Self-Driving Cars Can’t Eliminate All Accidents So How Safe is Safe Enough?

Posted on July 13, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Peng Liu, Assistant Professor
Department of Industrial Engineering
College of Management and Economics
Tianjin University, China

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Self-driving vehicles promise to considerably reduce traffic crashes. However, they cannot eliminate all crashes.

On March 18, 2018, a female pedestrian was killed after being struck by an autonomous Uber vehicle in the self-driving mode in Arizona, USA. This fatal crash triggered a widespread public debate over the safety of self-driving vehicles. So, how safe is safe enough for self-driving vehicles?

Our findings show that our participants implicitly think self-driving vehicles should be four to five times as safe as the current human-driven vehicles.

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Why Does Driving Make Us Sleepy?

Posted on July 7, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof. Stephen R Robinson PhD
Discipline Leader, Psychology
School of Health and Biomedical Sciences
RMIT University
Australia

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Around the world, driver drowsiness and fatigue are estimated to contribute to 250,000 deaths on the road per year. Current research in this area has focused on detecting when drivers become drowsy, by examining their eye movements or steering patterns, and then alerting the driver with a warning tone or vibration of the steering wheel. Rather than this reactive approach, we are interested in helping to prevent drivers from becoming drowsy in the first place.

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Positive Hopes and Dreams May Protect Urban Youth From Violence

Posted on July 5, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Alison J. Culyba, MD, PhD, MPH Instructor in the Craig-Dalsimer Division of Adolescent Medicine Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Dr. Culyba

Alison J. Culyba, MD, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Homicide is the third leading cause of death among adolescents, and disproportionately affects minority youth in under-resourced urban communities.

Most research on youth violence focuses on risk factors, such as weapon carrying and substance abuse. We know much less about factors that protect youth from violence. Future orientation, defined as hopes and plans for the future, is linked to many important positive outcomes for youth, including doing well in school and avoiding illicit substances. However, there has been very little research to examine whether future orientation may also protect youth from violence.

To study links between future orientation and violence perpetration, we surveyed over 850 male youth in lower resource neighborhoods in Pittsburgh as part of a community-based sexual violence prevention study. We found that youth with positive future orientation were significantly less likely to report threatening someone with a weapon or injuring someone with a weapon in the past nine months.

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Over 2 Millions Pediatric ER Visits For Bike Accidents Annually

Posted on June 27, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Lara McKenzie, PhD
Principal investigator in the Center for Injury Research and Polic
Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Bicycling is a great way for families to get outside and be active together, but certain precautions need to be taken to keep everyone safer. This study looked at bicycle-related injuries among children age 5-17 years treated in hospital emergency departments in the United States from 2006 through 2015 and found that, despite a decrease in the rate of injuries over the 10-year study period, there were still more than 2.2 million injuries. This averages 608 cases per day or 25 every hour.

The majority of injuries involved children 10 to 14 years of age (46%) and boys (72%). The most commonly injured body region was the upper extremities (36%), followed by the lower extremities (25%), face (15%), and head and neck (15%). The most common types of injury were bruises and scrapes (29%) and cuts (23%). Overall, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) represented 11% of total injuries and were most common among patients 10-14 years of age (44%). About 4% of patients were hospitalized.

Injuries most frequently occurred in the street (48%) or at home (37%). Helmet use at the time of injury was associated with a lower likelihood of head and neck injuries and hospitalizations, but there was no significant change in the rate of injury among helmet users over the study period. Motor vehicle involvement increased the odds of bicycle-related TBIs and injury-related hospitalizations. Continue reading →

Driving Skills May Be Harder to Master with ASD

Posted on June 14, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Kristina Elise Patrick, Ph.D
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Columbus, OH 43205

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Many families of young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are concerned that they may have difficulty acquiring driver’s licenses and driving safely because of symptoms of ASD. However, the ability to drive opens the door to a variety of social, occupational, and educational experiences. We aimed to assess differences in simulated driving behaviors of young adults with ASD and those with typical development and to evaluate whether differences depended on level of driving experience and complexity of the driving task.

