Temporary Incapacitation Rates and Permanent Loss of Medical License in Commercial Airline Pilots.

The purpose of this study was to report the temporary loss of medical license and pilot incapacitations in the United Arab Emirates from 2018-2021. The General Civil Aviation Authority database was searched for all reported temporary suspensions of license between 2018-2021 and the ICD-10 codes were extracted. A total of 1233 incapacitations was reported with a mean license suspension of 148.

The Test-Retest Reliability of the Pieterse Protocol Return to Flight Assessment for Cabin Crew.

The purpose of this study was to assess test-retest reliability of the Pieterse return to flight duty protocol for cabin crew to return to flight duties. Flight attendants between 20-50 yr old were included if they underwent rehabilitation at the musculoskeletal rehabilitation unit for a musculoskeletal injury, surgical treatment for orthopedic trauma or industrial injuries, and were assessed by the treating physical therapist and aviation medical examiner to be ready for return to work. Test-retest reliability was calculated with the Fleiss kappa coefficient.

Pilots After Shoulder Surgery and Rehabilitation in a Dedicated Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation Unit of a Major Airline Returned to Work Earlier When Compared to Standard Rehabilitation by External Providers.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the time to return to work (RTW) for pilots who underwent shoulder surgery and underwent rehabilitation within a dedicated musculoskeletal rehabilitation (MSK) unit of a major airline to a group of pilots who had standard rehabilitation and to calculate cost savings.

Methods: The database of Emirates Airline was searched for all ICD-10 codes relating to shoulder pathology. Pilots who had shoulder surgery between January 2017 and June 2021 were included.

Effects of swab pool size and transport medium on the detection and isolation of avian influenza viruses in ostriches.

Background: Rigorous testing is a prerequisite to prove freedom of notifiable influenza A virus infections in commercially farmed ostriches, as is the isolation and identification of circulating strains. Pooling 5 ostrich tracheal swabs in a 50 % v/v phosphate-buffered saline (PBS): glycerol transport medium (without antibiotics) is the current standard practice to increase reverse transcription real time PCR (RT-rtPCR) testing throughput and simultaneously reduce the test costs. In this study we investigated whether doubling ostrich tracheal swabs to 10 per pool would affect the sensitivity of detection of H5N8 high pathogenicity avian influenza virus (HPAIV) and H7N1 low pathogenicity avian influenza virus (LPAIV) by quantitative RT-rtPCR, and we also compared the effect of a protein-rich, brain heart infusion broth (BHI) virus transport media containing broad spectrum antimicrobials (VTM) on the efficacy of isolating the H5N8 and H7N1 viruses from ostrich tracheas, since the historical isolation success rate from these birds has been poor.

Identification of bacteria in the tracheal swabs of farmed ostriches and their effect on the viability of influenza A virus.

Avian influenza surveillance is a requirement for commercial trade in ostrich products, but influenza A viruses (IAVs) have proven difficult to isolate from ostrich tracheal swabs that test positive using molecular methods. We hypothesized that microbes unique to the ostrich trachea propagate in the transport medium after sampling and affect viral viability. We cultured tracheal swabs from 50 ostriches on 4 farms in South Africa, and recovered and identified 13 bacterial, 1 yeast, and 2 fungal species.