Transport Accidents Research Articles

Hazard, risk, reliability assessment and improvement of Darlington Tritium Removal Facility (DTRF) cryogenic refrigeration system

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, produced in heavy water, during CANDU reactor operations by neutron absorption. The tritium removal facility at Darlington (DTRF) is used to extract tritium from the heavy water on a continuous basis and concentrates it in preparation for immobilization and storage. There are several internal and external hazards associated with the operation of DTRF, such as fires, onsite transportation accidents, exposure to radioactive materials, explosion due to Hydrogen (H2) and the release of radioactive substances from the Tritium Immobilization System. This paper conducts a risk analysis for the DTRF Cryogenic Refrigeration System, associated with both Low and High Tritium Distillation columns. This study includes hazard identification, consequence analysis and risk estimation. Fault Tree and Event Tree Analysis conducted, system reliability, availability and human reliability was considered. Consequently, methods for risk reduction and integration with improvement to CRS design is discussed.

Characteristics of Technological Disasters.

Disasters are the consequences of natural or technological hazards that affect a vulnerable society.1 Technological disasters are divided into three groups: industrial, transport, and miscellaneous.2,3 It is possible to determine the risks of technological disasters, to determine priorities, and to plan services by knowing this epidemiology.4 In this study, we aimed to define the distribution and characteristics of the subtypes of technological disasters in the world according to regions and years. Our study was conducted using the international dataset at www.emdat.be/. The technological disasters between 1970 and 2020, the years they occurred, their locations (region and continent), the types of disasters, and the numbers of dead and affected were recorded. We found that the greatest number of disasters occurred between 2001 and 2010. The most common type of disaster was transportation accidents. While the continent with the most frequent disasters was Asia (3 879 [45.6%]), it was followed by Africa (2 220 [26.1%]) and South and North America (1 359 [16%]). Transport accidents are the most common cause of technological disasters, and road accidents are the most common type of transport accident.

Deep Learning Methods to Mitigate Human-Factor-Related Accidents in Maritime Transport

Artificial intelligence aims to be the solution to multiple engineering problems by trying to emulate the human learning process. In this sense, maritime transport standards have clearly evolved, which are based on two principal pillars: the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). Based on a formal safety assessment research process, these pillars try to solve most of the maritime transport accidents, which, in their final steps, are associated with human factors. In this research, an original methodology employing a deep learning process for image recognition during mooring line operation, a dangerous process on ships, is developed. The main results indicate that the proposed method is an excellent tool for advising ship officers on watch and, consequently, provides a new way to prevent human factors onboard from causing accidents, which in the future must be considered in international standards.

A combined method for the evaluation of contributing factors to maritime dangerous goods transport accidents

This paper evaluates the contributing factors to maritime dangerous goods (DG) transport accidents by integrating the Entropy Weight (EW) and Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) methods. For this purpose, investigation reports of maritime DG transport accidents that occurred worldwide between 2000 and 2023 are derived from the International Maritime Organization’s Integrated Shipping Information System (IMO GISIS) database’s Marine Casualties and Incidents (MCI) module. Eleven main ship operations and thirteen primary causes were selected by analysing accident investigation reports. The weights of main ship operations are calculated utilizing the EW method. The correlational degrees of the primary causes are then calculated using the GRA method. Most maritime DG transport accidents occur during unberthing, bunkering, and pilotage operations. The most common contributing factors of maritime DG transport accidents are collisions and occupational accidents. Specifically, maritime DG transport accidents are most likely to be caused by collisions during sailing, passage, maneuvering, and bunkering operations, as well as occupational accidents during cargo loading, anchoring, berthing, and mooring operations. The results of this paper can support stakeholders in developing the needed policies to guarantee the safety of maritime DG transport.

