Tandem bullets. Case report and ballistic analysis

Background: In forensic ballistics, the phenomenon of tandem bullets occurs when two or more bullets are ejected from the barrel of a firearm in a single shot. The injuries caused by these bullets have been described in the literature and include several possibilities, whose severity seems to be especially related to the mass increase of the exploded cartridges and to the distance at which the shots are fired, as a result of the sudden drop in kinetic energy that occurs.Case presentation: We report the case of a subject hit by a tandem bullet, during an attempted robbery, describing the injury reported in relation to the ballistic analysis of the case and examining the dynamics in which this circumstance occurred.Conclusions: The ballistic analysis conducted in our case confirmed that the harmful potential of "tandem bullets" is inversely correlated to the mass of the fired bullets. In our case, the exploded shot, consisting of two 38 Special caliber bullets fused together, hit the body of the subject involved with minimal kinetic energy and penetrating potential. We believe that further ballistic studies should be conducted on a cadaveric model by exploiting cadaveric donation programs for scientific research purposes, in order to investigate the wide spectrum of possible injuries that can occur, also simulating the effects of unjacketed tandem bullets

Climatology of GPS scintillations over Antarctica under solar minimum conditions

We analyse GNSS ionospheric scintillation data recorded in Antarctica to investigate the conditions of the near- Earth environment leading to scintillation scenarios, producing a “scintillation climatology” over a large geomagnetic quiet period.Within this scope we realize maps of scintillation occurrence as a function of the magnetic local time (MLT) and of the altitude adjusted corrected geomagnetic coordinates (AACGM). The maps are realized merging observations of two GISTMs (GPS Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC Monitor) located at Mario Zucchelli Station (74.7°S, 164.1°E) and Concordia Station (75.1°S, 123.2°E) in Antarctica during 2008. The results highlight the possibility to investigate the impact of ionospheric irregularities on the phase and amplitude of GNSS signals, evidencing the cusp/cap and auroral contributions. This works aims to contribute to the development of nowcasting and forecasting tools for GNSS ionospheric scintillation

FIRST COMPARATIVE SCINTILLATION STUDY USING ARCTIC AND ANTARCTIC GPS RECEIVER ARRAYS

Arrays of dual-frequency GPS receivers operating in the Arctic and Antarctic monitor scintillation and ionospheric total electron content at high latitudes. Even under solar minimum conditions, events of significant phase scintillation have been observed in both polar caps. Climatology studies in both hemispheres show that phase scintillation as a function of magnetic local time and geomagnetic latitude primarily occurs in the nightside auroral oval and ionospheric cusp, with the scintillation regions shifting in latitude in response to varying geomagnetic activity. Preliminary results from the first comparative scintillation study supported by ground-based instruments including HF radars, ionosondes and all-sky imagers are presented. In the future, in-situ measurements by the Enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (ePOP) will provide additional support to study the Arctic and Antarctic ionospheres

Informed consent. Legal obligation or cornerstone of the care relationship?

: The topic of informed consent has become increasingly important in recent decades, both in the ethical-deontological field and as a duty of law. The review covered all sentences issued by the 13th section of the Civil Court of Rome during the period January 2016-December 2020. During this period, 156 judgments were found in which a breach of consent was required; in 24 of these, specific liability was proven, and the corresponding compensation liquidated. Moreover, 80% of the cases concerned the lack of information provided. The most involved branches were those related to surgical areas: general surgery, plastic surgery and aesthetic medicine and orthopaedics. The total amount of compensation paid was EUR 287,144.59. The research carried out has highlighted how, in a broad jurisprudential context, the damage caused by the violation of the right related to informed consent is considered, and how it impacts on the economic compensation of damages. Additionally, it showed that the areas most affected by the information deficit are those related to the performance of surgical activities, which are characterized by greater invasiveness and a higher risk of adverse events. The data reported underline the exigency to consider informed consent not as a mere documentary allegation but as an essential moment in the construction of a valid therapeutic alliance, which is also useful for avoiding unnecessary litigation that is becoming increasingly burdensome for healthcare systems all over the world

A Filtering Method Developed to Improve GNSS Receiver Data Quality in the CALIBRA Project

