Road crash in China from 2003 to 2005.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze characteristics and causes of road crash and injuries in China from 2003 to 2005. METHODS: The data of road crash in 2003-2005 were collected to study the characteristics including total vehicle number, occurrence rates of traffic accidents and serious traffic accidents so as to discuss the causes and characteristics of road crash in China. RESULTS: From 2003 to 2005, the numbers of traffic accidents, injuries and deaths as well as the mortality rates per 100,000 persons and per 10,000 vehicles declined in China. Until 2005, the total number of traffic accidents decreased to 450,000 and deaths to 99,000, with the mortality rate per 10,000 vehicles being 7.6 persons. While the drivers and passengers accounted for 33.2% and 26.6% of death casualties respectively in 2005. Most traffic accidents were caused by drivers, especially those with driving experience less than 3 years. Traffic accidents occurred on suburban roads accounted for 60%. The mortality rate of the traffic accidents per 100 km on the first grade road ranked the highest. The mortality rate of the traffic accidents on expressways ranked the highest, with continual increase of death and injury. CONCLUSIONS: At present, the increase trend of traffic accidents and casualties in China has been slowed down to some extent and shows a declining tendency, but the situation is far away from being optimistic. In order to cut down the number of traffic accidents and casualties, we should pay more attention to training and managing drivers with less than three driving years and those driving buses. Strict prevention measures should be laid on traffic accidents on first grade roads, expressways and suburban roads as well as the enhancement on improving first-aid system.

Motorcycle accidents in China.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the characteristics and causes of motorcycle accidents in China from 2000 to 2005. METHODS: We collected data on possession of motorcycles and automobiles, number of traffic crashes, casualty and economic loss from 2000-2005 Statistic Annual Report of Traffic Management Bureau, Ministry of Public Security of China. The data was processed statistically by SPSS 11.0 software package. RESULTS: During 6 years, the number of motorcycle accidents were up to 122,300 in 2003, which was the highest, and then gradually decreased. However, the casualty had the tendency of consistent increase, for example, the motorcycle accidents resulted in 26,200 deaths and 157,500 injuries in 2005. The mortality per 10, 000 motorcycles and the ratio of deaths to injuries were lower than those of automobiles, but the mortality per 100 motorcycle accidents was significantly higher than that of automobiles (P less than 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: China has attached great importance to the management of traffic safety, which is beneficial to control and reduce traffic accidents in recent years. However, the casualty keeps increasing annually. Therefore, it is urgent to strengthen the management of motorcycles, promote the education of motorcyclists, take effective traffic measures and improve the first-aid system of traffic injuries.

[Recent advancement in relationship between DNA degradation and postmortem interval].

Determination of postmortem interval (PMI) is one of the most valuable subjects in forensic practice. It, however, is often very difficult to accurately determine the PMI in daily practice. Forensic DNA technology has recently been used to estimate the PMI. It has certain advantage to traditional methods. This article reviews this technology with respect to its invention, development, advantage, disadvantage, and potential future applications with emphasis on correlation of DNA degradation and PMI.

Eight new γ-lactam alkaloids from the roots of the Hemerocallis minor Mill.

Eight new γ-lactam alkaloids, hemerominors A-H (1-8), including two pair of epimers (1-4), together with six known compounds (9-14) were isolated from the roots of Hemerocallis minor Mill. The structures of 1-8 were established on the basis of extensive NMR studies and HR-MS measurements as well as comparison with literature data. The absolute configurations of 1-8 were determined by CD spectral analysis and modified Mosher's method. All of compounds were evaluated for their inhibitory effects against LPS-induced NO production in RAW264.7 macrophages. Among them, compound 13 exhibited moderate inhibitory activity against NO production and with IC50 value of 18.0 µM.

Investigation on road traffic safety of the mountain areas in southwest China based on Wulong County, Chongqing Municipality.