Incidence and characteristics of prehospital fatalities from haemorrhage in Sweden: a nationwide observational study

BackgroundHaemorrhage is a leading cause of preventable mortality in high-income countries and emergency management presents unique challenges in the prehospital setting. The study aimed to determine incidence and characteristics of fatalities from prehospital haemorrhage in Sweden.MethodsA nationwide retrospective cohort study 2012–2021 was conducted using data from the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. Prehospital fatality from haemorrhage was defined as a cause of death related to haemorrhage (Appendix 1) without a hospital admission on the same day. Primary outcome was age-standardized mortality rate per 100,000 inhabitants.ResultsA total of 9801 prehospital fatalities from haemorrhage were identified. Annual age-standardized mortality rate decreased from 10.97 to 8.18 per 100,000 population (coefficient = − 0.28, r2 = 0.85, p = < 0.001). Trauma was the most common cause (3512, 35.83%) with intentional self-harm (X60–X84), transport accidents (V01–V99) and assault (X85–Y09) being the most common mechanisms of injury. Traumatic fatalities were younger and a larger proportion were male compared to non-traumatic causes (p < 0.001). Overall median Charlson Comorbidity Index (Quan) was 0 [0–2] with a lower index noted for traumatic causes (p < 0.001). Trauma resulted in a median of 26.1 [3.65–49.22] years of life lost per patient compared to 0 [0–3.65] for non-traumatic causes (p < 0.001). Regional variations in mortality rate were observed with lower population density correlating with higher mortality rate (ρ = − 0.64, p = 0.002).ConclusionsPrehospital mortality from haemorrhage decreased between 2012 and 2021. Trauma was the most common cause which resulted in many years of life lost in a population with a low burden of comorbidities. There were considerable regional differences with low population density associated with higher mortality rate from prehospital haemorrhage.

Analysis of the influence of living conditions, as a collection of social factors within the environment, on mortality rates among the rural and urban populations of the Nenets autonomous okrug from 2000 to 2019

BACKGROUND: Currently, in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF), there are evident indications of a deterioration in the medical and demographic situation amidst a lack of adequate social infrastructure development. For the first time, we attempted to analyze the impact of living conditions, which encompass various social factors within the habitat, shaped by the social infrastructure, on the mortality rates of the population of one of the regions within AZRF. AIM: To assess the impact of living conditions, as a set of social factors within the environment, on the mortality rates among the rural and urban populations of the Nenets autonomous okrug (NAO) in the period from 2000 to 2019. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The databases “Housing and communal services and social infrastructure in NAO in 2000-2019” and “Death cases in NAO in 2000–2019” including information on the population number and age and gender structure of the NAO population across individual settlements have been collected. Using the scoring system for assessing living conditions, a ranking with subsequent division into tertiles of all rural NAO settlements was carried out according to the value of the integral index of living conditions (IILC). A comparative analysis (tertiles with the city, and tertiles with each other) of average annual age-standardized rates of overall mortality, mortality from the main causes and structural components of external causes (EC) of mortality was performed. Relative risks were calculated as the ratio of mortality rates in each tertile to the corresponding indicator for the urban population. RESULTS: Average annual standardized rates and relative risks of mortality (total, EC, drowning, freezing, alcohol poisoning and transport accidents) of the NAO population demonstrated a “step by step” increase in the sequence “city — highest tertile — middle tertile — lowest tertile”, i.e. as living conditions worsen and as the IILC decreases. Statistically significant differences were identified between the city and tertiles, as well as between the highest (“favorable” living conditions) and lowest (“unfavorable” living conditions) tertiles in terms of total mortality, mortality from EC, drowning and freezing. Mortality rates from alcohol poisoning and transport accidents also increased as living conditions worsened, although the associations did reach the level of statistical significance. With the exception of suicides, the relative risks of mortality for individual EC reached maximum values in the lowest tertile of living conditions. CONCLUSION: Statistically significant inverse associations between total mortality, mortality from external causes and its main structural components, and the values of the integral index of living conditions have been identified among the rural population of NAO. A decrease in living conditions was significantly associated with an increase in mortality rates and relative risks.

Technological disasters in Asia: Epidemiological profile from the year 2000 to 2021.