On average, young adults with ASD had more difficulty regulating their speed and position within their lane compared with typically developing individuals even on a very basic rural route. After completing the basic route, drivers were required to engage in more complex tasks such as changing the radio or engaging in conversation while driving, driving through a construction zone, and following behind a truck. On complex driving tasks, drivers with ASD who had acquired licensure drove similarly to typically developing drivers who had acquired licensure. However, novice drivers with ASD had more difficulty than typically developing drivers regulating their speed and position within the lane.

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Parents More Willing To Lets Kids Watch ‘Justified’ Violence on TV

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Daniel Romer, PhD
Research Director Annenberg Public Policy Center and
Director of its Adolescent Communication Institute (ACI)
University of Pennsylvania

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: We have been studying the steady increase in gun violence that has been occurring in popular PG-13 movies since the new rating was adopted in 1984. It has recently even surpassed the amount of gun violence in R-rated movies. Since these movies are open to the public at any age, we are concerned that they promote the use of guns and potentially socialize youth to believe that using guns to defend oneself is an appropriate way to handle threats and other conflicts.

We knew that the rating requires the omission of graphic consequences, such as blood and suffering, that can make the violence more acceptable. But we also wondered whether the motivation for the violence might make a difference as well. Many of the characters in PG-13 movies are seen as heroic (e.g., Bruce Willis and Liam Neeson). Could that also be a factor that makes such films more acceptable to parents despite their concerns about their children seeing so much violence in the movies. So, we conducted this experiment to see if parents are less upset by justified violence in PG-13 style movies. Continue reading →

How Much US Life is Lost to Police Violence?

Posted on May 8, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Anthony L. Bui, MPH
M.D. Candidate, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Matthew M. Coates, MPH
Associate, Harvard Medical School, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine
Ellicott C. Matthay, MPH
Ph.D. Candidate, Division of Epidemiology, University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Protests after recent deaths from encounters with law enforcement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and activism over social media platforms have raised the profile of the problem of police violence. Several studies have suggested that the public health community has a duty to address these deaths as a public health problem. These studies have also pointed out that although there is a lack of officially reported statistics on police violence, other journalistic and crowd-sourced efforts such as “The Counted” from The Guardian, FatalEncounters.org, U.S. Police Shootings Database, KilledbyPolice.net, and Mapping Police Violence have relatively complete documentation of deaths from police violence.

To help frame the issue as a public health problem, we calculated years of life lost (YLLs) attributed to deaths from encounters with law enforcement. YLLs are, a metric that measures premature deaths, by age, gender, and race/ethnicity. To do this, we followed established methods, subtracting the age of each death from a corresponding standard life expectancy. For example, if an individual who died at age 25 had a life expectancy of 75, their YLL would be 50. Continue reading →

Should Kids With Traumatic Injuries Be Screened For Mental Health Issues?

Posted on May 7, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Leonard

Dr. Julie Leonard MD MPH
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Columbus, OH

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: We looked at children with unintentional injuries who were hospitalized to see if there was an increase in their mental health needs. We saw an average 63% increase in mental health diagnoses and a 155% increase in medications prescribed to treat a mental illness.

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One Blood Type Is a Risk For Bleeding Out After Trauma

Posted on May 5, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Wataru Takayama
Tokyo Medical and Dental University
Department of Emergency and Disaster Medicine
Tokyo, Japan

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: ABO blood type is a potential risk of various diseases and various conditions. Furthermore, ABO blood type has a profound influence on hemostasis. Hemorrhage is the leading cause of death in patients with trauma, we assessed the association between the difference in blood types and the outcomes of death.

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?

Response: Blood type O was the independent risk factor for all-cause in-hospital mortality and death due to exsanguination, TBI, and other causes after adjusting for potential confounders. This is the first study to report the association between ABO blood types and mortality in patients with severe trauma.

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How To Prevent the Elderly From Falling?

