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Biomedical subjects

J Alsop

Publications and source records attributed to J Alsop.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Respiratory and fecal shedding of porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCV) in sentinel weaned pigs and sequence of the partial S-gene of the PRCV isolates.

Porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCV), a spike (S) gene deletion mutant of Transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), causes mild or subclinical respiratory infections in pigs. The shedding of PRCV/TGEV was studied at different days post-arrival in fecal and nasal swabs from PRCV/TGEV seronegative sentinel pigs introduced into a PRCV seropositive herd with questionable TGEV serology and diarrhea. Nasal shedding of PRCV was detected in 57% and 63% of samples by nested-RT-PCR and cell culture immunofluorescence (CCIF), respectively. However fecal shedding of PRCV was detected in 37% of the samples by nested-RT-PCR and 19% by CCIF. Four respiratory and 5 fecal PRCV strains were isolated in swine testicle cells including nasal/fecal PRCV pairs (isolated at the same time) from 3 pigs. Comparison of nasal/fecal PRCV pairs from individual pigs revealed different deletions in the spike (S) gene (648 or 681 nt) in 2 pairs and a consistent change in nt 790/791 (aa T to V) for all pairs. In preliminary studies, inoculation of gnotobiotic pigs with each plaque-purified pair of the nasal and fecal PRCV isolates, revealed no clinical disease but different tropisms. The nasal isolate was shed both nasally and in feces, but the fecal isolate was shed only marginally in feces, and not nasally. Our results show that nested-RT-PCR was as sensitive as CCIF for PRCV detection in nasal swabs, but was more sensitive than CCIF for PRCV detection in fecal samples; alternatively PRCV shed in feces was more labile with loss of infectivity. The S-gene sequence differences found between the fecal and respiratory PRCV isolates may influence their tissue tropism. These new PRCV isolates should be useful to understand the molecular basis of coronavirus tropism and evolution in infected swine.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

The work-related fatal injury study: numbers, rates and trends of work-related fatal injuries in New Zealand 1985-1994.

AIMS: To determine the number and rates of work-related fatal injuries by employment status, occupation, industry, age and gender in New Zealand 1985-1994. METHODS: Potential cases of work-related injury deaths of persons aged 15-84 years were identified from the national electronic mortality data files. Main exclusions were deaths due to suicide and deaths due to motor vehicle crashes. The circumstances of the deaths of each fatal incident meeting inclusion criteria were then reviewed directly from coronial files to determine work-relatedness. RESULTS: The rate of work-related fatal injury in New Zealand was 5.03/100000 workers per year for the study period. There was a significant decline in crude rate over the study period. However, this was in substantial part accounted for by changes in occupation and industry mix. Older workers, male workers, self-employed workers, and particular occupational groups, all had substantially elevated rates. Agricultural and helicopter pilots, forestry workers and fishery workers had the highest rates. Farmers, forestry workers, and fishery workers also had high numbers of deaths, together accounting for nearly 40% of all deaths. CONCLUSIONS: This study has demonstrated that work-related fatal injury remains a pressing problem for New Zealand. Several areas in urgent need of prevention efforts were highlighted.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed2001

Under-reporting of motor vehicle traffic crash victims in New Zealand.

Our aim was to ascertain the extent of under-reporting of seriously injured motor vehicle traffic crash victims, as recorded by police in New Zealand, and to what extent this coverage was biased by crash, injury, demographic, and geographic factors. Hospital data and police records were linked using probabilistic methods. During 1995, less than two-thirds of all hospitalised vehicle occupant traffic crash victims were recorded by the police. Reporting rates varied significantly by age, injury severity, length of stay in hospital, month of crash, number of vehicles involved, whether or not a collision occurred, and geographic region, but not by gender, ethnicity or day of the week of the crash. Those using these police files for prioritization, resource allocation and evaluation purposes need to be aware of the extent and nature of these biases contained within these databases.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2001

