Hollow silicon microneedles, fabricated using combined wet and dry etching techniques, for transdermal delivery and diagnostics.

Microneedle-based technologies are the subject of intense research and commercial interest for applications in transdermal delivery and diagnostics, primarily because of their minimally invasive and painless nature, which in turn could lead to increased patient compliance and self-administration. In this paper, a process for the fabrication of arrays of hollow silicon microneedles is described. This method uses just two bulk silicon etches - a front-side wet etch to define the 500 µm tall octagonal needle structure itself, and a rear-side dry etch to create a 50 µm diameter bore through the needle. This reduces the number of etches and process complexity over the approaches described elsewhere. Ex-vivo human skin and a customised applicator were used to demonstrate biomechanical reliability and the feasibility of using these microneedles for both transdermal delivery and diagnostics. Microneedle arrays show no damage even when applied to skin up to 40 times, are capable of delivering several mL of fluid at flowrates of 30 µL/min, and of withdrawing 1 µL of interstitial fluid using capillary action.

Evaluation of vehicle side airbag effectiveness in Victoria, Australia.

Side airbag systems were first introduced into vehicles around 1995 to help protect occupants from injury in side impact crashes. International studies have shown that side airbags are effective in reducing the risk of death and injury, however, serious injuries can still occur even when side airbags deploy. The objective of this study was to use detailed injury information from insurance injury compensation claims data linked to Police reported crash data to determine the effectiveness of side airbags in reducing the risk of death or injury for occupants involved in side impact crashes in Victoria, Australia based on the specific body regions that side airbag systems are designed to protect. It was found that head and torso-protecting dual airbag systems designed to protect the head, neck, face, chest and abdomen are highly effective in reducing driver death or injury due to near side crashes. They were associated with a statistically significant reduction of 41.1% (25.9%, 53.2%) in the odds of death or injury across all body regions; and a 48.0% (28.0%, 62.4%) reduction in the odds of death or injury to the head, neck, face, chest and abdomen. The study did not find any evidence that torso-protecting airbags alone are effective in reducing death or injury. Analysis results indicate that head and torso-protecting side airbag systems in vehicles are a highly effective technology for reducing the risk of death or injury to vehicle occupants in near side crashes. The magnitude of the injury reduction benefits estimated indicate that fitment of this technology to all vehicles should be a high priority and will yield significant savings in overall road trauma.

Older female drivers: an emerging transport safety and mobility issue in Australia.

This paper describes an investigation of safety, mobility and travel patterns in a sample of older women drivers and former drivers aged 60 years and over. Participants provided information on general health and functional abilities, travel and driving patterns, driving experiences and confidence, difficulty with and avoidance of driving situations, self-assessment of driving ability, crash and infringement history, the process and experiences leading up to stopping driving, and satisfaction with current mobility. The sample was a fairly active group, travelling frequently and substantial distances, and generally satisfied with their level of mobility. Current drivers were strongly interested in keeping driving for as long as possible, expressed strong concerns about the prospect of stopping driving and reported little evidence of self-regulation. In contrast, former drivers were less negative about driving cessation and mostly reported successful retirement from driving with few negative mobility consequences. Further, a number of relationships between crash involvement and driving experience, confidence of being a safe driver, and problems in driving situations were found. These findings have added to our understanding of the issues concerning the safety and mobility of older women. Implications for the promotion of safe driving practices are discussed.

Evaluation of electronic stability control effectiveness in Australasia.

Electronic stability control (ESC) is an in-vehicle technology aimed at improving primary safety by assisting the driver in avoiding loss of control of the vehicle. The aim of this study was to use available crash data from Australia and New Zealand to evaluate the effectiveness of ESC in reducing crash risk and to establish whether benefits estimated from overseas studies have translated to the Australian and New Zealand environments. The sample analysed included 7699 crashed vehicles fitted with ESC which comprised of 90 different models. Poisson regression was used to test whether the differences in the observed and expected crash counts for ESC fitted vehicles were significant, with exposure being induced from counts of rear end impacts. It was found that ESC reduced the risk of single vehicle crashes in which the driver was injured by 68% for 4WDs compared with 27% for passenger cars. The effect of ESC on multiple vehicle crashes in Australia and New Zealand was not clear. The long-term benefits of fitting ESC to all vehicles in Australia were also investigated based on the estimated single vehicle crash reductions.

Crash risk of older female drivers--contributing factors.

Using data from i) a self-administered survey of 673 older female drivers, and ii) a case-control study of 48 crash-involved and 44 non crash-involved older female drivers, some factors that may predict crash involvement were identified. Survey data gathered self-reported information on demographic characteristics, health status, travel patterns and driving practices. A battery of functional performance assessments were administered by trained experimenters in the case-control study, and participants completed a second detailed self-administered questionnaire. Factors found to predict crash involvement included driving characteristics such as being the main driver in the household, not highly confident of being a safe driver, experiencing difficulty driving in unfamiliar areas and having problems with the driving style of other drivers. In addition, low attentional, cognitive and motor skills and presence of multiple medical conditions were significant predictors of crash involvement.