Irish journal of medical science
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Emergency service vehicle (ESV) drivers are an important part of the health, fire and police services. ESV driving is associated with increased crash risk, but little guidance exists in the literature on relevant medical conditions among drivers and their potential for adding to higher crash risks. ⋯ Given issues of speed, vehicle and environment, it would seem prudent to mandate levels of medical fitness to drive similar to and sometimes exceeding (i.e. colour blindness for traffic signals and alerts, hearing impairment as first responders) those for group 2 drivers with extra stipulations relating to specific service needs such as enhanced visual (such as colour blindness and contrast sensitivity) and auditory function. Further research is needed on the prevalence and emergence of relevant medical conditions among ESV drivers, with due consideration of their application to the driving tasks in each service.
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A difficult question in autopsy practice is whether intracranial haemorrhage has resulted from or brought about a fall. ⋯ We are of the view that a comprehensive analysis of fatal falls with intracranial haemorrhage warrants a detailed neuropathologic examination as part of the overall death analysis.
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Determining the predictive factors for cardiac arrest may be helpful in the management of in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and in estimating the outcome. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to investigate the effect of demographic data, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) initiating setting, compression method, and laboratory parameters on survival from cardiac arrest. ⋯ The results of this study revealed no significant difference between IHCA and OHCA CPR applications and between manual and mechanical compressions in terms of survival in patients with cardiac arrest. In addition, higher pH levels and lower lactate levels measured during CPR were independent predictors of survival.
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Many cycling collisions occur due to human error, cycling ability, distraction or infrastructure. One such infrastructural issue for cyclists sharing the road with tram lines is where the wheel of the bicycle gets caught in the rail track itself or in a gap between the rail and the road margin resulting in a sudden stall of the bicycle and potentially significant injury. This study aims to describe the crash characteristics of tram-track cycling collisions and their associated injuries. ⋯ Further prospective multi-centre studies are required to properly describe the magnitude cycling accidents around the Luas tracks and inform future public health measures in this area.
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In the present study, we aimed to validate the Behçet's syndrome Overall Damage Index (BODI) and compare its performance with that of vasculitis damage index (VDI) in Iranian patients with BD. ⋯ The BODI demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability in assessing BD-related damage in Iranian patients with BD.