Biomedical sciences instrumentation
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Detection of occult injuries, which are not easily recognized and are life-threatening, in motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) is crucial in order to reduce fatalities. An Occult Injury Database (OID) was previously developed by the Center for Transportation Injury Research (CenTIR) using the National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) 1997-2001 which identified occult and non-occult head, thorax, and abdomen injuries. The objective of the current work was to develop an occult injury model based on underlying injury characteristics to derive an Occult Score for common MVC-induced injuries. ⋯ Of the considered injuries, it was determined that 54% of head, 26% of thorax, and 23% of abdominal injuries were occult injuries. No occult injuries were identified in the face, spine, upper extremity, or lower extremity body regions. The Occult Score generated can be useful in advanced automatic crash notification research and for the detection of serious occult injuries in MVCs requiring prompt treatment at a trauma center.
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Programmable, implantable and external biomedical devices (such as pacemakers, defibrillators, insulin pumps, pain management pumps, vagus nerve stimulators and others) may be vulnerable to unauthorized access, commonly referred to as hacking. This intrusion may lead to compromise of confidential patient data or loss of control of the device itself, which may be deadly. Risks to health from unauthorized access is in addition to hazards from faulty (buggy) software or circuitry. ⋯ In this paper the author discusses these issues, reviewing known problems and zero-day threats, with potential solutions. He outlines his approach to secure software and hardware challenges using the Forth language. A plausible scenario is described in which hacking of an implantable defibrillator by terrorists results in a severe national security threat to the United States.