L’eredità del Tenchini come punto di partenza per la ricostruzione della storia di un criminale del XIX secolo

Late in the 19th century, physician Lorenzo Tenchini undertook a study of criminal subjects and psy-chiatric patients. One of these was B.A., a 22-year-old soldier who committed suicide after attempting to kill his lover, a prostitute named G.I. The starting points of this study were the analysis of the subject's biography – data which resulted from the autopsy – and several observations on his brain and skull in accordance with the phrenological doctrine of that time. The goal of this work was to shed new light on an Italian criminal of the late 19th century and on Tenchini's work, combining the material collected by the doctor himself with sources of the period and modern medical knowledge.Alla fine del XIX secolo, il Dottor Lorenzo Tenchini intraprese uno studio su soggetti criminali e pazienti psichiatrici. Uno dei soggetti analizzati era B.A., un soldato di 22 anni che morì dopo aver tentato di uccidere la sua amante, una prostituta di nome G.I. I punti di partenza di questo studio sono stati l'analisi della biografia del soggetto, i dati emersi dall'autopsia e diverse osservazioni riguardanti il suo cervello e il cranio compiute secondo la dottrina frenologica dell'epoca. L'obiettivo di questo studio era di gettare nuova luce su un criminale italiano di fine '800 e sull'opera del Dottor Tenchini, unendo il materiale raccolto dal medico, con fonti dell'epoca e le moderne conoscenze mediche

Oral fluid analysis to monitor recent exposure to synthetic cannabinoids in a high-risk subpopulation

Among novel psychoactive substances, synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRA) seem to have the widest diffusion in the population with no limitation to any particular demographic group. Information on drug consumption relies mostly on anonymized surveys and less on clinical or analytical data; notwithstanding, the huge efforts constantly made to enroll subjects to gather epidemiological data. In the present study, we collected 66 oral fluid samples from volunteers in a drug rehabilitation center in 2019 and early 2020. A liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method previously developed and validated by our Unit was applied to detect SCRA (n = 10) in oral fluid. Results proved the presence of synthetic cannabinoids at a positivity rate of almost 20%, with detection frequency HU211(5/13) > UR144/JWH122 (3/13) > JWH019/JWH081/AM2201 (1/13). Concentrations were in the range < LOQ -0.36 ng/ml. Synthetic cannabinoids consumption had not been declared by any volunteer. This study enabled for the unprecedent detection of synthetic cannabinoids use in the territory of Parma (Italy) in a high-risk subpopulation. The identified SCRA proved the persistence into the market of the "first-generation" JWH family into the Italian territory and the marketing of relatively new ones (AM-2201). Public health consequences represented by NPS consumption are still scarce; therefore, further studies are needed to understand the real diffusion in the population