Design and Evaluation of [F]CHDI-650 as a Positron Emission Tomography Ligand to Image Mutant Huntingtin Aggregates.

Therapeutic interventions are being developed for Huntington's disease (HD), a hallmark of which is mutant huntingtin protein (mHTT) aggregates. Following the advancement to human testing of two [C]-PET ligands for aggregated mHTT, attributes for further optimization were identified. We replaced the pyridazinone ring of CHDI-180 with a pyrimidine ring and minimized off-target binding using brain homogenate derived from Alzheimer's disease patients.

Oral fluid analysis to monitor recent exposure to synthetic cannabinoids in a high-risk subpopulation.

Among novel psychoactive substances, synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRA) seem to have the widest diffusion in the population with no limitation to any particular demographic group. Information on drug consumption relies mostly on anonymized surveys and less on clinical or analytical data; notwithstanding, the huge efforts constantly made to enroll subjects to gather epidemiological data. In the present study, we collected 66 oral fluid samples from volunteers in a drug rehabilitation center in 2019 and early 2020.

European Council of Legal Medicine (ECLM) on-site inspection forms for forensic pathology, anthropology, odontology, genetics, entomology and toxicology for forensic and medico-legal scene and corpse investigation: the Parma form.

Further to a previous publication by the European Council of Legal Medicine (ECLM) concerning on-site forensic and medico-legal scene and corpse investigation, this publication provides guidance for forensic medical specialists, pathologists and, where present, coroners' activity at a scene of death inspection and to harmonize the procedures for a correct search, detection, collection, sampling and storage of all elements which may be useful as evidence, and ensure documentation of all these steps. This ECLM's inspection form provides a checklist to be used on-site for the investigation of a corpse present at a crime or suspicious death scene. It permits the collection of all relevant data not only for the pathologist, but also for forensic anthropologists, odontologists, geneticists, entomologists and toxicologists, thus supporting a collaborative work approach.

Road traffic deaths: A retrospective analysis (2009-2019) in the north of the Italian region Emilia Romagna.

Objective: International literature and several national studies demonstrate that alcohol and illicit drugs impair driving abilities, diminishing the level of attention, and cause traffic accidents. In Italy, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is regulated by Articles 186 and 187 of the National Street Code, which defines penalties and fines for the convicted. The aim of this study was the collection of all available data from 2009 to 2019 focusing on deaths related to road accidents in the Unit of Legal Medicine of Department of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Parma, in order to assess any consumption of alcohol, illicit drugs, and medicinal drugs among drivers.

Validation of a Bioanalytical Method for the Determination of Synthetic and Natural Cannabinoids (New Psychoactive Substances) in Oral Fluid Samples by Means of HPLC-MS/MS.

New psychoactive substances (NPS) represent an important focus nowadays and are continually produced with minimal structural modifications in order to circumvent the law and increase the difficulty of identifying them. Moreover, since there are a high number of different compounds, it is arduous to develop analytical screening and/or confirmation methods that allow the identification and quantification of these compounds. The aim of this work is to develop and validate a bioanalytical method for detecting new synthetic drugs in biological samples, specifically oral fluid, using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) with minimal sample pretreatment.