Technological disasters in Asia have significant public health and environmental implications, but there is limited epidemiological analysis of these events. This study aims to characterize the epidemiological profile of technological disasters in Asia from 2000 to 2021, focusing on morbidity and mortality trends. A retrospective descriptive observational analysis was conducted using data from emergency events database (EM-DAT), DesInventar, NatCAt, and Sigma. The study categorized disasters into transport, industrial, and miscellaneous accidents. Statistical analyses were used to examine frequencies, trends, and correlations among the different disaster types. From 2000 to 2021, Asia experienced 2333 technological disasters, with transport accidents being the most frequent (55.77%), followed by industrial (26.10%) and miscellaneous accidents (18.13%). The overall trend showed a statistically significant decrease in the frequency of these disasters and in average mortality and injury rates. The study highlighted the varying impact of different disaster types, with industrial accidents causing the highest fatality and affected rates despite being less frequent than transport accidents. The study indicates a declining trend in the frequency and severity of technological disasters in Asia, reflecting improved safety measures and disaster management. However, the high impact of industrial accidents underscores the need for targeted prevention strategies.

Uptake of telehealth services by people recovering from road trauma in Victoria, Australia

Introduction In recent years, injury insurers in Australia have introduced compensation cover for services delivered via telehealth. The aim of this study was to investigate the uptake of telehealth services by people recovering from road trauma in Victoria, Australia, and the characteristics of participants accessing these services. Methods All Victorian State Trauma Registry and Victorian Orthopaedic Trauma Outcomes Registry cases, aged ≥16 years, who sustained transport-related injury from March to August 2020, and were linked with the Transport Accident Commission claims dataset, were included in this registry-based cohort study. The primary outcome was the uptake of services accessed in-person and via telehealth. Results Within 12 months of injury, 413 participants accessed 93,035 services, with 1432 of these via telehealth (1.5%). Seventy-five percent of family counselling, 26% of psychology and 7% of medical consultations were accessed via telehealth. For telehealth users, a greater proportion had worked/studied prior to injury, met major trauma criteria, and were discharged to inpatient rehabilitation, compared to non-users. For participants with no telehealth use, a greater proportion were discharged home, and were classified as ‘rapid recovery’ clients. Conclusions While telehealth uptake was low during the study period, it was accessed by people with more severe injuries. There was also greater telehealth uptake during some of Victoria's strictest COVID-19 lockdowns. Telehealth may continue to be an appealing option for medical and psychological services into the future, and may assist with return to work following transport injury.

The revised Clinician-Administered PTSD scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5-R): Initial psychometric evaluation in a trauma-exposed community sample.

The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) is a widely used, well-validated structured interview for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It was recently revised to improve various aspects of administration and scoring. We conducted a psychometric evaluation of the revised version, known as the CAPS-5-R. Participants were 73 community residents with mixed trauma exposure (e.g., sexual assault, physical assault, transportation accident, the unnatural death of a loved one). CAPS-5-R PTSD diagnosis demonstrated good test-retest reliability, кs =.73-.79; excellent interrater reliability, кs =.86-.93; and good-to-excellent alternate forms reliability with the CAPS-5, кs =.79-.93. In addition, the CAPS-5-R total PTSD severity score demonstrated excellent test-retest reliability, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) =.86; interrater reliability, ICC =.98; and alternate forms reliability with the CAPS-5, r =.95. Further, the CAPS-5-R demonstrated good convergent validity with other measures of PTSD and good discriminant validity with measures of other constructs (e.g., depression, anxiety, alcohol problems, somatic concerns, mania). Given its strong psychometric performance in this study, as well as its improvements in administration and scoring, the CAPS-5-R appears to be a valuable update of the current CAPS-5.

A CREAM model optimization method based on fatigue testing experiments and machine learning techniques for maritime transportation applications

Maritime transportation has a crucial position in world trade, but maritime transportation accidents still occur frequently. To assess human errors in maritime transportation more accurately by CREAM and thus improve the reliability of maritime transportation, the study is the first to obtain the quantitative effects of different anti-fatigue capability groups on task performance in the field of maritime transportation by combining fatigue test experiments with machine learning. First, a dataset reflecting the fatigue changes of participants in maritime transportation tasks is constructed by 91 subjects participating in fatigue test experiments. Second, anti-fatigue capability classifications were performed by machine learning algorithms based on Density Peak Clustering Algorithm and fitness. Again, the failure probability correction coefficients of different anti-fatigue capability classes are obtained based on the classification results. Finally, the proposed model optimization method is experimentally verified. The results show that the optimized model is more accurate for the estimation of human-caused errors in maritime transportation. The proposed model effectively improves the inaccuracy of the traditional CREAM due to the lack of attention to individual physiological differences in the reliability assessment.

