Bodily Injury Research Articles

Ensuring the rights of victims during the investigation of crimes against life and health committed by members of youth informal groups (associations)

The article addresses specific issues regarding the protection of victims’ rights during the investigation of crimes against life and health committed by members of youth informal groups (associations). It emphasizes that modern criminology’s theoretical and applied research is focused on finding optimal methods for investigating crimes committed by members of such groups. It is highlighted that in the structure of criminal offenses committed by youth informal groups, crimes against life and health rank second, with nearly one-third involving serious and moderately severe bodily injuries. This is because group violence tends to be more brutal than individual acts, and in all criminal proceedings involving violent crimes, such offenses were committed in groups. There is a noted lack of works dedicated to protecting the rights of victims during the investigation of crimes against life and health committed by members of youth informal groups (associations). The research focuses on understanding the mechanisms that ensure the effective protection of the rights and legitimate interests of victims, analyzing legislative gaps that significantly complicate or even prevent their effective protection. The analysis of international legal principles and standards identified a set of measures that may enable a victim-centered approach in investigating this category of crimes: raising awareness and providing immediate legal, social, and medical assistance (including informing victims of their procedural rights, such as the right to protection and compensation, and access to specialized support services); ensuring physical and psychological protection of victims; employing special interrogation tactics to minimize secondary victimization (investigators should consider the age, psychological condition, health status, and location of the interrogation - whether at the victim’s home, healthcare facility, or investigator’s office); using audiovisual recordings to reduce the number of interrogations; and ensuring compensation for damages.

Therapeutic potential of Astragalus membranaceus-Pueraria lobata decoction for the treatment of chemotherapy bowel injury.

Intestinal mucositis (IM) is one of the most serious side effects of the chemotherapeutic agent irinotecan (CPT-11). Astragalus membranaceus-Pueraria lobata decoction is from the ancient medical book Zhengzhihuibu, has been reported to be used for the treatment of diabetes and hypertension. However, the beneficial effect and mechanism of AP on chemotherapy intestinal mucositis (CIM) remain largely unknown. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and mechanism of Astragalus membranaceus-Pueraria lobata decoction (AP) in treating CIM. The beneficial effect and mechanism of AP on chemotherapy intestinal mucositis (CIM) were detected using Drosophila model, and combination with RT qPCR, transcriptomics. AP supplementation could significantly alleviate the CPT-11-induced body injury in Drosophila, such as increasing the survival rate, recovering the impaired digestion, improving the movement, and repairing the reproduction and developmental processes. Administration of AP remarkably alleviated the IM caused by CPT-11, including inhibiting the excretion, repairing the intestinal atrophy, improving the acid-base homeostasis imbalance, and inhibiting the disruption of intestinal structure. Mechanistic studies revealed that the protective role of AP against CPT-11 induced intestinal injury was regulated mainly by inhibiting immune-related Toll and Imd pathways, and enhancing the antioxidant capacity. Taken together, these results suggest that AP may be a novel agent to relieve CIM.

Social worker as an implementer of solutions introduced by lex Kamilek

The Act of July 28, 2023 amending the Act – Family and Guardianship Code and certain other acts (Journal of Laws 2023, item 1606), in force since February 15, 2024, introduced new solutions aimed at increasing the protection of minors against harm. The changes covered several legal acts and apply to all institutions whose activities are related to the care of children, their education, upbringing, developing their interests or providing them with support. One of the entities performing tasks for a family raising a child is a social worker. Some of the legal solutions introduced by so called lex Kamilek are reflected in his daily work. First of all, as part of the procedure for ensuring protection for a child in the event of a threat to his life or health in connection with domestic violence, a social worker will be obliged, together with a police officer and a doctor, paramedic or nurse, to complete a questionnaire assessing the risk of threat to the child's life or health. Moreover, in the case of employment in institutions dealing with child care, the person must be verified in terms of information from the Register with limited access or in the Register of persons in relation to whom the State Commission for Counteracting the Sexual Exploitation of Minors under 15 years of age has issued a decision on entry in the Register and the National Criminal Register. It is also obliged to implement standards for the protection of minors.As an employee of a specific institution, he or she may be obliged to provide the Team of Experts for the Analysis of Events as a result of which a minor died or suffered serious bodily injury, certain information and documents without the obligation to maintain professional secrecy.

