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Biomedical subjects

J Sibert

Publications and source records attributed to J Sibert.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

Safe Child Penarth: experience with a Safe Community strategy for preventing injuries to children.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the process of establishing a Safe Community project for children. DESIGN: A descriptive study. SETTING: Penarth, a town (population 20,430) Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. SUBJECTS: 3943 children and their families in Penarth. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Whether the 12 criteria for a Safe Community project (World Health Organisation) were met. Implementation of the safety agenda set by the community. RESULTS: Safe Child Penarth met 10 of the 12 criteria for the Safe Community network. All the items on the agenda were introduced in the initial two years of the project. There were difficulties, however, achieving sustained community ownership of the project. CONCLUSIONS: The Safe Community concept stimulated work to improve child safety in Penarth. Community safety initiatives should involve all local agencies to identify the problems and work with the community to set and meet the safety agenda. Partnership with the local authority is valuable to improve the safety of the environment. The experience generated from Safe Child Penarth has been used to develop a county wide, all age community safety project.

Accident Prevention↗

Safety of surfaces and equipment for children in playgrounds.

BACKGROUND: The safety of playgrounds is important to protect children from injury, but studies are mostly done mainly under laboratory conditions without epidemiological data. We investigated the safety of different playground surfaces, and types and heights of equipment in public playgrounds in the City of Cardiff, UK. METHODS: We did a correlational study of 330 children aged between 0 and 14 years. All children were hurt when playing in playgrounds in Cardiff and presented to the Accident and Emergency Department in Cardiff Royal Infirmary during summer (April to September) 1992 and 1993, and the whole of 1994. We studied the children's hospital records to establish the type of injury and interviewed their parents to find out the playground and type of equipment involved. The main outcome measures were the number of children injured whilst playing, and injury rates per observed number of children on different surfaces, types, and heights of equipment. FINDINGS: Children sustained significantly more injuries in playgrounds with concrete surfaces than in those with bark or rubberised surfaces (p < 0.001). Playgrounds with rubber surfaces had the lowest rate of injury, with a risk half that of bark and a fifth of that of concrete. Bark surfaces were not significantly more protective against arm fractures than concrete. Most injuries were equipment related. Injury risk due to falls from monkey bars (suspended parallel bars or rings between which children swing) was twice that for climbing-frames and seven times that for swings or slides. The height of the equipment correlated significantly with the number of fractures (p = 0.005) from falls. INTERPRETATION: Rubber or bark surfacing is associated with a low rate of injuries and we support their use in all public playgrounds. Bark alone is insufficient, however, to prevent all injuries, particularly arm fractures. Rubberised impact-absorbing surfaces are safer than bark. We believe that playing on monkeys bars increases the risk of injury in playgrounds and that they should generally not be installed. Safety standards should be based on physical and epidemiological data. Our data suggest that the proposed raising of the maximum fall height from 2.5 m to 3.0 m in Europe is worrying.

Accidental Falls↗

Childhood accidents: epidemiology, trends, and prevention.

Accidents are the most common cause of death in children over one year of age. Prevention remains a high priority. We have reviewed the current epidemiology of childhood accidents and their prevention, and made recommendations for the future. In 1992, 559 children died in United Kingdom as a result of an accidents--240 from road traffic accidents and 100 from burns and scalds. Every year 50 children drown. Accidents cause significant disability to children. Many children, up to one in four of the population in urban areas, attend accident and emergency departments, and 5-10% of these are admitted to hospital. Accident risk factors include low social class, psychosocial stress, an unsafe environment, and child developmental disorders. Research has shown that prevention is best achieved by making the child's environment safer, often through legislation. Insufficient resources have been put into both research into childhood injuries and preventive work in communities. Collaboration between health authorities, NHS trusts, local authorities and community networks is vital if success is to be achieved. A national safety agenda for children would focus the attention that this problem deserves.

Accident Prevention↗

The natural history of congenital myotonic dystrophy: mortality and long term clinical aspects.

Although the genetic basis of the congenital form of myotonic dystrophy has recently been clarified, data as to outcome in terms of life expectancy and morbidity are scanty. Life table data based on a cohort of 115 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of congenital myotonic dystrophy are presented. The data suggest a 25% chance of death before 18 months of age and a 50% chance of survival into the mid-30s. The profile of disease and complications among survivors is also charted.

Adolescent↗

Interstitial deletion, del(4)(q33q35.1), in a mother and two children.

The inheritance of autosomal deletions from affected parents has only rarely been reported. We report an unbalanced interstitial deletion, del(4)(q33q35.1), in a mother and two male offspring. The mother and older sib are mentally retarded but have only mild dysmorphic features. The younger sib, at five months, is showing signs of developmental delay. All three patients show some abnormalities in common with cases that have terminal deletions of 4q with breakpoints at 4q33, but in general exhibit less severe abnormalities. The family illustrates the importance of detailed cytogenetic analysis of children with developmental delay who do not display major dysmorphic features.

Adult↗

[Effect of dietary nitrogen compounds and urea on the GLDH and DS activities in broilers].

The influence of concentration of nitrogenous matters (N-matters) and urea supplement in diet for broilers was studied, as exerted on the activities of the enzymes glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH) and glutamine synthetase (GS) in liver, kidney, tissue and contents of the cecum. If 2% urea had been substituted for a portion of N-matters, no significant differences in the activities of both enzymes in liver and cecum were found. Higher levels of GLDH were recorded in the kidney of broilers given diets with the urea supplement of 17 and 19% N-matters concentrations. The GLDH and GS activities were significantly high in the contents of the cecum, the GLDH activity being the highest with the diet of 19% N-matters concentration. No significant changes in the GLDH activity depending on the concentration of N-matters in the diet were observed in the liver. The GS activity increased moderately with the higher concentration of N-matters.

Animal Feed↗