To study ionospheric scintillation on L-band radio signals, it is nowadays typical to acquire data with GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receivers working at high frequency sampling rate (50-100 Hz). When dealing with such data, it is common to consider the contribution coming solely from observations at elevation angles, calculated from the receiver to the selected satellite, above an arbitrary threshold, typically 15-30°. Filtering out measurements made at low elevation angles helps keeping a high SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) and eliminating non-ionospheric related effects, such as multipath. The downside of that well consolidated method is a reduction of the field of view spanned by the GNSS receiver antenna, and, if it is the case, of the whole network. This is not crucial for dense networks or well covered areas, but it can be in the case of not well covered regions, for logistics (e.g. forests, deserts, etc.) and/or environmental reasons (e.g. oceans). The loss of information in many applications could be meaningful. In this paper, we present a method to filter out spurious data based on an “outliers analysis” able to efficiently remove multipath affected measurements, reducing the data loss from 35-45% to 10-20%. It is based upon the Ground Based Scintillation Climatology (GBSC) and the station characterization based upon GBSC [5] is applied to the CIGALA1/ CALIBRA2 network in Brazil. The research shown herein was carried out in the context of the CALIBRA (http://www.calibra-ionosphere.net) project and exploits the CIGALA/ CALIBRA network in Brazil, to which the method was applied, enlarging the field of view and, then, improving the capability of inferring the dynamics of the low latitude ionosphere

Application of average volume assured pressure support (AVAPS) and ultrasound assessment in COVID-19 infection: real-life observation.

BACKGROUND: ARDS in COVID-19 patients admitted to Emergency Departments (ED) is characterized by reduced diaphragm motility and increased work of breathing (WOB) by accessory respiratory muscles. Reduced perfusion of compliant lungs as consequence of vascular abnormalities has been highlighted as possible explanation of typical hypoxemia. Non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIMV) has been proposed to treat ARDS. AVAPS is a hybrid modality of NIMV combining features of pressure and volume ventilation. METHODS: we enrolled 38 patients with COVID-19 ARDS to whom we applied NIMV with AVAPS modality. We assessed Tidal Volume (TV), diaphragm excursion (DE) and PaO2/FiO2 before starting NIMV and after three (T3) and six hours (T6) of ventilation. RESULTS: Admissions to ICU were avoided in 68% of our patients. TV (627±147.6 vs. 747.1±226 mL, P<0.00005) and DE (21.8±5.4 vs. 17.9±6.1 mm, P<0.00005) already improved after three hours of AVAPS. TV (521.5±120 mL, P<0.00005), DE (25.8±6.9 mm, P<0.00005) and PaO2/FiO2 (197.3±75.3 vs. 158±67.7, P<0.005) significantly improved in our cohort of patients after six hours. CONCLUSIONS: NIMV with AVAPS modality can be confidently used in the clinical management of COVID-19 patients with ARDS, since AVAPS has positive effects on ventilation-perfusion matching and WOB. We recommend low PEEP value and ultrasound assessment of diaphragm motility and lung characteristics, although further studies are needed to individuate clinical features of NIMV best-responder patients

Geosystemics View of Earthquakes

Earthquakes are the most energetic phenomena in the lithosphere: their study and comprehension are greatly worth doing because of the obvious importance for society. Geosystemics intends to study the Earth system as a whole, looking at the possible couplings among the different geo-layers, i.e., from the earth’s interior to the above atmosphere. It uses specific universal tools to integrate different methods that can be applied to multi-parameter data, often taken on different platforms (e.g., ground,marine or satellite observations). Itsmain objective is to understand the particular phenomenon of interest from a holistic point of view. Central is the use of entropy, together with other physical quantities that will be introduced case by case. In this paper, we will deal with earthquakes, as final part of a long-term chain of processes involving, not only the interaction between different components of the Earth’s interior but also the coupling of the solid earth with the above neutral or ionized atmosphere, and finally culminating with the main rupture along the fault of concern. Particular emphasis will be given to some Italian seismic sequences.Publishedid 4121A. Geomagnetismo e PaleomagnetismoJCR Journa