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Krist

Dr. Alex Krist, M.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Krist is is a professor of family medicine and population health at Virginia Commonwealth University and active clinician and teacher at the Fairfax Family Practice residency.

What is the background for these recommendation statements? What are the main findings?

Response: Falls are the leading cause of injuries in adults age 65 and older and can lead to serious disability and even death. Bone fractures—which may result from a fall—can also cause serious disability and death in older adults.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force looked into the most recent evidence on the best ways to prevent falls and fractures in older adults. We found that clinicians should recommend exercise or physical therapy to help prevent falls by older adults who live at home and are at higher risk for falling.

Additionally, we concluded that taking a low dose of vitamin D and calcium does not help prevent fractures due to osteoporosis, but we don’t know if taking a higher dose is effective or not, so we are calling for more research.

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Do Rear-Facing Car Seats Protect Children From Rear Crashes?

Posted on April 3, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Julie Mansfield straps a doll into a car seat. Rear-facing car seats are known to protect children in front and side impact crashes, but are rarely discussed in terms of rear-impact collisions. In a new study, researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center explored the effectiveness of rear-facing car seats in rear-impact accidents by conducting crash tests with different car seat types and features.

Julie Mansfield, Lead author
Research engineer
Injury Biomechanics Research Center
Ohio State College of Medicine

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Parents and caregivers often understand that a rear-facing car seat will support the head, neck, and spine during frontal impacts. In frontal impacts, the child will simply be cradled and supported by the shell of the car seat as crash forces “pull” the child toward the front of the vehicle. However, caregivers often ask how a rear-facing car seat would work if the vehicle is struck from behind. In that case, crash forces might “pull” the occupant toward the rear of the vehicle. In this case, they wonder whether the head and neck of the rear-facing child would be supported.

Injuries to children in rear impact crashes are fairly rare. However, we wanted to run some crash tests so we could see exactly what was happening in these scenarios. With these data, we can better explain to caregivers how rear-facing car seats work in this type of crash.

We exposed four different models of rear-facing car seats to a moderate severity rear-impact crash pulse. All were installed on a recent model year vehicle seat. We used crash test dummies representing a one-year-old child and a three-year-old child.

We found that the rear-facing car seats protected the crash test dummy well when exposed to a typical rear impact. The car seats supported the child throughout the crash and still did their job to keep the head, neck, and spine aligned. A lot of the crash energy was absorbed through the car seat interacting with the vehicle seat, so that reduced the amount of energy transferred into the occupant. This is important in preventing injuries. Continue reading →

Full-Term Infant Deaths in US Remain High, Many From Suffocation

Posted on March 21, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Bairoliya

Neha Bairoliya, Ph.D.
Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies
Cambridge, MA 02138

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: While the high prevalence of preterm births and its impact on infant mortality in the US have been widely acknowledged, recent data suggest that even full-term births in the US face substantially higher mortality risks compared to European countries with low infant mortality rates.

In this paper, we use the most recent birth records in the US to more closely analyze the primary causes underlying mortality rates among full-term births. We show that infants born full-term in the US face 50%-200% higher risks of infant mortality compared to leading European countries.

The two main drivers of these high relative risks are increased risk of mortality due to congenital malformations, which patients cannot really do much about other than ensuring adequate screening during pregnancy, and high risk of sudden unexpected deaths in infancy, which should largely be preventable through appropriate sleeping arrangements. While we do not have data on actual sleeping arrangements from our study, other data sources suggest that a substantial number of babies continue to sleep on their tummy; we also found a shockingly large number of babies dying from suffocation, which suggests that parents either use covers that are not safe, or let children sleep in their own beds.

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Since Semi-Automatic Rifles Outlawed, Australia Has Had Zero Mass Shootings

Posted on March 15, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Prof. Chapman

Simon Chapman AO PhD FASSA Hon FFPH (UK)
Emeritus Professor in the School Public Health
University of Sydney

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Since major gun law reforms in 1996, Australian has seen zero mass shootings (five or more deaths, not including the perpetrator).The law reforms outlawed semi-automatic rifles, those often favored by mass killers.

