Taphonomic study on drowned victims in a non-sequestered aquatic environment in the Mediterranean Sea

International Journal of Legal Medicine - Human decomposition in sea water poses several challenges to forensic practitioners tasked with the analysis of drowned bodies. Postmortem changes in the...     

Does the choice of the reference model affect the results of 3D-3D superimposition procedure? A comparison of different protocols for personal identification

International Journal of Legal Medicine - In literature, 3D-3D superimposition has been widely recognized as a valid method for personal identification. However, very little information is...     

Digital pair-matching of iliac bones: pilot study on a three-dimensional approach with models acquired through stereophotogrammetry

Three-dimensional (3D) pair-matching has brought about an innovative approach for the analysis of commingled skeletal remains, and it has been tested on bone models acquired through CT and laser scans. Here, 3D models of 40 innominate bones (20 left and 20 right) of 20 documented male individuals from a cemeterial skeletal collection were acquired through a stereophotogrammetric device (VECTRA M3, Canfield Scientific, Inc.). The ventral iliac surface was chosen as the anatomical region of interest (ROI) for the analysis. Each left ROI was mirrored and superimposed on the matching right ROI (contralateral element from the same individual) and mismatching ROIs (contralateral elements from different individuals). The point-to-point distance between models was calculated through the Vectra Analysis Module (VAM) software and the root mean square (RMS) point-to-point distance value was used to evaluate the sorting performance of the method, in terms of sensitivity and specificity rates. Differences in RMS between matches and mismatches were investigated through a Student’s t test (p < 0.05). The state of preservation of the remains was assessed following an index of anatomical completeness and differences in RMS distances of true matches according to different anatomical completeness were assessed through the Mann–Whitney test (p < 0.05). RMS point-to-point distances of matches and mismatches were significantly different (p < 0.01), being the matches lower than mismatches. The RMS threshold of 2.9 mm identified all the true pairs; the test was 100% sensitive and 51% specific. The RMS of matches with a better state of preservation are significantly lower than the less preserved matches (p < 0.05). In general, a low RMS distance value may indicate a true match, being it to be further verified. The 3D approach for sorting innominate bones provides a valid screening test that could complete subjective and osteometric methods with numerical evidence of the match. Preliminary data suggest a possible relation between RMS distance values and taphonomic condition, which would benefit from further research.

     

Burnout syndrome and its determinants among healthcare workers during the first wave of the Covid-19 outbreak in Italy: a cross-sectional study to identify sex-related differences

Introduction: Several studies described burnout levels of healthcare workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, sex-related differences remain poorly investigated. Objective: To describe sex-related differences in burnout and its determinants among HCWs during the first pandemic wave of the COVID-19 in Italy. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed between April and May 2020. The framework given by the Job Demands Resources (JD-R) model was used to assess burnout determinants (risk and protective factors). Results: Male HCWs (n=133) had higher levels of depersonalization than female HCWs (P=0,017) and female HCWs (n=399) reported greater emotional exhaustion rates (P=0,005). Female nurses were the most exposed to burnout (OR=2,47; 95%CI=1,33-4,60; P=0,004), emotional exhaustion (OR=1,89; 95% CI=1,03-3,48; P=0,041), and depersonalization (OR=1,91; 95% CI=1,03-3,53; P=0,039). Determinants of burnout differed between sexes, and some paradoxical associations were detected: the score of job demands was a protective factor in females for burnout, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization, resilience was a risk factor for males. Conclusions: This study reveals that the stressors in male and female HCWs tended to be associated with burnout differently. Both sexes showed alarming burnout levels, even if the weights of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization acted in different ways between the sexes. The revealed paradoxical effects in this study could reflect the study’s cross-sectional nature, highlighting that more resilient and empathic individuals were more consciously overwhelmed by the challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, thus reporting higher scores of emotional exhaustion and burnout. Future in-depth and longitudinal analyses are recommended to further explore sex-related differences in burnout among HCWs.