Comparative study on anterior pelvic plating and pubic ramus screw fixation for straddle fracture: a matched-pair outcome analysis.

Straddle fractures involving both the superior and inferior rami often require surgical fixation due to instability. This study compared the clinical and radiological outcomes of pubic ramus screw fixation (PRSF) and anterior pelvic plating (APP) for the treatment of these fractures to identify the superior method. A retrospective analysis was conducted on 70 patients (37 males, 33 females; average age 47.6 years) treated surgically for straddle fractures at two Level 1 trauma centres between May 2017 and August 2022. The patients were divided into two groups, where 26 underwent PRSF and 44 underwent APP. The groups were matched based on preoperative characteristics such as age, sex, body mass index, injury mechanism, and severity. The key variables analysed included operation time, blood transfusion volume, early weight-bearing capability, and complication and reoperation rates. After matching, PRSF was associated with a shorter operative time (71.0min vs. 118.3min for APP, p < 0.0009) and lower blood transfusion requirements (0 units vs. 1 unit, p < 0.0001). Postoperatively, 61.5% of PRSF patients tolerated early weight-bearing, compared to none in the APP group. However, in two cases, PRSF could not be performed due to severe comminution or anatomical limitations, necessitating conversion to APP. Complication rates were similar between the groups (30.8% for PRSF vs. 27.3% for APP, p = 0.93). PRSF demonstrated advantages, such as shorter operative time, reduced blood transfusions, and earlier weight-bearing. However, APP remains valuable for complex fracture patterns. Treatment should be individualized based on fracture complexity and patient-specific factors to optimize outcomes.

Effects of Stone Mining on Household Livelihoods in Londiani Sub-County

Globally, rural areas are dominated by households earning less than a dollar per day and engaging in subsistence agriculture to meet their basic needs. In Kenya, governments and non-governmental organizations have taken measures to promote agricultural activities and non-agricultural activities to alleviate poverty in rural areas. One of such none agricultural activity in Kenya is stone mining. Stone mining is an alternative source of livelihood for most rural households. The objective of the study was to establishment the effects of stone mining on household livelihoods in the Londiani, Sub-County. Primary data was collected by use of structured household questionnaires and Key Informant Interviews. Descriptive statistics was used during data analysis where percentages were computed and tabulated. The study revealed that: stone quarry activities have adverse effects on residents of Londiani sub-County, notably: respiratory diseases, chest and skin infections, eye problems, rashes, and body injuries. Stone mining has numerous benefits to the miners' livelihoods. The money generated from stone mining is used to pay school fees, purchase food for the family, clothing, and health services and even build shelter for the family. The study recommends for an audit of the number of households directly involved in quarrying activities with a view to extending credit facilities to boost mining sector. The findings are significant to policymakers in the county government of Kericho, and national governments in formulating policies aimed at streamlining informal sectors into mainstream economic activities

The Value of Less-Lethal Weapons

&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"&gt;Less-Lethal Weapons, including electric Tasers, velocity-reduction bullet-capture projectiles, rubber bullets, beanbag rounds, and other less-lethal projectiles used in police departments, federal and local law enforcement agencies, and military policing operations, as well as for private use, are topics of significant debate in recent years. These weapons can reduce collateral damage, reputational risk, and legal exposure while preventing wrongful and unnecessary deaths caused by conventional bullet wounds. Yet, opponents have highlighted concerns regarding the safety and effectiveness of these weapons, as well as their potential to cause injury or even death. While the primary duty of law enforcement officials is to preserve order and execute the law while protecting individual rights, they ultimately achieve these goals by exercising their coercive authority. Society expects police officers to rely on their professional training and judgment when using physical force to defend citizens and themselves or to apprehend criminal suspects. Because police officers must occasionally participate in physical acts of coercion, it is unavoidable that some of these interactions may result in bodily injuries to individuals, including the officers themselves. These injuries have real costs, such as medical treatment, lost wages, municipal liability, court claims and settlements, riots, and legal or even criminal exposure, as well as less-tangible collateral costs, such as the erosion of police legitimacy and public trust, which are more difficult to quantify but arguably more influential in shaping long-term public perceptions than personal injuries alone. Less lethal technology eliminates some of the concerns raised by lethal weaponry. This study reviews the advantages and disadvantages of these less-lethal weapon technologies versus traditional firearms for use by the police force, federal agencies, and military police while also performing advanced analytics to model the valuation and return on investment for a law enforcement organization implementing such technologies.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Effect of population density in aging societies and severity of motor vehicle crash injuries: the case of Spain

