Country made scare gun vs. air gun--a comparative study of terminal ballistics using gelatine blocks.

Country made scare gun also called as bandook in the vernacular language designed with an intention of scaring away the menacing animals is not only unique and effective but also potentially lethal and has found wide spread usage in the rural parts of India. Here an attempt has been made to study the characteristic features such as physical dimensions, mechanism of action of this weapon and to compare its penetrating ability with that of air gun, whose potential lethality is a well-documented fact, using the ballistic gelatine blocks at various ranges. It is hoped that keeping the existence of such firearms in mind by the forensic experts might help to solve the unexplained and bizarre firearm injuries encountered in day to day practice.

Pattern of chest injuries in road traffic incident victims: a six-year retrospective study.

Introduction: The young are the most common victims of trauma and trauma is the leading cause of death in the first four decades of life. Injury accounts for more than 50% of deaths in children and is the third leading cause of death after cancer and atherosclerosis in all age groups. Thoracic trauma is one of the leading causes of death in all age groups and accounts for 25-50% of all traumatic injuries in the world.

Plasma cholinesterase: double-edged parameter in the diagnosis of acute organophosphorus poisoning.

Biochemical markers are one of the mainstays in the diagnosis of ill health. Plasma cholinesterase is one such marker of the ill health caused by acute organophosphorus pesticide poisoning. Organophosphorus pesticides are powerful inhibitors of plasma cholinesterase; consequently, the reduced level of this biochemical marker has been used in the diagnosis of cases of acute poisoning.