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PubMed2002

Recommendations for lightning protection in sport.

Lightning is an important cause of weather-related morbidity and mortality and is often underrated. There has been an increase in the proportion of casualties occurring during outdoor sport and recreational activities over recent years. However, in Australia, there is a deficiency in recommendations for lightning safety at sporting events. Organisers of sporting events should have a lightning safety policy that includes a designated weather watcher with the authority to stop or postpone the event, a specific chain of command, and designated safe areas. Suspension and resumption of play should follow the "30/30" rule: play should stop when the flash-to-bang count is 30 seconds, and should not resume until 30 minutes after the last lightning. At events with large crowds, additional time should be allowed for evacuating all people to safe areas.

Guidelines as Topic↗
PubMed2005

Autonomic nervous system dysfunction in lightning and electrical injuries.

Autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction is a serious complication of lightning and electrical trauma (L/ET). The ANS regulates the normal vegetative functioning of many organ systems. When ANS is compromised after lightning and electric trauma, patients are vulnerable to serious medical problems. Three conditions of ANS dysfunction of particular concern for L/ET patients are complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), cardiovascular abnormalities, and keraunoparalysis (KP). The patient with CRPS presents with pain, hyperpathia, sweating, and edema hours to days after trauma. Neurorehabilitation is exceedingly important. A primary goal is to keep the affected extremity mobile and functional. Some patients benefit from sympathetic blockade. Cardiovascular abnormalities associated with lightning and electrical trauma can be life threatening. Care for these patients require a multidisciplinary team including a cardiologist. Keraunoparalysis is a frightening and distressing complication of lightning strikes. The syndrome consists of limb paralysis, sensory symptoms, pallor, coolness and absent pulses. Release of excessive catecholamines is said to be responsible for these findings. Fortunately, the condition is transient.

Arrhythmias, Cardiac↗
PubMed2005

Overlooked diagnoses in chronic pain: analysis of survivors of electric shock and lightning strike.

OBJECTIVE: Patients who survive lightning strikes are rarely seen in clinical practice and patients with electrical injury are seen infrequently. This article reports the most commonly overlooked diagnoses so that physicians can improve their evaluations. METHODS: A total of 19 patients who survived a lightning strike and 53 patients who survived electrical shock had a partial or complete multidisciplinary evaluation at Mensana Clinic. A variety of diagnostic studies were ordered. RESULTS: In 19 lightning strike survivors, referring physicians did not mention 133 diagnoses, later established by Mensana Clinic. The overlooked diagnosis rate was 93%. In 53 patients who survived electrical shock, referring physicians did not mention 436 diagnoses, later established by Mensana Clinic. The overlooked diagnosis rate was 98.2%. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who survive electric shock and lightning strikes are often misdiagnosed because they are infrequently seen in a medical practice.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed1990

Lightning injuries.

Lightning kills or injures thousands of people in the United States each year. Injuries are caused by the effects of electrical, thermal and mechanical energy, and a wide range of clinical results, involving multiple body systems, is possible. Important differences exist between lightning victims and patients injured by fire or by other forms of electricity. In lightning victims, successful resuscitation is highly likely, even among patients with conventional signs of brain death. With proper management, long-term physical and psychologic sequelae of lightning injury are rare.

Electric Injuries↗
PubMed1989

The physical effects of lightning injury.

Several thousand lightning-related injuries occur each year in the United States resulting in nearly 600 deaths. Most incidents involve individual victims; group lightning strikes are rare. Ten soldiers were simultaneously injured in a group lightning strike while on training maneuvers at Fort Benning. Georgia. No deaths or loss of consciousness occurred, although two of the soldiers had amnesia for the event. All of the soldiers were hospitalized and observed for potential lightning-related complications. Ninety percent of the soldiers had first-degree skin burns, and all had focal muscular tenderness. Seventy percent had transient ST segment elevation that resolved. Fifty percent developed creatinine kinase (muscular component) elevation, but none developed myoglobinuria or acute renal failure. No patient had creatinine kinase (myocardial component) elevation. Transient hypertension and tinnitus were noted in 40% and 20%, respectively. No compartment syndromes or ocular manifestations developed. All 10 soldiers recovered uneventfully and returned to full active duty.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Lightning artifact in the EEG.

Lightning is highly prevalent in South Florida. The artifact caused by lightning in EEG recordings is of variable duration and seen as abrupt deflection of pens, sometimes followed by sustained pen drift and slow recovery mimicking amplifier overload as caused by rapid unplugging and plugging of the equipment power cable from the wall outlet. Since this artifact was associated to hospital light flickering and was recorded independent of machine location and orientation, we believe it is secondary to extreme brief Mains voltage fluctuations, probably due to horizontal lightning electric field effects rather than radio or electromagnetic interference generated by lightning.

Electroencephalography↗
PubMed1995

Neurologic complications of lightning injuries.

