A case of insect colonization before the death

Forensic entomology is a branch of forensic science in which insects are used as evidence in legal investigations relating to humans, domestic animals and wildlife. One of the theoretical pillars on which the discipline is based concerns the fact that flies colonize a body after death. However in cases of myiasis, maggots are present before death, with consequences in the correct estimation of the minimum postmortem interval (mPMI). We report here the case of a woman, largely colonized by fly larvae, who has lain alive in her garden for four days prior to being rescued. Larvae were found on the conjunctivae, the bronchi, the rectum and vagina. The woman's death, two months later, was caused by tetanus. The consequences of myiasis on mPMI estimation are here discussed. In fact, despite she was still alive larvae, indicated and estimated age of 1.5–2.5 days, based on environmental and body temperature

Stile di vita e comportamenti devianti dei giovani in Italia: lo sport può prevenire la delinquenza giovanile? I risultati dell’International Self Report Delinquency Study-3 (ISRD-3)

Background. The aim of this study is to improve knowledge about risk factors and protective factors connected to juvenile delinquency behavior, with reference to the relationship between sports participation and lifestyle. Method. The study analyzes the data collected by a questionnaire “ISRD- 3”, administered to an Italian sample of 3508 young students from 7th to 9th grade. The students live in Brescia, Florence, Genoa, Lecce, Messina, Naples, Siena and Milan. Specifically, the authors analyze the relationship among the answers about the relationship with parents, how young people spend their free time, self-reported delinquency behaviors, with respect to playing sports or not. Results. In this study students who play sports have a good relationship with their parents, feel supported by them, and when they disappoint them feel very bad. Compared to free time, those who participate in sports more often have a group of friends to go out with, are part of creative activities (music, theatre, reading books), do homework, stay away from fights. Playing sports is a protective factor compared to fights, illegally downloading film and music, use and selling drugs. Conclusions. Playing sports seems to prevent antisocial behavior. However, lifestyles and socio-demographic characteristics of young sportsmen let hypothesize the presence of other protective factors com-pared to juvenile delinquency.Introduzione. Lo scopo di questo studio è incrementare la conoscenza relativa ai fattori di rischio e di protezione connessi alla delinquenza giovanile, con particolare riferimento all’associazione tra praticare sport e stile di vita. Metodo. Lo studio analizza i dati raccolti dal questionario “ISRD-3”, somministrato ad un campione di 3508 studenti italiani di età compresa tra i 12 ed i 16 anni. Gli studenti sono residenti nelle città di Brescia, Firenze, Genova, Lecce, Messina, Napoli, Siena e Milano. Nello specifico, gli Autori analizzano l’associazione tra le risposte relative alla relazione con i genitori, a come i giovani passano il loro tempo libero, alla commissione di comportamenti devianti, rispetto al praticare o meno sport. Risultati. In questa ricerca, gli studenti che praticano sport hanno una buona relazione con i propri ge-nitori, si sentono supportati dai genitori e stanno molto male se li deludono. Rispetto al tempo libero, coloro che praticano sport hanno più spesso un gruppo di amici con cui uscire, svolgono attività creative (musica, teatro, lettura), fanno i compiti, si tengono fuori da risse. Praticare sport è un fattore protettivo rispetto al partecipare a risse, allo scaricare illegalmente film e musica, all’uso e spaccio di droga. Conclusioni. Praticare sport appare prevenire i comportamenti devianti dei giovani. Tuttavia, lo stile di vita e le caratteristiche sociodemografiche dei giovani che praticano sport lasciano ipotizzare la presenza di altri fattori di protezione rispetto alla delinquenza giovanil

Dental age estimation in children affected by juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

Dental root calcification has proven to be a reliable biological evidence to estimate chronological age of children. The development of structures usually examined in the age estimation forensic practice (e.g. skeleton, teeth) is supposed to be influenced by diseases and nutritional, environmental, ethnic, and ultimately even socioeconomic factors. This research aims to study the age estimation in children affected by juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) with and without steroids treatment and compared with healthy subjects. Material and methods Dental age estimations based on 752 OPGs, 420 girls and 332 boys, aged from 3.3 to 15.99 years, were provided by applying Demirjian and Willems' original methods. Of the whole sample, 103 individuals were affected by JRA and 40 received a continuous corticosteroid therapy, over 1 year long. Conclusions Willems' and Demirjian's original methods, as methods commonly applied to estimate age for sub-adults with unremarkable medical history, can be used for medico-legal purposes to children affected by JRA. Willems' method tended to underestimate age while Demirjian's method resulted to be prone to overestimation for both healthy and JRA-affected children. JRA showed to have no influence on root calcification process even in children that received steroid treatment for 1 year or longer

Dental Ritual Mutilations and Forensic Odontologist Practice: a Review of the Literature

