Unintentional child home injury incidence and patterns in six countries in Europe

This study investigates the incidence and patterns of child home injuries in six European Union countries. Emergency department and inpatient injury data on injuries to children aged 0-18 years in the home (n = 88,567) for the years 2003-2004 were extracted from the European Injury Database in Austria, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden. The incidence of child home injuries was 44.9/1000 inhabitants Six age-dependent injury patterns were identified using cluster analysis: 1) open wound head injuries; 2) hospital admissions for bruises, contusions, abrasions; 3) falls on stairs indoors; 4) fractures and sprains of the upper extremities; 5) crush/cut/piercing of the fingers; 6) miscellaneous injuries. Child home injuries are a considerable public health problem, particularly in the ages 0 to 4 years. The findings are useful for injury surveillance at the European level yet do not allow for designing testable countermeasures for prevention within home safety initiatives.     

试论美国反倾销法认定低于成本销售的不公平性

美国一向对外宣称，其反倾销法旨在抵消外国企业从外国政府造成的市场扭曲中获得的不公平竞争优势，以确保美国市场上是“不公平”行为－价格歧视和低于成本销售。它的一个前提假设就是这种不公平定价行为的目的就是挤跨美国的产业和其他竞争对手，以获得垄断地位。这样，就可以利用其垄断地位来获得垄断利润，以补偿其前期所遭受的损失。然而，事实是否如此呢？本根据美国现行的反倾销法律规定及1995年－1998年的反倾实践对这个问题作出分析和探讨。     

Road traffic injury among child motorcyclists in Vientiane Capital,Laos: a cross-sectional study using a hospital-based injury surveillance database

This study investigated the distribution of motorcyclists, including drivers and passengers, who were involved in road traffic crashes and admitted to hospital in Vientiane Capital, Laos. The focus was on child motorcycle drivers and passengers under 15 years. A hospital-based injury surveillance database in Vientiane Capital was used. The surveillance was performed in two hospitals. From 1 September to 31 December 2009, 3968 patients were admitted to the participating hospitals with road traffic injuries. Patients under 15 years accounted for 10.8% (427/3968). The majority of patients under 15 years were motorcycle drivers or passengers (71.7%, 306/427). Child motorcyclists including drivers and passengers were less likely to wear a helmet than adults (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.3, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.2–0.5, for children 10–14 years; adjusted OR: 0.1, 95% CI, 0.05–0.4, for children under 10 years). It is suggested that stricter regulation enforcement for child motorcycle drivers and passengers may be needed. In addition, barriers against wearing helmets for motorcycle drivers and passengers in Laos should also be examined in further studies.     

The role of supervision in child injury risk: definition,conceptual and measurement issues

The purpose of this paper was to examine caregiver supervision and its role as an active strategy in childhood injury prevention. Through a review of the literature, the authors addressed conceptual and methodological issues related to supervision, such as the question of how to define ‘adequate supervision.’ Three critical dimensions (attention, proximity and continuity) of caregiver supervisory behaviors are identified as important areas for measurement. Presented is a framework for understanding the role of passive and active supervisory behaviors within the social context. The framework includes family and community characteristics and policies/regulations that may be important in caregiver decisions to use active or passive injury prevention strategies. Future research directions are discussed.     

Balance and agility training does not always decrease lower limb injury risks: a cluster-randomised controlled trial

The objective of this study was to examine the effects on lower limb injury rates of adding structured balance and agility exercises to the 80-day basic training programme of army recruits. A blocked (stratified), cluster-randomised controlled trial was employed, with one intervention group (IG) and one control group (CG), in which 732 male and 47 female army recruits from the Australian Army Recruit Training Centre participated through to analysis. The IG performed specified balance and agility exercises in addition to normal physical training. The incidence of lower limb injury during basic training was used to measure effect. Analysis, which adhered to recommendations for this type of trial, used a weighted paired t-test based on the empirical logistic transform of the crude event rates. The intervention had no statistically significant effect on lower limb injury incidence (RR = 1.25, 95% CI 0.97–1.53, 90% CI 1.04–1.47), on knee and ankle injury incidence (RR = 1.08, 95% CI 0.83–1.38), and on knee and ankle ligament injury incidence (RR = 0.98, 95% CI 0.64–1.47). We conclude that the intervention, implemented in this fashion, is possibly harmful, with our best estimate of effect being a 25% increase in lower limb injury incidence rates. This type of structured balance and agility training added to normal military recruit physical training did not significantly reduce lower limb, knee and ankle, or knee and ankle ligament injury rates. Caution needs to be used when adding elements to training programmes with the aim of reducing injury, as fatigue associated with the addition may actually raise injury risk.     

