Estimating the severity levels of road traffic crashes in Bahrain with crash costs estimated with different approaches

An important issue in analyzing accident blackspots is the estimation of severity levels of different types of accidents.This study aims to estimate the severity level of accidents in Bahrain using crash costs.These crash costs were calculated by the Human Capital Approach(HCA)and total reported costs from the victims.The data was collected from the General Directorate of Traffic,insurance companies,Ministry of Works(MoW)and Ministry of Health.It was found,from the survey responses,that there was no significant effect of victim characteristics on the total cost of the accidents.The severity levels were found to be higher than those found in previous literature or adopted by local authorities which could be attributed to the economic conditions of Bahrain.Moreover,the weights found by both approaches were different from each other.Therefore,it is recommended to use the HCA approach due to its comprehensive calculations involving future costs.

Association of severity and sex with vasoactive substance and sexual hormone level in patients with vascular dementia in the type of kidney asthenia and blood stasis syndrome

BACKGROUND: Kidney asthenia is the basic cause of the development of vascular dementia (VD). Kidney asthenia lasting for a long time will result in blood stasis. Also, the cause of VD may have relationships with endothelin (ET), nitric oxide (NO), homocysteine (HCY), estrogen (E2), and testosterone (T). OBJECTIVE: To observed clinical curative effect of the kidney tonic, pancreas tonic, and blood tonic with promoting blood circulation components in treating kidney asthenia with blood stasis syndrome of VD. DESIGN: Case controlled study. SETTING: Geriatric Institute of Integrated Medicine, Fujian College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 70 patients, including 39 males and 31 females aged 60-80 years, were selected from Department of Neurology, Pingshan Hospital from May 2000 to September 2002. Diagnostic criteria were used for probable VD of the American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical of Manual of Mental Disorder, 4th ed (DSM-Ⅳ), 1994 revised, mini-mental state examination (MMSE), and criteria of kidney asthenia with blood stasis with mixed weak and sthenia syndrome of Guidelines of Clinical Research of New Chinese Medicine in Treating Dementia. According to score of kidney asthenia with blood stasis syndrome, they were classified to three groups: mild (n =22), moderate (n =33) and severe (n =15). All of them with complete chest X-Ray, ECG, blood chemistry and other related examinations, exclusive of cardiovascular, liver, kidney diseases, homeopathy and psychiatry diseases. And hereby we also select 30 normal people as the comparing group, having no substantial diseases in heart, brain, kidney, liver, lung and other main organic systems after medical examination. Of this group, 11 were males and 19 were females, ranging from 62 years old to 78 years old. There were no obvious differences between the above two groups in sex, age, and education level after statistical analysis. All patients observed in Pingxi Hospital, Fuzhou, from May 2000 to September 2002. METHODS: ① According to the diagnoses standard of blood stasis syndrome: 0-89: The increase in score indicated that blood stasis syndrome was getting serious. ② According to MMSE: All the test samples were evaluated, those with scores of 0-30, in which the non-educated ≤ 17, primary school ≤ 20, above middle school ≤ 24 were categorized. ③ Testing all sample's ET, E2 and T by using radioimmunoassay, the RIA kits were provided by Scientific and Technological Development Center of General Hospital of PLA. ④ Testing the level of NO by using colorimetic method. ⑤ Testing the level of HCY by using Enzyme-linked Immunoassay. ⑥ Meanwhile, analyzing the blood stasis score by comparing with every standard. The differences of data were compared by using t test and F test. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① Blood plasma ET, blood serum NO, HCY, E2 and T. ② The analyzing results obtained from comparing score of blood stasis with every indicators. RESULTS: The result analysis was including of both the 70 patients of VD with kidney asthenia and blood stasis and compared group consist of 30 healthy people. ① ET, NO, HCY and ET/NO: The levels of ET, HCY and ET/NO were increasing with pathography, while the levels of ET, NO, HCY and ET/NO were decreasing with the pathography, and the difference in statistics was significant (P < 0.01). ② The level of E2 and T: The levels of both E2, T and E2/T for male VD patients were (67.72±12.18) pg/L and (351.58±155.02) ng/L, 0.24±0.12 respectively, which were higher than the compared group [(53.96±16.13) pg/L, (471.83±143.99) ng/L, 0.12±0.00, P < 0.05]. The level of E2 in the female VD patients was lower than the compared group [(34.23±10.99), (44.81±14.65) pg/L, P < 0.05]. ③ The relationship between the score of blood stasis and each indicators: The levels of ET, ET/NO and HCY had significant positive relationship with blood stasis mark (r = 0.352, 0.754, 0.347, P < 0.05-0.01), obvious negative relationship with NO (r =-0.528, P < 0.01) and no clear relationship with female E2/T and male E2/T (r = -0.210, 0.04, P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: ① The levels of ET, HCY and ET/NO are increasing with pathography, while the level of NO is decreasing, which may be the evidence that the possibility of VD pathography may have relationship with the indicators above. ② The level of E2 increase in male's VD patients, and decrease in male's. And the decrease of the female may have relationship with the VD.

Comprehensive Level One Trauma Center Could Lower In-hospital Mortality of Severe Trauma in China

Trauma is a major health and social problem in the US and China, It constitutes the main cause of death in people aged 45 or under in both countries112]. There is clear evidence from clinical studies that a large percentage of these deaths are needless and preventable if better treatment and prevention programs are available12-3].

Analysis of Road Traffic Accident Costs in Sudan Using the Human Capital Method

In this study, we used the Human Capital (HC) accident analysis method, to determine the road traffic accident costs in Sudan in two successive years (2010 and 2011) with slight modifications to the recommended and known framework in the way it handles currently and future accident cost components. We evaluated and compared the significance and impact of the economic loss caused by road traffic accidents in Sudan using detailed information on road traffic accident casualties, classified by severity level, vehicle type, and other key parameters such as discount rates and medical and insurance information for Sudan in its entirety. The total cost of road traffic accidents in Sudan in 2010 was estimated at US $391 million, which represents 0.57% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while in 2011 the cost was calculated to reach US $413 million, representing 0.62% of GDP. Findings show that the amount of accident costs is estimated to a certain extent at less than 1% of the total GDP of the country in the two estimation years, but we believe that the evaluation process used fulfilled the eligibility criteria of HC studies and that the produced values for Sudan are valid and reliable. Unit costs for each crash severity level were also estimated in the two years such as death, disability, serious injury, slight injury, and vehicle damage. Death or fatality was equal to US $38,932 and 39,508;disability was equal to US $43,113 and US $45,165;serious injury was equal to US $6963 and US $7596;slight injury was equal to US $2570 and US $3198 and vehicle damage only was equal to US $2268 and US $2579 in the assessment years 2010 and 2011, respectively.