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Hospital-based research has shown that wearing a helmet reduces the risk of head injury in bicycle riders. These studies have provided the impetus for community-wide interventions to increase the numbers of cyclists who wear helmets; however, the effectiveness of such programmes is undetermined. This study employs extensive search strategies to review the scientific literature to establish the effectiveness of community-wide programmes to increase helmet use among cyclists. Thirteen community-wide intervention studies using substantive methodologies were located in 16 published papers. The community-wide interventions include mandating helmet wearing, education campaigns, distribution of free or subsidized helmets or, more frequently, combinations of all of these methods of influence. All studies reported success in influencing helmet wearing across communities. However, none of the studies reveals enough detail of the mix or techniques employed in the interventions to replicate the interventions. While it is encouraging that all of the studies showed positive results, the way forward for further implementation of helmet wearing is for adequate documentation of successful interventions.

Frith's (1992) neuropsychological theory of schizophrenia posits a number of fundamental cognitive impairments underpinning the characteristic symptoms of this disorder. One of these is an impairment in the ability to correctly interpret and predict the mental states of other people, so-called theory of mind (ToM). There is already a substantial body of evidence that ToM is impaired in people with schizophrenia. Our aim was to critically review this literature.A narrative review of the research literature was completed. Electronic searches of both Medline and PsycInfo were conducted to locate relevant articles. The bibliographies of relevant articles were scrutinised and in some cases researchers were contacted directly.A total of 30 studies that all examined some aspect of ToM in people with schizophrenia were located. These were summarised and key issues on this topic were identified.There is considerable evidence that ToM is impaired in people with schizophrenia. However, this is perhaps the only unequivocal finding on the topic to date. Issues that demand further clarification include: Is the deficit a state or a trait? How to measure ToM in schizophrenia research, and whether certain symptoms or groups of symptoms are associated with the ToM deficit. These issues are considered and the evidence evaluated. Some priorities for future research are suggested.

There is already a substantial body of evidence supporting Frith's (1992) theory that theory of mind (ToM) is impaired in people with schizophrenia. However, a specific relationship between impaired ToM and paranoid delusions, while intuitively reasonable, has only been demonstrated in two studies to date.A total of 25 participants with schizophrenia were classified as paranoid or nonparanoid and compared with 38 healthy controls on a variety of ToM tasks. These tasks included verbal and nonverbal, and first and second order ToM tasks.Participants with schizophrenia performed significantly more poorly than healthy controls on both the first and second order verbal ToM tasks but not on the nonverbal ToM tasks. However, the ToM deficit was only observed for those participants with schizophrenia who had persecutory delusions. There was also a strong relationship observed between the severity of persecutory delusions and length of illness.This study represents only the third demonstration of a specific link between paranoid delusions and ToM impairment. Reasons why previous findings on this issue have been so inconsistent are considered. Further research is needed to explore the relationships among paranoia, ToM, and length of illness.

With global trends in population aging, many nations are developing and implementing healthy aging policies to promote quality as well as years of healthy life. To broaden the evidence base for such policy development, a review of the literature was conducted to summarize the existing evidence regarding the behavioral determinants of healthy aging. Such research is needed so that the efficacy of modes of intervention can be better understood. The outcome of "healthy" or "successful" aging was selected for this review since this nomenclature dominates the literature describing a global measure of multidimensional functioning at the positive end of the health continuum in older age. Studies published between 1985 and 2003 that reported statistical associations between baseline determinants and healthy aging outcome were identified from a systematic search of medical, psychological, sociological, and gerontological databases. Eight studies satisfied the search criteria. Modifiable risk factors among the behavioral determinants included smoking status, physical activity level, body mass index, diet, alcohol use, and health practices. On the basis of these findings, effective healthy aging policies need to enhance opportunities across the life span for modification of lifestyle risk factors. Efforts to standardize concepts and terminology will facilitate further research activity in this important area.

Background: The Functional Capacity Index (FCI) was designed to predict physical function 12 months after injury. We report a validation study of the FCI. Methods: This was a consecutive case series registered in the Queensland Trauma Registry who consented to the prospective 12-month telephone-administered follow-up study. FCI scores measured at 12 months were compared with those originally predicted. Results: Complete Abbreviated Injury Scale score information was available for 617 individuals, of whom 587 (95%) could be assigned at least one FCI score (range, 1-17). Agreement between the largest predicted FCI and observed FCI score was poor (kappa = 0.05; 95% confidence interval, 0.00-0.10) and explained only 1% of the variability in observed FCI. Using an encompassing model that included all FCI assignments, agreement remained poor (kappa = 0.05; 95% confidence interval, -0.02-0.12), and the model explained only 9% of the variability in observed FCI. Conclusion: The predicted functional capacity poorly agrees with actual functional outcomes. Further research should consider including other (noninjury) explanatory factors in predicting FCI at 12 months.

