Analysis of Injury Potential of Three-year-old Child Occupants Caused by Inappropriate Installation of Enhanced Child Restraint System with Top Tether in Frontal Crash Accidents

Objective: Frontal crash accidents remain a significant factor in causing the preventable injury and fatality for child occupants aged 3 in China. Despite the increased public awareness and utilization of child restraint system (CRS), inappropriate installations still exist and lead to a potential to result in injuries of head, thorax and abdomen regions of child occupants, especially when it comes to enhanced child restraint system (ECRS) with top tether. The current study focuses on the influence of top tether upon safety performance of ECRS with top tether in dynamic tests with different set-ups and explores the relationship between inappropriate installation of ECRS with top tether and the injury potential of child occupants aged 3 in a frontal crash. Methods: A testing scheme including 4 dynamic tests was devised to ascertain the extent to which the top tether affected the accelerations of thorax, the abdominal penetration and the head displacements. Different kinds of acceleration curves were employed to conduct the tests and to simulate the real status and situation of child occupants aged 3 in the CRS installed with top tether and without top tether respectively. Parameters of accelerations, abdominal penetrations, and head displacements were measured to analyze quantitatively the influence of inappropriate installations of ECRS with top tether under different conditions. Results: The safety performance of ECRS with the use of top tether was found better than that of ECRS without the use of top tether either in the normal condition or in the extreme condition. The test using the acceleration curves defined by regulations, the accelerations of thorax, abdominal penetrations, and head displacements of P3 manikin in the ECRS with the top tether connected to the anchor point revealed results that all met the requirements. While in the test using acceleration curves of the same kind, and when the top tether was not connected, the parameters measured displayed that the safety performance of the sample was worse than the former one. As for the tests using the more severe acceleration curves defined at will, it was more obvious that top tether could affect the function and safety performance of ECRS greatly, and the functional failure and severe damages occurred to the ECRS without the use of top tether. ECRS with the use of top tether was partly qualified even under the more severe conditions. Conclusions: Inappropriate installation of ECRS such as omitting the step of connecting top tether to anchor point could cause severe injuries and fatalities in frontal crash accidents. Effective measures should be taken to minimize the chances of inappropriate installations of ECRS.

Injury potential of herbicide combinations on XtendFlex® cotton

XtendFlex® technology from Bayer allows growers to apply glyphosate, glufosinate, and dicamba POST to cotton. Since the evolution and spread of glyphosate-resistant weed species, early POST applications with several modes of action have become common. However, crop injury potential from these applications warrants further examination. Field studies were conducted from 2015 to 2017 at two locations in Mississippi to evaluate XtendFlex® cotton injury from herbicide application. Herbicide applications were made to XtendFlex® cotton at the 3 to 6 leaf stage with herbicide combinations comprised of two, three, and four-way combinations of glyphosate, glufosinate, S-metolachlor, and three formulations of dicamba. Data collection included visual estimations of injury, stand counts, cotton height, total mainstem nodes, and nodes above whiteflower at first bloom. Data collection at the end of the season included cotton height, total mainstem nodes, and nodes above cracked boll. Visual estimations of injury from herbicide applications were highest at 3 days following applications containing glufosinate + S-metolachlor (36 to 41% injury) and glufosinate + S-metolachlor in combination with dicamba + glyphosate (39 to 41% injury), regardless of the dicamba formulation. Crop injury decreased at each rating interval and dissipated by 28 days following applications (p = 0.3748). Height reductions were present at first bloom and at the end of the season (p < 0.0001), although cotton yield was unaffected (p = 0.2089) even when injury at 3 days after treatment (DAA) was greater than 30%. Results indicate that growers may apply a variety of herbicide tank-mixtures to XtendFlex® cotton and expect no yield penalty. Furthermore, if growers are concerned with cotton injury after herbicide applications, the use of glufosinate in combination with S-metolachlor should be approached with caution in XtendFlex® cotton.

