To assess the debated diagnostic performance of ethyl glucuronide in the 3-cm proximal scalp hair fraction (HEtG) as a marker of chronic excessive drinking.
In July 2012/May 2013, after a systematic ...search through the MEDLINE, OVID/EMBASE, WEB OF SCIENCE, and SCOPUS databases, 8 studies were included in the pooled analysis that report raw single data on HEtG concentration and self-reported daily alcohol intake (SDAI). A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and a Spearman rank-order correlation test were used. A meta-analysis was performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses and Cochrane recommendations, comprising quality and bias assessments.
The pooled analysis showed that 30 pg/mg could be a useful cutoff value for HEtG to detect an SDAI >60 g/d and demonstrated a parabolic direct correlation between HEtG and SDAI data rho 0.79; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.69-0.87; P < 0.001. The meta-analysis found an overall HEtG sensitivity of 0.96 (95% CI, 0.72-1.00) and a specificity of 0.99 (95% CI, 0.92-1.00); a nomogram to predict the posttest probability of exhibiting the targeted condition in the general population was built. Significant variability among the included studies was detected, which was mainly explained by true heterogeneity in the presence of publication bias.
With the available data, we conclude that HEtG is a promising marker for identifying chronic excessive drinking. Nonetheless, larger and well-designed population studies are required to draw any definitive conclusions on the significance and appropriateness of its application in the forensic setting.
Incineration or extensive burning of the body, causing changes in the content and distribution of fluids, fixation and shrinking processes of tissues, can alter the typical macroscopic and ...microscopic characteristics of firearm wounds, hampering or at least complicating the reconstruction of gunshot fatalities. The present study aims at evaluating the potential role of micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) for detecting and quantifying gunshot residue (GSR) particles in experimentally produced intermediate-range gunshot wounds severely damaged by fire. Eighteen experimental shootings were performed on 18 sections of human calves surgically amputated for medical reasons at three different firing distances (5, 15 and 30 cm). Six stab wounds produced with an ice pick were used as controls. Each calf section underwent a charring cycle, being placed in a wood-burning stove for 4 min at a temperature of 400 °C. At visual inspection, the charred entrance wounds could not be differentiated from the exit lesions and the stab wounds. On the contrary, micro-CT analysis showed the presence of GSR particles in all burnt entrance gunshot wounds, while GSR was absent in the exit and stab wounds. The GSR deposits of the firearm lesions inflicted at very close distance (5 cm) were mainly constituted of huge particles (diameter >150 μm) with an irregular shape and well-delineated edges; at greater distances (15 and 30 cm), agglomerates of tiny radiopaque particles scattered in the epidermis and dermis layers were evident. Statistical analysis demonstrated that also in charred firearm wounds the amount of GSR roughly correlates with the distance from which the gun was fired. The obtained results suggest that micro-CT analysis can be a valid screening tool for identifying entrance gunshot wounds and for differentiating firearm wounds from sharp-force injuries in bodies severely damaged by fire.
: Machinery‐related fatalities are one of the leading causes of traumatic occupational deaths. In our report, we present the case of a 40‐year‐old male who suffered a severe head trauma while ...working in a cut‐foam industry and died despite an early craniectomy. The radiological reconstruction of the skull based on preoperative computed tomography scans disclosed a large depressed conical fracture of the left parietal bone. The 3D‐reconstruction of the work area, combined with a fit‐matching analysis between the machinery and the depressed skull fracture allowed us to conclude that the head was crushed between the sliding bar of the cutting device and the metallic protuberance on the opposite side. The case underlines the importance of a detailed workplace investigation and of a thorough evaluation of all circumstantial, clinical, radiological, and autopsy data in the reconstruction of machinery‐related fatalities to identify any possible legal responsibilities of the worker and/or the employer.
Quality control in toxicological analysis Ferrara, Davide S; Tedeschi, Luciano; Frison, Giampietro ...
Journal of Chromatography B: Biomedical Sciences and Applications,
08/1998, Letnik:
713, Številka:
1
Book Review, Journal Article
The validity and effectiveness of quality control procedures are reviewed here in light of the principles of analytical toxicology, and of the professional responsibility involved in awareness of the ...profound influence which analytical results have in the fields of health and social security. Regardless of the methods used, laboratory work should aim essentially at achieving a very high degree of reliability. Factors contributing to the `quality' of analytical results and methods used to check their reliability are discussed here. The technical background and organization of internal and external quality control procedures are presented, with particular reference to educational aspects, and to the ways in which computer and internet technologies may be exploited for further improvement of the effectiveness of these procedures.
This paper describes the role of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) in the treatment of opiate withdrawal syndrome. In the two patients described, after having abruptly withdrawn from long-term ...methadone treatment, GHB was orally administered (each dose given every 4-6 h) for 8-9 days. The GHB showed both a high efficacy (some mild and transient symptoms attributable to opiate withdrawal were observed, but only in the first days of therapy) and a good tolerability (no clinical phenomena interpreted as GHB side effects were found). These results could be of interest in improving the pharmacological treatment of drug addiction.
A better understanding of the emergent computation and problem-solving capabilities of recent large language models is of paramount importance to further improve them and broaden their applicability. ...This work investigates how a language model, trained to predict the next token, can perform arithmetic computations generalizing beyond training data. Binary addition and multiplication constitute a good testbed for this purpose, since they require a very small vocabulary and exhibit relevant input/output discontinuities making smooth input interpolation ineffective for novel data. We successfully trained a light language model to learn these tasks and ran a number of experiments to investigate the extrapolation capabilities and internal information processing. Our findings support the hypothesis that the language model works as an Encoding–Regression–Decoding machine where the computation takes place in the value space once the input token representation is mapped to an appropriate internal representation.
•A Language Model (LM) is trained to perform binary addition and multiplication.•The LM easily learns the two tasks and generalizes well on unseen data.•The studies show memorizing the training data is neither necessary nor efficient.•Results demonstrate the LM works as an Encoding-Regression-Decoding machine.
Face morphing and related morphing attacks have emerged as a serious security threat for automatic face recognition systems and a challenging research field. Therefore, the availability of effective ...and reliable morphing attack detectors is strongly needed. In this paper, we proposed a framework based on a double Siamese architecture to tackle the morphing attack detection task in the differential scenario, in which two images, a trusted live acquired image and a probe image (morphed or bona fide) are given as the input for the system. In particular, the presented framework aimed to merge the information computed by two different modules to predict the final score. The first one was designed to extract information about the identity of the input faces, while the second module was focused on the detection of artifacts related to the morphing process. Experimental results were obtained through several and rigorous cross-dataset tests, exploiting three well-known datasets, namely PMDB, MorphDB, and AMSL, containing automatic and manually refined facial morphed images, showing that the proposed framework was able to achieve satisfying results.
Face Demorphing Ferrara, Matteo; Franco, Annalisa; Maltoni, Davide
IEEE transactions on information forensics and security,
2018-April, 2018-4-00, Letnik:
13, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The morphing attack proved to be a serious threat for modern automated border control systems where face recognition is used to link the identity of a passenger to his/her e-document. In this paper, ...we show that by exploiting the live face image acquired at the gate, the morphed face image stored in the document can be reverted (or demorphed) enough to reveal the identity of the legitimate document owner, thus allowing the system to issue a warning. A number of practical experiments on two data sets proves the efficacy of our approach.
PDF
