Effectiveness of primary enforcement safety belt laws and enhanced enforcement of safety belt laws: a summary of the Guide to Community Preventive Services systematic reviews

BACKGROUND: The use of safety belts is the single most effective means of reducing fatal and nonfatal injuries in motor-vehicle crashes. This paper summarizes the systematic reviews of two interventions to increase safety belt use: primary enforcement safety belt laws and enhanced enforcement of safety belt laws. The reviews were previously published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. METHODS: We conducted the systematic reviews using the methodology developed for the Guide to Community Preventive Services. RESULTS: These reviews provide strong evidence that primary laws are more effective than secondary laws in increasing safety belt use and decreasing fatalities and that enhanced enforcement is effective in increasing safety belt use. Increases in belt use are generally highest in states with low baseline rates of belt use. DISCUSSION: Primary safety belt laws and enhanced enforcement programs tend to result in greater increases in usage rates for target groups with lower baseline rates. Concerns regarding public opposition to these interventions may impede their implementation in some jurisdictions. However, surveys indicate that a substantial majority of the public supports implementation of both primary laws and enhanced enforcement programs. CONCLUSION: Based on the strong evidence for effectiveness of primary safety belt laws and enhanced enforcement programs, the Task Force on Community Preventive Services recommended that all states enact primary safety belt laws and that communities implement enhanced enforcement programs.     

Water monitoring and treatment for drinking purposes in 2004 tsunami affected area—Ban Nam Khem, Phang Nga, Thailand

University of Brescia and Mahidol University of Bangkok developed a project in Phang Nga province (Thailand), the most damaged by 2004 tsunami. In particular, the study, performed between April and May 2006, dealt with the surface and ground water monitoring in Ban Nam Khem village and the experimental evaluation of possible drinking treatment alternatives. The monitoring highlighted that saline content in the tsunami affected area is decreasing but still very high (conductivity presented values up to 2,600 and 6,230 microS/cm in ground and surface water, respectively); hence, advanced and complicated processes such as reverse osmosis should be adopted to treat such water for drinking purposes. Waiting for ground water salinity to assume acceptable values, activities for the reduction of its organic and microbiological contamination will be started. However, it has to be underlined that the diffusion of drinking water to a greater part of population can be obtained only through the realization of new centralised treatment plants and the improvement of existing ones (serving at the moment about 20% of inhabitants).     

Statistical analysis of heavy metals in Cerastoderma edule glaucum and Venerupis aurea laeta from Ganzirri Lake, Messina (Italy)

Our study was carried out on two species of clams, Venerupis aurea laeta and Cerastoderma edule glaucum, from Ganzirri Lake considered as “environmental biomarkers” for their changes in physiology, morphology or distribution under the influence of substances in the environment. The aim of the present study was to conduct a statistical analysis on Venerupis and Cerastoderma to investigate the difference between the two autochthonous clams according to the presence of metals, and to link metal concentrations to the reproductive cycle of clam during 2009–2010. Metal analysis was carried out with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Accuracy and precision were assessed by analyzing the certified standard matrix: mussel tissue NIST SRM 2976. The multivariate analysis was made using the SPSS 13.0 software package for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). In this study, the concentrations of some metals found in clam tissues showed seasonal cycles with higher values in summer than in winter. The significances of metal concentrations differences between Venerupis and Cerastoderma samples were estimated with Mann–Whitney U-test. The concentrations of Ag, As, Cd, Mn, Se and Zn show a significant p-level that suggests a difference between the two group samples. Statistical analysis showed that the link of metal concentrations to the reproductive cycles of Venerupis and Cerastoderma was not evident.     

The Poverty-Environment Trap in a Modified Romer Model with Dirtiness

The model presented in this paper describes an economy with endogenous technical change and polluting production techniques. The main question we want to address is whether the adoption of “dirty” production processes might lead to a sustainable unique steady state, or guarantee the emergence of multiple equilibria. The application of the original Bogdanov–Takens theorem allows us to characterize the regions of the parametric space where the model exhibits either a global indeterminate equilibrium or a poverty-environment trap.     