A detailed simulation study on radionuclide dispersion under spent fuel road transportation conditions: Effects of vessel type and coniferous vegetation growth

Vegetation barriers are an important environmental characteristic of spent fuel road transportation accidents. Spent fuel vessels may be affected by force majeure factors during transportation, which leads to damage to spent fuel assemblies and containers and can cause radionuclides to gradually release from assemblies to vessels to the external environment. In this work, considering the growth periods of coniferous vegetation barriers and vessel type, a radionuclide dispersion model based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was established by adding a decay term and a pressure loss term. The simulations showed that, first, compared to the small (Type-II) vessel, the effects of fluid flow around the large vessel (Type-I) have a more significant impact on radionuclide dispersion. The backflow around the Type-I vessel causes leaked radionuclides to disperse towards the vessel, and the larger the vessel is, the more significant the rise of the leaked radionuclide plume tail will be due to the increased negative pressure gradient area. Moreover, the area contaminated exceeding the maximum allowable concentration by radioactivity for the Type-I vessel is reduced gradually with the growth of coniferous vegetation barriers due to the weakening of the backflow effect by growing vegetation. Second, compared to vegetation barriers of 15 years and 23 years, the horizontal distance exceeding the maximum allowable concentration of the leaked 131I dispersion from Type II vessels near vegetation barriers for 12 years is the longest. The older the vegetation barrier is, the shorter the horizontal dispersion range, and the shape of radionuclide dispersion gradually transforms from flat to semicircular with vegetation barrier growth, but this could cause a greater radioactive accumulation effect near the leakage point, and the maximum concentration of leaked 131I reached 0.54 kBq·m−3 for leaked radionuclides from the Type II vessel under vegetation barriers of 23 years. In addition, improvement suggestions based on the proposed method are presented, which will enable the Standards Institutes to apply the research methodologies described herein across various scenarios. Environmental ImplicationCompared to nonradioative pollutants, radioactive pollutants are intercepted by vegetation barriers and then migrate to the soil through leaves, stems, and roots, which can contaminate the surrounding environment. Considering the effects of vessel type and coniferous vegetation growth, a radionuclide dispersion model based on CFD was established. Suggestions for decontaminating radioactive pollution areas have been proposed based on the simulation results of hypothetical scenarios. The scenario applicability improvements based on the proposed model could assist relevant Standards Institutes to making improving measures.

Temporal change and spatial heterogeneity of the association between ambient temperature and transport accident mortality in Japan from 1972 to 2019: a nationwide time-stratified case-crossover study

Abstract Studies have demonstrated that ambient temperature was associated with transport accidents; however, little is known about the temporal change and spatial heterogeneity of this association. This study investigated the temporal change and spatial variation in the association between temperature and transport accident mortality in Japan using daily time-series data from 1972 to 2019. First, we used time-stratified case-crossover analyses with a distributed lag nonlinear model to estimate the risks of transport accident mortality with temperature in 47 prefectures in Japan. We then pooled the estimates to obtain the risk at the country level through multivariate meta-analysis. In addition, we divided the whole time period into five sub-periods to explore temporal changes in the association and fitted the mixed-effects meta-regression to identify climatic, demographic, and socioeconomic factors that may explain the spatial heterogeneity. We found that temperature was positively associated with transport accident mortality, with a percent change (PC) of 1.47% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.10%, 1.85%) increase in transport accident mortality per 1 °C increase in daily mean temperature. The risk of transport accident mortality associated with temperature has decreased from 1972 [PC = 2.14% (95% CI: 1.51%, 2.77%)] to 2000 [PC = 0.89% (95% CI: 0.21%, 1.57%)] but increased slightly from 2001 [PC = 1.13% (95% CI: 0.47%, 1.48%)] to 2019 [PC = 1.60% (95% CI: 0.73%, 2.48%)]. The association between temperature and transport accident mortality was larger in relatively less developed prefectures, as explained by demographic and socioeconomic factors (e.g., total population, proportion of older people and females, and number of general hospitals). Our findings may help to better understand the association between high temperature and transport accident mortality and underlying potential mechanisms, which can provide implications for public health policies to reduce the mortality burden from transport accidents in the future.

