BACKGROUND: Truck driving is known as one of the occupations with the highest accident rate. This study investigates the characteristics of traffic collisions according to road types (expressway and rural road). METHODS: Classifying 267 accidents into expressway and rural road, we analyzed them based on driver characteristics (age, working experience, size of employment), time characteristics (day of accident, time, weather), and accident characteristics (accident causes, accident locations, accident types, driving conditions). RESULTS: When we compared the accidents by road conditions, no differences were found between the driver characteristics. However, from the accident characteristics, the injured person distributions were different by the road conditions. In particular, driving while drowsy is shown to be highly related with the accident characteristics. CONCLUSION: This study can be used as a guideline and a base line to develop a plan of action to prevent traffic accidents. It can also help to prepare formal regulations about a truck driver's vehicle maintenance and driving attitude for a precaution on road accidents.
Accidents, Traffic ; Humans ; Motor Vehicles* ; Occupations ; Social Control, Formal

BACKGROUND: Household waste collectors (HWCs) are exposed to hazardous conditions. This study investigates the patterns of workplace injuries and work-related illnesses of HWCs. METHODS: This study uses cases of workplace injuries and work-related illnesses of HWCs that occurred between 2010 and 2011. We analyzed 325 cases of injuries and 36 cases of illnesses according to the workers' age, length of employment, size of workplace, injured part of body, day and month of injury, type of accident, agency of accident, and collection process. RESULTS: There were significant differences in the effect of workers' length of employment, injured part of body, type of accident, agency of accident, and collection process. Results show that most injuries occur in workers in their 50s and older. This study also shows that 51.4% of injuries occur at businesses with 49 employees or fewer. Injuries to waste collectors happen most often when workers are electrocuted after slipping on the ground. The second most prevalent form of injury is falling, which usually happens when workers hang from the rear of the truck during transportation or otherwise slip and fall from the truck. Work-related illnesses amongst waste collectors are mostly musculoskeletal conditions due to damaging postures. CONCLUSION: These findings will be instructive in devising policies and guidelines for preventing workplace injuries and work-related illnesses of HWCs.
Accident Prevention ; Accidental Falls ; Commerce ; Employment ; Family Characteristics* ; Motor Vehicles ; Posture ; Transportation

Whiplash injury in low-speed traffic accidents are not objectively verified by medical equipment, thereby creating scope for misuse, which has resulted in huge social losses worldwide. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of low-speed vehicular rear-impact collisions on middle-aged men, and to analyze the head and neck injury criteria for the symptomatic human volunteers. Data was examined from the results of 50 dynamic sled tests, originally performed by Hong et al. (2012). In the previous tests, 50 men aged 30~50 years were exposed to an impulse equivalent to a bumper-to-bumper rear collision under medical supervision, and no resulting whiplash injury was identified. In this study, for 6 subjects who experienced dull aches over their bodies, head injury criteria (HIC15) and neck injury criteria (N(km)) were calculated according to the accelerations, forces, and moments at the occipital condyle measured by motion capture system. Although there were no changes in magnetic resonance imaging findings in all subjects at the pre-/post-test orthopedic examination, 6 subjects revealed mild aches around the shoulder, back, or lumbar area, and their symptoms disappeared within 2 days. The head and neck injury criteria, HIC15 (3.086 +/- 2.942) and N(km) (0.077 +/- 0.064) were obtained, and the maximum HIC15 and N(km) were found to be significantly lower than the critical injury assessment reference values (HIC15: 700, N(km): 0.3). Moreover, even though 2 subjects were exposed to the same level of change of velocity (7.9 km/h), each N(km) was significantly different (0.179, 0.057). One can therefore conclude that N(km) can vary according to voluntary movements in the human subject.
Acceleration ; Accidents, Traffic ; Aged ; Automobiles ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Head ; Human Experimentation ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Neck ; Neck Injuries ; Organization and Administration ; Orthopedics ; Reference Values ; Shoulder ; Whiplash Injuries

Supernumerary teeth develop from excessive proliferation and development of the dental lamina. Supernumerary teeth can cause several problems, including ectopic eruption, delayed eruption, root resorption of adjacent teeth, and diastema. Supernumerary teeth in infancy are rare and have rarely been reported. Case of a 2-day-old infant with 3 supernumerary teeth is presented here and the patient was followed up for 21 months. The erupted supernumerary tooth in the primary dentition was extracted under moderate sedation at the age of 14 months. Microcomputed tomography analysis of the extracted tooth confirmed microscopic root malformation. After extraction, the midline diastema was reduced and oral hygiene improved. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment can prevent complications of supernumerary teeth.

Background: A nationwide outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in South Korea caused massive economic losses in 2010. Since then, the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (QIA) has enhanced disinfection systems regarding livestock to prevent horizontal transmission of FMD and Avian influenza (AI). Although the amount of disinfectant used continues to increase, cases of FMD and AI have been occurring annually in Korea, except 2012 and 2013. Objectives: This study measured the concentration of the disinfectant to determine why it failed to remove the horizontal transmission despite increased disinfectant use. Methods: Surveys were conducted from February to May 2017, collecting 348 samples from disinfection systems. The samples were analyzed using the Standards of Animal Health Products analysis methods from QIA. Results: Twenty-three facilities used inappropriate or non-approved disinfectants. Nearly all sampled livestock farms and facilities—93.9%—did not properly adjust the disinfectant concentration. The percentage using low concentrations, or where no effective substance was detected, was 46.9%. Furthermore, 13 samples from the official disinfection station did not use effective disinfectant, and—among 72 samples from the disinfection station—88.89% were considered inappropriate concentration, according to the foot-and-mouth disease virus guidelines; considering the AIV guideline, 73.61% were inappropriate concentrations. Inappropriate concentration samples on automatic (90.00%) and semi-automatic (90.90%) disinfection systems showed no significant difference from manual methods (88.24%). Despite this study being conducted during the crisis level, most disinfectants were used inappropriately. Conclusions This may partially explain why horizontal transmission of FMD and AI cannot be effectively prevented despite extensive disinfectant use.

Focal dystonia of musicians is one of the most disabling problems for professional musicians. It has focal task-specificity, presenting with involuntary flexion or extension of individual fingers when musicians play their instruments. It occurs mostly in pianists, and controversies still exist about the pathophysiology, whether it is caused by motor function disability or by a psychological condition. Although sensorimotor rehabilitation, change in instrument, skill or teacher, and immobilization with brace have been tried as treatment, there is still no definitive treatment. Because botox therapy has been effective in certain cases without irreversible side effects, this could be applied even in professional players. We report a case of focal dystonia of the hand in a professional pianist treated using electromyogram-guided botox injection and a review of the relevant medical literature.
Botulinum Toxins, Type A ; Braces ; Dystonic Disorders ; Fingers ; Hand ; Immobilization