0000000000022884
AUTHOR
Maria Concetta Rotolo
Assessment of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in young adolescents following implementation of smoke-free policy in Italy.
We investigated acute and chronic exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in a cohort of young adolescents using urinary cotinine and hair nicotine testing after recent implementation of Italian smoke free legislation. Study subjects were 372 Italian young adolescents, between 10 and 16 years of age from the principal city of Sicily, Palermo. Urine and hair samples were collected between November 2005 and May 2006, when the legislation to ban smoking in all the enclosed places of employment (including bars, restaurants, pubs) was completely enforced. An exhaustive questionnaire including sociodemographic characteristics and active and passive exposure to cigarette smoking was complete…
When a death apparently associated to sexual assault is instead a natural death due to idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome: The importance of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid analysis in vitreous humor
We here report a case involving a 21-year-old female, found dead in a central square of a city in the south of Italy. Initial evidences and circumstances were suggestive of a death associated with a sexual assault. Two peripheral blood and two vitreous humor samples were collected for the purpose of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) testing from the dead body at two different post-mortem intervals (PMIs): approximately 2 (t0) and 36 (t1) hours. The obtained results showed that, between t0 and t1, there was an increase of GHB concentrations in peripheral blood and vitreous humor of 66.3% and 8.1%, respectively. This case was the first evidence of GHB post mortem production in a dead body and n…