[Severe perforating eye injury caused by an air bag in a traffic skid accident]. / Schwere perforierende Augenverletzung durch Airbag bei Schleuderunfall.

BACKGROUND: After a penetrating injury of the eye following a car accident the driver demanded accurate investigations by the Institute for Legal Medicine of Zurich concerning the security of the equipment, especially the airbag. This led to an astonishing explication of the mechanism of the injury, not without consequences for safety measures for drivers and front seat passengers in air bag equipped cars. CASE REPORT: Due to a relatively harmless accident, the driver suffered from a severe penetrating injury of the right eye after the airbag deployed. The front seat passenger, having the seat belts fastened, was not injured. The accident was investigated by the Institute of Legal Medicine of Zurich. RESULTS: The analysis of the accident showed that the airbag had deployed properly. The cover of the airbag showed no defects of substance. With the precise examination of the interior of the car a broken tobacco pipe came to light. CONCLUSIONS: In this case not the airbag itself but a tobacco pipe held in the hand by the driver during the airbag ignition caused a severe injury of the eye. This case report illustrates the hazard of having any rigid object between the occupant and the deploying air bag. In conclusion, the drivers and front seat passengers of an airbag equipped car can only profit from the considerable security gain, if they know about these risks and adapt their behaviours to the new surroundings, but also the car manufactures have to instruct the customers properly.

Behaviour of dairy cows in a straw yard in relation to lameness.

Lying down and other behavioural activities of dairy cows were studied for three 24-hour periods in a straw yard. The cows spent a total of 13.6 hours in the straw yard and lay down for 9.7 hours. The lying down time in one observation was 10.8 hours and this period may be considered ideal because there was little disturbance during that observation. Significantly more time was spent lying down at night than in the day and significantly more time was spent lying down and ruminating than standing up and ruminating. The total time spent lying down was significantly positively correlated with the time spent lying down and ruminating. Ten hours or more spent lying down may be adequate for proper rest in dairy cattle. Straw yards are better than many cubicles for lying and a longer period spent lying down may be important for the prevention of lameness in dairy cows.

Behaviour of first lactation and adult dairy cows while housed and at pasture and its relationship with sole lesions.

The times spent lying down and standing by first lactation and adult cows while they were housed and while they were at pasture were studied and related during the period of housing to the incidence of sole lesions in first lactation cows. First lactation cows lay down for a shorter time in the early housing period than later. First lactation and adult cows lay down for longer when at pasture. Maximum lying time was significantly longer and the frequency of lying lower on pasture than indoors. The times spent lying and standing and the frequency of lying were related to the incidence of sole lesions. Rumination time was not related to the occurrence of sole lesions although there were significant variations in rumination behaviour while the animals were housed and at pasture. The patterns of lying and other activities of first lactation and adult cows while they were housed were quite different from those while they were at pasture.

Behaviour of lame and normal dairy cows in cubicles and in a straw yard.

The behaviour of normal cows in cubicles was compared with that of normal cows in a straw yard and that of lame cows in cubicles. The normal cows in a straw yard lay down for longer in total (9.6 hours vs 6.8 hours) and during the night (8.55 hours vs 4.75 hours) and for significantly longer at a time (3.95 hours vs 2.45 hours) than normal cows in cubicles. The normal cows in a straw yard spent more time lying down and ruminating (5.1 hours) than normal cows in cubicles (3.3 hours). Lame cows in cubicles lay down for significantly longer during the day (3.3 hours) than normal cows in cubicles (2.1 hours). Although lameness did not affect the total time the cows spent in feeding and rumination, lame cows moved about less, and they adopted abnormal postures suggesting discomfort.