Forensic and clinical diagnosis in shaken baby syndrome , between child abuse and iatrogenic abuse

“Shaken baby syndrome” in child abuse cases is a challenge for pediatrician and forensic experts, often a diagnosis of exclusion, with overwhelming moral and legal implications. Diagnosis is based on: subdural bleeding, rupture of retinal vessels, traumatic diffuse axonal injury with diffuse brain encephalopathy in the absence of external traumatic injuries and anamnesis data of an accidentally head injury. Microscopic findings in diffuse axonal injuries were initially considered as a specific traumatic effect due to unrestricted movement and accelerated rotation of the head. Immunohistochemistry of beta amyloid protein precursor is gold standard method for identifying pathological diffuse axonal lesions, which is however non-specific in brain trauma. In the diagnosis of this syndrome pediatricians and forensic examiners must take into account the particularities of each case, avoiding scientific speculation, to intuit controversies and always be familiar with the differential diagnosis

An evidence based guide to a safe intraoperative approach of avoiding iatrogenic lesions during difficult laparoscopic cholecystectomies

Introduction: Although there are many sources for iatrogenic lesions during laparoscopic cholecystectomy, only a few stand out as being one of the most difficult to predict due to their nature of being very hard to diagnose before surgery. Materials and Methods: a short guide of cases with an evidence-based approach to avoid laparoscopic iatrogenic lesions. Results: these cases have been classified and presented into 3 main groups: cases with abnormal arterial layout, cases with heavy alteration of the normal anatomy, and cases with anomalies of the main biliary pathway. Conclusions: while not a complete guide covering all aspects of intraoperative traps during laparoscopic cholecystectomy, this series of cases points out some dangerous situations and some simple solutions to avoid those fiercely iatrogenic lesions of the ductal and vascular landmarks associated with an otherwise simple surgical intervention that has become the golden standard of the gallbladder lithiasic pathology

The role of reactive astrocitose in the chronological evolution of traumatic brain injury

Introduction and objectives. This study aims to investigate whether the cerebral modifications of posttraumatic reactive astrocitose can be considered an objective criterion for determining the age of traumatic cranio-cerebral lesions. Materials and methods. The present study consists of a series of 23 medico-legal cases that underwent autopsy inTeleormanCounty(Romania) Department of Forensic Medicine during 2007–2016, with full immune-histochemical microscopic examination using GFAP staining. The study consists of two groups, a series of 13 cases with cranio-cerebral trauma with different posttraumatic survival periods and 9 cases as a control group. Results and discussions. We discovered GFAP+ reactive astrocytes even when death occurred immediately after the trauma event and up to 4 months after the traumatic incident. We also discovered an intense positive correlation between the density of the GFAP+ cell from the perilesional area and the posttraumatic survival period. The highest cerebral density of the GFAP+ astrocytes occurred with acute death prior (1 to 24 hours) and the lowest in the chronic period (over 2 weeks). Conclusions. The gradual and differentiated appearance of the reactive astrocytes in close relation with the cerebral posttraumatic interval, with specific lesional and perilesional distribution as well as in surrounding area, clearly demonstrates that the state of the reactive astrocitose may constitute an objective index for evaluation of the elapsed time after the posttraumatic event

Processing and Linking Audio Events in Large Multimedia Archives: The EU inEvent Project

In the inEvent EU project [1], we aim at structuring, retrieving, and sharing large archives of networked, and dynamically changing, multimedia recordings, mainly consisting of meetings, videoconferences, and lectures. More specifically, we are developing an integrated system that performs audiovisual processing of multimedia recordings, and labels them in terms of interconnected “hyper-events ” (a notion inspired from hyper-texts). Each hyper-event is composed of simpler facets, including audio-video recordings and metadata, which are then easier to search, retrieve and share. In the present paper, we mainly cover the audio processing aspects of the system, including speech recognition, speaker diarization and linking (across recordings), the use of these features for hyper-event indexing and recommendation, and the search portal. We present initial results for feature extraction from lecture recordings using the TED talks. Index Terms: Networked multimedia events; audio processing: speech recognition; speaker diarization and linking; multimedia indexing and searching; hyper-events. 1

An Automated Meeting Assistant: A Tangible Mixed Reality Interface for the AMIDA Automatic Content Linking Device

We describe our approach to support ongoing meetings with an automated meeting assistant. The system based on the AMIDA Content Linking Device aims at providing relevant documents used in previous meetings for the ongoing meeting based on automatic speech recognition. Once the content linking device finds documents linked to a discussion about a similar subject in a previous meeting, it assumes they may be relevant for the current discussion as well. We believe that the way these documents are offered to the meeting participants is equally important as the way they are found. We developed a mixed reality, projection based user interface that lets the documents appear on the table tops in front of the meeting participants. They can hand them over to others or bring them onto the shared projection screen easily if they consider them relevant. Yet, irrelevant documents don't draw too much attention from the discussion. In this paper we describe the concept and implementation of this user interface and provide some preliminary results

Middeleeuwse erven langs de Leybeek te Hombeek. Een archeologisch onderzoek aan de Zemstseweg-Bergenstraat te Hombeek (gemeente Mechelen)

Dit rapport werd ingediend bij het agentschap samen met een aantal afzonderlijke digitale bijlagen. Een aantal van deze bijlagen zijn niet inbegrepen in dit pdf document en zijn niet online beschikbaar. Sommige bijlagen (grondplannen, fotos, spoorbeschrijvingen, enz.) kunnen van belang zijn voor een betere lezing en interpretatie van dit rapport. Indien u deze bijlagen wenst te raadplegen kan u daarvoor contact opnemen met: [email protected]

