A Ge.F.I. Collaborative Study: Evaluating Reproducibility and Accuracy of a DNA-Methylation-Based Age-Predictive Assay for Routine Implementation in Forensic Casework.

The increasing interest in DNA methylation (DNAm) analysis within the forensic scientific community prompted a collaborative project by Ge.F.I.

Estimation of Human Chronological Age from Buccal Swab Samples through a DNA Methylation Analysis Approach of a Five-Locus Multiple Regression Model.

Recent advancements in forensic genetics have facilitated the extraction of additional characteristics from unidentified samples. This study delves into the predictive potential of a five-gene (, , , , and ) methylation rate analysis for human age estimation using buccal swabs collected from 60 Italian volunteers. The methylation levels of specific CpG sites in the five genes were analyzed through bisulfite conversion, single-base extension, and capillary electrophoresis.

Defining medical liability when artificial intelligence is applied on diagnostic algorithms: a systematic review.

Artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine is an increasingly studied and widespread phenomenon, applied in multiple clinical settings. Alongside its many potential advantages, such as easing clinicians' workload and improving diagnostic accuracy, the use of AI raises ethical and legal concerns, to which there is still no unanimous response. A systematic literature review on medical professional liability related to the use of AI-based diagnostic algorithms was conducted using the public electronic database PubMed selecting studies published from 2020 to 2023.

Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey-Based Study on a Sample of Italian Physicians' Opinions on Telemedicine.

Telemedicine was born out of the need to ensure clinical evaluation and personal care regardless of the physical presence of the healthcare professional nearby. Information technologies have been vital during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure medical care and avoid the contagion between patients and clinicians. Accordingly, telecare services multiplied worldwide and gained paramount importance.

An mRNA Profiling Study of Vaginal Swabs from Pre- and Postmenopausal Women.

Body fluid identification by means of mRNA profiling provides valuable supplementary information in forensic investigations. In particular, the detection of vaginal mucosa mRNA markers is highly relevant in sexual assault cases. Although the vagina undergoes characteristic age-related physiological changes over a lifetime, few studies have evaluated the efficacy of vaginal mRNA markers in women of different ages.

Digital Biobanking and Big Data as a New Research Tool: A Position Paper.

Big data analytics in medicine is driving significant change, as it offers vital information for improving functions, developing cutting-edge solutions and overcoming inefficiencies. With the right archiving and analysis tools, all players in the healthcare system, from hospitals to patients and from medical personnel to the pharmaceutical industry, can yield numerous benefits. Therefore, to analyze and interpret these analytics effectively, so that they can be useful for the advancement of scientific knowledge, we require information sharing, specific skills, training, integration between all system players, unique infrastructures and security.

Forensic Age Estimation through a DNA Methylation-Based Age Prediction Model in the Italian Population: A Pilot Study.

DNA methylation is one of the epigenetic marks which has been studied intensively in recent years for age predicting purposes in the forensic area. In order to integrate age prediction into routine forensic workflow, the purpose of this study was to standardize and optimize a DNA methylation-based protocol tailored to the Italian context. A previously published protocol and age-predictive method was implemented for the analysis of 84 blood samples originating from Central Italy.

Touch DNA Sampling Methods: Efficacy Evaluation and Systematic Review.

Collection and interpretation of "touch DNA" from crime scenes represent crucial steps during criminal investigations, with clear consequences in courtrooms. Although the main aspects of this type of evidence have been extensively studied, some controversial issues remain. For instance, there is no conclusive evidence indicating which sampling method results in the highest rate of biological material recovery.

Human microbiome and microbiota identification for preventing and controlling healthcare-associated infections: A systematic review.

Objective: This systematic review describes the role of the human microbiome and microbiota in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Studies on the microbiota of patients, healthcare environment (HE), medical equipment, or healthcare workers (HCW) and how it could be transmitted among the different subjects will be described in order to define alarming risk factors for HAIs spreading and to identify strategies for HAIs control or prevention.

Methods: This review was performed in adherence to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

The role of SPATA2 in TNF signaling, cancer, and spermatogenesis.

The activation of TNF receptors can lead to cell death with a mechanism of cell necrosis regulated genetically and distinct from apoptosis which is defined as necroptosis. Necroptosis has been one of the most studied emerging cell death/signaling pathways in recent years, especially in light of the role of this process in human disease. However, not all regulatory components of TNF signaling have been identified in relation to both physiological and pathological conditions.

Post-Mortem Interval and Microbiome Analysis through 16S rRNA Analysis: A Systematic Review.

The determination of the Post-Mortem Interval (PMI) is an issue that has always represented a challenge in the field of forensic science. Different innovative approaches, compared to the more traditional ones, have been tried over the years, without succeeding in being validated as successful methods for PMI estimation. In the last two decades, innovations in sequencing technologies have made it possible to generate large volumes of data, allowing all members of a bacterial community to be sequenced.

Skin Microbial Changes during Space Flights: A Systematic Review.

. Sixty years after the launch of the first human into space, different studies on the physiological changes that humans undergo during dynamic flight phases and prolonged weightlessness have been undertaken. Understanding these changes is important for the creation of the preventative measures that are essential to ensuring astronaut health.

Family and Educational Strategies for Cyberbullying Prevention: A Systematic Review.

Cyberbullying can be described as a form of bullying carried out by an individual or a group through digital media with the intention to harm others. It has been recognized as a public health issue recently; however, of the vast literature published in recent years on the phenomenon, only a small part concerns strategies adopted to prevent and combat cyberbullying, and the effectiveness of these strategies appears to be scarce. We conducted a systematic review of the literature published in the last five years about different interventions studied to prevent and contrast cyberbullying.

