Motorboat propeller injuries.

The authors analyze the case of an Albanian refugee who was killed by the propellers of the outboard engine of a rubber dinghy while illegally attempting to reach Italy. The finding of multiple parallel, deep clear-cut injuries is uncommon, but highly characteristic of the object producing the lesions. These are typical and cannot be mistaken with those produced by sharp objects or shark bites. The description of the injuries is vital for establishing the position of the victim with regard to the propeller that struck him.

Aorto-oesophageal fistula and intestinal infarction secondary to volvulus following ingestion of foreign bodies in a schizophrenic patient.

We present a case of death caused by voluntary ingestion of non-organic foreign bodies observed at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the University of Trieste. The victim was a young schizophrenic patient whose death, at first giving rise to suspicions of murder by another psychiatric patient, was found to be caused by an uncommon chronic permanence of foreign bodies at different locations of the digestive tract which suddenly evolved into a series of simultaneous lethal complications as yet never described. The case also raised the issue of possible responsibilities of the subject's healthcare providers.

[Asbestos fiber count in extra-pulmonary tissues]. / Riscontro di fibre di asbesto in tessuti extrapolmonari.

Most autoptic tissues of three men (two with pulmonary asbestosis and one without any exposure to asbestos) were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersion spectrometry for the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of asbestos fibers. Preliminary results indicate that only in cases with occupational exposure were found asbestos fibers (in lung, pleura , bladder, kidney and liver). These results allow interesting speculations on some environmental pathogenetic questions and deserve further investigations.

Suicide by hara-kiri: a series of four cases.

The authors describe four cases of suicide by hara-kiri. This very painful form of suicide consists of self-inflicting a wound in the abdomen using a sharp instrument. It was first reported in 988 A.D. in the East but has now become rare in both the East and West. These four cases occurred over a 40-year period in the Trieste and Bari medicolegal area. In two of our cases the victims were afflicted with mental illness, whereas the other two suffered from depression. In cases of death by hara-kiri, it is important to establish a differential diagnosis between suicide and homicide; the presence of trial wounds (inflicted by the victim as a form of practice to overcome any hesitation before stabbing the abdomen with the cutting weapon) can prove very helpful.

[The distribution of Rh blood groups in the population of Puglia]. / Distribuzione dei gruppi sanguigni Rh nella popolazione Pugliese.

The authors have conducted a study on the genic frequency within the Rh system in 3.000 subjects of certain Apulia ancestry. The results, in agreement with those of previous authors, have demonstrated that the frequency of the haplotypes containing "d" appears clearly lower than the national average value.