Background The incidence of taking selfies and sharing them on social media as well as selfie-related dangerous behaviors is increasing, particularly among young people, also leading to selfie-related trauma and death. This study was performed to obtain epidemiological characteristics of selfie-related mortality in Italy. Methods Scientific literature and Italian media were reviewed. Results Twelve victims from 11 events, from 2014 to 2018, were analyzed (sex, age, accident types, the nationality, the Italian region where the incident took place, if the person involved was indigenous or a tourist, the dynamics and the causa mortis, if other people have been involved in the selfie, and if other people were deceased). The majority of selfie victims were male teenagers, the average age was 23.6 years, the most preferred site of taking selfies was the natural environment followed by the railway one, the most frequently reported event or accident type was falling from a height, and the most frequent causes of selfie-related deaths were multitrauma and drowning. Conclusions Selfie-related deaths in Italy appear to be an issue and appear to be increasing. Particularly, male teenagers and young adults are at high risk for selfie-related deaths. Measures should be taken to reduce their incidence.

Background: Alcohol consumption during pregnancy, even at low doses, may damage the fetus. Pregnant women tend to underreport their alcohol consumption generating the need for sensitive and specific biomarkers, among which PEth has emerged due to its high specificity and possibility to be measured in both maternal and neonatal blood. The aim of this study is to systematically review the latest 20 years of literature for depicting the state of the art, the limitations, and the prospects of PEth for estimating alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Materials and methods: A systematic search, adhering to PRISMA guidelines, of the latest 20 years of literature through “MeSH” and “free-text” protocols in the databases PubMed, SCOPUS, and Web of Science, with time limits 1 January 2002–1 March 2022, was performed. The inclusion criteria were as follows: PEth used for detecting alcohol consumption during pregnancy, quantified in blood through liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, and full texts in the English language. Opinion papers, editorials, and narrative reviews were excluded. Results: Sixteen (16) papers were included in the present review (0.81% of total retrieved records). All the included records were original articles, of which there were seven prospective cohort/longitudinal studies, six cross-sectional studies, two observational-descriptive studies, and one retrospective study. All studies assayed PEth in at least one biological matrix; seven (7) studies quantified PEth in maternal blood, seven studies in newborn blood, and only two studies in both maternal and neonatal blood. In several included papers, PEth proved more sensitive than self-reports for identifying pregnant women with an active alcohol intake with the diagnostic efficiency improving with the increase of the maternal alcohol intake. Conclusions: Further studies, performed on wider and well-stratified populations, are needed to drive any definitive conclusion. PEth is a promising marker for monitoring alcohol use in pregnancy; however, at the present time, its use is still limited mainly by the absence of a globally agreed interpretative cut-off, the paucity of data regarding its specificity/sensitivity, and the lack of standardization on the diagnostic efficiency of the different isoforms.

The authors report a case of a man who developed stroke symptoms a few days after a road accident on his motorcycle. Radiographic examinations revealed the presence of bilateral dissection of the extracranial internal carotid arteries with signs of involvement of the brain parenchyma.The location, timing, and presentation lead to the conclusion that the carotid lesions were secondary to the motorcycle collision; in particular, we suppose that it is due to the pressure exerted by the helmet strap worn. Although helmets have undoubtedly prevented serious injuries, this report highlights that the helmets themselves may cause injuries, especially to cervical soft tissues and vessels.

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Impalement injuries occur when a large foreign body traverses or penetrates a body cavity or extremity. Nowadays, impalement injuries are uncommon and are usually a consequence of a fall onto a blunt object or a road accident. The authors report a case of a woman found dead in her apartment, seemingly killed by a firearm injury to the abdomen. However, after the autopsy was carried out, it became clear that the injuries had the features of an impalement. After the inquiry, the murder weapon was identified as a battering ram, used by the robbers to break into the house of the woman. This is the first case ever described in literature where a battering ram has been used to impale someone. This case emphasizes the importance of an accurate description of injuries, also with photographs, in order to achieve effective recognition of the wound patterns as they may correspond to specific and unusual weapons.