Uvod: Etnička sakaćenja imaju antropološko značenje, kako u suvremenom tako i u nekadašnjem ljudskom ponašanju, ovisno o geografskim, religioznim i kulturnim čimbenicima koji znatno mogu pomoći forenzičnom stomatologu u postupku izrade dentalnog profila. Sakaćenje zuba i ukrasi na njima bili su, i još uvijek jesu, uobičajeni među mnogim etničkim skupinama i kulturama. Kroz povijest ljudskoga roda zdravlje zuba bilo je simbol mladosti, ljepote i snage, ali može imati i druga značenja. Sakaćenje zuba obilježje je mnogih nestalih kultura i prakticiralo se uglavnom tijekom religijskih rituala, u estetske svrhe i kao simbol pripadnosti određenoj socijalnoj skupini. No slični običaji i danas su uobičajeni u nekim područjima diljem svijeta. Materijali i metode: Članak je zapravo sustavni pregled literature o ritualnom sakaćenju zuba iz ranih 1960-ih, a uključeni su i podatci s PubMeda, Scopusa i Google Scolara. Istaraživanje je namjerno ograničeno na ritualno sakaćenje koje se može definirati kao bilo koje nepovratno narušavanje integriteta ljudskoga organizma učinjeno u ritualne svrhe i bez namjere liječenja. Zato su isključeni svi slučajevi pojedinačnih ili višestrukih samovađenja zuba učinjenih iz psihotičnih razloga te oralno sakaćenje djece jer se takva praksa u nekim etničkim skupinama smatra terapijskom. Zaključak: Spoznaje o promjenama na zubima nakon oralnoga sakaćenja važne su pri identifikaciji živih ili umrlih osoba, ili čak ljudskih ostataka jer odaju odgovarajuće informacije o etničkom i kulturološkom podrijetlu subjekta. U ovom članku navedena su i neka medicinskopravna stajališta o sakaćenju zuba, a namijenjena su doktorima dentalne medicine.Background: Ethnic mutilations have a social and anthropological significance both in contemporary and past human behavior, influenced by geographic, religious and cultural factors which can greatly help forensic odontologist’s practice in dental profiling process. ental ritual mutilations and dental decorations were - and still are - practiced among many ethnic groups and cultures. Throughout the history of humanity, having healthy teeth has a symbolic meaning of youth, beauty and strength, but it can also have other meanings. Dental ritual mutilations were documented in many cultures in the past and were practiced mainly for religious rituals purposes, for esthetic reasons and because they represented a symbol of status or of belonging to a particular social group. Similar rituals are still performed. Material and Method: The present paper is a systematic review of the literature reporting on dental ritual mutilations from the early 1960s and is included in Pubmed, Scopus and Googlescholar. The research was deliberately limited only to the ritual mutilations, which can be defined as “any irreversible impairment of the integrity of the human organism, made with a ritual purpose and without any curative aim”. Therefore all the articles dealing with single or multiple dental self extractions of psychotic origins were excluded, as well as the infant oral mutilations, since the practice is deemed to have therapeutical effects among ethnic groups dedited to this practice. Conclusions: The knowledge of dental alteration due to oral mutilations can be a powerful tool for the identification procedures of living or dead persons or even in human remains especially providing relevant information about the ethnic origins and the cultural background of a subject. Some medical legal issues for the odontologist about dental mutilation are also addressed in the paper

Genetic characterization of juvenile sudden cardiac arrest and death in Tuscany: The ToRSADE registry

BackgroundSudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in young people represents a dramatic event, often leading to severe neurologic outcomes or sudden cardiac death (SCD), and is frequently caused by genetic heart diseases. In this study, we report the results of the Tuscany registry of sudden cardiac death (ToRSADE) registry, aimed at monitoring the incidence and investigating the genetic basis of SCA and SCD occurring in subjects < 50 years of age in Tuscany, Italy.Methods and resultsCreation of the ToRSADE registry allowed implementation of a repository for clinical, molecular and genetic data. For 22 patients, in whom a genetic substrate was documented or suspected, blood samples could be analyzed; 14 were collected at autopsy and 8 from resuscitated patients after SCA. Next generation sequencing (NGS) analysis revealed likely pathogenetic (LP) variants associated with cardiomyopathy (CM) or channelopathy in four patients (19%), while 17 (81%) carried variants of uncertain significance in relevant genes (VUS). In only one patient NGS confirmed the diagnosis obtained during autopsy: the p.(Asn480Lysfs*20) PKP2 mutation in a patient with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (AC).ConclusionSystematic genetic screening allowed identification of LP variants in 19% of consecutive patients with SCA/SCD, including subjects carrying variants associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) or AC who had SCA/SCD in the absence of structural cardiomyopathy phenotype. Genetic analysis combined with clinical information in survived patients and post-mortem evaluation represent an essential multi-disciplinary approach to manage juvenile SCD and SCA, key to providing appropriate medical and genetic assistance to families, and advancing knowledge on the basis of arrhythmogenic mechanisms in inherited cardiomyopathies and channelopathies

Management of the corpse with suspect, probable or confirmed COVID-19 respiratory infection \u2013 Italian interim recommendations for personnel potentially exposed to material from corpses, including body fluids, in morgue structures and during autopsy practice.

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Trapping in irradiated p-on-n silicon sensors at fluences anticipated at the HL-LHC outer tracker

The degradation of signal in silicon sensors is studied under conditions expected at the CERN High-Luminosity LHC. 200 $\mu$m thick n-type silicon sensors are irradiated with protons of different energies to fluences of up to $3 \cdot 10^{15}$ neq/cm$^2$. Pulsed red laser light with a wavelength of 672 nm is used to generate electron-hole pairs in the sensors. The induced signals are used to determine the charge collection efficiencies separately for electrons and holes drifting through the sensor. The effective trapping rates are extracted by comparing the results to simulation. The electric field is simulated using Synopsys device simulation assuming two effective defects. The generation and drift of charge carriers are simulated in an independent simulation based on PixelAV. The effective trapping rates are determined from the measured charge collection efficiencies and the simulated and measured time-resolved current pulses are compared. The effective trapping rates determined for both electrons and holes are about 50% smaller than those obtained using standard extrapolations of studies at low fluences and suggests an improved tracker performance over initial expectations