1,721,008 research outputs found
Mutilazioni genitali femminili : la risposta giudiziaria
No full textDopo un esame comparatistico delle norme di legge emanate in merito alla questione delle mutilazioni genitali femminili da alcuni Stati africani e Paesi extra-europei ed europei, gli Autori esaminano la norma italiana ed affrontano la questione dell'efficacia della risposta giudiziaria e dei problemi che essa solleva. Viene preso in considerazione anche il dibattito bioetico relativo, in particolare, al doppio standard legislativo esistente per le mutilazioni genitali femminili e la circoncisione rituale maschile o la chirurgia estetica ed alla questione della libertà ed autonomia delle donne adulte che richiedessero per sé queste pratiche
Epigeneica della violenza sessuale e del maltrattamento: progetto di studio multicentrico
No full textLa violenza ed il maltrattamento contro le donne costituiscono un rilevante problema sanitario e sociale.
Il progetto qui descritto è coordinato dall’Istituto Superiore di Sanità e rientra nell’ambito del “Progetto Esecutivo - Programma Ministero della Sanità CCM 2014 REVAMP” (REpellere Vulnera Ad Mulierem et Puerum). Lo scopo è di caratterizzare il profilo epigenetico di donne di età maggiore di 16 anni che abbiano subito violenza sessuale o maltrattamento associato alla resilienza ed allo sviluppo di Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) rispetto a controlli sani.
L’analisi del profilo epigenetico sarà effettuata sull’intero genoma su prelievi ematici (circa 10 ml suddivisi in diverse aliquote) al tempo 0 e con follow-up a 6, 12 e 18 mesi. I dati verranno analizzati mediante l’utilizzo di piattaforme bioinformatiche (es. Infinium Human Methylation 450 BeadChip kit / Infinium MethylationEPIC kit - Illumina, USA).
Successivamente saranno identificati altri marcatori epigenetici in grado di distinguere soggetti a maggiore e minore rischio di sviluppo di PTSD.
A ciascun partecipante sarà somministrato un dettagliato questionario relativo, tra l’altro, al rilievo delle abitudini alimentari e dello stile di vita (fumo, alcool, attività fisica nel tempo libero, attività lavorativa, ecc.), alla valutazione dello stato psico-fisico del soggetto con batterie di test psicologici e di valutazione della capacità funzionale e di benessere generale, alla rilevazione di alcune misure antropometriche (peso, altezza), oltre a dati clinici, ematocrito e analisi biochimiche specifiche.
Lo studio è multicentrico con 6 centri al momento coinvolti; potrà consentire il campionamento di circa 600 soggetti per anno ed è stato approvato dal Comitato Etico dell’Istituto Superiore di Sanità.
Si tratta di una proposta innovativa in grado di fornire elementi con lo scopo finale di individualizzare l’approccio e la terapia delle vittime di violenza sessuale e maltrattamento attraverso marcatori epigenetici correlati al PTSD
Increased levetiracetam clearance and breakthrough seizure in a pregnant patient successfully handled by intensive therapeutic drug monitoring
No full textWe report a 36-year-old pregnant patient with subtherapeutic trough plasma levels of levetiracetam (LVT) and a breakthrough nocturnal seizure while assuming 3 times a day dosing of the drug. An intensive pharmacokinetic study was performed from immediately before to 11 hours after the morning LVT dose administration and suggested that the patient was not adequately exposed to the drug during the night. After changing the dosing of LVT to 4 times a day, the patient experienced no seizures and delivered a healthy newborn without complications. Afterward, trough plasma levels of LVT remained always within the therapeutic range until delivery, and no major increase of the drug daily dose was required
Persistence of spermatozoa on decomposing human skin : a scanning electron microscopy study
No full textFinding spermatozoa is of the utmost importance in judicial cases involving both the living and the dead; however, most of literature actually deals with inner genitalia and does not take into consideration the chance of external deposition of semen on skin, which is not rare. In addition, the most advanced microscopic technologies such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) have not been thoroughly investigated within this specific field of research. This study aims at applying SEM analysis to samples of decomposed skin in order to test its potential in detecting spermatozoa particularly in decomposed cadavers. A sample of skin was obtained at autopsy and divided into two thin strips; one of the samples was used as a negative control. Semen was then taken from a "donor" (with a normal spermiogram) and was spread onto the other skin sample. Every 3 days for the first 15 days (for a total of six samples), a standard slide was prepared from swabs on the treated and control skin and analyzed by standard light microscopy. In addition, every 7 days up to 91 days (3 months circa), a skin sample was taken from the positive and negative control and examined by SEM for a total of 14 samples. Results show that after 12 days, light microscopy failed in detecting spermatozoa, whereas they were still visible up to 84 days by SEM analysis. This study therefore suggests the persistence of sperm structures in time and in decomposing material as well as the possible application of SEM technology to decomposed skin in order to detect semen
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
The persistence of ligature marks : towards a new protocol for victims of abuse and torture
Full text linkOne of the most frequently observed lesions in clinical forensic practice concerns the patterned abrasion on skin due to constriction by various types of ligature. Detection of ligature marks and their patterns may be fundamental for reconstructing events and supporting testimony of an aggression, sexual abuse, or maltreatment. But very little actually exists in literature concerning their detectability and how long they last. This study aims at evaluating the time of persistence and detectability of skin signs left by different types of ligatures in living persons: on the arms of three volunteers, eight different ligatures were applied; 123 tests were performed, with time of contact ranging between 1 min and 2 h and 45 min. In addition, the persistence of the shape and pattern of the ligature was evaluated 15, 30, and 60 min after a 5- and 15-min compression. Polyvinyl siloxane, applied by a gun dispenser, was used to perform a cast of the skin mark. The results show that the pattern was less distinguishable with the decrease of time of contact, going from 75 % after 10 and 15 min of contact, to 45.8 % after 1 min. Above 15 min, the specific pattern was always recognizable. In addition, a progressive decrease of the detectability of the pattern with time, respectively, up to 12.5 and 37.5 % in 5- and 15-min tests was observed. This study provides useful results for the assessment of patterned injuries in forensic pathology and clinical forensic medicine, both on dead and living persons: in addition, the use of silicone casts seems to be a reliable and cheap method for easily recording and preserving the morphological profile of skin lesions
EpiWE project, the molecular signature of violence in women’s victim genome
No full textIntroduction: Violence against women represents a chronic and global health plague and, due to its serious consequences on women’s health, needs to be approached at multisciplinary level. The short-term effects of violence are more evident, while the exhaustive evaluation of long-term effects still remains a challenge. It has been demonstrated that the signs of violence interfere with genome plasticity and gene expression through epigenetic mechanisms.
Materials and Methods: Cases were enrolled by systematic sampling of victims of violence screened at the Emergency Department in all the italian regions. The psychological evaluation was performed in a cohort of 700 women. Biological samples from women’s victims were analysed for differential methylation in a panel of genes involved in post traumatic stress disorder.
Results: Quantitative methylation evaluation of a panel of genes already reported as associated with trauma/stress-related disorders was performed by MassARRAY (Agena, Bioscience) in 63 victims and 80 controls. The evaluation of LINE1 methylation, for global methylation assessment is in progress, (pyrosquencing, Qiagen).
Conclusions: Early detection of post-traumatic stress disorder cases represent a priority area of research, which is focused not only on the susceptibility but also on the resilience or not resilience to PTSD. The interaction between genome and environmental factors, such as violence, represents one of the major challenges in precision and preventive medicine. By knowing the mechanisms responsible for resilience, we can derive clues about the best treatment and the best public policy
- …