Impact of graduated driver licensing restrictions on crashes involving young drivers in New Zealand.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact on young driver crashes of the three main driving restrictions in the New Zealand graduated driver licensing (GDL) system: night-time curfew, no carrying of young passengers, and a blood alcohol limit of 30 mg/100 ml. METHOD: The database for this study was created by linking police crash reports to hospital inpatient records (1980-95). Multivariate logistic regression was used to compare car crashes involving a young driver licensed before GDL (n=2,252) with those who held a restricted graduated licence (n=980) and with those who held a full graduated licence (n=1,273), for each of the main driving restrictions. RESULTS: Compared with the pre-GDL group, the restricted licence drivers had fewer crashes at night (p=0.003), fewer involving passengers of all ages (p=0.018), and fewer where alcohol was suspected (p=0.034), but not fewer involving young casualties (p=0.980). Compared with the pre-GDL drivers, those with the full graduated licence had fewer night crashes (p=0.042) but did not differ significantly for any of the other factors examined. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that some of the GDL restrictions, especially the night-time curfew, have contributed to a reduction in serious crashes involving young drivers.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2000

Changes in methods of male youth suicide: 1980-95.

AIMS: To determine if there have been changes in the methods used, particularly hangings, for male youth suicides; whether any changes were similar to those for other age groups; and to what degree any changes identified may have impacted on overall suicide rates. METHOD: All males aged fifteen to 24 years of age who died between 1980 and 1995 inclusive, and whose death was assigned one of the WHO external cause codes for "suicide and self-inflicted injury" (E950-E959), were selected from the New Zealand Health Information Services national mortality database. RESULTS: The rate for suicide by hanging was relatively low and stable in the early 1980's. By 1985 it had started to increase dramatically up until 1989, at which point it become stable again. The substantive increase in hangings was largely confined to males aged 24 years and younger. The increase in suicide by hanging cannot be attributed to substitution in methods as the rates for all other methods have also increased, albeit less dramatically. CONCLUSIONS: Much of the increase in suicide among male youths is due to an increase in hanging. The reasons for the choice of this method are unknown, and warrant study.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Head injuries to bicyclists and the New Zealand bicycle helmet law.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of helmet wearing and the New Zealand helmet wearing law on serious head injury for cyclists involved in on-road motor vehicle and non-motor vehicle crashes. The study population consisted of three age groups of cyclists (primary school children (ages 5-12 years), secondary school children (ages 13-18 years), and adults (19+ years)) admitted to public hospitals between 1988 and 1996. Data were disaggregated by diagnosis and analysed using negative binomial regression models. Results indicated that there was a positive effect of helmet wearing upon head injury and this effect was relatively consistent across age groups and head injury (diagnosis) types. We conclude that the helmet law has been an effective road safety intervention that has lead to a 19% (90% CI: 14, 23%) reduction in head injury to cyclists over its first 3 years.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1989

Evaluation of consumer uses of first aid recommendations on pesticide labels.

In order to evaluate consumer uses of first-aid recommendations on pesticide labels and the appropriateness of current label first-aid statements, callers to the University of California, Davis Regional Poison Control Center (RPCC) reporting pesticide exposures were questioned during the period from August 27 to September 30, 1987. Of 2,650 calls received by the RPCC during the study period, 160 (6.0%) of the calls related to pesticides. Eighty-nine (55.6%) of the callers in these cases participated in our label evaluation survey. Only 47 (53%) of the survey participants reported having a product container or label available at the time they called the RPCC. Of 15 participants identifying themselves as physicians or nurses inquiring about exposures to patients, only 1 (7%) reported having access to a product label, compared to 46 (63%) of 74 other callers, a difference in proportion which was highly significant (p less than 0.001). All calls received relating to pesticides were reviewed in order to identify product labels from the registration file at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). Of the 160 calls received, 133 contained information sufficient to allow for identification of the product involved and an understanding of the exposure event. Label first-aid information in these cases was appropriate to the circumstances of exposure in 63 (47%) of these cases, completely or partially incorrect in 20 (12%), and missing from the label in the remaining 50 (37%) of the cases. Inappropriate first-aid advice was limited to cases involving ingestion while missing first-aid advice was common for all routes of exposure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

First Aid↗