Two studies examined lay people’s understanding of goals and intentional actions, which are key concepts in folk psychology. The studies show how predictions of goals and actions are affected by actors’ beliefs about their abilities and their actual possession of the preconditions required for the actions. In some conditions, the beliefs and the preconditions were contradictory. Actors’ beliefs about their abilities shaped observers’ goal ascriptions, whereas actual preconditions dominated predictions about action accomplishment. Participants judged the relationship between goals and actions to be stronger when preconditions were present. Participants judged that neither beliefs nor preconditions were necessary for the actor to have action fantasies. These studies clarify how folk psychological concepts of desires, beliefs, and preconditions relate to each other and how they relate to attributions of goals and actions. Copyright # 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Study Objective: Community-based models for injury prevention have become an accepted part of the overall injury control strategy. This systematic review of the scientific literature examines the evidence for their effectiveness in reducing injury due to inadequate car seat restraint use in children 0–16 years of age. Methods: A comprehensive search of the literature was performed using the following study selection criteria: community-based intervention study; target population was children aged 0–16 years of age; outcome measure was either injury rates due to motor vehicle crashes or observed changes in child restraint use; and use of community control or historical control in the study design. Quality assessment and data abstraction was guided by a standardized procedure and performed independently by two authors. Data synthesis was in tabular and text form with meta-analysis not being possible due to the discrepancy in methods and measures between the studies. Results: This review found eight studies, that met all the inclusion criteria. In the studies that measured injury outcomes, significant reductions in risk of motor vehicle occupant injury (33–55%) were reported in the study communities. For those studies reporting observed car seat restraint use the community-based programs were successful in increasing toddler restraint use in 1–5 year aged children by up to 11%; child booster seat use in 4–8 year aged children by up to 13%; rear restraint use in children aged 0–15 years by 8%; a 50% increase in restraint use in pre-school aged children in a high-risk community; and a 44% increase in children aged 5–11 years. Conclusion: While this review highlights that there is some evidence to support the effectiveness of community-based programs to promote car restraint use and/or motor vehicle occupant injury, limitations in the evaluation methodologies of the studies requires the results to be interpreted with caution. There is clearly a need for further high quality program evaluation research to develop an evidence base.

Objective: To describe the prevalence and distribution of alcohol consumption during pregnancy in an Australian population over a 5-year period. Design, setting and participants: Cross-sectional repeated sample, trend analysis of aggregated and stratified alcohol consumption patterns during pregnancy. Pregnant women were enrolled from 2007 to 2011 in the Griffith Study of Population Health: Environments for Healthy Living, a birth cohort study being conducted in south-east Queensland and north-east New South Wales. Main outcome measures: Sociodemographic and alcohol consumption data were self-reported at enrolment. Alcohol measures included alcohol consumption (any level) and high-risk alcohol consumption, both during pregnancy (at any stage) and after the first trimester of pregnancy. Results: Of 2731 pregnant women for whom alcohol consumption data were available, a decrease in alcohol consumption was observed over the study period; 52.8% reported alcohol use in 2007 compared with 34.8% in 2011 (P < 0.001). The proportion of women who drank alcohol after the first trimester of pregnancy declined from 42.2% in 2007 to 25.8% in 2011. However, high-risk drinking patterns - at all or after the first trimester - did not change over the 5 years (P = 0.12). Low-level alcohol consumption was associated with older women (P < 0.001), more highly educated women (P = 0.01), and women from higher-income households (P < 0.001). In contrast, high-risk consumption after the first trimester was associated with lower levels of education (P = 0.011) and single-parent status (P = 0.001). Conclusions: This study showed a steady and statistically significant decline in the proportion of women who reported drinking alcohol during pregnancy from 2007 to 2011. To further reduce these levels, we need broad public health messages for the general population and localised strategies for high-risk subpopulations.

A review of existing studies which defined and measured healthy ageing as an outcome was undertaken to clarify the term for the purposes of informing policy development and further research into positive health outcomes in older age. Studies which measured the prevalence of healthy (or successful) ageing in population-based settings were identified from a search of health and gerontology databases. Eighteen studies met the selection criteria. The arbitrary nature of the definition, populations sampled, domains selected and measures within the domains resulted in considerable variation between the studies in the proportion of the study population classified as 'healthy ageing', which ranged from 3% to 80%. The present review shows the need to establish a standard for defining and quantifying the concept of healthy ageing. Despite the differences, there was consensus in the studies that the multidimensional, positive health outcome should measure the capacity to function well and adapt to environmental challenges in domains assessing physical, mental and social well-being.

A proper mechanical characterization of soft biological tissues of the human body has a strong impact on several medical applications such as surgical planning, virtual reality simulators, trauma research, and for diagnostic purposes. Adequate experimental data are needed to describe quantitatively the mechanical behaviour of those organs. We present a technique for the acquisition of such data from soft tissues and its post processing, based on a continuum mechanics approach, to determine some parameters of the tissue's mechanical properties. A small tube is applied to the target organ and a weak vacuum is generated inside the tube according to a predefined pressure history. A video camera grabs images of the deformation profile of the aspirated tissue, and a pressure sensor measures the correspondent vacuum level. The images are processed and used to inform the fitting of uniaxial and continuum mechanics models. Whilst the aspiration test device is suitable for in vivo applications, under sterile conditions during open surgery, we hereby present first results obtained by testing cadaveric tissues.

This study was designed to quantify the increased risk of road crash-related injury, which can be attributed to risk-taking behaviour. A case-control study was conducted to compare motor vehicle drivers (car and bike) who had been hospitalised for injuries following crashes with population-based controls. Cases were recruited prospectively over 12 months and controls were randomly selected from license holders (car and bike) living in the same geographical location as cases. A self-administered questionnaire was used to ascertain participants' driving behaviour, general risk-taking behaviour and selected demographic characteristics. After adjusting for demographic variables, number of years of driving and total distance driven per week, logistic regression analysis showed that a high risk acceptance was associated with an eight-fold increased risk of having a crash that resulted in serious injury (OR 7.8, 95% CI 4.2-15.8). The findings of this study support the suggestion that certain host factors increase the risk of crash-related serious injury. There would appear to be a reasonable argument for persisting with injury prevention programmes, which concentrate on host as well as environment risk factor reduction.

