Every year around the world, an incredible 700,000 people are killed on the road-one death every 50 seconds-and 10 million to 15 million people are injured by motor vehicles, according to the World Health Organization.
Developing countries account for two-thirds of the vehicular deaths, and they are on the rise because of bad roads, little regulation and young drivers who drink and drive. Developed nations, on the other hand, registered a 10 percent decline in road deaths in the last 10 years as a result of seat belts, speed limits and better roads.
In developing countries, 30 to 50 percent of the motor vehicle deaths involve pedestrians, of which one in five are children. In developed countries only 20 percent of such deaths involve pedestrians.
Surprisingly, developing countries with the fewest cars have the highest vehicle death rate. Ethiopia, with only one vehicle per 1,000 people, reported 150 deaths per 10,000 vehicles, the world’s worst record. The U.S., the world’s most motorized country with 771 vehicles per 1,000 people, had only 2.5 deaths per 10,000 vehicles.
FLEXIBLE ANKLE HELPS AMPUTEES IN SPORTS
An artificial leg with a flexible ankle is enabling amputees to dramatically improve their performances in sports such as skiing, swimming, cycling, running and rowing. The ankle was designed in part by double-leg amputee Mike Ross, who was frustrated by his low performance capability when using other prostheses. Ross lost both legs below the knees in a boating accident.
Produced by Performance Prosthetics of Santa Monica, Calif., the ankle has a locking mechanism that can be switched within seconds from a walking position to an extended position for swimming, or a free-flexing position for skiing and rowing.
HUNGRY CHILDREN PREFER THE FATTY FOODS
People prefer fatty foods because they more quickly satisfy hunger pangs, according to Deborah Kern, a University of Illinois nutritionist. Preschool children given either high-fat or low-fat yogurt drinks wanted the fatty drink when they were hungry, even though both drinks tasted alike, she reported at a recent Experimental Biology meeting.
TEST PREDICTS SURVIVORS AFTER RESUSCITATION
Of the 200,000 Americans who are resuscitated each year after heart failure, only one-third survive, but doctors had no good way of knowing which of the patients would live and which would die. Austrian researchers at the University of Vienna have devised a highly accurate test to predict survivors.
The test, which measures a brain wave called N70, was 100 percent accurate in determining survivors when tested on 66 patients, Dr. Christian Madl reported in the British medical journal The Lancet. The brain wave is produced when the body is stimulated by a small electrical shock, and if the wave does not appear within 118 milliseconds after the shock, then the brain is presumed to be dead or in a vegetative state.
CHEMICAL FOUND TO FIGHT TOUGH STRAINS OF BACTERIA
Bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics may be no match for a new chemical obtained from the dogfish shark. The chemical, called squalamine, may represent a new class of antibiotics to fight the emerging drug-resistant bacterial strains, Michael Zasloff of Magainin Research Institute, Plymouth Meeting, Pa., reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
KIDS HIDE HEALTH ISSUES FROM THEIR PARENTS
When it comes to sex, alcohol, AIDS and other sensitive health issues, adolescents are shrinking violets. A survey of nearly 1,300 9th through 12th graders found that 58 percent had health concerns they wished to keep private from their parents.
So serious are they about privacy that one in four said they would rather forgo health care if there was a chance their parents would find out, said Dr. Tina Cheng of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.
“This study confirms the notion that perceived lack of confidentiality may be a barrier to health care for some adolescents,” Cheng said.
HYDROCARBON COMPOUNDS KILL IMMUNE CELLS
Some common environmental pollutants that are linked to cancer may start their dirty work by first weakening the body’s immune defense system, a team of Harvard Medical School researchers has found.
Laboratory studies showed that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons-which are found in auto exhausts, cigarette smoke, charcoal-broiled and smoked meats and fish, and at the bottoms of lakes and streams-can kill white blood cells called immature B lymphocytes, said Dr. David Sherr.
MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES INADEQUATE, STUDY FINDS
Nearly one out of every three American adults each year suffers from a mental disorder or drug abuse or dependence problem, according to a nationwide study.
The survey also found that only one-third of the people with these problems seek help, indicating that the nation’s mental health services are not adequate to meet the need, said Dr. Darrel Regier of the National Institute of Mental Health.
U.S. warns of dangers of manure waste pits
Manure waste pits claim the lives of more than two farm workers every year, usually between between April and September when warm weather promotes the production of toxic gases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Last August four Minnesota farm workers died in two separate incidents, the agency said. In both cases one person was overcome in a pit while trying to repair malfunctioning equipment and the second worker died trying to rescue him. The agency recommends that warning signs be posted and that oxygen masks be used.