The concentration of population in cities and processes of rural depopulation coupled with the generational shift to older societies represent new challenges in road safety. Here, we examine the severity of injuries suffered by the occupants of motor vehicles involved in a crash based on the population density of the area in which the crash occurs, the driver’s age and the density of their place of residence. We conduct the study in Spain, a country with one of the highest levels of elderly population concentrated in rural areas in Europe. Relational methods are used to match Eurostat’s urbanization classifications with the accident database of Spain’s Directorate General of Traffic so as to correlate each crash with the population density of the place where it occurred. A set of generalized linear models with random effects is fitted to analyze the relationship between population density and the bodily injury severity of the occupants of the vehicle(s) involved in a crash, measuring the effect of drivers’ relocation and aging by geographical area. Independence of injury severity and the degree of urbanization was rejected at the 5% significance level. While 53.8% of the Spanish population is living in densely populated areas and only 13.5% in rural areas, the latter concentrates most crashes with fatalities: 2.3 times more than in urban areas (43.5 and 18.6%, respectively). Drivers living in rural areas are more likely to be associated with serious or fatal injuries when involved in a crash in urban and intermediate areas. Moreover, drivers aged over 75 are significantly more likely to be associated with serious and fatal injuries, especially when the crash occurred in urban areas. Recent research alerts on the implications for rural (often elderly) residents of concentrating public services, particularly healthcare, in densely populated areas. Our study shows that motor crashes in more densely populated areas are also a rural health concern. Policy decision-makers need to address this issue to reduce the number of victims and their bodily injury severity.

Krivičnopravni značaj afektivnih stanja

The first part of this paper briefly explains the psychological nature of emotions and affective conditions. The second part of the paper deals with emotions in the general and the special part of the criminal law. In the context of motives out of which a crime is committed, emotions can have significance in sentencing. Special attention is dedicated to „base motives“, feelings of hatred and compassion, and to their significance in criminal law. The u7second, lengthier part of the paper is concerned with affective conditions in criminal law. The theoretical analysis of this matter encompasses the view on affective conditions as possible causes of a temporary mental disorder, which is a biological basis of unaccountability/significantly diminished accountability (art. 23 CC) and the legal concepts of the „heat of passion“ and „fright“ that generally correspond to the feeling of anger or the feeling of fear. This is connected to the legal concept of exceeding the limits of lawful defense (art. 19 par. 3 CC), as well as to the criminal offences of murder in a heat of passion (art. 115 CC) and severe bodily injury in a heat of passion (art. 121 par. 5 CC). Other criminal offences also include the affective conditions of the passive subject as a basic or supplemental element. The final, third part of the paper contains conclusions backed up with relevant arguments.

Separate elements of the event of a criminal offense to be ascertained at the initial stage of the investigation of murders committed with particular cruelty