Objective: Community based models for injury prevention have become an accepted part of the overall injury control strategy. This systematic review of the scientific literature examines the evidence for their effectiveness in preventing poisoning in children 0–15 years of age. Methods: A comprehensive search of the literature was performed using the following study selection criteria: community based intervention study; target population was children under 15 years; outcome measure was poisoning rates; and either a community control or an historical control was used in the study design. Quality assessment and data abstraction were guided by a standardized procedure and performed independently by two authors. Data synthesis was in tabular and text form with meta-analysis not being possible due to the discrepancy in methods and measures between the studies. Results: The review found only four studies, which met all the inclusion criteria. Only two studies used a trial design with a contemporary control and only one study provided convincing evidence of an effective community program for reducing poisoning in children. Conclusion: There is a paucity of research studies in the literature from which evidence regarding the effectiveness of community based childhood poisoning prevention programs can be obtained and hence a clear need to increase the effort on developing this evidence base.

The relationship between wellbeing and “positive illusions” has not been satisfactorily explained. Two studies investigated this issue through self-report data. Study 1 examined the relationship between wellbeing and positive illusion using happiness scores divided into three groups. Positive illusion in the form of self-enhancing bias was measured with trait ratings of the self and average others. The prediction that self-enhancing bias would be lower at high than at moderate happiness was not supported. However, self-enhancing bias was greater at moderate than at low happiness, through increasingly positive self-ratings. Similar results were obtained in Study 2 with a life satisfaction measure. The results suggest that positive illusions are related especially to moderate wellbeing, whereas positive self-views predict higher wellbeing levels.

Information about the saccharides expressed in gastric mucosa is mostly limited to the glycan content of gastric mucins and there are only a few studies of the glycoprofiling of the constituent cells and their components. Knowledge of the glycan expression of normal gastric mucosa is necessary for the interpretation of the significance of changes of expression in disease. A lectin histochemical study of normal human gastric (body) mucosa was performed using 27 lectins chosen to probe for a wide range of oligosaccharide sequences within several categories of glycoprotein glycans. There were marked differences in staining reactions in the various microanatomical structures of the mucosa, particularly between pits and glands with the former more closely resembling the surface epithelium. A notable feature was the degree of difference in the staining between a substantial sub-population of cells within the neck region and the epithelium of both the pits and glands. These neck cells resembled the pit cells with some lectins, glandular cells with some others and neither with some other lectins. Overall, the differences between the pit, gland and neck epithelia were diverse and numerous, and could not be explained by altered activity of a small set of glycosyltransferases. Widespread alterations of glycans must have occurred (affecting terminal and internal parts of their structures) and the very different glycotypes of the pit, neck and gland epithelia are, therefore, suggestive of the existence of three cell lineages within normal gastric epithelium. Published in 2004.

Injury Prevention publishes the science that defines our field. It is the signature publication supporting the primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of injury, for all people, from any cause. Accumulating in the pages of the Journal is a body of knowledge used across the world to improve the health of individuals and populations. The Journal’s emphasis on primary prevention addresses the point in the prevention continuum with the greatest scope for minimising harm. More than being simply an archive of information, the Journal is the intellectual charter that supports our field’s currency and validity. Each issue contains the latest research findings judged by peers to be important contributions to knowledge. In editorials, commentaries and letters, contributors discuss approaches most likely to produce the best results. Established positions are revisited as we challenge and rejuvenate our beliefs. Injury Prevention is the …

The aim of the study was to describe the validity of parent's self-reported responses to questions on home safety practices for children of 2-4 years. A cross-sectional validation study compared parent's self-administered responses to items in the Home Injury Prevention Survey with home observations undertaken by trained researchers. The relationship between the questionnaire and observation results was assessed using percentage agreement, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and intraclass correlation coefficients. Percentage agreements ranged from 44% to 100% with 40 of the total 45 items scoring higher than 70%. Sensitivities ranged from 0% to 100%, with 27 items scoring at least 70%. Specificities also ranged from 0% to 100%, with 33 items scoring at least 70%. As such, the study identified a series of self-administered home safety questions that have sensitivities, specificities and predictive values sufficiently high to allow the information to be useful in research and injury prevention practice.

Objectives. We identified the features of a land use–transportation system that optimizes the health and well-being of the population. Methods. We developed a quantitative system dynamics model to represent relationships among land use, transport, economic development, and population health. Simulation experiments were conducted over a 10-year simulation period to compare the effect of different baseline conditions and land use–transport policies on the number of motor vehicle crash deaths and disability-adjusted life years lost. Results. Optimal reduction in the public health burden attributable to land transport was demonstrated when transport safety risk reduction policies were combined with land use and transport polices that minimized reliance on individual motorized transport and maximized use of active transport modes. The model’s results were particularly sensitive to the level of development that characterized each city at the start of the simulation period. Conclusions. Local, national, and international decision-makers are encouraged to address transport, land use, and health as an integrated whole to achieve the desired societal benefits of traffic safety, population health, and social equity.

Research suggests that the content of newspaper and television reports about natural disasters, such as earthquakes, affects people’s fatalistic judgements about these disasters. The present paper contains two studies, Study 1 and Study 2. Study 1 examined features in newspaper reports written at two time points following two major earthquakes: immediately after the earthquakes and a year following the earthquakes. These reports showed several features about the earthquakes: in reports immediately after the earthquakes, the reports were concerned about earthquake agency and general damage; and in reports written a year following the earthquakes, the reports portrayed specific damage and lessons. Study 2 examined the influence of these features on students’ (n = 160) estimates of the extent of damage, attributions for damage and judgements of the preventability of the damage. With excerpts presenting specific damage and lessons, participants gave lower estimates of damage, judged damage to be more preventable and attributed the damage more to building design than with earthquake agency and general damage descriptions of the same earthquakes. These findings have clear implications for the way the media and civic education programs present information on earthquakes and other disasters.