Over the past ten years, we have cared for 13 patients who suffered serious neurologic complications after being struck by lightning. The spectrum of neurologic lesions includes the entire neuraxis from the cerebral hemispheres to the peripheral nerves. We describe these various neurologic disorders with regard to the site of the lesion, severity of the deficit, and the outcome. Damage to the nervous system can be a serious problem for patients struck by lightning. Fatalities are associated with hypoxic encephalopathy in patients who suffered cardiac arrests. Patients with spinal cord lesions are likely to have permanent sequelae and paralysis. New technology for detecting lightning with wideband magnetic direction finders is useful in establishing lightning-flash densities in each state. Florida and the Gulf Coast states have the highest densities. Colorado and the Rocky Mountain states have the next highest.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

[Lightning injuries. Mechanisms and treatment].

Lightning injuries occur sporadically and are rarely seen in emergency departments, during the years 1991-1993 there have been 12 admissions due to this cause in Denmark. The special mechanisms of damage in lightning accidents are illustrated by review of the literature. The clinical findings are described, especially the transient neurological damage characterises lightning accidents. Contrary to what one would expect, the victim often survives a lightning accident. This is surprising considering the tremendous powers of nature involved and the serious clinical manifestations. Prevention is important, this is the reason why the population should be taught the appropriate behaviour if there is a thunderstorm. Resuscitation should be started immediately and continued even though the victim seems lifeless and might have dilated pupils not reacting to light. Good results have been reported even after prolonged resuscitation.

Humans↗
PubMed1976

Lightning eye movements.

Physiologic studies were performed on a patient who demonstrated lightning eye movements, palatal myoclonus and myoclonic jerks of the left platysma and sternocleidomastoid muscles. The myoclonus and lightning eye movements were separate phenomena with no defined relationship to each other. Analysis of this ocular dyskinesia identified strictly horizontal saccadic oscillations, 2 to 5 Hz in frequency, with amplitudes varying greatly but often reaching 25 degrees. A brief stationary period between each saccadic oscillation was frequently observed. They were particularly induced by vertical or horizontal ocular pursuit as well as sustained upward or downward ocular deviation. Caloric nystagmus abolished the oscillations but they persisted, irregularly, during optokinetic nystagmus. Thus a faulty visual fixation mechanism is postulated to precipitate lightning eye movements. Constrast studies revealed a mass lesion arising from the right dorsolateral portion of the medulla. These results indicate that lightning eye movements occur with caudal as well as rostral brain-stem lesions. From the clinical findings cerebellar pathway involvement is likely.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Evidence for a link between global lightning activity and upper tropospheric water vapour

Tropospheric water vapour is a key element of the Earth's climate, which has direct effects as a greenhouse gas, as well as indirect effects through interaction with clouds, aerosols and tropospheric chemistry. Small changes in upper-tropospheric water vapour have a much larger impact on the greenhouse effect than small changes in water vapour in the lower atmosphere, but whether this impact is a positive or negative feedback remains uncertain. The main challenge in addressing this question is the difficulty in monitoring upper-tropospheric water vapour globally over long timescales. Here I show that upper-tropospheric water-vapour variability and global lightning activity are closely linked, suggesting that upper-tropospheric water-vapour changes can be inferred from records of global lightning activity, readily obtained from observations at a single location on the Earth's surface. This correlation reflects the fact that continental deep-convective thunderstorms transport large amounts of water vapour into the upper troposphere and thereby dominate the variations of global upper-tropospheric water vapour while producing most of the lightning on Earth. As global lightning induces Schumann resonances, an electromagnetic phenomenon in the atmosphere that can be observed easily at low cost, monitoring of these resonances might provide a convenient method for tracking upper-tropospheric water-vapour variability and hence contribute to a better understanding of the processes affecting climate change.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Ca2+ lightning conveys cell-cell contact information inside the cells.

Cells communicate with each other to form organized structures by cell-cell adhesion and cell-cell repulsion, but it remains to be clarified how cell-cell contact information is converted into intracellular signals. Here, we show that cells in contact with neighbouring cells generate local transient intracellular Ca(2+) signals (Ca(2+) lightning). Ca(2+) lightning was observed near cell-cell contact regions and was not observed in the central regions of cells or in solitary cells that were not in contact with other cells. We also show that Ca(2+) lightning is able to regulate cell-cell repulsion by means of PYK2, a Ca(2+)-activated protein tyrosine kinase, which induces focal adhesion disassembly in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner. These results show that cell-cell contact information might be transmitted by Ca(2+) lightning to regulate intracellular events.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

[N II ion spectra related to lightning discharges].

Appling the atomic structure theory to the research field of physical processes of lightning discharges, parameters such as wavelengths, oscillator strengths, transition probabilities and excitation energy of upper levels have been calculated for the transitions of N II ions related to lightning discharges. Large-scale multi-configuration Dirac-Fock wavefunctions were applied to include the most important effects of relativity, correlation, and rearrangement of the electron density within the same (computational) model. More detailed identification than ever for lightning spectra has been done, and reference data have been provided for further theoretic and experimental works on the physical mechanism of lightning discharges.