Risk assessment of hazmat road transportation accidents before, during, and after the accident using Bayesian network

Risk exists in the whole process of before, during and after the accident of hazardous materials (hazmat) transportation, which usually lead to serious consequences. Risk assessment is a significant way to identify hidden dangers and their interactions, which can curb accidents happen. The purpose of this study is to analyze the risk factors of hazmat road transportation accidents through entire process risk assessment and propose management strategies. Considering nodes dependency, i.e. accident type and rescue time, this study applies the concept of Tree Augmented Naive Bayes (TAN) and built a hazmat road transportation Bayesian network (HRT-BN). Mutual information and model validation are carried on to better facilitate convenient inference and diagnosis of risk nodes and their interactions. Results show that in causal inference with single factors, human risk factors are more significant, which are likely to lead to leakage accident with slight consequences and short rescue time (s2). Meanwhile, with coupling effect of multiple factors, accident types become more diverse with serious consequence. In diagnostic inference, the rescue time is linked to seasonal and regional factors, e.g., the rescue time in summer is longer. Based on these analysis, targeted recommendations have been proposed at the end. This study provides a whole angle of view to assess risks in hazmat transportation, which has significant practical feasibility for risk management and planning of hazmat road transportation.

Study of The Ruling of The Shipping Court in Burning Boat Accidents That Impact Losses Passenger as Consumers

Introduction: Passenger ship accidents frequently occur in Indonesian waters, resulting in injuries and fatalities. Unfortunately, the affected individuals only receive partial compensation from their travel insurance and are not granted full compensation under their consumer rights as outlined in Act Number 8 year of 1999 about Consumer Protection. This leaves them feeling disheartened about reclaiming their lost possessions.Purposes of the Research: The article delves into the legal rights of passengers impacted by sea transportation accidents, covering physical injury, loss of life, and property damage. The Shipping Court conducted a thorough investigation into the incident involving KM Express Cantika 77 on October 24, 2022, with a strong focus on uncovering the cause and implications.Methods of the Research: With normative juridical research methods, and based on literature data and the decision of the Shipping Court in the case of the burning of the Ferry KM Express Cantika 77 on October 24 2022 at 13.20 WITA in Naikliu Waters. By analyzing using a qualitative approach to determine the rights of passengers who got an accident.Results of the Research: The Indonesian Shipping Court decides on passenger ship accident cases only by examining the causes and impacts of the accident. It is recommended that the Shipping Court become a special court, like other special courts such as the Industrial Relations, Fisheries, and Forestry Courts. These reforms will allow the Court to examine and prosecute based on the criminal, civil, and administrative aspects of shipping incidents.

Transfer functions for QA /QB international regulatory limits for the safe transport of radioactive materials

This paper presents a proposed revision of the International Atomic Energy Agency transport regulations, related to the A 1 and A 2 limit values used to determine the radioactive transport classification. Based on the ‘Q system’, a novel methodology was introduced to derive QA and QB values related to scenarios involving external exposure from a distant source. These values are key parameters that respectively represent the total effective dose and total equivalent dose to the skin, from all primary and secondary particles contributing to radiation exposure. The International Working Group (WG A 1/A 2) is established and associated with the TRANSSC Technical Expert Group on Radiation Protection. A review of the A 1 and A 2 values is performed in response to identified limitations within the existing Q system. The followed approach is based on Monte Carlo simulations that enabled the development of transfer functions aimed at reducing computational time and increasing the flexibility of dose evaluations for any radionuclide with known particle emission spectra. This method allows updating the QA and QB values to account for future data evolutions (decay data, fluence-to-dose conversion coefficients) and standardizing the calculation of regulation limits across all referenced radionuclides and scenarios related to external exposure. The transfer functions are established using three Monte Carlo simulation codes—FLUKA, Geant4, and MCNP—and address the previous limitations of the ‘Q system’, reflecting the latest International Commission for Radiation Protection recommendations and improvements in calculation techniques. The results of the WG show consistent agreement across the codes, with minor discrepancies observed at low primary energies due to statistical uncertainties and different handling of stopping power for electrons/positrons in the codes. This revised approach aligns with current standards and recommendations, ensuring that the radiological consequences of transport accidents are acceptable for the new A 1 and A 2 limits from a radiological protection perspective.