This study investigated the relationship between living in the present, a key manifestation of psychological well-being comparable with a flow state [Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: the psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper & Row], and positive illusion. Living in the present was measured with Shostrom’s [Shostrom, E. L. (1964). An inventory for the measurement of self-actualization. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 2, 207–218] Time Competence scale. Positive illusion was assessed with positive and negative trait ratings of the self and average others, where self ratings were more positive overall. Despite views currently in vogue that well-being is enhanced by illusory perceptions, it was predicted that illusions would be fewer for a high than for a moderate living in the present group. The results supported the prediction. They were interpreted with reference to the theory that empowered individuals have relatively clear perceptions [Maslow, A. H. (1968). Toward a psychology of being (2nd ed.). New York: Van Nostrand]. In line with depressive realism theory [Alloy, L.B. & Abramson, L.Y. 1988, Depressive realism: four theoretical perspectives. In L. B. Alloy (Ed.), Cognitive processes in depression. New York: Guilford Press), the results also showed that when low and moderate living in the present groups were compared, the low group had fewer illusions. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Most attribution theories focus on inductive inferences and abstract causal categories. By contrast, goal-based and knowledge structure theories focus on people's perceptions of intentional actions, their deductive inferences, and their concrete explanations of actions. Goal-based theories have demonstrated the importance of goals and intentions as explanations. However, research shows that explanations of goal-based actions reflect the extremity and controllability of the actions, the presence of obstructions, and the type of causal question eliciting the explanation. These factors determine whether people prefer to invoke goals or enabling conditions (or conjunctions) as explanations. Judgments of explanations also reflect communicative principles or informativeness and relevance, more than logical judgments of probability and necessity. The goal-based approach is often seen as an alternative to the inductive covariational approach, but the two lines of research can be integrated.

The pathophysiological mechanism of increased fractures in young adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is unclear. We conducted a case-control study of trabecular bone microarchitecture and vertebral marrow adiposity in young women with T1DM. Thirty women with T1DM with a median age (range) age of 22.0 years (16.9, 36.1) attending one outpatient clinic with a median age at diagnosis of 9.7 years (0.46, 14.8) were compared with 28 age-matched healthy women who acted as controls. Measurements included MRI-based assessment of proximal tibial bone volume/total volume (appBV/TV), trabecular separation (appTb.Sp), vertebral bone marrow adiposity (BMA), and abdominal adipose tissue and biochemical markers of GH/IGF-1 axis (IGF-1, IGFBP3, ALS) and bone turnover. Median appBV/TV in cases and controls was 0.3 (0.22, 0.37) and 0.33 (0.26, 0.4), respectively (p = 0.018) and median appTb.Sp in T1DM was 2.59 (2.24, 3.38) and 2.32 (2.03, 2.97), respectively (p = 0.012). The median appBV/TV was 0.28 (0.22, 0.33) in those cases with retinopathy (n = 15) compared with 0.33 (0.25, 0.37) in those without retinopathy (p = 0.02). Although median visceral adipose tissue in cases was higher than in controls at 5733 mm(3) (2030, 11,144) and 3460 mm(3) (1808, 6832), respectively (p = 0.012), there was no difference in median BMA, which was 31.1% (9.9, 59.9) and 26.3% (8.5, 49.8) in cases and controls, respectively (p = 0.2). Serum IGF-1 and ALS were also lower in cases, and the latter showed an inverse association to appTbSp (r = -0.30, p = 0.04). Detailed MRI studies in young women with childhood-onset T1DM have shown clear deficits in trabecular microarchitecture of the tibia. Underlying pathophysiological mechanisms may include a microvasculopathy.

Background: Long-term obesity after pregnancy is associated with obesity prior to pregnancy and retention of weight postpartum. This study aims to identify socioeconomic differences in prepregnancy body mass index, quantify the impact of prepregnancy obesity on birth outcomes, and identify determinants of postpartum weight retention. Methods: A total of 2231 pregnant women, recruited from three public hospitals in Southeast Queensland in Australia during antenatal clinic visits, completed a questionnaire to elicit information on demographics, socioeconomic and behavioural characteristics. Perinatal information was extracted from hospital records. A follow-up questionnaire was completed by each participant at 12 months after the birth to obtain the mother’s postpartum weight, breastfeeding pattern, dietary and physical activity characteristics, and the child’s health and development information. Multivariate logistic regression method was used to model the association between prepregnancy obesity and outcomes. Results: Being overweight or obese prepregnancy was strongly associated with socioeconomic status and adverse behavioural factors. Obese women (18% of the cohort) were more likely to experience gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, cesarean delivery, and their children were more likely to experience intensive- or special-care nursery admission, fetal distress, resuscitation, and macrosomia. Women were more likely to retain weight postpartum if they consumed three or fewer serves of fruit/vegetables per day, did not engage in recreational activity with their baby, spent less than once a week on walking for 30 minutes or more or spent time with friends less than once per week. Mothers who breastfed for more than 3 months had reduced likelihood of high postpartum weight retention. Conclusions: Findings provide additional specificity to the increasing evidence of the predisposition of obesity prepregnancy on adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes. They may be used to target effective behavioural change interventions to address obesity in women.

