The forensic imaging technique of age progression used within missing people cases: The Italian Missing Children association realizing age progression for Missing Child Kenya.

The age progression technique allows to update identification photos of individuals who have been missing for years. This method is based on the study of the facial variation and on the dynamics of facial growth. Knowledge about changes in the distribution of facial fat and the tone of the cartilage allows realistic predictions of the facial appearance after many years. Beside these elements, age progression is also supported by similar characters between family members. This is why photos of the missing and family members are used to create an age progression, making the new identikit accurate. Non-profit associations are crucial for the dissemination of information on the problem of missing persons. In Italy, the Italian Missing Children association provides for free an age progression service with the support of forensic anthropology. With the activation of a protocol, consisting of guidelines, and a form for the request for age progression by family members, the Italian Missing Children has started a collaboration with Missing Child Kenya. It allowed to disseminate up-to-date photos of the presumed current appearance of the missing children in Kenya. Thus, in the present study some cases are reported, in which age progression technique was applied. The photos provided by Italian Missing Children were shown in video documentaries made by Missing Child Kenya, allowing to continue the dissemination of age progression photo during the Covid quarantines and to keep the population active in the search for the missing.

Over 30-year retrospective analyses of moped-motorcycle fatal road accidents in the northern area of the Italian region of Emilia Romagna and review of the literature: Aiming for further preventive measures in the future.

Road traffic injuries are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with pedestrians and riders of two-wheeled motor vehicles being the most vulnerable. The present study aims to determine the epidemiological characteristics of fatal motorcycle crashes in a portion of the Italian region of Emilia Romagna, and to compare them with the data available in literature. Data were retrieved from autopsy reports on 350 subjects who died following road accidents involving moped or motorcycle in the cities of Parma, Piacenza, and Reggio Emilia. Two types of data were extrapolated: circumstantial and traumatological. The population was divided into subgroups according to gender, crash time, alcohol positivity, presence or absence of the helmet, and the period elapsed between the accident and death. Most of the considered road accidents occurred during the day and on weekends. 25.5 % of the victims tested positive for alcohol. As far as traumas are concerned, the limbs resulted to be the most affected body segment, followed by the head (87.4 %), the thorax (85.7 %), the abdomen (65.7 %), and lastly the neck (50.3 %). According to similar studies, the sample victim of a moped/ motorcycle accident is a young male subject. The results obtained allow us to demonstrate that the mandatory use of the helmet has reduced skull and brain injury over the years. At present, no law regulates the use of protections for other body parts. Regulatory interventions in this sense would be desirable given the ever more rapid technical evolutions in the field of motorcycles.

Oral fluid analysis to monitor recent exposure to synthetic cannabinoids in a high-risk subpopulation.

Among novel psychoactive substances, synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRA) seem to have the widest diffusion in the population with no limitation to any particular demographic group. Information on drug consumption relies mostly on anonymized surveys and less on clinical or analytical data; notwithstanding, the huge efforts constantly made to enroll subjects to gather epidemiological data. In the present study, we collected 66 oral fluid samples from volunteers in a drug rehabilitation center in 2019 and early 2020. A liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method previously developed and validated by our Unit was applied to detect SCRA (n = 10) in oral fluid. Results proved the presence of synthetic cannabinoids at a positivity rate of almost 20%, with detection frequency HU211(5/13) > UR144/JWH122 (3/13) > JWH019/JWH081/AM2201 (1/13). Concentrations were in the range < LOQ -0.36 ng/ml. Synthetic cannabinoids consumption had not been declared by any volunteer. This study enabled for the unprecedent detection of synthetic cannabinoids use in the territory of Parma (Italy) in a high-risk subpopulation. The identified SCRA proved the persistence into the market of the "first-generation" JWH family into the Italian territory and the marketing of relatively new ones (AM-2201). Public health consequences represented by NPS consumption are still scarce; therefore, further studies are needed to understand the real diffusion in the population.