Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “RAILROADS”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,117 records · Page 62Linked to original sources

Natural disaster potential and counterdisaster planning in Australia.

Counterdisaster planning for mass fatalities begins with an analysis of the types of disasters likely in a given area and the vulnerability of the area to those disasters. Mass-fatality disasters can be classified as man-made or natural. A historical list of the major man-made disasters in Australia is provided. Potential natural, disasters in Australia, such as bush fires, floods, cyclones, and earthquakes, are discussed. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology provides warnings in many of these situations. Counterdisaster planning in Australia is primarily a state responsibility. The Natural Disasters Organisation of the Federal Department of Defence operates an Australian Counter-Disaster College.

Aircraft↗

Atlanto-occipital disarticulation. Accident characteristics.

A retrospective study of cases of atlanto-occipital disarticulation was conducted to describe incident characteristics: 24 cases were identified, including nine motor vehicle drivers, two passengers, seven pedestrians, and five motorcyclists; one other person had fallen four stories. The highest rates were found among motorcyclists and pedestrians. Atlanto-occipital disarticulations occur in high-energy impacts and collisions and are associated with aortic laceration in 25% and basilar skull fracture in 21% of such cases. Current restraint systems and motorcycle helmets do not appear to prevent this generally rapidly fatal injury.

Accidental Falls↗

Fatal railway injuries in Cape Town, South Africa.

To describe the features of railway-related deaths in Cape Town, South Africa, we reviewed demographic, autopsy, and accident report data on all such deaths between 1 April 1992 and 30 September 1994. Of the 379 railway-related deaths, 27 were among pedestrians or commuters who were hit by a train while crossing the track, 38 were among commuters who fell from moving trains, 32 were suicides, 43 were the result of criminal violence on trains or at railway stations, and 38 were due to other causes. Most railway fatalities were among men between the ages of 25 and 44 years. About half of all railway fatalities occurred at peak commuting times, with high levels of violence (often robbery related) recorded during the evening peak. A blood alcohol concentration > 0.1 g/100 ml was found in 35% of the people who died from crossing the track or falling from moving trains. Fatal railway injury is characterized by extensive disruption of more than one body region. The high levels of fatal railway injury make a strong case for a range of injury control interventions, including ticket control, surveillance, law enforcement, and safety engineering.

Accidents↗

Rapid, efficient dental identification of 92% of 13 train passengers carbonized during a collision with a petrol tanker.

On September 8, 1997 (day 0), an express train in Aquitaine, France, crashed into a petrol tanker, which immediately burst into flames and set the first carriage of the train on fire. We describe the dental technique and methodology which led (day 2) to the positive identification of 92% of these very heavily carbonized remains. In only 1 case, and only to be totally certain, did the investigators have recourse to use molecular biologic techniques. The use of this specific odontostomatologic technique (craniomandibular disarticulation with bone samples) and excellent collaboration with the Identification Unit for Mass Disasters Victims (CIVC) precluded recourse to any reconstructive identification.

Accidents↗

Ambulance trains.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Ambulances↗

The influence of traffic vibrations on the radon potential.

The influence of traffic vibrations on the radon potential is analyzed in this study. Generally, the radon concentration in soil-gas increases through traffic vibrations. The influence of the vibrations is determined near railway tracks and heavy-traffic roads. Soils above natural, in-place, bedrock (solid and unconsolidated rocks) and backfills were studied. The type of vibrations, as well the soil material, have a pronounced influence on the amount of increase of the radon concentration. The spatial radius of influence is wider with railway traffic (>30 m) than with motor vehicle traffic (<25 m). Close to the traffic lanes the increase of the radon concentration by motor vehicle traffic is significantly higher (37%) than that by railway traffic (11.5%). There are no differences between locations, which lay above unconsolidated rock (11.1%), and locations above solid rock (11.8%). In addition to the increased radon concentrations, the averaged radon concentration decreases with increasing distance to the vibration source, but only at locations that lay above solid rock. Both phenomena can be explained by a "pump effect": the mechanical vibration of soil and mineral particles leads to an upward motion of the whole volume of soil-gas. During the vibrations the topmost soil layers lose radon to the atmosphere and as a result the upward transport is increased.

Automobiles↗

Radiation dose equivalent to stowaways in vehicles.

The U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection has deployed a large number of non-intrusive inspection (NII) systems at land border crossings and seaports throughout the United States to inspect cars, trucks, and sea containers. These NII systems use x rays and gamma rays for the detection of contraband. Unfortunately, undocumented aliens infrequently stow away in these same conveyances to illegally enter the United States. It is extremely important that the radiation dose equivalent imparted to these stowaways be within acceptable limits. This paper discusses the issues involved and describes a protocol the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection has used in a study to measure and document these levels. The results of this study show that the radiation dose equivalent to the stowaways from the deployed NII systems is negligibly small and does not pose a health hazard.

Adult↗

Facts about the disaster at Eschede.