La fondation du monastère Sainte-Catherine du Sinaï selon deux documents de sa bibliothèque: codex Arabe 692 et rouleau Arabe 955

In this paper we edit and translate the Arabic Codex n. 692 (1st part) and the Arabic scroll n. 955. We also comment on the main items mentioned in the two texts: their authenticity appears to be quite questionable. However, some of the facts, especially those in document 692-1, do not rule out the possibility that the documents drew inspiration from an ancient, unidentified source of the early history of the monastery. We therefore hypothesize, based on the known sources and the present documents, that theconstruction of the Sinai monastery was initiated towards the beginning of Justinian’s reign, and that the fortified tower mentioned by several sources represented the initial stage of the construction.En este artículo editamos y traducimos el Codex Arabe nº 692 (1.ª parte) y el Rollo Arabe nº 955. Comentamos, asimismo, los principales aspectos mencionados an ambos textos, en los cuales la autenticidad de muchos de esos elementos parecen ser cuestionables. Concretamente, en el documento 692-1, algunos hechos no descartan la posibilidad de que los documentos se inspirasen en una antigua fuente no identificada de la historia temprana del Monasterio. Planteamos, pues, la hipótesis basada en fuentes conocidas y documentos actuales, de que la construcción del Monasterio del Sinaí comenzó a comienzos del reinado de Justiniano y que la torre fortificada que mencionan varias fuentes fue el estadio inicial de la construcción

Un aperçu des descriptions grecques et arabes du Sinaï et du monastère Sainte-Catherine au XVIIIe siècle

This article overviews a number of manuscripts and printed books that constitute potential sources for the history of the monastery of Saint-Catherine, Sinai, in the 18th century. Firstly, the most likely source of this ensemble, the Épitomè written by Nectarios of Crete, is introduced. Then, the publication of the six editions of the Greek Périgraphè is discussed, starting from the first one, which was printed in 1710 in Wallachia, and ending with the sixth and the largest one, published in 1817 in Venice. This study indicates that a critical edition and translation of these texts, a sample of which we provide for the two Arabic versions, should be accompanied by a thorough examination of the differences they show with the Épitomè.El presente artículo revisa una serie de manuscritos y libros impresos que constituyen las fuentes potenciales para la historia del monasterio de Santa Catalina, en el Sinaí, durante el s. XVIII. En primer lugar, se presenta la fuente más probable de este conjunto, el Épitomè escrito por Nectarios de Creta. Luego, se estudia la publicación de las seis ediciones del Périgraphè griego, partiendo de la primera, impresa en Valaquia en 1710, y terminando con la sexta y la más extensa, publicada en Venecia en 1817. Este estudio señala que se debería acompañar una edición crítica y una traducción de estos textos de los que ofrecemos dos versiones árabes de un exhaustivo análisis de las diferencias entre ellas y el Épitomè

Quantitative assessment of the variability in chemical profiles from source apportionment analysis of PM10 and PM2.5 at different sites within a large metropolitan area

The study aims to assess the differences between the chemical profiles of the major anthropogenic and natural PM sources in two areas with different levels of urbanization and traffic density within the same urban agglomeration. A traffic site and an urban background site in the Athens Metropolitan Area have been selected for this comparison. For both sites, eight sources were identified, with seven of them being common for the two sites (Mineral Dust, non-Exhaust Emissions, Exhaust Emissions, Heavy Oil Combustion, Sulfates & Organics, Sea Salt and Biomass Burning) and one, site-specific (Nitrates for the traffic site and Aged Sea Salt for the urban background site). The similarity between the source profiles was quantified using two statistical analysis tools, Pearson correlation (PC) and Standardized Identity Distance (SID). According to Pearson coefficients five out of the eight source profiles present high (PC > 0.8) correlation (Mineral Dust, Biomass Burning, Sea Salt, Sulfates and Heavy Oil Combustion), one presented moderate (0.8 > PC > 0.6) correlation (Exhaust) and two low/no (PC < 0.6) correlation (non-Exhaust, Nitrates/Aged Sea Salt). The source profiles that appear to be more correlated are those of sources that are not expected to have high spatial variability because there are either natural/secondary and thus have a regional character or are emitted outside the urban agglomeration and are transported to both sites. According to SID four out of the eight sources have high statistical correlation (SID < 1) in the two sites (Mineral Dust, Sea salt, Sulfates, Heavy Oil Combustion). Biomass Burning was found to be the source that yielded different results from the two methodologies. The careful examination of the source profile of that source revealed the reason for this discrepancy. SID takes all the species of the profile equally into account, while PC might be disproportionally affected by a few numbers of species with very high concentrations. It is suggested, based on the findings of this work, that the combined use of both tools can lead the users to a thorough evaluation of the similarity of source profiles. This work is, to the best of our knowledge, the first time a study is focused on the quantitative comparison of the source profiles for sites inside the same urban agglomeration using statistical indicators.The study was supported by “CALIBRA/EYIE” (MIS 5002799) and “PANhellenic infrastructure for Atmospheric Composition and climatE change” (MIS 5021516) implemented under the Action “Reinforcement of the Research and Innovation Infrastructure”, funded by the Operational Programme “Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation” (NSRF 2014–2020) and co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund). Collection and chemical analysis of samples were supported by LIFE + AIRUSE EU project (ENV/ES/584). Partial support was also received by H2020 ERAPLANET/SMURBS ERANET GA No 689443.Peer reviewe