Search

The Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia requested a retrospective analysis of all fishermen's deaths from immersion in water in British Columbia.To identify the underlying cause of drowning and make recommendations to improve safety in the fishing industry.Eighty-nine inshore and offshore fishing accidents were analysed. Where possible, deaths were classified into the four stages of cold-water immersion: cold shock, swimming failure, hypothermia and post-rescue collapse. Other factors that led up to the drowning were also identified.One hundred and thirty fishermen died from immersion between 1976 and 2002. One hundred and twenty-eight drownings were certified by the coroner as drowning or drowning/hypothermia and two were certified as cardiac event after immersion. The underlying causes of drownings were reclassified as: cold shock (5.4%), swimming failure (5.4%), hypothermia (5.4%), post-rescue collapse (0.8%), cardiac event (0.8%) and drowning/other (10%). In the remaining 72.2% of deaths, there was insufficient information to determine an underlying cause. All deaths occurred in water below 17.5 degrees C but 95% were in water less than 15 degrees C.Immersion in water below 15 degrees C is dangerous and this should be emphasized on marine survival courses. Accident investigators, coroners and pathologists need a common checklist to record vital data. A recommended format is included as Supplementary data available at Occupational Medicine Online. Fishermen should be educated about the dangers of sudden, unexpected immersion in cold water. Consideration should be given to making marine survival courses mandatory for fishermen.

During 1994 and 1995, tests of ultra-low-volume applications of insecticides conducted on cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., at Stoneville, MS, evaluated the effectiveness of malathion applied with a new technology in ground application, the air-assisted ultra-low-volume ground sprayer. Two tests conducted in 1994 determined the effectiveness of ultra-low-volume applications of malathion (91%) with and without cottonseed oil and established effective malathion rates against boll weevils , Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman. An emulsifiable concentrate (EC) formulation of azinphosmethyl was used as a standard. In 1995, ultra-low-volume malathion (95%) was applied at 1.36 and 1.02 kg (AI)/ha plus cottonseed oil in a total volume of 1.17 liter/ha. These treatments were compared with a 1.12kg (AI)/ha rate of an EC formulation of malathion applied with water in a total volume of 46.8 liter/ha. In the 1994 insecticide comparison test, ultra-low-volume malathion treatments resulted in 70% mortality throughout the 48-h test period, whereas mortality from the azinphosmethyl standard steadily decreased from 71% at 4 h after treatment to 12% at 48 h after treatment. In the 1994 malathion rate test, 1.30 and 0.98 kg (AI)/ha produced mortalities comparable to those of azinphosmethyl at 0.28 kg (AI)/ha. In 1995, 48-h mortalities at 24 and 48 h after treatment were highest for the rate at 1.36 kg (AI)/ha (99 and 90%, respectively), followed by the rate at 1.02 kg (AI)/ha (78 and 54%, respectively), and lowest in the EC formulation treatment (28 and 21%, respectively). There were no differences in mortality at 72 h after treatment. The air-assisted ground sprayer permitted application of insecticides at considerably lower volumes than a conventional hydraulic ground sprayer and also permitted a reduction in the current rate of ultra-low-volume malathion required for effective boll weevil control.

Utilization of soybean oil (SBO) in swine starter diets and the effect of an adaptation period to SBO on performance was studied in two 4-wk experiments with pigs initially 4 to 5 wk of age. One trial was extended an additional 4 wk and apparent DE was measured during the 4th wk postweaning. Corn-soybean meal-based diets were used in which SBO was substituted for cornstarch at 2, 4 and 6% of the diet in Exp. 1 and at 3 and 6% of the diet in Exp. 2. In Exp. 2, SBO was added either initially (adaptation) or after 2 wk (no adaptation). In Exp. 1 daily gain and efficiency of feed utilization were improved (P less than .05) by adding SBO during wk 3 and 4, but not earlier. Feed intake was not affected by treatment. In Exp. 2, for the initial 4-wk postweaning period, there was no effect of SBO addition on growth rate; feed intake was depressed (P less than .05) when SBO was added at wk 3, and efficiency of feed utilization was improved (P less than .05) for pigs fed SBO without an adaptation period. The primary improvements in performance occurred in the 3rd and 4th wk postweaning, with a tendency for pigs to perform better without an adaptation period. During wk 4, pigs adapted to SBO consumed more (P less than .05) feed but tended to be less efficient (P less than .10) than nonadapted pigs. With or without adaptation, apparent DE was unaffected by SBO additions. Regardless of adaptation period, SBO additions depressed feed intake (P less than .05) and improved efficiency of feed utilization (P less than .01) for the 5- to 8-wk growing phase. In conclusion, adding SBO the first 2 wk postweaning did not improve performance; an adaptation period was not necessary for a performance response from added SBO.

Mutations of the hairy locus in Drosophila may affect both adult chaeta differentiation and embryonic segmentation. In an effort to understand this phenotypic complexity, we have analyzed 30 mutant alleles of the locus. We find that the alleles fall into four groups according to their complementation properties, suggesting a structurally complex locus in which two distinct functions share a common coding region.