Gunshot injuries in Campania (Italy): A retrospective thirty-years (1981-2011) study.

From 1981 to 2011, 200 firearm deaths were autopsied in Naples, at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli". 188 cases were homicides and most of them (116) were related to the local organized crime. The majority of victims were young Italian males in the 20-39 age fired in outdoor environments. The reason for choosing outdoor environments can be related to the opportunity for the killer run from the crime scene immediately after the murder. Only 11 of the bodies autopsied were suicide victims, mostly older individuals, over 50 years -old with history of mental illness. All the suicides occurred in indoor environments in order to protect their domestic intimacy. Only two female victims were accounted in this historical series which is quite impressive if compared to recent phenomenon of feminicides occurring mostly in domestic environments. A total of 772 entry wounds were observed: 658 fired from single-charge handguns and 114 from multiple-charge firearms. 9x21 pistol cartridge was the most common ammo used, followed by the 7.65 Parabellum. The head was the most common anatomical site injured (in 81.8% of the suicides cases and in 68.6% of homicides). Most of the victims of homicide died before arriving at an Emergency Service. Only a minority of victims lived from few hours up to less than a week, after being shot, and very few victims remained alive up to a couple of months.

Morphological and Molecular Assessment in Thyroid Cytology Using Cell-Capturing Scaffolds.

The increased frequency of thyroid nodules is paralleled by the rise of thyroid cancer diagnosis. To define the nature of most thyroid nodules, fine needle aspiration (FNA) followed by cytological evaluation is considered the method of choice. About 20% of FNA biopsies on thyroid nodules, however, show indeterminate cytological features and may require diagnostic surgery. Several immunocytochemical and molecular markers have been proposed to improve classification of thyroid nodules, but these tests require adequate cell amount and cytological paraffin inclusion. Polymeric matrices were recently proposed for the collection of cells for diagnostic purposes. In this study, we evaluated the diagnostic use of a new matrix (CytoMatrix). Morphological, molecular and immunohistochemical investigations were carried out on 23 FNA samples included in CytoMatrix and compared with data obtained from the definitive histology of surgical samples. Our results showed that CytoMatrix is suitable to capture and preserve the cellularity of the samples harvested by FNA and that its paraffin sections mimic the morphology of those obtained from real histological tissue. Immunohistochemistry on CytoMatrix samples was consistent with the immunophenotypical profile of the corresponding histological surgical specimens. Mutational analysis of the BRAF (V600E) gene performed on CytoMatrix inclusions and paired surgical tissue matched in all but one cases while matrix immunohistochemistry identified 91.6% of BRAF mutated samples. In conclusion, we suggest that CytoMatrix could be a reliable tool to overcome the current limits of traditional collection methods for the study of thyroid cytology, thereby improving their reliability for a conclusive diagnostic interpretation.