The Doppelgänger phenomenon and death: a peculiar case of homicide by a subject with first-episode psychosis.

The Doppelgänger phenomenon refers to the experience of a direct encounter with one's self, characteriswed by: (i) the perception of a figure with one's own identical physical features; or (ii) the apprehension that the perceived figure shares the same personality and identity. The Doppelgänger does not only look like the same person, it is his/her double. The perceptual element is usually a hallucination, although occasionally a false perception of an actual figure may be involved.

The mourning process and "living with the dead": Two case reports and a review of the literature.

The discovery of mummified bodies in domestic settings is not unusual in the medico-legal context. It is often a marker of social isolation, even in our urban modern society, and usually occurs among elderly people living alone or in precarious conditions. However, bereaved subjects can sometimes be found managing their grief by deliberately keeping the corpses of their loved ones at home.

Differential diagnosis between physical maltreatment and cupping practices in a suspected child abuse case.

Physical maltreatment is one of the most common forms of child abuse. Cutaneous injuries often raise the suspicion of child maltreatment. Nevertheless, among health professionals there is still uncertainty in the evaluation of such injuries.

The risk of assault against mental health professionals: a fatal case report and literature review.

Assaults by patients against healthcare providers are an increasing phenomenon worldwide. Mental health professionals in acute facilities and rehabilitation wards have the highest risk of being attacked at work. Verbal abuse or intimidating behaviors represent the most common types of violence.

Risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in HBV cirrhotic patients assessed by the combination of miR-122, AFP and PIVKA-II.

Background: Reliable biomarkers for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with cirrhosis are lacking. We evaluated the use of miR-122, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and protein induced by vitamin k absence/antagonist II (PIVKA-II) for HCC risk prediction in patients with HBV-related cirrhosis under surveillance.

Methods: We first analyzed a group of 63 patients with HBV-related liver cirrhosis of whom 33 had HCC.