An Update on Planned Oocyte Cryopreservation (POC) in Italy: Medical, Epidemiological and Legal Consideration.

Starting with a brief socioeconomic analysis of the phenomenon of female fertility, this narrative review aims to provide an analysis of the use and possibilities of medically assisted reproductive technology in combating fertility issues, adopting socioeconomic, legal and medical perspectives in Italy. The authors mainly employ data from the annual reports of the National Registry of Medically Assisted Reproduction (PMA Registry) and the Italian Statistical Institute (ISTAT) to understand the evolution of oocyte use in medically assisted reproductive technology in Italy from 2015 to 2018 and in particular to dissect the possibilities of oocyte cryopreservation as a measure to counteract age-related infertility, specifically through Planned Oocyte Cryopreservation (POC), also known as "social freezing". It seems that the best course of action in the context of medically assisted reproduction would be the use of young and healthy cryopreserved oocytes (autologous or donated), preferably before the age of 40, while encouraging donation of oocytes whenever possible.

[New and old parenting: reflections about assisted reproductive technologies in view of recent Italian law.].

The constant advancement of reproduction technologies has broadened the panorama of possible techniques and has led to a profound change in the concept of the family that has so far been widespread. Assisted reproductive techniques (ART) currently allow to conceive a human being in the absence of physical connection between man and woman. In light of the possibility of conception using heterologous techniques, the concept of parent/child relationship may also be changed.

External visible characteristics prediction through SNPs analysis in the forensic setting: a review.

Numerous major advances have been made in forensic genetics over the past decade. One recent field of research has been focused on the analysis of External Visible Characteristics (EVC) such as eye colour, hair colour (including hair greying), hair morphology, skin colour, freckles, facial morphology, high myopia, obesity, and adult height, with important repercussions in the forensic field. Its use could be especially useful in investigative cases where there are no potential suspects and no match between the evidence DNA sample under investigation and any genetic profiles entered into criminal databases.

Microbiome Forensic Biobanking: A Step toward Microbial Profiling for Forensic Human Identification.

In recent years many studies have highlighted the great potential of microbial analysis in human identification for forensic purposes, with important differences in microbial community composition and function across different people and locations, showing a certain degree of uncertainty. Therefore, further studies are necessary to enable forensic scientists to evaluate the risk of microbial transfer and recovery from various items and to further critically evaluate the suitability of current human DNA recovery protocols for human microbial profiling for identification purposes. While the establishment and development of microbiome research biobanks for clinical applications is already very structured, the development of studies on the applicability of microbiome biobanks for forensic purposes is still in its infancy.

"Touch microbiome" as a potential tool for forensic investigation: A pilot study.

Human skin hosts a variety of microbes that can be transferred to surfaces ("touch microbiome"). These microorganisms can be considered as forensic markers similarly to "touch DNA". With this pilot study, we wanted to evaluate the transferability and persistence of the "touch microbiome" on a surface after the deposition of a fingerprint and its exposure for 30 days at room temperature.

Rehabilitation healthcare professionals' perceptions of professional responsibility: a focus group study in Italy.

Background And Aim Of The Work: Law no. 24/17 has updated the Italian legislation regarding healthcare professional responsibility. In practice, all eight groups of healthcare professionals have well defined areas of activity and responsibility.

The Usage of Mobile Apps to Fight Violence against Women: A Survey on a Sample of Female Students Belonging to an Italian University.

The prevalence of violence against women continues to grow and this plague has had a huge impact from a clinical, social and judicial point of view. For this reason, alongside the efforts made at the legislative level to prevent the phenomenon and to improve assistance to victims in recent years, efforts to contain and better manage this phenomenon have also grown in the extra-legislative sphere: for example, through the application of new technological solutions and safety planning. In recent years, there has been an increase in the marketing of mobile phone apps dedicated to the prevention of violence against women, with different functions and different objectives.

Chimerism Monitoring Techniques after Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: An Overview of the Last 15 Years of Innovations.

Chimerism analysis is a well-established method for monitoring the state of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) over time by analyzing peripheral blood or bone marrow samples of the recipient in several malignant and non-malignant hematologic diseases. From a clinical point of view, a continuous monitoring is fundamental for an effective early therapeutic intervention. This paper provides a comparative overview of the main molecular biology techniques which can be used to study chimerism after bone marrow transplantation, focusing on their advantages and disadvantages.

Comparison of the Allelic Alterations between InDel and STR Markers in Tumoral Tissues Used for Forensic Purposes.

: Over the last two decades, human DNA identification and kinship tests have been conducted mainly through the analysis of short tandem repeats (STRs). However, other types of markers, such as insertion/deletion polymorphisms (InDels), may be required when DNA is highly degraded. In forensic genetics, tumor samples may sometimes be used in some cases of human DNA identification and in paternity tests.

Oocyte Biobanks: Old Assumptions and New Challenges.

The preservation of fertility is a clinical issue that has been emerging considerably in recent decades, as the number of patients of childbearing age who risk becoming infertile for many reasons is increasing. The cryopreservation technique of oocytes has been developed for many years and nowadays constitutes a method of safe storage with impressive efficacy and high rates of successful thawing. The storage and use for research of oocytes taken for medical or non-medical can be carried out by both public and private structures, through egg sharing, voluntary egg donation and so-called "social freezing" for autologous use.