Measuring the effect of the zero lower bound on yields and exchange rates in the U.K. and Germany

The zero lower bound on nominal interest rates began to constrain many central banks' setting of short-term interest rates in late 2008 or early 2009. According to standard macroeconomic models, this should have greatly reduced the effectiveness of monetary policy and increased the efficacy of fiscal policy. However, these models also imply that asset prices and private-sector decisions depend on the entire path of expected future short-term interest rates, not just the current level of the monetary policy rate. Thus, interest rates with a year or more to maturity are arguably more relevant for asset prices and the economy, and it is unclear to what extent those yields have been affected by the zero lower bound. In this paper, we apply the methods of Swanson and Williams (2013) to medium- and longer-term yields and exchange rates in the U.K. and Germany. In particular, we compare the sensitivity of these rates to macroeconomic news during periods when short-term interest rates were very low to that during normal times. We find that: 1) USD/GBP and USD/EUR exchange rates have been essentially unaffected by the zero lower bound, 2) yields on German bunds were essentially unconstrained by the zero bound until late 2012, and 3) yields on U.K. gilts were substantially constrained by the zero lower bound in 2009 and 2012, but were surprisingly responsive to news in 2010–11. We compare these findings to the U.S. and discuss their broader implications.     

Seasonal variations in injury rates in children: evidence from a 10-year study in the Veneto Region,Italy

The objective of this study was to investigate the long term trend of pediatric injuries in Veneto Region (North-East of Italy) over 10 years, evaluating if seasonality in injury hospitalisations exists. Regional data on hospital admissions during the period 2000–2009 were analysed. Injury was defined as any condition identified by the International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes 800–999, excluding late effects from injury (ICD-9-CM codes 905–909), and complications of surgical and medical care, not classified elsewhere (ICD-9-CM code 995-999) in the first diagnostic field. Cyclic trends in seasonality of injuries were tested with Nam test. Thirty-five thousand seven hundred and fifty-one hospitalisations due to an injury have been recorded. Significant seasonal variation in hospitalisations for injuries was observed, with a summer to winter ratio ranging from 1.8 for minor injuries to 2.0 for severe injuries (p <0.001). The observed pattern of increased admission in the summer months should guide resource planning and implementation of preventive strategies.     

原油运价全线下挫 成品油运价跌多涨少——2010年8月份世界油船运输市场综述

8月．美元指数止跌回升．国际油价大幅下挫馏月27日布伦特原油现货价格报每桶75．34美元．较月初下跌9％。8月国际原油运输市场成交量较上月基本持平．各船型运价全线下挫：成品油运输市场跌多涨少。8月27日，波罗的海原油综合运价指数报724点．较月初下跌8％，月均775点，较上月下跌6％：成品油综合运价指数报686点．较月初下跌13％．月均720点．较上月下跌13％．     

Injury rates and risk-factors associated with eventing: a total cohort study of injury events among adult Swedish eventing athletes

The aim of this study was to examine injury events and risk-factors among Swedish adult eventing athletes. A cross-sectional study design with retrospective recording of 1-year sports-specific exposure and injury data was used. The invited study population consisted of all members of the Swedish Equestrian Federation with eventing as their primary discipline (n = 513). The participation rate was 70.0%. The total 1-year injury prevalence was 26.6%; the specific 1-year prevalence of traumatic injury was 19.3% and of overuse injury 10.9%. The incidence of traumatic injury events was 0.54 injury events/1000 eventing hours (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.35-0.73 injury events/1000 eventing hours) for novices and 0.35 injury events/1000 eventing hours for qualified riders (95% CI, 0.21-0.49 injury events/1000 eventing hours). A total of 27.9% of the traumatic injury events led to severe injuries (causing more than 3 weeks absence from riding). Attitude to risk-taking was the only factor predicting an athlete becoming injured (p = 0.023), and qualification level was the only risk factor for additional injuries among injured riders (p = 0.003). Our results suggest that injury prevention programs in eventing should also give attention to overuse injuries and that care should be taken when eventing athletes are licensed into higher qualification groups.