The armed conflict in Ukraine and the risks of inter-country surrogacy: the unsolved dilemma.

Commercial surrogacy in Ukraine has been legal since 2002, and although no official figures are released, estimates point to several thousand births occurring yearly. The country has long been regarded as one of the surrogacy capitals of the world, due to relatively affordable costs and effective targeted legislation making the surrogacy contracts enforceable. Would-be parents come from countries where surrogacy is banned or heavily restricted to start a family despite their infertility, a practice known as inter-country surrogacy. When a child is born through surrogacy, the surrogate mother forfeits her rights over the child, thus allowing the so-called "intended" or "commissioning" parents to be recognized as such on the Ukrainian birth certificate. Inter-country surrogacy has long been a highly controversial practice from an ethical and legal perspective, but the brutally destructive armed conflict erupted in the country over three months ago has laid bare all the pitfalls and deep flaws of such a system. Children born through surrogacy cannot be handed over to their intended parents, and surrogates risk legal issues and see their rights jeopardized by their choices even in a war setting, for instance if they decide to seek refuge abroad. The horrors of war thus risk victimizing the most vulnerable to an irreparable degree. An international effort is now more urgent than ever to seek a tenable balance between the desires of couples to achieve parenthood and the rights and freedom of often vulnerable women who risk exploitation and abuse and their children.

Identity and reproductive rights of transgenders: are current legal and ethical frameworks soon to be outdated? Medicolegal implications of potentially life-changing decisions.

Abstract: The level of recognition that transgender individuals (i.e. those whose gender does not match the sex assigned at birth) enjoy in our societies has certainly made giant strides. Still, there is no denying that the far-reaching ramifications arising from choices about one's gender expression do affect vital aspects of identity in school, workplaces, and the community, and should be clearly defined and addressed by laws and policies. One of the arguments most commonly used by supporters of transgender rights relies on the concept of inalienable human rights, including the rights to live safely, freely, and without fearing discrimination. The authors have set out to succinctly outline and elaborate on the dynamics that have been shaping the legal reco-gnition of transgender individuals in light of the unique legal, social and ethical complexities that such an evolution entails. Moreover, as assisted reproduction technologies make considerable progress and innovations open up new horizons for fertility preservation and restoration, it is worth exploring how such advance can play a role in upholding the reproductive rights of transgender patients who wish to achieve parenthood, and how counseling ought to be implemented taking into account the psychological traits of transgender patients and the implications of every choice they make.

Volatile substance related deaths: a simple and safe autopsy procedure for sampling and preserving aliphatic hydrocarbons.

Volatile substance abuse in order to "get high" is a widespread problem especially among adolescents and young-adults, with significant rates of morbidity and mortality. Despite the studies conducted on this topic, collection and preservation of volatile substances in forensic context is still a matter of debate: there are several scientific papers describing materials and procedures for volatile substance sampling while performing post mortem examinations and how they influence the development of the forensic case. Most of the proposed techniques involve the use of specific, and sometimes expensive, gas tight materials that are not always available. The aim of this paper is to share a simple method for rapid and effective volatile substance sampling that can be used in both evident and suspected VSA-related deaths. The strength of this procedure is to be applicable even in cases when specific gas tight instruments for sampling, collection and preservation of volatile substances are not available.

Structural features of model glycopeptides in solution and in membrane phase: a spectroscopic and molecular mechanics investigation.

Model glycopeptides of the general formula Boc-Ala-Thr(G-D)-A(1)-A(2)-Leu-Leu-Lys(N)-Ala-OMe, where D = dansyl (dimethyl aminonaphthalenesulphonyl), G = glucosyl and N = naphthyl, while A(1)-A(2) = Ala-Leu or Aib-Aib, and denoted as D-G-Ala-N and D-G-Aib-N, respectively, were used to investigate glycoprotein-membrane interactions. They carry two fluorophores (D and N), covalently linked to the glucose ring and the lysine side chain, respectively, while the threonine side chain is O-glycosylated. CD spectra in different solvent media suggest that both glycopeptides attain an ordered structure, possibly a helix-like conformation. By combining FRET (fluorescence resonance energy transfer) experiments with molecular mechanics data, the most probable structures of both glycopeptides were built up, starting from both a right-handed (rh) alpha- and 3(10)-helix. They were found to populate an alpha-helical conformation, a result further confirmed by the very good agreement between theoretical and experimental quenching efficiency only observed when the backbone chain was in alpha-helix. The association of D-G-Ala-N with model membranes (liposomes) was studied by CD, fluorescence decay, fluorescence anisotropy, and collisional quenching experiments. The binding does not alter the structural features of the peptide because the CD spectral patterns are unaffected by the association. The peptide orientation inside the phospholipidic bilayer is guided by the polar glucose molecule lying in the water phase. The insertion of the hydrophobic backbone chain into the membrane, seeing the probes only partially accessible from the external solution, is characterized by a significant degree of heterogeneity, an increase in vesicles size, and a relevant stabilizing effect on the membrane itself against rupture by methanol.