Artificial intelligence and future perspectives in Forensic Medicine: a systematic review.

Objective: Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a computer machine to display human capabilities such as reasoning, learning, planning, and creativity. Such processing technology receives the data (already prepared or collected), processes them, using models and algorithms, and answers questions about forecasting and decision-making. AI systems are also able to adapt their behavior by analyzing the effects of previous actions and working then autonomously.

The Role of Family Support and Dyadic Adjustment on the Psychological Well-being of Transgender Individuals: An Exploratory Study.

Introduction: This study aimed to measure dyadic adjustment, social support, and psychological well-being.

Methods: A research protocol composed of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, the Outcome Questionnaire 45.2, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support was administered to a sample of 109 Italian transgender individuals.

Lesbian and Gay Individual Parenting Desires in Heteronormative Contexts.

The cultural, social and institutional barriers that LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) individuals have to face play crucial roles in their desires and intentions to have children. However, unlike the many studies on the decision-making process in the transition to parenthood, few studies have analysed the origins of parenting desires and intentions among LGBT individuals. This study explores the desires and intentions to have children amongst a sample of childless lesbian and gay Italian individuals.

Hegemony and Heteronormativity: Homonormative Discourses of LGBTQ Activists About Lesbian and Gay Parenting.

LGBTQ activists have a crucial role in fighting sexuality-based discrimination. However, homonormativity can lead activists to adhere to hegemonic heteronormativity, thus threatening their efforts to widen the concept of family. Drawing on the Gramscian notion of hegemony, this article analyzes the notion of heteronormativity and its homonormative facet as a form of hegemony that impacts activists, sustaining the premises of heteronormativity and seeking inclusion within such norms.

Possible involvement of increased susceptibility of LDL to oxidation in age-related platelet activation.

Fifteen long-lived and fifteen young healthy subjects were enrolled in this study to verify the involvement of age-associated oxidative challenge in the mechanisms that control platelet activation. Our results showed in old subjects an enhancement of ex vivo platelet responsiveness to ADP and collagen, measured both in whole blood and in platelet rich plasma, an increased cytosolic calcium content, a decreased membrane fluidity and a lower intraplatelet nitrate/nitrite (NO(x)) amount. Additionally, an increased plasma content of peroxidative by-products (TBARS) and a decreased antioxidant plasma capacity together with a reduced lag time for in vitro oxidation of low density lipoprotein (LDL) and a diminished plasma NO(x) bioavailability were observed in aged subjects.

Validation of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale in Italy.

Validation of the Italian version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) is described. Sixty-one post-partum women (aged 22-43 years) were evaluated. Degree of accuracy of the Italian EPDS was carried out by comparing results with those obtained by means of the clinical interview Present State Examination (PSE).

[Transesophageal stress echocardiography].

The Authors analyze the literature data on transesophageal stress echocardiography and personal experience with dipyridamole echocardiography. Advantages and limitations for the clinical application of this method are discussed taking into account computer-aided echocardiographic images. Transesophageal stress echocardiographic results are compared with those obtained by other stress test imaging techniques.

Identification of viable myocardium in patients with chronic coronary artery disease and left ventricular dysfunction: role of magnetic resonance imaging.

Nineteen patients (16 men and 3 women, mean age 51 years) with previous anterior myocardial infarction and severe stenosis (> or = 90%) of the left anterior descending coronary artery were studied by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) without and with contrast media to verify the capability of MRI in identifying viable myocardium in areas of severe systolic dysfunction. In corresponding left ventricular segments, a comparison was made between regional signal intensities (SI) determined on MRI images before and 4, 8, 12, and 30 minutes after administration of paramagnetic contrast media (gadolinium diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid, 0.4 mmol/kg intravenously) and metabolic parameters determined by iodine 123 phenylpentadecanoic acid (IPPA) scintigraphy.

Evidence that granulosa cells inhibit interleukin-1 alpha and interleukin-2 production from follicular lymphomonocytes.

Objective: Relationships between immune and endocrine systems seem to occur in ovarian follicular fluids (FF). Lymphomonocytes have been found in preovulatory follicles and their specific products, cytokines [interleukin-1 (IL1), IL2], were demonstrated to inhibit steroidogenesis. Ovarian steroids, in turn, reduce the cytokine production from immune-competent cells.

Beta-endorphin in amniotic fluid in normal and hypertensive gestations: relationship with maternal blood pressure parameters.

beta-Endorphin (beta-E) immunoreactivity was measured in the amniotic compartment of 52 normotensive and 45 hypertensive gestations. All the fetuses of the normal group were healthy and showed appropriate intrauterine growth, whereas only suffering and growth-retarded fetuses were included in the pathological group. As expected, amniotic beta-E concentration was found to be significantly higher in hypertensive than in normotensive pregnancies (mean +/- SEM: 129.