OBJECTIVE: To study the present situation, characteristics, and main problems of the traffic safety in the mountain areas of Southwest China. METHODS: A study was done on the traffic status of Wulong County, Chongqing Municipality, by means of document review, field investigation, and inquiry. RESULTS: The traffic crashes and deaths in Wulong County were increasing since 1999. From 1997 to 2001, there occurred 126 severe and very severe traffic crashes resulting in 175 deaths and 411 serious injuries, which accounted for 9.4% of total crashes, 96.1% of total deaths, and 48.4% of total serious injuries, respectively. The severe and very severe traffic crashes were highest in 2000. One part for 83 km in length accounting for 3.0% of No. 319 National Highway was responsible for 54.5% of very severe traffic crashes, which closely related to conditions of the road itself and its environment and defective execution of traffic laws. CONCLUSIONS: Wulong County, one of the mountain counties in Southwest China, is now facing a complex and serious road traffic situation and serious traffic safety, with a high incidence of severe and very severe road traffic crashes. The crashes closely relate to imperfect road design, defective execution of traffic laws, imperfect management, and environmental factors.

The analysis of epidemiological characteristics of road traffic crashes in a mountain city in western China.

OBJECTIVE: To study the epidemiological characteristics and preventive methods of road traffic crashes in a mountain city in western China through sampling investigation of traffic crashes in different regions of Chongqing city in recent years. METHODS: Two police teams of traffic management in downtown, two teams in suburb, one team in county and one freeway team were randomly selected, and road traffic crashes between 1988 and 1997 were investigated and analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 13121 road traffic crashes with 6201 crashes with casualties were analyzed. The incidence of crashes was higher in May, June and July, and on Friday and Wednesday and at 8:00-12:00 and 14:00-18:00 within a day. Casualties were 44.0% in pedestrians and 42.5% in passengers of total casualties. The deaths and severe injuries in pedestrians were 59.1% of total deaths and 56.4% of total severe injuries. The age of drivers and passengers were mainly at 18-30 years, followed by 31-40 years. People over 60 years old accounted for 24.1% of total pedestrian casualty. Head injury was the most common reason for deaths. The main reasons for these crashes were improper driving and violating traffic laws. Violating traffic laws by pedestrian was one of the main reasons for pedestrian casualty. CONCLUSIONS: The crashes are related to the characteristics of geography, climate, society activity of people, and the sense of traffic safety, the basic traffic construction and management in Chongqing. The traffic casualty of pedestrian is a big problem in Chongqing. To prevent and decrease road traffic injuries effective methods should be worked out and propaganda on traffic safety and traffic management should be strengthened according to different characteristics of different regions. To strengthen the first aid and treatment of cranium-brain injury and chest-back injury is also helpful in decreasing traffic deaths.

Effect of environment on extremely severe road traffic crashes: retrospective epidemic analysis during 2000-2001.

OBJECTIVE: To make an epidemiological analysis of the effect of environment on extremely severe road traffic crashes (RTCs). METHODS: Epidemiologic data of extremely severe RTCs associated with environmental factors, including weather, topography, road conditions and other traffic conditions in Mainland China during 2000-2001, were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: (1) During 2000-2001, there were 3365 extremely severe RTCs with 13666 deaths, 12204 injuries and a direct economical loss of 136 million RMB. (2) Most extremely severe RTCs occurred in fine weather days and in the daytime. The high occurrence sites were plain areas, horizontal and straight roads, Grade B and C roads, ordinary road segment, and asphalt, smooth and mixed roads. (3) Compared with other RTCs, extremely severe RTCs were more likely to happen under following conditions: on cloudy, snowing, misty and blustering days; in hill and mountainous areas; on crooked and sloping roads; on freeway, Grade A, B, and C roads; mixed roads; ordinary, bridge, narrow and transitional roads; sand and dirt-roads; without traffic control measures; night without lighting. (4) Extremely severe RTCs of mountainous area or crooked and sloping roads were most severe in terms of deaths and injures per crash. CONCLUSIONS: Extremely severe RTCs are closely related with environmental factors. Rational road programming, enhancing road establishment and improving road conditions are probably effective measures to reduce the road traffic injuries.