In the 18 years prior to the reforms, Australia experienced 13 mass shootings. The National Rifle Association and others have suggested that the 22 year absence of mass shootings may simply reflect that these events are rare and statistically unlikely to occur regardless of any policy.

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Mortality From Overdose, Alcohol and Firearms Varies Regionally

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Dwyer-Lindgren

Dr. Laura Dwyer-Lindgren PhD
Assistant Professor at IHME
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: This study in the latest in a series of studies IHME has conducted on health and disease on the county level in the United States. We analyzed data provided by the National Center for Health Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau, and other sources. Main findings include:

Nearly 550,000 deaths were attributed to drug use over the 35 years. Nationally, the age-standardized death date increased 238% between 1980 and 2000, and 112% between 2000 and 2014. The death rate from drug use disorders increased in every county, but some counties in Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and eastern Oklahoma has increases exceeding 5000%.
There were more than a quarter million deaths in the U.S. due to alcohol use; Western counties generally has higher levels than those in other parts of area of the nation, with especially high death rates in Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Alaska.
Neatly 1.3 million suicides were recorded, with especially high rates in Alaska, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Wyoming and one county in Maryland. While the national death rate due to suicide decreased between 1980 and 2014, there was an increase in the death rate due to suicide in most counties.
More than three quarters of a million deaths by homicide occurred in the US between 1980 and 2015. Nationally, the age-standardized death rate due to homicide decreased by about 35% between 1980 and 2000, and by nearly 16% between 2000 and 2014. Counties with the largest decreases were found in Virginia, Florida, Texas, California and New York.

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Despite Safe Sleeping Recommendations, Infant Suffocations Continue To Rise

Posted on February 20, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Guoqing Hu, PhD
Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics
Xiangya School of Public Health
Central South University
Changsha, Hunan, China
On behalf of the authors

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: We’ve known for some time that suffocation is a leading cause of death for American infants – in fact, it is the cause of over 3/4 of the injury deaths to babies under 12 months of age. We’ve also known that there are strategies, such as “safe sleeping”, that can greatly reduce the risk of a baby suffocating to death.

The surprise in our study is that the suffocation rate for infants under 12 months of age appears to be increasing in the United States over the past 15 years. More babies are dying from suffocation today than in the 1990s, and that is a significant public health concern. Think about the implications of each one of those deaths to the infant’s parents and loved ones. There are few things more devastating than losing a baby to an unintentional, or “accidental” death. There are ways we can prevent unintentional suffocations, and we need to work together to inform parents and ensure babies are kept safe to reduce those deaths, especially as rates in the US appear to be increasing. Continue reading →

More Car Crashes on 4/20 Marijuana Celebration Day

Posted on February 12, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. John A Staples
MD, FRCPC, MPH
Scientist, Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences
Clinical Assistant Professor
University of British Columbia

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Around 64 million Americans live in states that have legalized recreational marijuana. Many policymakers are trying to figure out what that means for traffic safety.

On April 20th, some Americans participate in an annual “4/20” counterculture holiday that celebrates and promotes the use of cannabis. Some 4/20 events such as those in Denver and San Francisco involve thousands of participants. Much like celebrations at midnight on New Year’s eve, public 4/20 events sometimes mark 4:20 p.m. by a countdown followed by synchronized mass consumption of cannabis. We thought this was a perfect natural experiment to evaluate the influence that cannabis intoxication has on the risk of motor vehicle crash.

To examine this question, we analyzed 25 years of data on all fatal traffic crashes in the United States. We compared the number of drivers in crashes between 4:20 p.m. and midnight on April 20th to the number of drivers in crashes during the same time interval on control days one week earlier and one week later.

We found that the risk of crash involvement was 12% higher on April 20th than on control days. In the subgroups of drivers younger than 21 years of age, the risk of crash involvement was 38% higher on April 20th than on control days.