In the article, on the basis of a systematic analysis of the norms of current criminal, civil and criminal procedural legislation, scientific sources on criminology, criminal and criminal procedural law, forensic medicine and other sciences, as well as on the basis of a systematic analysis of investigative and judicial practice of investigation and trial of criminal proceedings on murders committed with extreme cruelty, the circumstances to be proven in the above-mentioned criminal proceedings, as well as circumstances related to the event of a criminal offense, which must be clarified at the initial stage of the investigation of murders with extreme cruelty, are determined. It was determined that such circumstances, in addition to the method of committing the crime in the broad sense, which includes the preparation, mechanism and concealment of the traces of the crime, are the time of the commission of the crime, its duration, the place of the commission of the crime, circumstances indicating that the criminal was aware that he inflicts special physical suffering on the victim by inflicting a large number of bodily injuries, torture, mutilation, torture, including using fire, electricity, acid, alkali, radioactive substances, poison that causes excruciating pain, etc.), and must also be ascertained and proven fact of awareness by the guilty person (criminal) that he is causing mental or moral suffering to the victim. In the article, an attempt was made to reveal the meaning of the above-mentioned concepts, namely, a large number of bodily injuries, torture, mutilation, torture, mental and moral suffering. Proposed procedural measures (investigative (research) actions, forensic examinations), and forensic methods that should be carried out at the initial stage of the investigation and as a result of which these circumstances can be clarified with a high degree of probability. It was concluded that since we are talking about a particularly serious crime, all the qualifying features of this act should be clearly defined and established in the law on criminal responsibility.

BANDHANA WITH BIBHITAKPHALA MAJJA LEPA IN THE MANAGEMENT OF ANKLE SPRAIN WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SPORTS INJURIES: A CASE STUDY

Introduction: Any form of bodily harm, pain, or injury sustained when participating in sports, exercising, or engaging in any other physical activity is referred to as a sports injury. The most frequent kinds of injuries are musculoskeletal, which affect the muscles, ligaments, bones, cartilage, and related tissue. According to estimates, up to 30% of injuries encountered in sports medical clinics are sprained ankles. It is one of the most frequent injuries for athletes, dancers, sportspeople, etc. Correlations: In Ayurveda, gulpha marma is one among 20 sandhi marma (vital points related to joints) and one of the 8 rujakara marma according to its traumatic effect of pain the sense of distress or pain is more over here compared to other parts of the body. A sprain injury usually happens suddenly due to injury around a joint, so they can be under agantuj vyadhi. Sports Injuries can be related to abhighataj shotha or agantuj shotha, and alepa is the first upakrama in sarvasotha. Case Study: A 22-year-old sports person complain of pain and difficulty in movement of the right ankle joint. Before one day, his foot was twisted while playing football, and he was diagnosed with an ankle sprain (gulpha sandhi aghata) and treated with Bibhitakphala majja lepa and bandhan for 15 days. Result: After completion of treatment, significant relief was observed in subjective and objective criteria.

Experimental investigation of explosion hazard from lithium-ion battery thermal runaway effluent gas

Fire and explosion hazards present a serious concern to the widespread adoption of battery technology. This work experimentally investigates the explosion hazards associated with synthesized lithium-ion battery thermal runaway effluent gases (TREG) in an enclosed garage space typical of modern construction in North America. Pressure rise inside the compartment is examined using high-frequency piezoelectric pressure transducers. Data on overpressure and impulse is compared with known ranges for structural damage and bodily injury thresholds and calculation methods for maximum overpressure. Data on time-resolved overpressure are compared with a vented explosion model from literature. These comparisons support that existing models for maximum overpressure and time-resolved pressure rise remain valid for the examined synthesized TREG. Correlations are developed between gas volume and measured impulse and overpressure. An extension of this analysis with values of TREG production from literature supports that pressures measured in these experiments can be generated from ignition of gases released from batteries sized in the range of 3300W⋅h to 80 500W⋅h.