English Abstract↗
PubMed1992

Electrical injuries and lightning.

Prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation is key to the resuscitation of lightning strike victims. Multiple accounts exist of successful revival of victims thought to be "dead" or in patients who have what is often believed to be unresuscitatable cardiac dysrhythmia. Victims of lightning injury may, in addition to their electrical injury, have secondary injuries that require expedient care if significant morbidity is to be avoided. They should be treated as any victim of trauma, that is, with a complete and thorough evaluation including hospitalization if warranted. In the absence of a cardiac arrest or serious secondary injury, care for the lightning strike victim is generally supportive in nature.

Electric Injuries↗
PubMed1988

Intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring as a guide to prognosis in a lightning-injured, comatose child.

Every year there are many deaths due to lightning injuries in the United States. A case is presented of a young child who suffered cardiopulmonary arrest following being struck by lightning strike and in whom ICP monitoring was utilized. We postulate that ICP and CPP measurements may be useful as prognostic indicators for comatose lightning victims and, therefore, may help in the management of the patient.

Cerebrovascular Circulation↗
PubMed1984

Tropospheric sources of NOx: lightning and biology.

Laboratory experiments to quantify the global production of NOx (NO + NO2) in the troposphere due to atmospheric lightning and biogenic activity in soil are presented. These laboratory experiments, as well as other studies, suggest that the global production of NOx by lightning probably ranges between 2 and 20 MT(N)y-1 of NO and is strongly dependent on the total energy deposited by lightning, a quantity not well-known. In our laboratory experiments, nitrifying micro-organisms is soil were found to be a significant source of both NO and nitrous oxide (N2O). The measured production ratio of NO to N2O averaged 2-3 for oxygen partial pressures of 0.5-10%. Extrapolating these laboratory measurements to the global scale, which is somewhat risky, suggests that nitrifying micro-organisms in soil may account for as much as 10 MT(N) y-1 of NO. Additional experiments with denitrifying micro-organisms gave an NO to N2O production ratio ranging from 2 to 4 for an oxygen partial pressure of 0.5% and a ratio of less than unity for oxygen partial pressures ranging from 1 to 20%. The production of NO and N2O, normalized with respect to micro-organism number indicates that the production of both NO and N2O by denitrifying micro-organisms is at least an order of magnitude less than production by nitrifying micro-organisms for the micro-organisms studied.

Alcaligenes↗
PubMed1988

Lightning production of hydrocarbons and HCN on Titan: laboratory measurements.

Many hydrocarbon species have been detected in the atmosphere of Titan. It is possible that lightning activity is occurring in the troposphere and that it contributes to the hydrocarbon inventory. Measurements of the chemical yields of hydrogen cyanide, acetylene, ethylene, ethane, and propane from simulated lightning discharges are reported. A comparison of the experimental results with those based on thermodynamic equilibrium assumptions shows significant disagreement and implies that theories based solely on thermodynamic equilibrium are inadequate. Although photochemistry and charged particle chemistry occurring in the stratosphere can account for many of the observed hydrocarbon species, the predicted abundance of ethylene is too low by a factor of 10 to 40. While some ethylene will be produced by charged-particle chemistry, the production of ethylene by lightning and its subsequent diffusion into the stratosphere appears to be an adequate source.

Atmosphere↗
PubMed1983

Lightning injury: report of two cases.

Two cases of lightning injury which occurred while mountain climbing and took different clinical courses are reported. One case with lightning marks on the abdomen was treated as a crush injury because of myoglobinuria and elevation of serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, lactic dehydrogenase and creatine phosphokinase. The other case had lightning burns and complained of abdominal pain. He was treated with fluid transfusion resulting from superficial and deep dermal burns estimated at 55 per cent of the body surface and received a skin graft. The subsequent three-year follow-up has revealed no residual deformity in either case.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Cataracts, bilateral macular holes, and rhegmatogenous retinal detachment induced by lightning.

PURPOSE: To report ocular injuries, including a unilateral rhegmatogenous retinal detachment, induced by lightning. METHOD: Case report. A 30-year-old man was injured by lightning. RESULTS: The patient developed a severe decrease in visual acuity in both eyes, an afferent pupillary defect in his left eye, bilateral cataracts, posterior vitreous detachments, macular holes, and an inferotemporal retinal detachment with an associated flap retinal tear in his left eye. CONCLUSIONS: This is a case of bilateral cataracts, posterior vitreous detachments, macular holes, and a unilateral retinal detachment associated with lightning. We postulate that the heating of the retinal surface, the concussive forces on the eye, and a sudden lateral contraction of the attached vitreous resulted in bilateral posterior vitreous detachments and a unilateral peripheral retinal break.

Adult↗