Head/skull injury potential of empty 0.5-l beer glass bottles vs. 0.33-l Coke bottles

The medical and biomechanical assessment of injuries from blows to the head is a common task in forensic medicine. In the context of a criminal justice process, the injury potential of different striking weapons is important. The article at hand compares the injury potential of assaults with a 0.5-l beer bottle and a 0.33-l Coke bottle, both made of glass. The research team hit 30 used empty 0.5-l beer bottles and 20 used empty 0.33-l Coke bottles manually on an aluminum dummy skull set on a force measuring plate, using acrylic and pork rind as a scalp surrogate. There was no significant difference in fracture threshold and energy transfer between the examined beer and Coke bottles. Both glass bottles are able to cause fractures to the facial bones while cranial bone fractures are primarily not to be expected. Blows with a 0.5-l beer bottle or with a 0.33-l Coke bottle to the head can transfer up to 1.255 N and thus are able to cause severe blunt as well as sharp trauma injuries.

Cervical Muscle Activation Due to an Applied Force in Response to Different Types of Acoustic Warnings

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and whiplash-associated disorder are the most common head and neck injuries and result from a sudden head or body acceleration. The head and neck injury potential is correlated with the awareness, level of muscle activation, and posture changes at the time of the perturbation. Environmental acoustic stimuli or a warning system can influence muscle activation and posture during a head perturbation. In this study, different acoustic stimuli, including Non-Directional, Directional, and Startle, were provided 1000 ms before a head impact, and the amplitude and timing of cervical muscle electromyographic (EMG) data were characterized based on the type of warning. The startle warning resulted in 49% faster and 80% greater EMG amplitude compared to the Directional and Non-Directional warnings after warning and before the impact. The post-impact peak EMG amplitudes in Unwarned trials were lower by 18 and 21% in the retraction and rebound muscle groups, respectively, compared to any of the warned conditions. When there was no warning before the impact, the retraction and rebound muscle groups also reached their maximum activation 38 and 54 ms sooner, respectively, compared to the warned trials. Based on these results, the intensity and complexity of information that a warning sound carries change the muscle response before and after a head impact and has implications for injury potential.

Evaluation of the Effect of a Rear Operator Guard On the Overall Safety for Operators of Stand-up Lift Trucks

Stand up high lift trucks have an open operator compartment designed to allow for easy egress from the truck in the event of an off dock, off trailer, or tip over accident. The open compartment design also protects the operator during non tip over collision accidents, provided the operator maintains themself within the compartment prior to impact. However, it has been suggested that an additional rear operator guard would better protect operators during non tip over collision accidents. This study aimed to investigate operator injury potential and kinematics during off dock and off-trailer accidents where the presence of a rear operator guard prevents the operator from exiting the truck and to evaluate the potential for an operator to restrain themself within the operator compartment of a stand up lift truck during an off dock or off trailer accident. An instrumented anthropomorphic test device (ATD) was subjected to a series of off dock accidents and a single off-trailer accident utilizing three different stand up lift trucks. The kinematics and loads experienced by the ATD were quantified and correlated to human injury potential. Additionally, this study examined the potential for a rear operator guard to impede operator egress during an off-dock or off-trailer accident. Testing demonstrated the potential for serious or greater injury to an operator subjected to an off dock or off-trailer accident. The authors conclude that a rear guard would negatively impact the overall safety of a stand up lift truck in most working environments.

Overview of Pharmacokinetics and Liver Toxicities of Radix Polygoni Multiflori

Radix Polygoni Multiflori (RPM), a traditional Chinese medicine, has been used as a tonic and an anti-aging remedy for centuries. However, its safe and effective application in clinical practice could be hindered by its liver injury potential and lack of investigations on its hepatotoxicity mechanism. Our current review aims to provide a comprehensive overview and a critical assessment of the absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion of RPM, and their relationships with its induced liver injury. Based on the well-reported intrinsic liver toxicity of emodin, one of the major components in RPM, it is concluded that its plasma and liver concentrations could attribute to RPM induced liver injury via metabolic enzymes alteration, hepatocyte apoptosis, bile acids homeostasis disruption, and inflammatory damage. Co-administered 2,3,5,4′-tetrahydroxystilbene-2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside in RPM and other drugs/herbs could further aggravate the hepatotoxicity of emodin via enhancing its absorption and inhibiting its metabolism. To ensure the safe clinical use of RPM, a better understanding of the toxicokinetics and effect of its co-occurring components or other co-administered drugs/herbs on the pharmacokinetics of emodin is warranted.