FORENSIC EVALUATION OF SELF-INFLICTED SUICIDES WITH MULTIPLE GUNSHOT WOUNDS

Suicide is a common cause of premature death and a serious social problem. The use of firearms for suicide is quite common. The infliction of multiple self-inflicted wounds, including a fatal one, is rare among suicides, but it is possible and requires careful investigation. Aim To provide a forensic assessment of the possibility of suicide by multiple gunshot wounds. Methods. Archival material from the Kyiv City Clinical Bureau of Forensic Medicine and the Zhytomyr Regional Bureau of Forensic Medicine (2 "medical examination reports") was used. The objects of the study were: gunshot wounds on the head (wounds, wound channels), elastic bullets up to 9 mm cartridges and 9 mm bullets for pistol "Makarov", shot products, pistol "Makarov-MP 79" converted to shoot elastic bullets. Their characteristics were examined visually and under the stereo microscope. The detection of shot soot layers on skin flaps and gunsmith's grease was carried out in infrared and ultraviolet rays. The study of the elemental composition of shot products in objects of biological and non-biological origin was carried out using the X-ray fluorescence spectrometer "M4 TORNADO". Standard methods of variational statistics were used in the study. Results. The forensic examination of the entry and exit wounds and wounds on the head of the corpses of persons who died as a result of self-inflicted gunshot wounds, as well as of the bullets and weapons that caused bodily injuries, confirmed the possibility of committing suicide by firing double shots from pistols to shoot bullets of the so-called "non-lethal type": elastic bullets up to 9 mm cartridges and 9 mm bullets for pistol "Makarov". It was established that in case No 1 the first injury was non-fatal and the second was fatal, accompanied by damage to the skull and brain. In case No. 2, the first wound was fatal and the second was non-fatal, as it damaged only the soft tissues of the head without damaging the bones of the skull and brain. The wounds were caused by automatic shots due to the poor technical condition of the weapon, i.e. partial damage and wear of the trigger mechanism and the pistol sear. This was facilitated by a one-time partial self-destruction of the weapon, followed by the wedging of the next cartridge with an elastic bullet in the lower part of the barrel. Conclusion. Thus, the cases of double head injuries caused by shots from firearms (pistols) for shooting bullets of the so-called "non-lethal type" (elastic bullets up to 9 mm cartridges and 9 mm bullets for pistol "Makarov") serve as evidence of suicide. In case No. 1, one of the wounds was not fatal, as the wound channel began with an entrance hole in the lower half of the right temporal region, continued on the right through the right mastoid process and the soft tissues of the neck, and ended in the middle with an exit wound in the back of the neck. This wound was the first inflicted. The second wound was final and fatal, as there was damage to the skull and brain, as evidenced by the wound channel which passed through the right temporal cyst, the brain and its membranes, the left occipital bone, and ended with the exit wound in the left occipital region. It was the second in order of entry. In case 2, the first wound was fatal, resulting in damage to the bones of the skull and brain and the presence of an elastic ball in the substance of the brain. The second wound was non-fatal and tangential, injuring only the soft tissues of the head without damaging the bones of the skull and brain. It occurred as a result of automatic (independent) shots due to the poor technical condition of the weapon, namely partial damage and wear of the trigger mechanism and the pistol sear. This was facilitated by a one-time partial self-destruction of the weapon, followed by the wedging of the next cartridge with an elastic bullet in the lower part of the barrel.

Forensic medical determination of the age of fractures based on X-ray research methods: A literature review

Fractures of various locations as a result of traumatism rank second in both Russia and abroad. In Iran, and in the daily work of a forensic expert, skeletal trauma, if not prevalent, is one of the injuries encountered during the examination of victims, accused, and other persons. In addition to determining the mechanism of bone fracture formation, experts face cases of persistent injuries. Determining the time of the occurrence of bodily injuries in living persons generally does not involve special labor if full-fledged research objects are available. A much more difficult task is determining the age of a bone fracture from control radiographs, without primary clinical and radiological data, when the expert is provided with only control radiographs of the area of interest, which were taken after a long time has elapsed from the time of injury. In modern domestic and foreign scientific sources, no clear criteria have been established for determining the age of fractures based radiographs. Although some studies have been devoted to this issue in forensic medical literature, they are based on the results of nonradiological research methods: histological, histochemical, fractographic, ultrasound, and others. In the specialized literature on traumatology, determining the age of fractures since occurrence is not a priority. The analysis of literary sources shows the relevance of research on radiography methods for forensic medical practice.

Lower Body Weightlifting Injuries Treated in United States Emergency Departments from 2012-2021.

