The determination of the post-mortal interval (PMI) is an extremely discussed topic in the literature and of deep forensic interest, for which various types of methods have been proposed. The aim of the manuscript is to provide a review of the studies on the post-mortem DNA degradation used for estimating PMI. This review has been performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses and the PRISMA Guidelines. Several analytical techniques have been proposed to analyse the post-mortem DNA degradation in order to use it to estimate the PMI. Studies focused mainly on animal models and on particular tissues. The results have been mixed: while on the one hand literature data in this field have confirmed that in the post-mortem several degradation processes involve nucleic acids, on the other hand some fundamental aspects are still little explored: the influence of ante and post-mortem factors on DNA degradation, the feasibility and applicability of a multiparametric mathematical model that takes into account DNA degradation and the definition of one or more target organs in order to standardize the results on human cases under standard conditions.

Collection and interpretation of “touch DNA” from crime scenes represent crucial steps during criminal investigations, with clear consequences in courtrooms. Although the main aspects of this type of evidence have been extensively studied, some controversial issues remain. For instance, there is no conclusive evidence indicating which sampling method results in the highest rate of biological material recovery. Thus, this study aimed to describe the actual considerations on touch DNA and to compare three different sampling procedures, which were “single-swab”, “double-swab”, and “other methods” (i.e., cutting out, adhesive tape, FTA^® paper scraping), based on the experimental results published in the recent literature. The data analysis performed shows the higher efficiency of the single-swab method in DNA recovery in a wide variety of experimental settings. On the contrary, the double-swab technique and other methods do not seem to improve recovery rates. Despite the apparent discrepancy with previous research, these results underline certain limitations inherent to the sampling procedures investigated. The application of this information to forensic investigations and laboratories could improve operative standard procedures and enhance this almost fundamental investigative tool’s probative value.

In Western countries, a social trend toward delaying childbearing has been observed in women of reproductive age for the last two decades. This delay is due to different factors related to lifestyle, such as the development of a professional career or the absence of the right partner. As a consequence, women who defer childbearing may find themselves affected by age-related infertility when they decide to conceive. Fertility preservation techniques are, therefore, proposed as a solution for these women. Among all possible solutions, social freezing is an alternative strongly discussed from a scientific, social and ethical point of view. A survey among 930 female students at the University of Padova (Italy) investigated their knowledge and attitudes on social egg freezing and their potential intentions regarding this procedure. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the level of awareness of age-related infertility in Italian young women and their attitudes regarding acceptable indications for elective oocyte freezing, their potential personal use, the circumstances in which they would then decide to use cryopreserved eggs, and their attitudes towards cost coverage and oocyte donation. Data collected in this study revealed some important points about young women and their knowledge about social oocyte freezing in Italy as compared to other European countries and the United States. Overall, 34.3% of the students reported having heard about the possibility of oocyte cryopreservation for non-medical reasons and being aware of the meaning of this procedure; only 19.5% were in favour of social egg freezing and 48.4% thought that the cost for this procedure should be borne entirely by the woman herself. Regarding egg donation, the majority of students (64.9%) would not accept donating their eggs to a known woman or couple and 42.5% would instead accept donating to a biobank. Our study shows that young Italian women are significantly less aware of age-related decline in fertility and the possibility of using social egg freezing compared to their similarly situated counterparts in other Western countries.

Cyberbullying can be described as a form of bullying carried out by an individual or a group through digital media with the intention to harm others. It has been recognized as a public health issue recently; however, of the vast literature published in recent years on the phenomenon, only a small part concerns strategies adopted to prevent and combat cyberbullying, and the effectiveness of these strategies appears to be scarce. We conducted a systematic review of the literature published in the last five years about different interventions studied to prevent and contrast cyberbullying. Our results show how most of the strategies currently developed focus on the educational aspect, involving schools and families. Other authors describe technology-based practices to set programs to reduce and prevent cyberbullying through the usage of digital instruments, the same used by minors themselves. Finally, remaining tactics use a more comprehensive approach, mixing tools already in use in the aforementioned strategies. Cyberbullying requires wide-ranging methods to combat it, involving the contribution of mental health professionals, educators, and digital experts cooperating synergically. Prevention and contrast instruments should be defined, implemented, tested, and combined in order to deal with cyberbullying.

Microbiome research is a highly transdisciplinary field with a wide range of applications and methods for studying it, involving different computational approaches and models. The fact that different people host radically different microbiota highlights forensic perspectives in understanding what leads to this variation and what regulates it, in order to effectively use microbes as forensic evidence. This narrative review provides an overview of some of the main scientific works so far produced, focusing on the potentiality of using skin microbiome profiling for human identification in forensics. This review was performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The examined literature clearly ascertains that skin microbial communities, although personalized, vary systematically across body sites and time, with intrapersonal differences over time smaller than interpersonal ones, showing such a high degree of spatial and temporal variability that the degree and nature of this variability can constitute in itself an important parameter useful in distinguishing individuals from one another. Even making the effort to organically synthesize all results achieved until now, it is quite evident that these results are still the pieces of a puzzle, which is not yet complete.

The determination of the Post-Mortem Interval (PMI) is an issue that has always represented a challenge in the field of forensic science. Different innovative approaches, compared to the more traditional ones, have been tried over the years, without succeeding in being validated as successful methods for PMI estimation. In the last two decades, innovations in sequencing technologies have made it possible to generate large volumes of data, allowing all members of a bacterial community to be sequenced. The aim of this manuscript is to provide a review regarding new advances in PMI estimation through cadaveric microbiota identification using 16S rRNA sequencing, in order to correlate specific microbiome profiles obtained from different body sites to PMI. The systematic review was performed according to PRISMA guidelines. For this purpose, 800 studies were identified through database searching (Pubmed). Articles that dealt with PMI estimation in correlation with microbiome composition and contained data about species, body site of sampling, monitoring time and sequencing method were selected and ultimately a total of 25 studies were considered. The selected studies evaluated the contribution of the various body sites to determine PMI, based on microbiome sequencing, in human and animal models. The results of this systematic review highlighted that studies conducted on both animals and humans yielded results that were promising. In order to fully exploit the potential of the microbiome in the estimation of PMI, it would be desirable to identify standardized body sampling sites and specific sampling methods in order to align data obtained by different research groups.