0000000000075232
AUTHOR
Corinne La Spina
Torture and Maltreatment in Prison: A Medico-Legal Perspective
The maltreatment and torture of prisoners constitute a global problem. Methods of maltreatment are classified as the psychological and the physical, and physical methods inevitably lead to psychological sequelae. Our review offers an analysis from the medico-legal perspective of the literature on the torture and physical and sexual abuse experienced by prisoners and their psychological sequelae and aims to investigate the medico-legal issues of investigating maltreatment in prison so as to suggest methodologies and updated approaches for dealing with such cases in a forensic context. We performed a comprehensive literature search of peer-reviewed publications (articles and reviews), researc…
Toxicological Findings of Self-Poisoning Suicidal Deaths: A Systematic Review by Countries
The use of illicit and non-illicit substances is widespread in suicides. The toxicological data may help in understanding the mechanism of death. This systematic review aimed to analyze autopsies related to suicides by consuming poison, focusing on the correlation between substance use and the country of origin to create an alarm bell to indicate that suicide maybe attempted and prevent it. The systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines, with the primary objective of identifying autopsies conducted in cases of suicide by consuming poison in specific geographic areas. Significant differences in substances were observed between low-income and Western countries that con…
Ischemic hypoxic encephalopathy: The role of MRI of neonatal injury and medico-legal implication
Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy is one of the major causes of neonatal death and neurological disability in the child, and represents the most common birth injury claim. Intrapartum asphyxia often leads to several long-term sequalae, such as cerebral palsy and/or developmental delay, epilepsy. Through the neuroimaging it's possible to identify and define the different lesioned pictures and provide useful elements to establish the moment in which the damage occurred; indeed, timing of injury is a key element in the legal arena. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is emerging as one of the most important tools in identifying the etiologic of neonatal encephalopathy as well as in predicting long-…
CONGENITAL NEUROBLASTOMA: A RARE CASE OF PLURIVISCERAL METASTATIC DISSEMINATION
Neuroblastoma is one of the most common neonatal tumors. It involves children in early infancy and originates from neural crest cells of the adrenal gland medulla or sympathetic glia. We report an unusual case of congenital poorly differentiated neuroblastoma with multiple metastases in the brain and cerebellum. The biophysical profile showed a prominent polyhydramnios at 25.3 weeks of gestation; meantime, the mother was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. The mass was detected during the third ultrasonographic examination at 31.4 weeks of gestation. The fetus lived only one day after birth and the postmortem examinations were performed subsequently. An autopsy was performed both to unders…
Intrauterine and Neonatal Exposure to Opioids: Toxicological, Clinical, and Medico-Legal Issues
Opioids have a rapid transplacental passage (i.e., less than 60 min); furthermore, symptoms characterize the maternal and fetal withdrawal syndrome. Opioid withdrawal significantly impacts the fetus, inducing worse outcomes and a risk of mortality. Moreover, neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) follows the delivery, lasts up to 10 weeks, and requires intensive management. Therefore, the prevention and adequate management of NAS are relevant public health issues. This review aims to summarize the most updated evidence in the literature regarding toxicological, clinical, and forensic issues of intrauterine exposure to opioids to provide a multidisciplinary, evidence-based approach for managing …
MATERNAL EXPOSURE TO STRESSFUL/TRAUMATIC EVENTS AND AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS IN OFFSPRING: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS OF A CASE CONTROL PILOT STUDY.
The correlation between maternal exposure to stressful and traumatic events during pregnancy and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in offspring has been studied in the literature. Fewer studies, however, have considered the mother's exposure to traumatic events during childhood. This work focuses on maternal exposure to these events in childhood and/or adulthood, relating it to autism spectrum disorder in offspring. A questionnaire was used to assess whether and to what type of event the mothers have been exposed, and to assess eventual peri-traumatic dissociation related to the traumatic event. The mothers involved in this study were recruited at the Child Neuropsychiatry Outpatient Clinic of…