Weightlifting has become an increasingly popular form of exercise that has been shown to have many health benefits but can be dangerous if performed improperly. The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiology of lower body weightlifting injuries in the United States. The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System database was queried from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2021, for lower body injuries related to using weightlifting equipment. Demographics, diagnosis, disposition, and mechanism of injury (MOI) were analyzed. There were 7,773 lower extremity weightlifting injuries identified from 2012-2021, giving a national estimate of 311,842 injuries. The most common MOI was dropped weight (n=1785, 22.96%). Deadlifts were the most cited exercise that led to lower extremity injury (n=503, 6.47%). Males were more likely than females to be injured (76% males vs. 24% females; p<0.001), especially by compound movements with free weights including squats (79.63% males vs. 19.96% females, p<0.03) and deadlifts (83.89% males vs. 16.10% females, p<0.001). Nearly all injuries were treated as outpatient but those admitted to the hospital were significantly older than those treated as outpatients (38.0 years vs. 31.2 years, p<0.05). Weightlifting carries a high risk of injury due to the intensity and technique required for the different movements involved.

Information extraction from medical case reports using OpenAI InstructGPT

Background and objectiveResearchers commonly use automated solutions such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) systems to extract clinical information from large volumes of unstructured data. However, clinical text's poor semantic structure and domain-specific vocabulary can make it challenging to develop a one-size-fits-all solution. Large Language Models (LLMs), such as OpenAI's Generative Pre-Trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3), offer a promising solution for capturing and standardizing unstructured clinical information. This study evaluated the performance of InstructGPT, a family of models derived from LLM GPT-3, to extract relevant patient information from medical case reports and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of LLMs versus dedicated NLP methods. MethodsIn this paper, 208 articles related to case reports of foreign body injuries in children were identified by searching PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. A reviewer manually extracted information on sex, age, the object that caused the injury, and the injured body part for each patient to build a gold standard to compare the performance of InstructGPT. ResultsInstructGPT achieved high accuracy in classifying the sex, age, object and body part involved in the injury, with 94%, 82%, 94% and 89%, respectively. When excluding articles for which InstructGPT could not retrieve any information, the accuracy for determining the child's sex and age improved to 97%, and the accuracy for identifying the injured body part improved to 93%. InstructGPT was also able to extract information from non-English language articles. ConclusionsThe study highlights that LLMs have the potential to eliminate the necessity for task-specific training (zero-shot extraction), allowing the retrieval of clinical information from unstructured natural language text, particularly from published scientific literature like case reports, by directly utilizing the PDF file of the article without any pre-processing and without requiring any technical expertise in NLP or Machine Learning. The diverse nature of the corpus, which includes articles written in languages other than English, some of which contain a wide range of clinical details while others lack information, adds to the strength of the study.

A case of prolonged corneal sulfur foreign bodies and review of literature

BackgroundThis case mainly describes a relatively rare case of an old mineral-like corneal foreign body that existed for up to 20 years, and did not significantly affect the visual quality of the patient.Case presentationA 56-year-old male miner complained of right eye vision loss for 3 years, swollen and painful for 4 months. Admission examination: Best corrected visual acuity was no light perception in the right eye and 20/20 in the left eye. Anterior segment examination: A large number of spot-like grayish-brown mineral foreign bodies in the conjunctiva of the nasal conjunctiva, emulsified silicone oil floating in the anterior chamber, Corneal foreign bodies in the right eye were widely distributed in the upper cortex and the proelastic layer. There were fewer foreign bodies in the left cornea. Previous medical history, 20 years ago due to forging and burning sulphur mine explosion, resulting in a large number of ore foreign bodies in the conjunctiva of both eyes. As these corneal foreign bodies did not affect the visual quality of the patient, we adopted a conservative treatment plan, did not remove these foreign bodies, and only carried out symptomatic treatment for the patient’s secondary ocular hypertension. The patient was followed up normally in the outpatient department, and no cornea-related complications occurred up to now.ConclusionsFirst of all, it is necessary to understand the source and nature of the foreign body in patients with corneal and conjunctival foreign body injuries. In the second, for the old corneal metal foreign body, when the patient’s visual acuity is stable and there are no symptoms of corneal irritation and inflammatory reaction, it can be Conservative treatment or outpatient follow-up observation. In the end, corneal Optical coherence tomography imaging should not be ignored, which is very important for determining the depth of embedding and the location of the corneal foreign body.

A Positioning Alarm System for Explosive Impact Debris Protective Suit Based on an Accelerometer Array.

