Epidemiology of occupational acute traumatic hand injuries: a literature review

The purpose of this review was to summarize the literature on occupational, acute, traumatic hand injury and suggest directions for future research. In 1996, the leading occupational injury treated in United States' hospital emergency departments was an acute hand injury (e.g. laceration, crush or fracture). These injuries affected 30% of an estimated 3.3 million injured workers (990,000). Cuts and lacerations of the fingers ranked third after back and leg strains in the number of lost workday cases in the USA in 1994. The incidence rate of hand injuries studied in seven manufacturing environments around the world ranged from 4 to 11 per 100 workers per year. Workers aged 24 years or less had the highest risk of hand injury. Men had higher rates of severe hand injury than women.Despite the high frequency and significant amount of lost work time associated with these injuries, they are poorly understood from an etiological perspective. There is only one case-control study of occupational hand injury in the literature. That study suggested an important role for both fixed (age) and transient risk factors (doing an unusual task) at the time of the injury. More analytic epidemiological research is needed to identify potentially modifiable risk or protective factors (e.g. glove use) for acute hand injuries. In this regard, the case-crossover design, a relatively new epidemiological approach using cases as their own controls, could prove an efficient method for determining transient, modifiable risk factors for acute, occupational hand injury.     

State Intervention to Protect Endangered Species: Why History and Bad Luck Matter

Abstract: Illegal exploitation threatens the survival of many species, and anti-poaching legislation ("protection on paper") does not protect species. State enforcement is needed to support and supplement the formal status of endangered species, but state enforcement can be a source of instability leading to the demise of species if ad hoc rules are followed blindly. We demonstrate this with a model of poaching, wildlife, and government wildlife enforcement, but our findings apply more generally. Crucial assumptions of the dynamic model are that both poaching and enforcement effort increase or decrease whenever poaching effort and enforcement are relatively profitable or unprofitable activities, respectively. We found that multiple steady states may characterize the system's equilibrium. Depending on initial populations, the initial extent of state involvement, and random events, animal populations may be severely depleted or unexpectedly built up during transition phases. Our findings highlight the importance of history and luck in protecting endangered species.     

Microwave extraction of incurred salinomycin from chicken tissues

Abstract

A rapid, accurate, environmentally friendly and cost‐effective microwave extraction technique was developed for the extraction of spiked and incurred salmomycin from chicken tissues (kidney, liver, muscle, ovarian yolk and fat). Extraction of salinomycin from various tissues was achieved by irradiating the sample in absolute ethanol and 2‐propanol (15+2) for 9 sec. in a common household microwave oven. The extract was analysed without further cleanup by HPLC on a C₁₈ column (5 μm) and detected at 592 nm via post‐column reaction with 4‐dimethylaminobenzaldehyde (DMABA) in a heated reactor coil at 86° C. Recoveries of salinomycin from spiked tissues at 30 ng/g level ranged between 87 and 100%. The limit of quantitation was found to be 10 ng/g. The developed method was applied for the analysis of incurred tissues and ovarian yolk of laying chickens given sodium salinomycin in feed at different levels for 14 consecutive days followed by withdrawal periods. Residues were detected in all tissues and ovarian yolk at 0 withdrawal time but declined during the withdrawal period. Highest residue were found in fat and ovarian yolk.