1,720,981 research outputs found
Toluene Abuse: A Medicolegal Perspective
No full textToluene is one of the main components of paints, paint thinners, gasoline, glues, and other household or industrial products. It is highly volatile and one of the most abused solvents worldwide and may also be accidentally inhaled or ingested. Several cases of fatal or nonfatal toluene intoxications have been described in forensic literature. A correlation was also observed between the intoxicating effects of toluene and the high incidence of traumatic deaths among abusers. Moreover, due to its intoxicating effect, toluene can lead to driving impairment. In this chapter, forensic implications related to toluene abuse and toxicity are discussed, from the pre-analytical and analytical phases, namely, sampling, storage, and techniques of analysis, to the interpretation of the toxico- logical result. Blood concentration reported in forensic literature in fatal intoxi- cations, toluene-related deaths, and nonfatal intoxication are summarized and compared
PANDEMIA DA COVID-19 E ABUSO DI SOSTANZE STUPEFACENTI. LE NUOVE FRONTIERE DELLA RIDUZIONE DEL DANNO
No full textIl modello di riduzione del danno (RdD), una misura sanitaria già diffusa in Europa dall’inizio degli anni ’80, ha come principale obiettivo quello di tutelare la salute dell’individuo che fa uso di sostanze stupefacenti. La diffusione del COVID-19 ha creato nuove aree di vulnerabilità ed esacerbato quelle preesistenti, ponendo sfide senza precedenti in ambito sanitario, tra cui la tutela delle persone che consumano droghe. Per le persone che utilizzano sostanze stupefacenti sono state diffuse buone pratiche, che si aggiungono alle raccomandazioni standard. Non di meno, le attuali politiche di RdD dovranno essere potenziate alla luce della nuova pandemia COVID-19, come previsto in questi mesi dalle principali società scientifiche ed associazioni nazionali ed internazionali. I messaggi sulla RdD incentrati sui rischi associati all’iniezione dovranno essere rimodulati alla luce del contagio attraverso droplets, tipico di pratiche considerate fino ad oggi “meno a rischio”, come la condivisione di sigarette, strumenti per la vaporizzazione e l’inalazione. L’assistenza territoriale dovrà essere potenziata con l’ausilio su larga scala della telemedicina, percorso già avviato nei primi due mesi della pandemia, nonché per mezzo di screening tossicologici ed infettivologici a domicilio, sulla base del modello applicato nella provincia di Hubei (Cina). L’attività dei laboratori di tossicologia forense e clinica e l’attivazione di ulteriori sistemi di allerta rapida saranno indirizzati alla prevenzione e alla tempestiva segnalazione delle possibili variazioni del mercato in termini di modifica della domanda, sostituzione e contraffazione delle sostanz
The uncertainty of causes of sudden cardiac death: the promising role of the molecular autopsy and family screening to weight scientific evidence
No full textIn sudden cardiac deaths (SCD), the identification of the cause(s) of death at autopsy may be challenging, especially in some conditions where the border between physiological and pathological changes is not defined. This paper describes a case of SCD in an 18-month-old child with two abnormalities of uncertain significance. The multi-disciplinary approach included PMCT, autopsy, histological, toxicological and genetic analysis. Parental screening and targeted genetic testing were performed. Two potentially pathogenic abnormalities were detected: a high take-off origin of the left coronary artery from the tubular aorta and a heterozygous variant, harbored by the mother and the grandfather, within exon 1 of the KCNQ1 (potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily Q member 1) gene (p.Ala46Thr). The clinical examination, basal ECG and Holter ECG were normal, except for a single borderline QTc interval measurement in the mother. The high coronary origin is classified by the International Guidelines for autopsy investigation in SCD as an “uncertain” cause of death and the genetic variant is classified as of “uncertain” or “likely pathogenic” significance in Clinvar and Varsome, respectively. The possibility to perform an extended family screening revealed the lack of a solid genotype-phenotype correlation, and the KCNQ1 variant cannot with any certainty be regarded as disease-causing. When autopsy findings fall into the grey zone between physiological and pathological changes, as well as post-mortem genetic analysis, the standardized clinical testing of families should be emphasized in order to understand the role of gene variants, and to produce evidences for the realization of personalized medicine
Human DNA contamination of postmortem examination facilities: Impact of COVID‐19 cleaning procedure
Full text linkThe DNA contamination of evidentiary trace samples, included those collected in the autopsy room, has significant detrimental consequences for forensic genetics investigation. After the COVID‐19 pandemic, methods to prevent environmental contamination in the autopsy room have been developed and intensified. This study aimed to evaluate the level of human DNA contamination of a postmortem examination facility before and after the introduction of COVID‐19‐related disinfection and cleaning procedures. Ninety‐one swabs were collected from the surfaces and the dissecting instruments, analyzed by real‐time quantitative PCR (q‐PCR) and typed for 21 autosomal STRs. Sixty‐seven out of 91 samples resulted in quantifiable human DNA, ranging from 1 pg/μl to 12.4 ng/μl, including all the samples collected before the implementation of COVID‐19 cleaning procedures (n = 38) and 29 out of 53 (54.7%) samples taken afterward. All samples containing human DNA were amplified, resulting in mixed (83.6%), single (13.4%), and incomplete (3%) profiles. A statistically significant decrease in DNA contamination was found for dissecting instruments after treatment with chlorhexidine and autoclave (p < 0.05). Environmental decontamination strategies adopted during COVID‐19 pandemic only partially solved the long‐standing issue of DNA contamination of postmortem examination facilities. The pandemic represents an opportunity to further stress the need for standardized evidence‐based protocols targeted to overcome the problem of DNA contamination in the autopsy room
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
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