Injury prevention : journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention
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California has strict firearm-related laws and is exceptional in its regulation of firearms retailers. Though evidence suggests that these laws can reduce illegal access to guns, high levels of gun violence persist in Los Angeles (LA), California. This research seeks to describe the sources of guns accessed by active offenders in LA, California and reports offenders' motivations for obtaining guns. ⋯ In LA's illegal gun market, where existing social relationships facilitate access to guns across a diffuse network, individuals, influenced by both fear and economic opportunity, have frequent opportunities to illegally possess firearms through passive transactions. Gun policies should better target and minimise these transactions.
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Sudan has been undergoing demographic and social changes that could have a tangible impact on population injury rates. However, reliable estimates of injury epidemiology are lacking. We aimed to estimate injury incidence and mortality in urban and rural Sudan, using existing data sources. ⋯ Road traffic injuries should remain a priority for the country but better data are needed for rural Sudan. To that end, investment in existing data collection systems is essential. Our method can be applied in other countries with a similar data availability pattern.
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Multicenter Study
Poison prevention practices and medically attended poisoning in young children: multicentre case-control study.
Childhood poisonings are common, placing a substantial burden on health services. Case-control studies have found inconsistent evidence about modifiable risk factors for poisonings among children aged 0-4 years. This study quantifies associations between poison prevention practices and medically attended poisonings in children aged 0-4 years. ⋯ Not storing medicines out of reach or locked away and not putting medicines and household products away immediately after use increased the odds of secondary care attended poisonings in children aged 0-4 years. If associations are causal, implementing these poison prevention practices could each prevent between 11% and 20% of poisonings.
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Helicopter emergency medical services are an important part of many healthcare systems. Norway has a nationwide physician staffed air ambulance service with 12 bases servicing a country with large geographical variations in population density. The aim of the study was to estimate optimal air ambulance base locations. ⋯ The whole population could be reached in 45 min or less using nine optimally placed bases. The current base structure could be improved by moving or adding one or two select bases. Municipality level data appears sufficient for proper analysis.
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Reliable data on traffic deaths are important for planning road safety programmes and evaluating progress. Although pedestrians comprise approximately 40% of traffic deaths in low-income and middle-income countries, official government statistics in India suggest that pedestrians comprise less than 10% of deaths. ⋯ Official tabulations of traffic deaths in India do not correctly represent the types of roads users killed. Until the Indian National Crime Records Bureau has corrected the process of generating statistical tabulations from police reports, data on the types of road users killed in India should not be used for research and policy. In the interim, researchers and policy makers who need such information should extract it from police case files.