Background Although road traffic injury is reported as the leading cause of work-related death in Australia, it is not clear, due to limitations in previous methods used, just how large a burden it is. Many organisations are unaware of the extent of work-related road traffic injury and, importantly, what can be done to reduce the burden. The proposed research will (i) estimate the prevalence of work-related road traffic injury and (ii) identify the organisational determinants associated with work-related road traffic injury. Methods and design The current study is designed to enumerate the problem and identify the individual driver-level, the supervisor-level and organisational-level factors associated with work-related road traffic injury. The multilevel systems protocol will involve a series of cross-sectional surveys administered to drivers of fleet vehicles (n=1200), supervisors of the drivers (n=1200) and senior managers (n=300) within the same organisation. Discussion The novel use of the multilevel systems protocol is critical to be able to accurately assess the specific determinants of driving safety within each context of an organisation. Results The results are expected to highlight that reducing injury in the workplace requires more than just individual compliance with safety procedures. It will also establish, for the first time, an occupational translation taskforce to ensure that the research findings are adopted into work-place practice and thereby directly contribute to reductions in work-related road traffic injury.

To examine the association of maternal pregravid body mass index (BMI) and child offspring, all-cause hospitalisations in the first 5 years of life.Prospective birth cohort study. From 2006 to 2011, 2779 pregnant women (2807 children) were enrolled in the Environments for Healthy Living: Griffith birth cohort study in South-East Queensland, Australia. Hospital delivery record and self-report baseline survey of maternal, household and demographic factors during pregnancy were linked to the Queensland Hospital Admitted Patients Data Collection from 1 November 2006 to 30 June 2012, for child admissions. Maternal pregravid BMI was classified as underweight (18.5 kg m(-)(2)), normal weight (18.5-24.9 kg m(-)(2)), overweight (25.0-29.9 kg m(-)(2)) or obese (⩾30 kg m(-)(2)). Main outcomes were the total number of child hospital admissions and ICD-10-AM diagnostic groupings in the first 5 years of life. Negative binomial regression models were calculated, adjusting for follow-up duration, demographic and health factors. The cohort comprised 8397.9 person years (PYs) follow-up.Children of mothers who were classified as obese had an increased risk of all-cause hospital admissions in the first 5 years of life than the children of mothers with a normal BMI (adjusted rate ratio (RR) =1.48, 95% confidence interval 1.10-1.98). Conditions of the nervous system, infections, metabolic conditions, perinatal conditions, injuries and respiratory conditions were excessive, in both absolute and relative terms, for children of obese mothers, with RRs ranging from 1.3-4.0 (PYs adjusted). Children of mothers who were underweight were 1.8 times more likely to sustain an injury or poisoning than children of normal-weight mothers (PYs adjusted).RESULTS suggest that if the intergenerational impact of maternal obesity (and similarly issues related to underweight) could be addressed, a significant reduction in child health care use, costs and public health burden would be likely.

Objective The objective of this study is to identify the prevalence of opioid prescription use in an Australian workers' compensation population and assess predictors of long-term use. Design Retrospective administrative data analysis. Setting WorkSafe Victoria (Australia) workers' compensation. Subjects Workers with a workers' compensation claim were included if the injury/illness started in 2008 or 2009 (N = 54,931). Methods Claim payments records dating up to 2 years postinjury were analyzed to determine receipt of prescription opioids. Long-term use was defined as use of any opioid beyond 1 year postinjury. Results Within the follow-up period, 8,933 (16.3%) workers claimed prescription opioids: 10.0% claimed opioids in the first year only, and 6.3% claimed opioids beyond the first year. The most commonly received opioids were codeine (10.4%), oxycodone (7.5%), and tramadol (5.0%). Dextropropoxyphene, which is considered unsafe in many countries because of potentially fatal side effects, was used by 1.9% of injured workers. Progression to long-term use of opioids was common (N = 3,446; 39%): age (35–64 years; the association with age followed an inverse U-shaped curve), women, laborers, lower socioeconomic status, greater work disability, and greater hospital expense were associated with opioid use beyond the first year postinjury. Conclusion Prescription opioid use for workplace injury in Australia is common but not as common as reports from U.S. workers' compensation schemes. The type of opioid and number of repeat prescriptions are factors that should be carefully considered by practitioners prescribing opioids to injured workers: progression to long-term use is common and not fully explained by injury severity.

Benzodiazepines, tricyclic antidepressants and local anaesthetics are frequently involved in poisoning episodes and fatalities. A specific, sensitive and rapid procedure for identifying and quantifying such drugs in postmortem matrices has been developed using solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Very clean extracts were obtained in one step using SPME. The most commonly used fibre coatings were tested to select the best coating for SPME of the drugs. The appropriate fibre coating for most drugs was polyacrylate, followed by Carbowax-divinylbenzene. A Hewlett-Packard 5890 gas chromatograph in combination with a Trio 2000 mass spectrometer was used to analyse the samples. Temperature, time, pH and addition of sodium chloride were optimized to obtain consistent extraction. The between-day and within-day coefficients of variation were less than 16% and less than 6%, respectively.

