Motor Vehicle Crash and Hospital Charges in Front- and Rear-Seated Restrained and Unrestrained Adult Motor Vehicle Occupants.

There are reports that historically higher mortality observed for front- compared to rear-seated adult motor vehicle (MV) occupants has narrowed. Vast improvements have been made in strengthening laws and restraint use in front-, but not rear-seated occupants suggesting there may be value in expanding the science on rear-seat safety. METHODS: A linked 2016-2017 hospital and MV crash data set, the Crash Outcomes Data Evaluation System (CODES), was used to compare characteristics of front-seated (n = 115,939) and rear-seated (n = 5729) adults aged 18 years and older involved in a MV crash in New York State (NYS). A primary enforced seat belt law existed for front-seated, but not rear-seated occupants. Statistical analysis employed SAS 9.4. RESULTS: Compared to front-seated occupants, those rear-seated were more likely to be unrestrained (21.2% vs. 4.3%, p < 0.0001) and to have more moderate-to-severe injury/death (11.9% vs. 11.3%, p < 0.0001). Compared to restrained rear-seated occupants, unrestrained rear-seated occupants had higher moderate-to-severe injury/death (21.5% vs. 7.5%, p < 0.0001) and 4-fold higher hospitalization. More than 95% of ejections were unrestrained and had 7-fold higher medical charges. Unrestrained occupants' hospital stays were longer, charges and societal financial costs higher. CONCLUSIONS: These findings extend the science of rear-seat safety in seriously injured rear-seated occupants, document increased medical charges and support the need to educate consumers and policy makers on the health and financial risks of adults riding unrestrained in the rear seat. The lack of restraint use in adult rear-seated motor vehicle occupants consumes scarce health care dollars for treatment of this serious, but largely preventable injury.

Using Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES) to examine injury in front vs. rear-seated infants and children involved in a motor vehicle crash in New York State.

BACKGROUND: In New York State (NYS), motor vehicle (MV) injury to child passengers is a leading cause of hospitalization and emergency department (ED) visits in children aged 0-12 years. NYS laws require appropriate child restraints for ages 0-7 years and safety belts for ages 8 and up while traveling in a private passenger vehicle, but do not specify a seating position. METHODS: Factors associated with injury in front-seated (n = 11,212) compared to rear-seated (n = 93,092) passengers aged 0-12 years were examined by age groups 0-3, 4-7 and 8-12 years using the 2012-2014 NYS Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES). CODES consists of Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) crash reports linked to ED visits and hospitalizations. The front seat was row 1 and the rear rows 2-3. Vehicle towed from scene and air bag deployed were proxies for crash severity. Injury was dichotomized based on Maximum Abbreviated Injury Severity (MAIS) scores greater than zero. Multivariable logistic regression (odds ratios (OR) with 95% CI) was used to examine factors predictive of injury for the total population and for each age group. RESULTS: Front-seated children had more frequent injury than those rear-seated (8.46% vs. 4.92%, p < 0.0001). Children in child restraints experienced fewer medically-treated injuries compared to seat belted or unrestrained children (3.80, 6.50 and 13.62%, p < 0.0001 respectively). A higher proportion of children traveling with an unrestrained vs. restrained driver experienced injury (14.50% vs 5.26%, p < 0.0001). After controlling for crash severity, multivariable adjusted predictors of injury for children aged 0-12 years included riding in the front seat (1.20, 1.10-1.31), being unrestrained vs. child restraint (2.13, 1.73-2.62), being restrained in a seat belt vs. child restraint (1.20, 1.11-1.31), and traveling in a car vs. other vehicle type (1.21, 1.14-1.28). Similarly, protective factors included traveling with a restrained driver (0.61, 0.50-0.75), a driver aged < 25 years (0.91, 0.82-0.99), being an occupant of a later vehicle model year 2005-2008 (0.68, 0.53-0.89) or 2009-2015 (0.55, 0.42-0.71) compared to older model years (1970-1993). CONCLUSIONS: Compared to front-seated children, rear-seated children and children in age-appropriate restraints had lower adjusted odds of medically-treated injury.

Association of a 3' untranslated region polymorphism in proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 with HIV viral load and CD4+ levels in HIV/hepatitis C virus coinfected women.

OBJECTIVE: To assess variation in genes that regulate cholesterol metabolism in relation to the natural history of HIV infection. DESIGN: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of the Women's Interagency HIV Study. METHODS: We examined 2050 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 19 genes known to regulate cholesterol metabolism in relation to HIV viral load and CD4 T-cell levels in a multiracial cohort of 1066 antiretroviral therapy-naive women. RESULTS: Six SNPs were associated with both HIV viral load and CD4 T-cell levels at a false discovery rate of 0.01. Bioinformatics tools did not predict functional activity for five SNPs, located in introns of nuclear receptor corepressor 2, retinoid X receptor alpha (RXRA), and tetratricopeptide repeat domain 39B. Rs17111557 located in the 3' untranslated region of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) putatively affects binding of hsa-miR-548t-5p and hsa-miR-4796-3p, which could regulate PCSK9 expression levels. Interrogation of rs17111557 revealed stronger associations in the subset of women with HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection (n = 408, 38% of women). Rs17111557 was also associated with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in HIV/HCV coinfected (ß: -10.4; 95% confidence interval: -17.9, -2.9; P = 0.007), but not in HIV monoinfected (ß:1.2; 95% confidence interval: -6.3, 8.6; P = 0.76) women in adjusted analysis. CONCLUSION: PCSK9 polymorphism may affect HIV pathogenesis, particularly in HIV/HCV coinfected women. A likely mechanism for this effect is PCSK9-mediated regulation of cholesterol metabolism. Replication in independent cohorts is needed to clarify the generalizability of the observed associations.

Butyl 2-(4-[1.1'-biphenyl]-4-yl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)ethylcarbamate, a potent sodium channel blocker for the treatment of neuropathic pain.

A series of 4-arylimidazole carbamates was synthesized and their binding affinities to the site-2 sodium (Na+) channel were determined. SAR studies led to the identification of compound 10, a potent Na+ channel blocker which was efficacious in pain models in vivo.