Surgical treatment of a teenager with an extensive wound defect of soft tissues against the background of severe combined injury

Extensive posttraumatic wounds, affecting functionally active areas and complicated by a purulent–necrotic process, are a serious problem in the acute period of injury due to a critical condition and in reconstructive surgical treatment. This study presents the case of a 16-year-old victim of a transport accident on a ferry who underwent a surgical treatment. Due to a truck collision, the girl was crushed against the metal structure of the ship and received a severe combined injury: closed craniocerebral injury, moderate brain contusion, linear fracture of the occipital bone on the right, closed chest injury, fracture of 9–11 ribs on the right, closed abdominal injury, rupture of the right kidney, damage to the bladder, retroperitoneal hematoma on the right, closed spinal injury, fracture of the spinous processes of the L4–L5 vertebrae, open fractures of the pelvic bones, and extensive posttraumatic wounds of the right half of the pelvic girdle and hip joints. During the initial hospitalization, the following were performed within 2 days: laparotomy, nephrectomy of a crushed kidney on the right, suturing of the bladder, primary surgical treatment of the wound in the sacrogluteofemoral region on the right and the wound of the left thigh with their primary suturing, and external osteosynthesis of the pelvic bones with a rod-based external fixation device. The early postoperative period was complicated by necrosis of injured soft tissues and a new surgical infection (polyantibiotic-resistant strains of microorganisms), which led to an increase in the size of the wound defect and loss of soft tissues due to their purulent melting. Complex surgical treatment aimed at eliminating surgical infection and transferring the wound process to the regeneration phase included repeated surgical treatments and the use of modern dressings and negative pressure therapy. An extensive wound defect of soft tissues caused by and injury or surgical treatment for purulent–necrotic complication was found in the functionally active zone of the hip joint and in the sacral region, which required the restoration of the skin of these areas. A strategy for surgical repair of a soft tissue wound defect is presented. Nonfree (rotated) blood-supply flaps were used: fasciocutaneous muscle flap based on the musculus tensor fascia lata from the right thigh and gluteal fasciocutaneous flap from the left gluteal region. After multistage surgical treatment, it was possible to replace an extensive wound defect of soft tissues and restore full skin in the hip joint and sacrogluteal region, which enabled avoiding trophic disorders and joint contractures and ensured a satisfactory cosmetic and functional result during 5-year followup.

Exposures to potentially psychologically traumatic events among Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are among the public safety sectors reporting the highest exposures to diverse potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs), which contribute to the risk of developing mental health disorders. Current increases in prevalence of mental health disorders among RCMP are substantial and warrant updated prevalence estimates of PPTE exposures. The objective of the present study was to provide updated estimates of lifetime PPTE exposures among RCMP and assess for associations with mental disorders and sociodemographic variables. Participants (n = 1,348) completed a survey assessing self-reported sociodemographic information, PPTE exposures as measured by the Life Events Checklist for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.) Extended, and mental health disorder symptoms. Participants reported exposure to more PPTE types (∼13) than previous samples of RCMP (∼11) and public safety personnel (PSP) (∼11). Prevalence for all the PPTE types was statistically significantly higher for the current sample than previously reported samples of PSP and RCMP, and higher than the Canadian general population. Participants reported highest exposures through any modality (i.e., directly or indirectly) to sudden violent death (98.3%), physical assault (97.9%), serious transport accident (97.0%), sudden accidental death (96.7%), and assault with a weapon (93.7%). Most PPTEs were statistically significantly associated with screening positive for posttraumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder, but not alcohol use disorder. Increased PPTE exposures reported by current participants compared to a previous sample of RCMP, coupled with the observed associations between PPTE exposures and mental health disorders, highlights the need for further resources and support for RCMP to mitigate and manage the impact of PPTEs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

A Proportionate Mortality Study of Mississippi's Agricultural Industry, 2017-2021.