Protection suits are vital for firefighters' safety. Traditional protection suits physically protect firemen from burns, but cannot locate the position of bodily injuries caused by impact debris. Herein, we present a wearable impact debris positioning system for firefighter protection suits based on an accelerometer array. Wearable piezoelectric accelerometers are distributed regularly on the suit to detect the vibration on different body parts, which is conducive to determining the position of injured body parts. In addition, the injured parts can be displayed on a dummy body model on the upper computer with a higher localization accuracy of 4 cm. The positioning alarm system has a rapid response time of 0.11 ms, attributed to the smart signal processing method. This work provides a reliable and smart method for locating and assessing the position of bodily injuries caused by impact debris, which is significant because it enables fire commanders to rescue injured firefighters in time.

Fatal and non-fatal civilian injuries sustained during law enforcement-reported encounters in California, 2016–2021

BackgroundIn 2015, California passed AB 71 to create a state-wide Use of Force Incident Reporting Database (URSUS) to tabulate law enforcement-reported encounters that resulted in serious bodily injury, death or...

Intervertebral Disc Degeneration Induced by Vertebral Body Fracture Associated with Microcirculation Disruption of the Subendplate

Among the causes of the progression of intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration (IDD) is the loss of nutrient intake to the IVD through the microcirculation disruption of the subendplate. Also, the vertebral body fracture intervenes in the degeneration the adjacent IVD. This research aimed to create an animal model of IDD using these 2 strategies. Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were split into 3 groups: a control group, a middle vertebral body injury (MI) associated with ethanol injection (MI+EtOH) group, and an MI associated with phosphate-buffered saline injection group. A vertebral body fracture with or without endplate injection of ethanol was generated by either drilling a hole in the center of a caudal rat vertebral body to form a fracture with an unabated endplate or drilling a hole in the center of a rat coccygeal vertebral body with endplate injection of ethanol to establish a vertebral body fracture with endplate damage. X-ray, macroscopic, histologic, and biochemical evaluations were utilized to assess IDD at weeks 3 and6. According to X-ray findings, the MI+EtOH group demonstrated a significant decrease in intervertebral space height over time in comparison to the 2 other groups. The water content also was significantly decreased. Macroscopic and histological analysis demonstrated progressive degenerative changes in the IVD of the MI+EtOH group. The caudal vertebra fracture with ethanol injection is more likely to induce degeneration of adjacent IVD. This model effectively reproduced IDD, which may serve as a theoretical basis for future clinical intervention for IDD.

Safety of anterior cervical corpectomy and fusion (ACCF) for the treatment of subaxial cervical spine injuries, a single center comparative matched analysis

IntroductionAnterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion (ACDF) and Anterior Cervical Corpectomy and Fusion (ACCF) are both common surgical procedures in the management of pathologies of the subaxial cervical spine. While recent reviews have demonstrated ACCF to provide better decompression results compared to ACDF, the procedure has been associated with increased surgical risks. Nonetheless, the use of ACCF in a traumatic context has been poorly described. The aim of this study was to assess the safety of ACCF as compared to the more commonly performed ACDF.MethodsAll patients undergoing ACCF or ACDF for subaxial cervical spine injuries spanning over 2 disc-spaces and 3 vertebral-levels, between 2006 and 2018, at the study center, were eligible for inclusion. Patients were matched based on age and preoperative ASIA score.ResultsAfter matching, 60 patients were included in the matched analysis, where 30 underwent ACDF and ACCF, respectively. Vertebral body injury was significantly more common in the ACCF group (p = 0.002), while traumatic disc rupture was more frequent in the ACDF group (p = 0.032). There were no statistically significant differences in the rates of surgical complications, including implant failure, wound infection, dysphagia, CSF leakage between the groups (p ≥ 0.05). The rates of revision surgeries (p > 0.999), mortality (p = 0.222), and long-term ASIA scores (p = 0.081) were also similar.ConclusionResults of both unmatched and matched analyses indicate that ACCF has comparable outcomes and no additional risks compared to ACDF. It is thus a safe approach and should be considered for patients with extensive anterior column injury.