Background: Alcohol use is pervasive among motorists on the road in Ghana; however, we do not know the extent to which this behavior is implicated in road accidents in this country.
Objectives: The main objective of this research was to establish the prevalence of alcohol in the blood of nonfatally injured casualties in the emergency departments (EDs) in northern Ghana.
Method: Participants were injured road traffic crash victims, namely, pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and drivers seeking treatment at an ED. The study sites were 2 level III trauma centers located in Wa and Bolgatanga. Participants were screened for alcohol followed by breath tests for positive participants using breathalyzers.
Results: Two hundred and sixty-two accident victims visited EDs, 58% of whom were in Wa. Among the victims, 41% were hospitalized and 57% experienced slight injuries. The vast majority (76%) of the casualties were motorcyclists, 13% were pedestrians, 8% were cyclists, and 2% were drivers. Casualties who had detectable alcohol in their blood were predominantly vulnerable road users. In all, 34% of participants had detectable blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) and the mean BAC for all casualties who tested positive and could give definitive BACs was 0.2265 (226 mg/dl). The prevalence of alcohol use was 53% among cyclists, 34% among motorcyclists, 21% among pedestrians, and 17% among drivers. Male casualties were more likely to test positive for alcohol than females. In addition, the prevalence of alcohol was significantly higher among injured casualties in Bolgatanga compared to Wa.
Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of alcohol use among nonfatally injured casualties in northern Ghana and injury severity increased with BAC. AUDIT screening in the hospital, alcohol consumption guideline, road safety education with an emphasis on minimizing or eliminating alcohol consumption, and enhanced enforcement of the BAC limit among motorists are recommended. 相似文献
Background: Two of the 3 standardized field sobriety tests that U.S. law enforcement uses at roadside checks have a postural equilibrium component to them. Those tests have been validated to detect impairment caused by blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) of 0.08 g/dL or above. Many medical and traffic safety associations support a lower limit, and one state, Utah, has passed a law to lower the limit to 0.05 g/dL. Many studies have examined the effects of alcohol on postural control (of which postural equilibrium is a component), with a consensus emerging that impairment is usually found at BACs greater than 0.06 g/dL. Most of these studies, however, had a relatively small number of subjects, usually between 10 and 30. The current study collected data from a much larger sample.
Objective: The objective of this study was to provide additional evidence that posture control is negatively affected at BACs greater than 0.06 g/dL or breath alcohol concentrations (BrACs) of 0.06 g/210 L.
Method: This was a between-subjects study, with BrAC group as the independent variable (5 levels: 0.00, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.10 g/210 L); 4 measures of postural control as the dependent variables; and age, height, and weight as the covariates. Posture control was measured with a force-sensing platform connected to a computer. The feet's center of pressure (CoP) on the platform was recorded and the corresponding movement of the body in the anterior–posterior and lateral planes was derived. Participants (N = 96) were randomly assigned to one of the BrAC groups. Positive BrAC groups were compared to the zero BrAC group. Data were examined with hierarchical multiple regression.
Results: Adjusted for age, height, and weight, the main effect of lateral CoP with eyes open was not statistically significant. There was a statistically significant main effect of alcohol on anterior–posterior CoP excursion with eyes open and with eyes closed and lateral CoP excursion with eyes closed. For all 3 of those variables, only BrACs of 0.08 and 0.10 g/210 L produced differences against zero BrAC. Although the main effect of alcohol on Lateral CoP Excursion with eyes open was not statistically significant, the contrasts between 0 and 0.08 and 0 and 0.10 g/210L BrAC were in the hypothesized direction.