On June 3, 1998, at 10:59 a.m., a high-speed train (Intercity Express, ICE) traveling at 200 kilometers per hour collided with a bridge at Eschede, Germany, causing it to collapse. The force of the collision, combined with the speed of the train's rear engine, propelled the rear wagons into the structure. The accident caused 101 deaths and 103 injuries. Four minutes after the accident, the alarm was reported; sixteen minutes after the accident, the first doctor on emergency call was on the scene, arriving from Celle, approximately twenty kilometers away. In the first four hours after the crash, different rescue organizations brought a total of 1,844 people to the accident site, including 461 ambulance personnel and paramedics. Thirty-nine aircraft, including helicopters and army aircraft, were available at the scene. Ninety-five passengers passed away on site. Many of the surviving passengers had multiple injuries and were stuck in the train; although they had to be rescued from the severely damaged wagons, all patients, with one exception, were on the way to hospitals by 12:55 p.m. The casualties were distributed among twenty-two hospitals; two victims later had to be transferred to other hospitals for medical reasons. This paper details the factors that were responsible for the success of the rescue operations at Eschede.

Disasters↗

Railway train versus motor vehicle collisions: a comparative study of injury severity and patterns.

OBJECTIVE: This study compares the demographics, injury severity, resource use, and injury patterns of patients involved in railway train-motor vehicle (RT-MV) to motor vehicle-motor vehicle (MV-MV) collisions. METHODS: Retrospective trauma registry review of 74 RT-MV and 1,931 MV-MV consecutive patients, age more than 14 years, presenting to two Level I trauma centers, January of 1991 to May of 1998. RESULTS: Compared with MV-MV, RT-MV had significantly more males (72% vs. 54%), higher mortality (15% vs. 7%), higher Injury Severity Score (median, 20 vs. 9), longer intensive care unit length of stay (1.7 vs. 0.04 days), and longer hospital length of stay (7.5 vs. 4 days). RT-MV patients had a higher percentage of scalp/facial lacerations; intracranial hemorrhage; hemothorax and pneumothorax; fractures of the rib/sternum, upper extremity, skull, and face; and lung, splenic, and renal injuries. After adjusting for the difference in Injury Severity Score between groups, the only remaining significant group difference was the odds of a scalp/facial laceration. CONCLUSION: RT-MV collisions are a marker for more severe injuries, but not a different pattern of injury, compared with MV-MV collisions.

Accidents↗

A survey and evaluation of lantern tests of color vision.

This paper reports a survey of the lantern tests that have been or are used to evaluate the color vision of people who wish to enter occupations that require the ability to recognize colored signal lights reliably. The origin of each lantern is traced and the principal features of each are described. The available data concerning failure rate of normals, the failure rate of people with defective color vision, and the extent to which scores on lantern tests correlate with field trials are summarized. Despite the fact that lantern tests have been used since the turn of the century and that some lanterns have been in use for more than 30 years and some for much longer periods, the available validation data are incomplete and sometimes conflicting. However, the data do indicate that some lanterns may fail a significant proportion of normals and that there is considerable variation between lanterns in the proportion of color vision defectives that will fail. It is noted that most lanterns will pass some protanomals despite their reduced sensitivity to red light and correspondingly short visual range for red signals. The view of Cameron is supported that a more rational approach would be to made a clinical diagnosis of the type of color vision defect, to reject protanopes, deuteranopes, and protanomals and to use a lantern test only to determine which deuteranomals should be accepted.

Aerospace Medicine↗

"Person under train" incidents: medical consequences for subway drivers.

UNLABELLED: From the subway driver's point of view, a "person under train" (PUT) incident is a serious life event. This study focuses on the 1-year consequences of such events. Follow-up was made 3 weeks, 3 months, and 1 year after the event. Forty consecutive PUT subway drivers were followed. For each PUT driver, a control driver matched with regard to gender, age, and country of birth was followed at identical intervals. MAIN RESULTS: The PUT group had significantly more sick days during the interval from the event to 3 weeks later. During the period 3 weeks to 3 months after the event no difference between the groups was observed. From 3 months to 1 year after the PUT significantly more days were again reported by the PUT group. Thirty-eight percent in the PUT group versus 14% in the control group had at least 1 month of sickness absence during this period. A mild acute psychophysiological reaction was observed 3 weeks after the event, with elevated prolactin and increased sleep disturbance in the PUT group. Such acute reactions were transitory and not correlated with long-term sick leave, which was predicted independently, however, by a high plasma cortisol level (analyzed in men) and a high depression score. Drivers in the group with seriously injured victims were absent from work for longer periods than drivers in the groups with mildly injured or dead victims.

Absenteeism↗

Train-pedestrian accidents.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the injury pattern, morbidity, and mortality in pedestrians involved in train accidents. The study was performed in the Hacettepe University School of Medicine, Turkey. Hospital records of 41 cases who were hit by train between the period of 1985-97 were evaluated. Age, gender, mechanism of injury (falling from train, hit by train), suicide attempts, pre-existing illnesses, RTS (Revised Trauma Score) and mortality were evaluated. Sixty-eight per cent (n = 28) of the victims were male. The mean age was 32 (9-72) years. Fifty-nine per cent of the victims had fallen from the train. The rate of suicide attempt was 22% (n = 9). The mean RTS was 10+/-3.6. Survivors had better RTS (11+/-2) than nonsurvivors (3.5+/-2.5) (p < 0.0001, 95% CI = 6.0-9.5). Extremity fractures and lower extremity amputations were frequently encountered. The mortality rate was 17%. The mortality rate was high in victims who were hit by the train (p = 0.00013). Suicide attempts carry a high mortality rate (p = 0.0001). Six mortalities were seen in nine documented suicide attempts. It is concluded that train-pedestrian injuries represent a different type of trauma. The mortality rate in suicide attempts is high. RTS lower than 11 and being hit by train are associated with high mortality.

Accidents, Traffic↗