Simultaneous determination of Cd(II), Cu(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II) by derivative stripping chronopotentiometry in Pittosporum tobira leaves: a measurement of local atmospheric pollution in Messina (Sicily, Italy)

The purpose of this study is to investigate the bio-accumulation of Cd(II), Cu(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II) in Pittosporum tobira (Thunb.) Aiton leaves sampled in different zones of Messina, in order to assess the level of atmospheric metal deposition in correlation with the traffic volume. Derivative stripping chronopotentiometry was used as a practical, precise and sensitive technique to determine simultaneously Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn levels in Pittosporum leaves. In the optimised electro-chemical conditions, detection limits lower than 0.05 microg kg(-1) were achieved, whereas the accuracy, expressed as obtained recoveries from certified materials, was in the range 93.5-102.7%. The obtained data provided evidence that Cd and Pb levels significantly decreased from high to low traffic density zones (p < 0.005, ANOVA), whereas Cu and Zn are accumulated by plants particularly from the soil and their contents is not related to the traffic volume.     

Levels and congener pattern of polychlorinated biphenyl and organochlorine pesticide residues in bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) from the Straits of Messina (Sicily, Italy)

The aim of this study is to assess the accumulation of OCs and PCBs in Thunnus thynnus and to elucidate the suitability of this species as a bioindicator for monitoring contaminations of these compounds in the marine ecosystems of the Straits of Messina. This investigation was conducted on fat, liver and muscle samples of 14 T. thynnus collected during April 2004. Quantitative determination of OCs and PCBs in the various samples examined has been carried out using GC-ECD and GC-MS. The results obtained show the presence of low concentrations of p,p'-DDE and PCB congeners (138, 153 and 180) in all fat, liver and muscle samples caught in the Straits of Messina. Concentrations of p,p'-DDE and PCB congeners (138, 153 and 180) in all the samples examined were below MRLs (CE n. 97/41, 1999/65 and 1999/71).     

Global burned-land estimation in Latin America using MODIS composite data.

This paper presents results of the AQL2004 project, which has been develope within the GOFC-GOLD Latin American network of remote sensing and forest fires (RedLatif). The project intended to obtain monthly burned-land maps of the entire region, from Mexico to Patagonia, using MODIS (moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer) reflectance data. The project has been organized in three different phases: acquisition and preprocessing of satellite data; discrimination of burned pixels; and validation of results. In the first phase, input data consisting of 32-day composites of MODIS 500-m reflectance data generated by the Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF) of the University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland, U.S.A.) were collected and processed. The discrimination of burned areas was addressed in two steps: searching for "burned core" pixels using postfire spectral indices and multitemporal change detection and mapping of burned scars using contextual techniques. The validation phase was based on visual analysis of Landsat and CBERS (China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite) images. Validation of the burned-land category showed an agreement ranging from 30% to 60%, depending on the ecosystem and vegetation species present. The total burned area for the entire year was estimated to be 153 215 km2. The most affected countries in relation to their territory were Cuba, Colombia, Bolivia, and Venezuela. Burned areas were found in most land covers; herbaceous vegetation (savannas and grasslands) presented the highest proportions of burned area, while perennial forest had the lowest proportions. The importance of croplands in the total burned area should be taken with reserve, since this cover presented the highest commission errors. The importance of generating systematic products of burned land areas for different ecological processes is emphasized.     

Autochthonous clams monitoring of Ganzirri Lake (Sicily)

Two autochthonous clams, Venerupis aurea laeta and Cerastoderma edule/glaucum, collected for a period of 1 year, from May 2007 to January 2008, were studied in the Cape Peloro lagoon. On the samples, it was evaluated the presence of pathogenic microorganisms and proteins, lipids and yield edible part were determined. It was evaluated the concentration of mineral elements (Cd, Cu, Mn, Se, Pb, Zn) and organic contaminants (∑DDT and PCBs). Salmonella is never present in any sample. Total and faecal coliform values have always been under law limits for alive bivalves mussels production and sale. Zn, Cu, Cd and Pb levels were found in clams where they are slightly lower too. Both species do not show significant changes for Mn and Se. DDT and PCBs traces were discovered in Ganzirri Lake’ samples, but in all observed cases, they were below law limits. As a result of all these observations, it is clear that, in recent years, the bivalve’s use of Ganzirri Lake does not denote toxicological risk to human health.