Beni patrimoniali e beni simbolici: l’album fotografico della Principessa Luisa Scotto Corsini

This essay analyzes an album assembled by Roman Princess Luisa Scotto Corsini in the late 1880s and the use of a photographic object within a focused, yet coded narrative. While the album displays the Princess’ dynastic, socio-political, and exclusive private life, a section of prints recording each piece of furniture in the Corsini palace stands out for its apparent inconspicuousness. In fact, Luisa Scotto selected these deadpan records from an 1876 series by Filippo Belli to express her own grief after her Roman palace had to be sold to the Italian State in 1883. A multi-layered object, the photographic album thus entwines property and symbolic values to sublimate a sense of loss and displacement

Pattern of care and effectiveness of treatment for glioblastoma patients in the real world: Results from a prospective population-based registry. Could survival differ in a high-volume center?

BACKGROUND: As yet, no population-based prospective studies have been conducted to investigate the incidence and clinical outcome of glioblastoma (GBM) or the diffusion and impact of the current standard therapeutic approach in newly diagnosed patients younger than aged 70 years. METHODS: Data on all new cases of primary brain tumors observed from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2010, in adults residing within the Emilia-Romagna region were recorded in a prospective registry in the Project of Emilia Romagna on Neuro-Oncology (PERNO). Based on the data from this registry, a prospective evaluation was made of the treatment efficacy and outcome in GBM patients. RESULTS: Two hundred sixty-seven GBM patients (median age, 64 y; range, 29-84 y) were enrolled. The median overall survival (OS) was 10.7 months (95% CI, 9.2-12.4). The 139 patients 64aged 70 years who were given standard temozolomide treatment concomitant with and adjuvant to radiotherapy had a median OS of 16.4 months (95% CI, 14.0-18.5). With multivariate analysis, OS correlated significantly with KPS (HR = 0.458; 95% CI, 0.248-0.847; P = .0127), MGMT methylation status (HR = 0.612; 95% CI, 0.388-0.966; P = .0350), and treatment received in a high versus low-volume center (HR = 0.56; 95% CI, 0.328-0.986; P = .0446). CONCLUSIONS: The median OS following standard temozolomide treatment concurrent with and adjuvant to radiotherapy given to (72.8% of) patients aged 6470 years is consistent with findings reported from randomized phase III trials. The volume and expertise of the treatment center should be further investigated as a prognostic factor

Investigation on the additive value of Post-Mortem Cardiac Magnetic Resonance in Sudden Cardiac Death

This research project has concerned the study of Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD), in order to deepen our comprehension of its pathogenic mechanisms and to find new tools for the recognition of the underlying cardiac alterations that are often not known before death. Indeed, SCD represents a major public health issue and, in particular for young victims, it constitutes a dramatic event whose impact and public health burden are greater than those of any specific cancer, and of most other leading causes of death. The diagnosis of fatal cardiac diseases, the management and ongoing care of families struck by juvenile SCD are among the most challenging scenarios in forensic and clinical medicine. This research has been carried out through a cooperative working relationship with the cardio-radiologist dr. G.D. Aquaro of the Fondazione Toscana Gabriele Monasterio, who performed the post-mortem cardiac magnetic resonance. All the sudden death, occurring in subjects aged from >15 to <80 years old, in the territories of the north-west coast of Tuscany (province of Pisa, Lucca and Livorno) from December 2013 to July 2019 were underwent to autopsy investigation to investigate the cause of death. The autopsy was performed in 46 cases according to recommendation of the current guide lines for autopsy in SCD cases. Once excluded an extracardiac cause of SD the heart was explanted after the evaluation of pericardium and pulmonary veins anatomy. The heart was fixed in a formalin solution and then a PM-CMR of the explanted heart was performed. Gross examination and histological investigation of the heart was carried out after imaging. We used 10 cases in which death occurred for extracardiac causes as control, to measure reference values of T1-, T2- and T2* mapping of myocardium fixed with formalin. Findings of PM-CMR permitted to have the following suspicions: 19 ischemic heart disease; 5 Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; 5 arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy; 1 myocarditis; 1 septal neoformation; 1 traumatic heart rupture; in 5 patients PM-CMR was completely negative; 6 diffuse myocardial damage; finally non diagnostic images for possible bad fixation in 3. At gross and histological examination a final diagnosis of ischemic heart disease was performed in 20 patients (41,5%); Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was found in 5 cases (12%); a diffuse myocardial damage in the context of death for systemic disease in 5 patients (sepsis, pancreatitis, pneumonia in AIDS, acute drugs intoxication in 2); 1 septal neoformation (vascular malformation); 1 traumatic heart rupture; acute myocarditis in 1 patients; in 12 patients no signs of cardiac disease were found; 1 heart was in advanced decomposition not permitting histological analysis. Overall there was a perfect matching between PM-CMR in 32 out of 46 patients (78%). Considering gross/histologic examination, PM-CMR demonstrated a sensitivity 93.3%, a specificity 63%, AUC 0.65 (0.48-0.79), PPV 80%, NPV 66.7%

Valutazione del danno da traumatismi della strada: ausilio della biomeccanica

No abstrac

Self-Inserted Needles in the Heart

Cardiac injuries due to penetration by sharp foreign bodies usually have a clear clinical presentation. A case of a 38-year-old man with self-inserted cardiac lesions and a misleading presentation is reported. The patient was admitted to the emergency room because of chest pain, with increase in biomarkers of myocardial necrosis, and electrocardiographic and echocardiographic abnormalities inducing initial diagnostic and therapeutic workup of acute coronary syndrome. Once clinical destabilization followed by death had occurred, the suspicion of an alternative diagnosis came from delayed chest radiography, confirmed by autopsy, revealing the presence of multiple metallic objects within the thora

IL RECEPIMENTO IN PRIMA BATTUTA DEI PRINCIPI ESPRESSI DALLA CASSAZIONE NELLE DIECI SENTENZE CC.DD. DELL’ESTATE DI SAN MARTINO 2019

L’articolo presenta una prima analisi relativa al recepimento da parte della giurisprudenza di merito dei principi resi noti dalla Terza Sezione della Corte di Cassazione nelle sentenze dell’estate di San Martino 2019. Lo studio si inserisce nell’ambito delle attività dell’Osservatorio sul danno alla person