Correlation between amniotic levels of alpha-MSH, ACTH and beta-endorphin in late gestation and labour in normal and complicated pregnancies.

alpha-MSH, ACTH and beta-endorphin were measured by radioimmunoassay in samples of amniotic fluid collected from the 32nd to the 38th gestational week and at labour from normal pregnancies and pregnancies complicated by gestosis. In normal pregnancies, the concentration of alpha-MSH, ACTH and beta-endorphin remained relatively constant during the last 7 gestational weeks, but increased at labour above the values of the 38th week by 88, 143 and 96%, respectively. A positive correlation between beta-endorphin and alpha-MSH (r = 0.

Physiological changes in ageing skin.

The principal functions of the skin include protection, excretion, secretion, absorption, thermoregulation, pigmentogenesis, accumulation, sensory perception and regulation of immunological processes. These functions are all affected by the structural changes in the skin with ageing and, after middle age, most functions are reduced, some by as much as 50-60%. The physiological changes associated with these reductions include impairment of the barrier function, decreased turnover of epidermal cells, reduced numbers of keratinocytes and fibroblasts, and a reduced vascular network particularly around hair bulbs and glands.

Plasma alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone during the menstrual cycle in women.

alpha-Melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) immunoreactivity (IR) was measured in the blood of 22 healthy women with normal ovulatory process in the early and late follicular (near to ovulation) phases and in the early luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Plasma alpha-MSH IR ranged from undetectable values to 81.3 pg/ml, the highest levels being found in the late follicular phase (15.

Functional and surface phenotype study of lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood and lymph nodes of breast cancer patients.

In an attempt to identify lymphocyte subsets possibly involved in the response to malignant cells, we have studied the lymphocyte surface phenotype by using a panel of monoclonal antibodies on both peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) and histologically proven metastatic and nonmetastatic (i.e., "hyperplastic") axillary lymph node lymphocytes (LNL) from eight breast cancer patients.

Reactive oxygen species production in circulating polymorphonuclear leukocytes in psoriasis.

Metabolic burst of polymorphonuclear leukocytes was evaluated by means of a luminol-enhanced chemiluminescence assay. Patients affected with active psoriasis showed a higher response than patients with chronic disease and controls when the neutrophils were stimulated with opsonized zymosan or phorbol myristate acetate.

Effects of antiestrogen and progestin on immune functions in breast cancer patients.

Several immunologic variables were evaluated in 14 patients with untreated primary breast cancer and 20 postmastectomized patients undergoing tamoxifen (TAM) or high-dose medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) treatment. Immunologic evaluation in the peripheral blood included lymphocyte count, definition of T-lymphocyte subsets by monoclonal antibodies (OKT3, OKT11, OKT4, and OKT8), and lymphocyte blastogenic response to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and Concanavalin A (Con A). Moreover, the in vitro effect of TAM and MPA on the blastogenic response of peripheral lymphocytes from normal female subjects was tested.

Des-acetyl-alpha-MSH and not alpha-MSH is the major form of alpha-MSH in amniotic fluid.

Immunoreactive alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (IR-alpha-MSH)-like activity was measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA) in at term pregnancy amniotic fluid prior and after adsorption on a Sep-pak C18 cartridge. alpha-MSH activity was 3-4 times lower after Sep-pak purification but, unlike the levels of IR-alpha-MSH in the fluid analyzed in toto, increased linearly with the volume of fluid analyzed. Furthermore, fractionation by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) revealed that IR-alpha-MSH recovered from the Sep-pak was due to several peptides rather than to a single peptide.

Treatment of severe psoriasis with somatostatin: four years of experience.

Over a period of 4 years, 20 patients suffering from severe forms of psoriasis (erythrodermic, sub-erythrodermic, resistant generalized forms and/or forms associated with acute arthropathy) were treated with 96 h of continuous i.v. infusion of somatostatin (Stilamin, Serono) diluted in D5W at 250 micrograms/h.

OKT4/OKT8 ratio and serum beta 2-microglobulin in mycosis fungoides and chronic benign dermatitis.

Pre-treatment Serum Beta 2-microglobulin (S B2-m) and OKT4/OKT8 Ratio (T4/T8 R) were studied in 15 patients with Mycosis Fungoides (MF) and in 10 subjects with Chronic Superficial Benign Dermatitis (CSBD) in order to verify whether these parameters may lend support to an earlier differential diagnosis. S B2-m levels and T4/T8 R showed no significant difference in CSBD as compared to normal controls. MF patients displayed elevated S B2-m and T4/T8 R values in comparison to healthy controls and subjects suffering from CSBD (P less than 0.