A pilot survey was undertaken of injury presentations to a public hospital emergency department to determine patterns of alcohol use in this population. Of the 402 injury presentations in the study period, a total of 236 injury cases were interviewed, of whom 45% (n = 107) and 29% (n = 69) had consumed alcohol 24 and 6 hours prior to injury. Mean age for all injury presentations was 35.1 years, and 32.6 years for alcohol injury cases. For both injury groups, males were significantly younger than females. Recent alcohol ingestion was three times more common among male than female injury presentations, but with females drinking at significantly lower levels. Of males who had consumed alcohol 6 hours prior to injury, nearly 70% were drinking at NHMRC harmful levels and 61% had drunk more than eight standard drinks. Overall, alcohol-involved injury cases commonly occurred among low-income, single males around 30 years of age who were regular heavy drinkers who were drinking heavily in licensed premises prior to their injury, and who sustained injury through intentional harm. In addition, one in five of the alcohol-involved injury cases were aged 15–18 years, i.e. below the legal age of purchase. The high proportion of hazardous and harmful drinkers among those who had consumed alcohol within the last 6 hours, and the injury sample overall, highlights the need for further research to explore the relationship between the occurrence of injury and the drinking patterns and environments associated with injury. Further research is also required to assess the efficacy of early and brief interventions for alcohol and drug use within the emergency ward setting. This information would enable appropriate public health interventions to be initiated.

People are less likely to prepare for earthquakes and other disasters if they make fatalistic attributions for earthquake damage. The way that news media and public agencies present information about disasters may contribute to fatalistic attributions and judgments that the damage cannot be prevented. Attribution theory proposes that the distinctiveness and consensus of covarying events shape attributions. Four studies varied the distinctiveness of damage to a target building relative to other buildings and how much other earthquakes had damaged similar buildings to the target building (consensus and consistency). The conditions with high distinctiveness and high consensus and consistency enhanced attributions to building design and judgments that the damage was preventable. These findings have clear implications for civic education agencies and news reports; they show how agencies could reduce fatalism and facilitate preventive action by the way they present information about earthquakes and other disasters.

What makes a goal or a precondition a better explanation of an action or outcome? Recent research shows that whereas goals are preferred for common actions, preconditions are preferred for actions that require substantial resources, particularly when those actions are obstructed. Two studies examined whether judgments of goals and preconditions reflect the controllability of the events, and whether previous findings apply to events generated by participants. Participants judged goals and preconditions as explanations for desirable extreme and moderate events and assessed the controllability and probability of the events. For common events, goals were better explanations than preconditions, whereas for the extreme scenarios, preconditions were judged equal or better explanations. The extreme events were seen as less controllable than the moderate events, and the controllability of the events predicted judgments of goals as explanations. The results suggest that participants see goals as better explanations only for events that the person can control, and they judge preconditions to be good explanations for events where the person has little control. These findings suggest that equifinality may apply only to those actions and outcomes where the preconditions are readily obtainable.

Objective: To estimate the current incidence of serious injuries in Queensland surf lifesavers related to inflatable rescue boat (IRB) use, and to describe the nature of the injuries. Design: Descriptive study. Participants and setting: The 3050 members of Queensland's 57 surf life saving clubs who drove or crewed an IRB in Queensland between July 1997 and June 1998. Main outcome measures: Incidence of serious IRE-related injuries that resulted in claims for workers compensation in 1997-1998, and type and anatomical location of injury. Results: Thirty-six IRE-related injuries were lodged with WorkCover Queensland by surf lifesavers during 1997-1998, giving an estimated crude incidence of 1.2%. Sixty-one per cent of injuries affected the right side of the body; two-thirds of these involved the knee, leg and ankle. IRE injuries occurred most often during patrol duty (39% of cases) and it was usually the crewperson (86% of cases) who was injured. Fracture and fracture-dislocations constituted a third of the injuries, with 75% occurring in the right leg and ankle. Conclusions: Despite the known incomplete reporting of these injuries, our findings suggest that IRE-related injury caused substantial morbidity among volunteer surf lifesavers. The pattern of injuries suggests biomechanically preventable causes.

The context of intergroup relations in Aotearoa/New Zealand was investigated using perceptions of history by Maori (Polynesian-descended) and Pakeha (European-descended) samples from university and the general public. There was strong consensus that the Treaty of Waitangi was the most important event in New Zealand's history, but only Maori, the subordinate ethnic group, showed in-group favouritism in their judgments regarding the Treaty. Pakeha, the dominant group, showed outgroup favouritism, and distanced themselves from past injustices using linguistic strategies. Maori students showed interest in their ethnic origins (ontogeny), rating the distant past and Polynesian history higher, and free-recalling more events prior to European arrival than other groups; Maori in the general population shared a more similar perception of history to Pakeha. Both in-group favouritism and ontogeny were found in sentence-completion choices. Historical perceptions were strongly related to positions on current political issues. Results are related to social identity theory, social representations theory, and social dominance theory. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The psychometric characteristics and practicality of concept mapping as a technique for classroom assessment were evaluated. Subjects received 90 min of training in concept mapping techniques and were given a list of terms and asked to produce a concept map. The list of terms was from a course in which they were enrolled. The maps were scored by pairs of graduate students, each pair using one of six different scoring methods. The score reliability of the six scoring methods ranged from r 5 .23 to r 5 .76. The highest score reliability was found for the method based on the evaluation of separate proposi- tions represented. Correlations of map scores with a measure of the concept maps' similarity to a master map provided evidence supporting the validity of five of the six scoring methods. The times required to provide training in concept mapping, produce concepts, and score concept maps were compatible with the adoption of concept mapping as classroom assessment technique. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 475 -492, 1999

