage, as well as imitation of the zones of graze
wounds on the skin, the following method was used: clean sheets of writing paper and paper for making copies
(with a layer of pigment facing down) were placed above damaged objects in
a row.
4.
Results of experiments were studied with detailed care
(using the standard methods of morphoscopy and
morphometry), and were also recorded photographically using a digital
camera (see appendix 2).
As a result of
studies of physical parameters of the striking effect of the end-part of a whip used
in equestrian sport with the help of special experimental settings, it was established that
the general force of effect of the whip was no less than 19 kg/cm2 and
maxima; the energy of the strike was about 20-25 joule/cm2.
During subsequent experimental studies it was demonstrated that as a result of strikes by a whip of standard type used in
equestrian sport (with standard range of strikes of this
type) on imitators of soft tissue of a horse, the following injuries developed:
- On
sheets of paper: clear deformation and trough ruptures of wrong oval form in
size up to 6x1 cm with uneven, ruptured borders, surrounded by a zone of
deposit of black pigment of a width of up to 0.5-1.0 cm (this imitates the zone of
a graze wound around a primary injury);
- On
blocks of ballistic plastic impressions were formed which in form and size were identical
to characteristics of the striking surface of mass-produced whips used in equestrian sport :
a) From strikes by plane surface – a total size of 9-10x2-3 cm;
b) From strikes by rib surface – 10-11 x 1.0-1.5
cm.
Damage on
imitators of soft biological tissues like this are usually consistent with the
following types of injuries:
· Multifocal injuries;
· Multifocal bruises, subcutaneous hemorrhage and hematomas;
· Crushing of the mass of subcutaneous tissue;
· Detachment
of skin in place of traumatic contact;
· Ruptures
of blood vessels;
· Lamellar
hemorrhage under the muscular fascia;
· Multifocal
and infiltrative hemorrhages into underlying muscles;
· Partial
ruptures and crushing of muscles.
5. Results of the study of the materials
from the expert pathological archives of injuries of victims of trauma from strikes by a blunt object, with limited traumatic surface of small
size, in conditions analogical to those experiments described above (typical
while giving strikes with the whip in equine sport) and also on biological
imitators, have shown that in cases like this, as a rule, the following types of injuries resulted:
Grazes;
Hemorrhages
and hematomas;
Crushing
of the mass of subcutaneous skin base;
Skin
detachment;
Ruptures
of blood-vessels;
Hemorrhages
into fascias of muscle tissue;
Ruptures
and crushing of separate muscle fibers.
6. Results of the study of archive and
video materials: veterinary
studies of dead horses that had weal marks from the sport whip testify
that in places of impact of the whip, analogous damages were discovered:
Graze
wounds, hemorrhages and intradermal hemorrhages;
Crushing
of the mass of subcutaneous tissue;
Hemorrhages
under fascia of muscles;
Partial
rupture and crushing of muscles.
7. Comparison of obtained data.
7.1
All the data that has been described above, derived as result of
different types of studies and experiments, was put together into table 1 and was
compared.
Table
1
Results
of comparison of data by types of injuries
As a result of
comparison of data in table 1, it was determined that they are almost completely
identical, testifying to the consistency and regularity of a received complex of
morphological signs that characterize the trauma caused by the whip used in sport (the
one of mass production, that has been used, i.e. which is not new).
7.2 Where strikes have been repeated on the same place, the size of injuries
described above grows in proportion.
7.3 Besides
registered local signs of the strike effect on the animal body, it is significant that frequent repeated hemorrhages, and also crushing of tissue, can
cause general suffering to the organism. Mechanisms of given influence are connected by a process of reabsorption of multiple, constantly appearing
hemorrhages (hematomas) and other tissue injuries.
During the
process of reabsorption, constituents and elements of cells are detached, including
haematocyte (erythrocytes) from traumatic
centers in the form of free protein – hemoglobin and
mio(hemo)globin. These proteins and their considerable debris, having high molecular
weight, have the ability to accumulate in small vessels (capillaries) as well
as in the kidneys, thus blocking them. Hemoglobin (and mio(hemo)globin)
cylinders are formed, and this can lead to nephrosis (inflammatory disease of
the kidneys).
All
of this worsens the processes of filtration and discharge of dangerous products
of metabolism (partial or chronical renal insufficiency) which cannot fail to affect
in a negative way the health and general well being of an animal.
SUMMARY
As a
result of the studies and experiments undertaken it was identified that:
1. The general force of the striking effect
of the end part of the whip used in sport is not less than 19 kg/cm2
and maximum energy of the strike is around 20-25 joule/cm2.
2. As registered in experiments, mechanical
striking influences of given intensity may cause different injuries to
biological tissues of an animal body: from wounds and hemorrhages to local
crushing of the
mass of subcutaneous tissue, ruptures of blood-vessels and partial ruptures of
underlying muscles.
3. Frequent multiple local signs of trauma
by a blunt instrument on the soft tissue of an animal's body caused by striking by the whip, such as hemorrhages and crushing of underlying tissues, can even cause
a general suffering to the organism in general, including the kidneys.
Legal medical experts:
Deputy
Chief of Bureau for
Expertise
Doctor
of Medical Science, Professor,Honored
Inventor of Russian Federation Isakov
V. D.
Head
of Corpse Expertise Department,Candidate
of Medical Science,Doctor
of Higher Qualification Category, Sysoev
V. E.
Appendix 1
Type
of damage to biological tissues from strikes by blunt instruments dependent on
intensity of impact
(data from different authors)
Subjective
approximate notations of force of strike:
“Small force of strike”… only
causes small hemorrhages to appear (up to 10-15 kg).
“Substantial force of strike”…
causes crushing and detachment of subcutaneous edema and skin (19.5 kg).
“Great force of strike”… Contusion
wounds, fractures of bones and cartilage.
“massive trauma”… destruction of tissues
and organs (begins from 100 kg).
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