Road injuries and relaxed licensing requirements for driving light motorcycles in Spain: a time-series analysis.

Objective: To assess differences between the risk of injury for motorcycle riders before and after the passing of a law allowing licenced car drivers to drive light motorcycles without having to take a special motorcycle driving test.

Methods: We carried out a quasi-experimental study involving comparison groups, and a time-series analysis from 1 January 2002 to 30 April 2008. The study group was composed of people injured while driving or riding a light motorcycle (engine capacity 51-125 cubic centimetres), while the comparison groups consisted of riders of heavy motorcycles (engine capacity > 125 cc), mopeds (engine capacity View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Does the short form of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-C) work at a trauma emergency department?

The accuracy of the consumption items of AUDIT (AUDIT-C) was analyzed, using the full AUDIT score as gold standard, in 120 traffic casualties (78% men and 22% women), median age 27 years (IQR = [22-34]), entering an urban emergency room between 2001 and 2003, with (67%) and without (33%) a positive blood alcohol level (> or =0.2 g/L). Sensitivity, specificity, predictive value, overall accuracy, and receiver operating characteristics of AUDIT-C were measured.

A simple and reliable procedure for the determination of psychoactive drugs in oral fluid by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A simple and reliable gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method for identifying and quantifying psychoactive drugs in oral fluid is described. Substances under investigation were: psychostimulant drugs (amphetamine, methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxiamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-ethylamphetamine, phentermine), cocaine and metabolites (benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene, and ecgonine methyl esther), cannabinoids (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, 11-nor-9-carboxy-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, 11-hydroxy-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabinol and cannabidiol), opiates (6-monoacetylmorphine, morphine and codeine), hypnotics (flurazepam, flunitrazepam, dipotassium chlorazepate, alprazolam, diazepam and oxazepam), antidepressant drugs (amitryptiline, paroxetine and sertraline), antipsychotic drugs (haloperidol, chlorpromazine and fluphenazine) chlormethiazole, loratidine, hydroxyzine, diphenhydramine, valproic acid and gabapentin. After the addition of deuterated analogues of morphine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, (+/-)-11-nor-9-carboxy-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and clonazepam as internal standards, all the compounds were simultaneously extracted from oral fluid by solid-phase extraction procedure.

[Short-term effectiveness of brief interventions in alcohol-positive traffic casualties].

Objectives: To investigate the effectiveness of brief interventions to reduce alcohol intake in traffic casualties with a positive blood alcohol concentration.

Methods: Nine hundred forty-eight eligible casualties (97.6% of eligible casualties within a universe of 1106) were screened for alcohol and 126 (13.

[Characteristics of road accident victims with positive blood alcohol levels].

Objective: To identify the differential features of positive blood alcohol level (BAL) in people injured in road crashes who were attended an acute care service.

Methods: Cross-sectional study of persons aged 18 years old or older injured in motor vehicle crashes who were attended in the Traumatology Emergency Department of Vall d'Hebron Hospital (Spain) between July 2001 and February 2002.

Results: The study sample included 431 patients.

Nevirapine-containing regimens in HIV-infected naive patients with CD4 cell counts of 200 cells/microl or less.

We retrospectively evaluated the effectiveness of nevirapine-containing regimens in 118 naive patients initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy with CD4 cell counts S 200 cells/jl. After 24 months, 51% of patients continued nevirapine, 43 and 83% had viral loads < 50 copies/ml by intent-to-treat and on-treatment analyses, and a mean increase of +246 CD4 cells/microl occurred. More than 80% of patients who continued with nevirapine had viral loads < 50 copies/ml and CD4 cell counts > 200 cells/pl.