Individuals employed in the agricultural industry encounter hazards in their work that could lead to injury or illness. Furthermore, the mental stress of being involved in the agricultural industry could lead to negative health-related outcomes for workers. This study evaluates the causes of deaths among employees in Mississippi's agricultural industry from 2017 to 2021. Data are provided by the Mississippi Department of Health. Proportionate mortality ratios (PMRs) are calculated to determine if agricultural industry employees show an elevated mortality in comparison to the general population for any cause of death. Agricultural industry employees show a statistically significant elevated mortality for circulatory disease (PMR 107, 95% confidence interval [CI] 103-110) and coronavirus disease 2019 (PMR 122, 95% CI 111-134). They also show a significant excess mortality for deaths caused by transport accidents (PMR 117, 95% CI 101-136) and exposure to inanimate mechanical forces (PMR 274, 95% CI 183-396). The causes of death for which agricultural employees show an excess mortality can be explained by the hazards associated with working in the agricultural industry. These findings can be used to create targeted future public health programs for individuals who are employed in agriculture.

Optimizing Emergency Responses on Water Transport Accidents in Metropolitan Lagos

The study analyzed agricultural product trade data to ascertain the extent of involvement of ECOWAS in community trade between 2013 and 2017. The extent to which members fulfilled the regional trade co-operation policy objective of expanding the volume of intra-community trade is gauged by computed trade indices. Each index measures intra-community trade as a share of total trade, and takes values between 0 and 1. The value is 0, if trade is truly intra-community carried out by all or most members; and 1, if trade is inter-regional, most trade being carried out by few community members. Value of annual index were influenced by cases of none, under or over reporting by member nations. Analysis revealed that intra-community trade occurred more in animal than food products, while vegetable products accounted for less. It is recommended that ECOWAS member nations should seek and utilizing foreign direct investment in development of agricultural sector to improve value chain in addition to increasing and sustaining intra-community trade volume. Besides, reports of intra-community exports and imports of agricultural products should be accurate, and no member should import from other regions where sub-community members are suppliers. Keywords: Agricultural Product Sub-sections, ECOWAS, Intra-Community Trade, Extent. DOI : 10.7176/DCS/9-1-08

Epidemiology and patient-reported measurement outcome of pelvic fractures in children and adolescents - A population-based cohort study from the Swedish fracture register

Background and purposePediatric pelvic fractures are uncommon, representing 0.2–3% of total pediatric fractures. The long-term patient-reported outcome in the pediatric population has not been evaluated yet. The purpose of the study was to describe the epidemiology of pelvic and acetabular fractures in pediatric patients including long-term patient-reported outcomes. Patients and methodsThe Swedish Fracture Register (SFR) was used to identify all patients aged 6–17 years at injury with a pelvic fracture between 2015 and 2021. All patients were invited to answer Patient-Reported measurement instruments in 2021. ResultsThe study cohort consisted of 223 patients with a median age at fracture of 15 years and with 62 % boys. 201 sustained a pelvic and 22 acetabular fractures. Falls were the leading cause of fracture, followed by transport accidents. Most fractures (both pelvis and acetabulum) were type A (73 %), and 21 fractures (9 %) could not be classified according to AO. 85 % of fractures were treated non-surgically. All Type C fractures were treated surgically. Seven PROMIS® profile domains were completed by 31 % of the sample at a mean follow-up time of 3.5 years after pelvic/acetabular fracture. Most patients had “no concern” or “mild concern” but those who had surgery had an inferior t-score in most domains. ConclusionMost fractures occurred in older individuals, with falls during sports activities being the most common cause. This raises important questions about prevention strategies. The PROMIS-Pain-Interference scale indicated that the younger the age at fracture, the more pain was reported at follow-up.