Deaths due to firearms are some of the interesting and contentious cases that a forensic pathologist/autopsy surgeon encounters in his practice. Whenever there is 'ambiguity' regarding the nature or sequence of events any unnatural deaths including those caused by firearms the practice of visiting crime scene should be encouraged especially in a country like India where autopsy surgeons often n...

BACKGROUND Penetrating cardiac trauma represents an increasingly important form of trauma due to the frequent use of firearms and bombs in civilian violence. We report our experience over the past 16 years with missile-induced cardiac injuries. METHODS A retrospective study reviewing 40 cases (30 males, 10 females) of missile cardiac injuries was conducted. The nature of injuries, management ...

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has been used to determine the period of time that a shooter will test positive for gunshot residue (GSR) after firing a revolver. Multiple rounds of primer were fired and samples collected at multiple hour intervals using an adhesive tape pressed against the skin. Samples were analyzed directly using a commercially available laser-induced breakdown s...

Importance Every day in the United States, more than 200 people are murdered or assaulted with a firearm. Little research has considered the role of interpersonal ties in the pathways through which gun violence spreads. Objective To evaluate the extent to which the people who will become subjects of gun violence can be predicted by modeling gun violence as an epidemic that is transmitted betw...

Audio gunshot recordings can be helpful for crime scene reconstruction, estimation of the shooter's location and orientation, and verification of eyewitness accounts. The audio evidence can include the muzzle blast, the shock wave signature if the projectile is traveling at supersonic speed, and possibly even the characteristic sound of the firearm's mechanical action if the recording is obtain...

OBJECTIVE Describing the profile of victims and assaults by gunshot, where the outcome was death. METHOD An ecological study conducted in the city of Maceió/AL, in 2012. Data were collected from the death statements. The variables studied were: the death circumstances, gender, age, marital status, place, date, time, month and proportion according to the occurring neighborhood. RESULTS The h...

Time-resolved fluorescence microscopy has rapidly emerged as the technique of choice for many researchers aiming to gain specific insights into the dynamics of intricate biological systems. Although the unique advantages the technique provides over other methods have proven to be particularly useful in the biosciences, to date they have been largely unexploited by other research disciplines. In...

More teenagers in the United States die from gunshot wounds than from all natural causes of disease combined. Firearm-related mortality accounts for almost half of all deaths among African American teens. Residents of central cities have the highest probability of experiencing violent crimes. This article describes an innovative community-based intervention designed to break the cycle of violen...

BACKGROUND We collected detailed activity paths of urban youth to investigate the dynamic interplay between their lived experiences, time spent in different environments, and risk of violent assault. METHODS We mapped activity paths of 10- to 24-year-olds, including 143 assault patients shot with a firearm, 206 assault patients injured with other types of weapons, and 283 community controls, ...

Firearm injuries are regarded as a special form of blunt trauma. The damage to the organism is caused by the impact of a single projectile (or a multitude of pellets) propelled from a barrel by high-pressure combustion gases and striking the body at a high velocity. Gunshot wounds, in a broader sense, are also lesions caused by blank-cartridge weapons as well as injuries due to livestock stunne...