Divers travaux ont montre que le locus of control et les attitudes face au risque determinaient les conduites devant les dangers de la nature. Deux etudes ont tente de determiner lequel de ces deux facteurs etait le meilleur predicteur des jugements et de la preparation concernant les tremblements de terre. Ces notions ont ete reliees a des modeles de l'attribution des degâts causes par les tremblements de terre, par l'examen de la specificite des destructions sur les attributions et la complexite des explications. Dans les deux etudes, la premiere sur des etudiants, la seconde sur du tout-venant, les personnes fuyant le risque presentaient une plus grande probabilite de s'etre mieux preparees aux tremblements de terre et pensaient que ce genre de destruction pouvait etre plus facilement evite que la degradation generale de l'environnement. Chez les etudiants, la faible prise de risque etait reliee a l'impression qu'un tremblement de terre etait vraisemblable. Les etudiants avec un locus of control plutot interne presentaient une plus forte probabilite d'estimer que les degâts propres aux tremblements de terre pouvaient etre evites, tandis que les non-etudiants avec egalement un locus of control plutot interne presentaient une plus forte probabilite de fournir des explications complexes des destructions dues aux tremblements de terre. Ces resultats peuvent etre utilises pour ameliorer la preparation aux tremblements de terre et autre aleas.

Recent research on causal inference suggests that common actions tend to be attributed to goals, whereas difficult actions, if obstructed, are attributed primarily to preconditions. The present studies examine the way that the framing of causal questions influences ratings of goals and preconditions for common actions. The studies test the view that ‘why’ questions favour goal explanations, by presenting causal questions framed as ‘why’ questions or ‘explain’ questions. Structured and free-response measures were used. They show that when the question is expressed as asking why an action occurs, goals are rated better than preconditions, regardless of the presence of obstacles, whereas if the question is framed as requesting an explanation of the action, preconditions are deemed better explanations than goals for obstructed actions. Goals remain better explanations when the action is unobstructed. These findings confirm the importance of the framing of causal questions for research on causal explanation, and suggest that the phrasing of causal questions influences the focus of explanations. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Several theories propose that people discount a cause of an action when other plausible causes are present. This view has recently been challenged, but the relevant research has not been reviewed. In this article, the author reviews research on factors that affect discounting and the use of conjunctive explanations. Some studies are inconclusive because inappropriate measures are used. Other studies fail to distinguish between the probability, necessity, sufficiency, and relevance of causes. When these distinctions are recognized, patterns of discounting are predictable. When causes are presented sequentially, people may underdiscount the prior cause, suggesting that an anchoring process may limit discounting. In other cases, discounting is absent because people perceive multiple causal influences on actions or because they judge that certain causes are necessary or sufficient. Theory has assumed that causes are negatively associated, but causes may be independent or positively associated. This conclusion challenges analogies between discounting and scientific and legal reasoning.

Background Motorcycle fatalities constitute the majority of road traffic deaths in Malaysia. The aims of this study were to describe the pattern of fatal injuries among Klang Valley fatal motorcyclists and to describe the factors associated with fatal (vs non-fatal) injuries. Methods A cross-sectional analysis was performed on data from a case series of injured (fatal and non-fatal) motorcyclists recruited from Klang Valley between 14th March 2010 and 13th March 2011. Fatal cases in the cases series were identified from the Police files. Non-fatal cases were recruited from five major hospitals in the study region. Information used in the analyses were obtained from Police crash reports, hospital medical records, and Coroner's records of the participant sample. Results Of the 177 fatal cases, 142 (80.2%) were categorised as instantaneous death while 35 (19.8%) cases were categorised as experiencing delayed death. Thirty two percent of the cases had a Maximum Abbreviated Injury Score (MAIS) of 5 with head injury being the most common cause of death. Significant predictors of fatal (vs non-fatal) injury included ethnic groups, monthly income, alcohol and drug use and road type. Alcohol and drug use was shown to be the strongest predictor with adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of 14.77 (95% CI 3.32–65.65). Conclusion Factors related to the motorcyclists, road user behaviour and the road environment as well as pre-hospitalisation emergency care must be addressed efficiently in low and middle income countries to reduce the number and severity of motorcycle-related injuries.

Heider (1958) claimed that goals are normally better explanations of actions than preconditions, because people can manipulate the preconditions required for the action. Recent research supporting this view examined common actions where the conditions necessary for the action are readily available. The present studies show that when the preconditions necessary for an action are difficult to obtain, the availability of those conditions comprises a better explanation than the relevant goal. This trend is clearest with actions requiring substantial skills or money, although preconditions also rise in importance with common actions that are obstructed. These findings have important implications for theories of attribution, and they provide the basis for conceptual links between goal-based theories and covariation models.

Attributional models of depression propose that a negative attributional style is a vulnerability feature in depression, but opinions differ as to whether to assess attributional style for hypothetical or actual events. The present longitudinal study examined whether attributions for hypothetical and real events predicted concurrent and delayed dysphoria. At Time 1, students made attributions for hypothetical events (Attributional Style Questionnaire) and real events (Attribution Questionnaire), and completed measures of dysphoria (Beck Depression Inventory). One month later they repeated the Attribution Questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory. Attributions for real events formed the strongest single predictor of current dysphoria, whereas attributions for hypothetical events comprised the strongest single predictor of later dysphoria. The combination of attributions for hypothetical events at Time 1 and attributions for real events at Time 2 provided the strongest overall predictor of depression at Time 2. These findings have several implications for the attributional models of depression.

