Objective: Drink driving is widely recognized as a major road safety problem. In Australia, health promotion messages encourage monitoring the number of standard drinks consumed prior to driving. This pilot research aimed to investigate commuting behavior and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of diners, including intended drivers, at Sunshine Coast restaurants.
Methods: Five hundred and forty-four diners (n = 260 males) consented to participate in a brief interview and to use a breathalyzer device to measure their BAC.
Results: Forty percent of participants advised they don't drink and drive (34% of males, 45% of females; 67.25% of <17–20 years, 30.5% of 50–59 years), and of the remaining participants, 75% advised they count the number of their drinks (69% of males, 84% of females; 32% of <17–20 years, 82% of 50–59 years), while 10% of participants monitored their BAC by how they were feeling (12% of males, 6% of females). Thirty-seven percent of participants said it was easy/very easy to estimate their BAC (41% of males; 33% of females; 21% of <17–20 years, 43% of 50–59 years). The actual BAC was less than expected for 56% of participants, with one-third underestimating BAC and some intended drivers having an actual BAC in excess of the 0.05 limit.
Conclusions: Given the proportion of diners who reported they count the number of drinks, or use feelings as a way to gauge BAC, coupled with the considerable proportion who underestimated their BAC, a safer public health message is to avoid driving if you intend to drink. In addition, targeted intervention for experienced drivers (and, arguably, drinkers) appears warranted, as every participant aged less than 21 years who stated he or she would drive home indeed had a zero BAC. Interestingly every female driver who stated she would be driving home also had a legal BAC, suggesting gender-specific intervention. 相似文献
Microcystins (MCs) produced by cyanobacteria are strong hepatotoxins and classified as possible carcinogens.MCs pose a considerable threat to human health through tainted drinking and surface waters.Herein filtrated water from a waterworks in Harbin,China,was spiked with microcystin-LR (MC-LR) extracted from a toxic scum of microcystis aeruginosa,and the spiked sample waters were treated using UV irradiation with consequent ozonation process (UV/O3),compared with ozonation at a dose range commonly applied in water treatment plants,UV irradiation at 254 nm and UV irradiation combined with ozonation (UV+O3),respectively.The remaining of toxins were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography and also determined using a protein phosphatase type 2A inhibition assay,which was utilized to evaluate the reduction in toxicity.Results indicated that in comparison to other three processes (O3,UV,and UV+O3),UV/O 3 process could effectively decrease both the concentration and toxicity of MC-LR at 100 μg/L level after 5 min UV irradiation with consequent 5 min ozonation at 0.2 mg/L (below 1 μg/L),while 0.5 mg/L ozone dose was required for the level below 0.1 μg/L.The addition of an UV treatment step to the existing treatment train may induce significant transformation of micropollutants and breaks down the natural organic matters into moieties unfavorable for ozone decomposition,stabilizing the ozone residual.These findings suggested that sequential use of UV and ozone may be a suitable method for the removal of these potentially hazardous microcystins from drinking water. 相似文献
In this study the focus is on the continuous ergonomic-focused development of a medical instrument that is capable of performing blood group serological tests. Primarily, a medical device must be clinically effective and safe. At the same time it must also meet the needs of its users. This calls for consideration of numerous ergonomic aspects. The development process of the product line in question was supported by a longitudinal series of carefully designed focus groups. Altogether, the 23 focus groups conducted included 245 participants from 72 laboratories. The aim of the empirical research was to collect users’ experiences, ideas and needs as inputs for the following phase of the product development process. During the mentioned focus group analyses, around 100 development proposals were conceived. Besides presenting more of the mentioned development proposals, the focus group analysis was shown as a proper methodology to involve end-users in the development and implementation of new technology or devices. 相似文献
Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the roadside prevalence of alcohol-impaired driving among drivers and riders in northern Ghana. The study also verifies motorists' perceptions of their own alcohol use and knowledge of the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit in Ghana.
Method: With the assistance of police, systematic random sampling was used to collect data at roadblocks using a cross-sectional study design. Breathalyzers were used to screen whether motorists had detectable alcohol in their breath and follow-up breath tests were conducted to measure the actual breath alcohol levels among positive participants.
Results: In all, 9.7% of the 789 participants had detectable alcohol, among whom 6% exceeded the legal BAC limit of 0.08%. The prevalence of alcohol-impaired driving/riding was highest among cyclists (10% of all cyclists breath-tested) followed by truck drivers (9%) and motorcyclists (7% of all motorcyclists breath-tested). The occurrence of a positive BAC among cyclists was about 8 times higher (odds ratio [OR] = 7.73; P < .001) and it was 2 times higher among motorcyclists (OR = 2.30; P = .039) compared to private car drivers. The likelihood for detecting a positive BAC among male motorists/riders was higher than that among females (OR = 1.67; P = .354). The odds for detecting a positive BAC among weekend motorists/riders was significantly higher than on weekdays (OR = 2.62; P = .001).
Conclusion: Alcohol-impaired driving/riding in Ghana is high by international standards. In order to attenuate the harmful effects of alcohol misuse such as alcohol-impaired driving/riding, there is the need to educate road users about how much alcohol they can consume and stay below the legal limit. The police should also initiate random breath testing to instill the deterrence of detection, certainty of apprehension and punishment, and severity and celerity of punishment among drink-driving motorists and riders. 相似文献