One of the increasingly discussed topics in forensic pathology is that concerning the quantification of the postmortem interval (PMI). The estimation of the time interval between the death of a person and the discovery of the body is extremely complicated, as it is affected by the influence of many factors, both endogenous and exogenous. With the advancement of knowledge in the field of molecular biology, several studies have been performed, for more than 30 years, on the degradation pattern of macromolecules, such as proteins, DNA, RNA, and the relationship with PMI. Despite initial enthusiasm, studies have shown different kind of limitations in determining PMI in the forensic field. In the last years, consequently, researchers focused their attention on the potential of microRNAs as housekeeping genes, due to their postmortem stability and resistance to degradation. MiRNAs are small, endogenous, single stranded, non-coding RNA molecules identified in plants, animals and DNA virus transcriptome. Various anmal models. However, the promising properties of miRNAs and their low cost may make this field of research very interesting for an increasingly precise determination of PMI in the future.

In 2015, 37% of Italian adolescents reported to have smoked in the past month. The study aimed to evaluate smoking beha-viour on the school premises and to study the influence of the school environment on student smoking.

Around 900 junior high-school students, aged 11-13 years old completed an online survey in November 2016 and May 2017. Descriptive statistics, univariate analyses and binary logistic regression were performed to analyse data.

Between 40 – 50% of students indicated that students and staff smoke on the school premises. Students who witnessed students (OR 3.48 (2.20 – 5.50)) and school employees (OR 3.17 (1.97 – 5.10)) smoking were more likely to be a smoker.

Although laws making it illegal to smoke on the school ground are in place, in Italy, its enforcement is sloppy. To tackle adolescent smoking effectively, policymakers are advised to enforce smoking restrictions and to verify these are respected.

Although laws making it illegal to smoke on the school ground are in place, in Italy, its enforcement is sloppy. To tackle adolescent smoking effectively, policymakers are advised to enforce smoking restrictions and to verify these are respected.

The BJWAT score significantly decreased after treatment with NMT application (p<0,05) evaluated with Friedman test.

NMT application seems to be a useful, non invasive and low cost treatment to associate with other treatments in the ma-nagement of diabetic foot ulcers.

Foot ulcers are major complications of diabetes mellitus and are estimated to affect 0.5-3% of the global population of people with diabetes. Treatment, prevention and management of foot ulcers is of paramount importance and utilisation of different preventa-tive strategies has been described in literature. The aim of this research study is to evaluate the possible integrative role of NeuroMuscolar Taping (NMT) in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers.

This is an observational study involving patients with 3 to 5 degree of diabetic wound classification. The Bates-Jensen Wound Assessment Tool (BJWAT) was used before and after four weeks of NeuroMuscolar Taping applications.

This is an observational study involving patients with 3 to 5 degree of diabetic wound classification. The Bates-Jensen Wound Assessment Tool (BJWAT) was used before and after four weeks of NeuroMuscolar Taping applications.The analysis of surface bone changes is an essential aspect of the paleopathological examination of skeletal remains from archaeological and forensic contexts, and proper digital imaging is an indispensable aspect of the documentation of bone modifications. This paper evaluates the applicability of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) to the study of pathological bone surface changes in human remains. Forty-five samples of human bones and teeth from medieval and early modern Estonian cemeteries were photographed and subjected to RTI imaging to document the pathological conditions that typically result in subtle surface modifications. Subperiosteal Bone Production (SBP), abnormal porosity, cribra orbitalia, endocranial lesions and lytic lesions in bone, as well as enamel hypoplasia and dental calculus in teeth were successfully represented with this technique. The results indicate that RTI allows visualization of shallow and discrete bone changes that are otherwise unnoticed. In some cases, this technique provides a better understanding of the nature and development of particular pathological processes than possible with conventional imaging. Although it cannot entirely replace microscopic and radiological techniques, RTI can be successfully performed in a reasonably short time by non-specialist operators with limited funding and resources, thus enabling identification of specimens that should be subject to more expensive or time-consuming analyses. Hence, RTI constitutes a valuable tool for the representation of subtle surface details in pathological bone, and can successfully support standard photography in paleopathological studies, museum display and scientific communication.Forensic sex estimation is a key component in attempts to identify human remains. The skull is often used for this purpose, but is often damaged or recovered in fragments. Studies of individual cranial bones are hampered by subjectivity in visual assessment and difficulties in the ability to capture complex shape variations, as well as accounting for population-specificity in the expression of sexual dimorphism. The present study employed geometric morphometric analysis to assess morphological variation of the occipital bones of 792 adult South African individuals. Selleck AZD0156 Though sexual differences in size were detected, shape dimorphism was not detected until ancestry was simultaneously accounted for. Female occipital bones were less robust but more sloped than those of males. Detected variation between ancestry groups was sufficient to produce approximately 80% classification accuracies for Black and White groups, and 74% for the highly heterogeneous Coloured group. When variation was assessed according to sex and ancestry simultaneously, groups could be distinguished with 74.