Conclusion: The current study did not directly address the issue of whether the sobriety tests are sensitive to BrACs of 0.05 g/210 L or above; rather, it provides additional evidence that postural control, one of the components of those tests, is relatively unaffected by BrACs lower than 0.08 g/210 L. Additional research is needed on the diagnostic characteristics of the sobriety tests at BrACs lower than 0.08 g/210 L. 相似文献
ABSTRACTObjective: Alcohol-impaired driving presents a continued risk for traffic safety and results in a significant proportion of fatalities on the roadway. We examined how alcohol at a 0.05% blood alcohol concentration (BAC) compares to 0.10% BAC (above the current U.S. legal limit) in terms of impact on driving performance.Methods: Utilizing a within-subjects design, we recruited 108 healthy experienced drivers who were moderate to heavy drinkers. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design, we administered placebo and alcohol at the 0.05% and 0.10% BAC levels in a standardized simulated driving protocol. Drives occurred on the descending limb of the blood alcohol curve. This analysis focuses on the urban portion of the driveResults: The study observed clear differences in performance for lateral and longitudinal driving performance and glance behavior. Variability in lane keeping and average speed increased with BAC level, with degraded performance observed at 0.05% BAC. The frequency of lane departures and percentage of time focused on the forward roadway at 0.05% BAC did not differ from placebo but differed from the 0.10% BAC level.Conclusions: Overall, our results show that there is degraded performance in the urban driving environment and that much of that begins at or below the 0.05% BAC level. 相似文献
The ability of thermal activated peroxydisulfate (PS) of mineralizing phenol at 70 °C from contaminated waters is investigated. Phenol in concentrations of 10−4 to 5 × 10−4 M is quantitatively depleted by 5 × 10−3 to 10−2 M activated PS in 15 min of reaction. However, mineralization of the organic carbon is not observed. Instead, an insoluble phenol polymer-type product is formed. A reaction mechanism including the formation of phenoxyl radicals and validated by computer simulations is proposed. High molecular weight phenolic products are formed by phenoxyl radical H-abstraction reactions. This is not the case for the room temperature degradation of phenol by sulfate radicals where sulfate addition to the aromatic ring mainly leads to the generation of hydroxycyclohexadienyl radicals leading to hydroxybenzenes and oxidized open chain products. Therefore, a change in the reaction mechanism is observed with increasing temperature, and thermal activation of PS at 70 °C does not lead to the mineralization of phenol. Thus PS activation at 70 °C may be considered a potential method to reduce the load of phenol in polluted waters by polymerization. 相似文献
In recent years, microbubble and nanobubble technologies have drawn great attention due to their wide applications in many fields of science and technology, such as water treatment, biomedical engineering, and nanomaterials. In this paper, we discuss the physics, methods of generation of microbubbles (MBs) and nanobubbles (NBs), while production of free radicals from MBs and NBs are reviewed with the focuses on degradation of toxic compounds, water disinfection, and cleaning/defouling of solid surfaces including membrane. Due to their ability to produce free radicals, it can be expected that the future prospects of MBs and NBs will be immense and yet more to be explored. 相似文献
For several decades, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) has widely been used as a fluorinated surfactant in aqueous film forming foams used as hydrocarbon fuel fire extinguishers. Due to concerns regarding its environmental persistence and toxicological effects, PFOS has recently been replaced by novel fluorinated surfactants such as Forafac®1157, developed by the DuPont company. The major component of Forafac®1157 is a 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonamide alkylbetaine (6:2 FTAB), and a link between the trade name and the exact chemical structure is presented here to the scientific community for the first time. In the present work, the structure of the 6:2 FTAB was elucidated by 1H, 13C and 19F nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Moreover, its major metabolites from blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) and turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) and its photolytic transformation products were identified. Contrary to what has earlier been observed for PFOS, the 6:2 FTAB was extensively metabolized by blue mussel and turbot exposed to Forafac®1157. The major metabolite was a deacetylated betaine species, from which mono- and di-demethylated metabolites also were formed. Another abundant metabolite was the 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonamide. In another experiment, Forafac®1157 was subjected to UV-light induced photolysis. The experimental conditions aimed to simulate Arctic conditions and the deacetylated species was again the primary transformation product of 6:2 FTAB. A 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonamide was also formed along with a non-identified transformation product. The environmental presence of most of the metabolites and transformation products was qualitatively demonstrated by analysis of soil samples taken in close proximity to an airport fire training facility. 相似文献