Cultured chondrocytes derived from the caudal and cephalic ends of embryonic chick sterna have been compared with each other and with whole sternum, by using a panel of 21 lectins to probe the distribution of oligosaccharides in glycoconjugates of cells and matrix at various times of culture or development. On culture in collagen gels, the cells changed their morphology with time, degrading glycan in the surrounding culture medium and depositing new matrix, the glycan content of which reflected the site of origin of the cells, indicating that the glycan phenotype of both cells and matrix (‘glycotype’) was predetermined and persistent. Sterna of embryonic chicks showed unexpected complexity in their distribution pattern of glycan, containing at least six distinct regions. Major regional temporal differences were evident among saccharides terminating in α-N-acetyl galactosamine and β-galactose, while changes in glycans terminating in fucose, sialic acid and α-mannose were somewhat less marked. Subsets of complex N-glycans changed little.

This paper provides an overview of the ecological study design and its application to injury prevention. The advantages and disadvantages of ecological designs are described and the principle characteristics of the ecological design are highlighted. The paper concludes by highlighting the pivotal role that ecological studies can have in our understanding of the complex interaction between the environment and injury, and the application of this design in elucidating key population based strategies for injury prevention.

OBJECTIVE: To establish trends in whiplash-related health service use and cost in Victoria, Australia. Design: Administrative data analysis. Subjects: Whiplash patients claiming Transport Accident Commission (TAC) compensation for accidents dating between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2009 (n = 51,263). METHODS: Injury-related health service use during one year following the accident was determined from claim payment records. The incidence of whiplash claims in Victoria was calculated, as were inflation-adjusted health care costs. RESULTS: In 2000-2009, the incidence of compensable whiplash decreased from 1.56 to 1.14 per 1,000 person-years. Physiotherapy, pharmaceuticals, general practitioner, chiro-practic, radiology and osteopathy sessions were the most commonly claimed services. General practitioner, allied health and radiology services decreased, but analgesic use increased. Per person-years in the population, whiplash-related medical expenses were 71% greater for women than men. Overall, population burden decreased by 38%; the decline was most pronounced in persons aged 18-24 (54% decrease) and least pronounced in those aged ≥ 55 (23% decrease). CONCLUSION: The population-based health service cost of whiplash decreased between 2000 and 2009. The overall reduction was related to a decrease in incidence and a reduction in service use per whiplash claim. Language: en

While a safe systems approach has long been acknowledged as the underlying philosophy of contemporary road safety strategies, systemic applications are sparse. This article argues that systems-based methods from the discipline of Ergonomics have a key role to play in road transport design and evaluation. To demonstrate, the Cognitive Work Analysis framework was used to evaluate two road designs – a traditional Melbourne intersection and a cut-through design for future intersections based on road safety safe systems principles. The results demonstrate that, although the cut-through intersection appears different in layout from the traditional intersection, system constraints are not markedly different. Furthermore, the analyses demonstrated that redistribution of constraints in the cut-through intersection resulted in emergent behaviour, which was not anticipated and could prove problematic. Further, based on the lack of understanding of emergent behaviour, similar design induced problems are apparent across both intersections. Specifically, incompatibilities between infrastructure, vehicles and different road users were not dealt with by the proposed design changes. The importance of applying systems methods in the design and evaluation of road transport systems is discussed.

In this article, an application of cognitive work analysis (CWA), using the strategies analysis diagram (SAD) method, to model performance variability in road transport, is presented. Specifically, the method was used to describe performance variability across four road user groups (drivers, cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians) when turning right at an urban signalised intersection. The analysis demonstrated that the method was able to identify a comprehensive range of strategies that road users can potentially use while turning right at an intersection, thereby describing a range of performance variability within intersection systems. Furthermore, the method identified constraints, disturbances, changes in circumstances and other influences on road user performance variability. It is concluded that the CWA/SAD approach was able to describe both the different ways in which activities can be executed and disturbances, situations and constraints that create performance variability. The implications of these findings for road design and intersection safety are discussed along with the benefits and drawbacks of the methodology used.Recently, the strategies analysis diagram was proposed as a method to support the cognitive work analysis framework in modelling performance variability. This article evaluated this method within a complex sociotechnical system, namely road transport. The application provided insight into performance variability across road user groups when turning right at intersections.

The detection of virus in osteoclasts from Pagetic patients is now well known, but it has yet to be shown convincingly that the presence of virus in Pagetic osteoclasts influences their behaviour. In this study, osteoclasts from embryonic chick tibiae were infected with canine distemper virus or measles virus and compared with mock-infected controls. Infection was confirmed using virus-specific fluorescent antibodies. It was found that virus infection did not alter osteoclast morphology or tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activity. Both infected and mock-infected osteoclasts produced resorption pits on bovine bone slices; these could be divided into two distinct size classes with a computer-based measuring system. Virus infection significantly increased the proportion of the larger size class of resorption pit. These results suggest that virus infection can increase bone resorption by osteoclasts, lending further support to the hypothesis that viruses play a role in Paget's disease of bone.

Do mildly depressed individuals make different judgments about personally relevant events than their normal peers? Previous studies have examined this issue in regard to predictions: the present study considers whether these predictions correspond to recall of past events. Dysphoric and normal subjects made predictions about positive and negative events in their personal and academic worlds, and indicated whether these same events had occurred in the previous four weeks. Subjects' reports a month later demonstrated that the normal group recalled, predicted, and subsequently reported more positive than negative events, whereas the dysphoric group recalled, predicted, and later reported an equivalent number of positive and negative events. The normal subject appear to believe that their life consists of more positive happenings than negative, whereas the dysphoric subjects perceive the future and the past as involving similar proportions of positive and negative events.