The debate about the effectiveness of bicycle helmets seems endless. There has now been a Cochrane review, a meta-analysis by Attewell et al., and a re-analysis of this meta-analysis by Rune Elvik (one of the editors of Accident Analysis and Prevention (AAP). As well, after Tim Churches, an Australian epidemiologist attempted unsuccessfully to reproduce Elvik’s […]
Month: March 2013
Should the NHL Mandate Visors?
The ongoing debate regarding whether visors should be mandatory safety equipment in the National Hockey League (NHL) is likely to get some renewed attention after one of the league’s players, Rangers’ Marc Staal, suffered a serious eye injury in a recent game. Warning: don’t watch the video if you are squeamish. http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/eye-injury-to-ranger-raises-issue-of-helmet-visors-again/?src=xps Visors are currently optional […]
Veterinarian’s injuries arising from treating cattle
Over the weekend I came across an interesting article in the Australian Veterinary Journal whilst I was having a look at some recent injury prevention publications in Australia. Last month’s issue of the journal contained an article summarising cattle-specific injuries reported in the Health Risks of Australian Veterinarians Survey (HRAV). Of the 2188 serious injuries reported […]
Taking helmets seriously
Some of us take helmet wearing seriously. This is one of our granddaughters, Emma, age 5. We have had one day of spring so the pink and white bike was brought out. Please note Emma’s helmet, and, just as importantly, that which she made on her poupee (doll). Let this be a lesson to all. […]
Publish Negative Results
A provocative paper in The Scientist urges that more journals publish negative results. (Editor: I have always argued that these are as scientifically important as positive results, even if they are less appealing to the press.) As the paper states, “Hypothesis-driven research is at the heart of scientific endeavour, and it is often the positive, […]
A round up of gun control stories from the US (Dec 2012-March 2013)
This understandably hot topic dominates the news I receive from various sources in the US, especially the major news media. I cannot do justice to the details in each of these reports but have tried to offer a précis of the main points in several of these. Guns don’t stop mass shootings Late in December, […]
New Blog Editor
Hello everyone, My name is Greg Tung and I am the new senior blog editor for IP. I am also a new Assistant Professor in the Colorado School of Public Health where I am affiliated with the Health Systems, Management, and Policy Department and the Pediatric Injury Prevention, Education and Research Program. Just writing to […]
Combining technologies helps us understand the risk
Researchers in Canada have combined two technologies – driving simulation and functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain – to identify the parts of the brain involved in a variety of real-world driving maneuvers. Minimal brain activation was found during simple driving tasks such as turning right (in the US, turning left in Australia), consistent with the ‘automation’ […]
Public Health Nurses Roles in Injury and Violence Prevention
Another contribution from Michael Watson, Nottingham. Research carried out by the National Nursing Research Unit (UK) has revealed that while health visitors deliver real benefits to patients and families, there is a need for more research and better education in order to develop the profession. This scoping study incorporated a narrative review of the research […]
Child Safety Strategies – A NICE evidence update
Michael Watson, from the Univ of Nottingham, kindly sent this information to the blog: In February an Evidence Update was produced by the English National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). The document provides a summary of new evidence from around the world relevant to strategies to prevent unintentional injuries among children and young […]