Assuming fewer than 12% of Americans celebrate 4/20, our results suggest that substance use at April 20th celebrations more than doubles the risk of fatal crash.

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Snowboarders Have More Upper Body Injuries Than Skiiers

Posted on January 16, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Brett D Owens, MD
Dr. Owens is currently Team Physician for the US Lacrosse National Men’s Team, and
Team Physician for Brown University
Professor at Uniformed Services University and Professor at Brown University
Alpert School of Medicine

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: This study is a review of the literature on ski and snowboarding injuries. We summarize findings by our group and others on the injuries seen with these snow sports and report an overall increase in injuries as participation continues to increase.

Snowboarders have a higher injury rate and there are different injury patterns with skiers experiencing more lower extremity injuries (knee) and snowboarders experiencing more upper extremity injuries (wrist, shoulder, etc.). Continue reading →

Cotton Tip Applicators Single Biggest Cause of Eardrum Ruptures

Posted on December 21, 2017 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Eric T. Carniol, MD, MBA
Division of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Tympanic membrane perforations (aka “popped” or “burst” ear drum) is a common complaint of patients presenting to the emergency room, primary care offices, and otolaryngologist (ENT doctors) offices. These may be caused by trauma, infections, or other causes. As well, many patients will use qtips (cotton-tipped applicators) to clean ears and remove ear wax and are unaware of the potential harms of doing so.

This study was designed to examine the cause of ear drum perforations as diagnosed in emergency departments in the United States.

Foreign body instrumentation of the ear (qtips, hair combs, hair pins, needles, etc) were the cause of 61.2% of perforations. Cotton tip applicators are the single leading cause of traumatic tympanic membrane perforation in all age groups except young adults (13-18) and 19-36 year olds, in which it is the second largest cause (behind water trauma).

Children less than 18 years old constitute nearly 2/3 of all ear drum perforations in the emergency department.

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Adolescent Violent Offenders With Childhood Adversity Have Increased Risk of Suicide

Posted on December 14, 2017 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Emma Björkenstam PhD
Department of Public Health Sciences
Karolinska Institutet

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: My research team and I have previously shown that childhood adversity is associated with an elevated suicide risk in young adults, and this increased risk may be explained by maladaptive trajectories during adolescence. We also know that adolescent violent offending is linked with suicide, but up until now, less was known about the role of violent offending in the association between childhood adversity and later suicide.

Our main finding in the current study, based on almost half a million Swedes, is that individuals with a history of childhood adversity who also engage in violent offending in late adolescence, have a substantial increased risk of suicide.

Continue reading →

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Category Archives: Accidents & Violence

Self-Driving Cars Can’t Eliminate All Accidents So How Safe is Safe Enough?

Why Does Driving Make Us Sleepy?

Positive Hopes and Dreams May Protect Urban Youth From Violence

Over 2 Millions Pediatric ER Visits For Bike Accidents Annually

Driving Skills May Be Harder to Master with ASD

Parents More Willing To Lets Kids Watch ‘Justified’ Violence on TV

How Much US Life is Lost to Police Violence?

Should Kids With Traumatic Injuries Be Screened For Mental Health Issues?

One Blood Type Is a Risk For Bleeding Out After Trauma

How To Prevent the Elderly From Falling?

Do Rear-Facing Car Seats Protect Children From Rear Crashes?

Full-Term Infant Deaths in US Remain High, Many From Suffocation

Since Semi-Automatic Rifles Outlawed, Australia Has Had Zero Mass Shootings

Mortality From Overdose, Alcohol and Firearms Varies Regionally

Despite Safe Sleeping Recommendations, Infant Suffocations Continue To Rise

More Car Crashes on 4/20 Marijuana Celebration Day

Snowboarders Have More Upper Body Injuries Than Skiiers

Cotton Tip Applicators Single Biggest Cause of Eardrum Ruptures

Adolescent Violent Offenders With Childhood Adversity Have Increased Risk of Suicide