Orthopaedic injuries from snowmobile accidents: a multi-centre analysis of demographics, injury patterns, and outcomes.

PURPOSE: More than 2 million people in North America use snowmobiles, resulting in an estimated 200 fatalities and 14,000 injuries annually. The purpose of this study is to document the demographics, orthopaedic injury patterns, and short-term outcomes of patients with snowmobile-related injuries. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective review was performed at two regional trauma centres in a region where snowmobile use is prevalent. Patients who sustained snowmobile-related injuries over a 12-year period were identified from the hospitals' trauma registries using E-codes (E820-E820.9). Patient demographics were recorded, as were injury characteristics including rates of substance use, open fractures, Injury Severity Score (ISS), Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS) for the extremities, and mortality. Rates of inpatient surgery, as well as hospital and ICU length of stay (LOS), were also recorded. RESULTS: We identified 528 patients with snowmobile-related injuries. Average age was 37 years, and 418 patients (79%) were male. Eighty-eight per cent of all patients with snowmobile injuries were admitted to the hospital with an average LOS of 5.7 days. Among those admitted to the hospital, average ISS was 12.3, and 28% of these patients had ISS > 15. A total of 261 patients (56%) suffered extremity injuries (including 163 upper and 173 lower extremity fractures) with an average extremity AIS of 2.4. There were 700 total fractures (1.5 per patient), and 9% of all fractures were open. A total of 208 patients (45%) suffered head injuries, and 132 patients (28%) sustained vertebral column fractures. A total of 201 patients (43%) required inpatient surgery, and eight patients (1.7%) sustained fatal injuries. CONCLUSIONS: We present a detailed multi-centre analysis of orthopaedic injury patterns and outcomes resulting from snowmobile-related injuries. Patients injured while snowmobiling share similar injury patterns with patients injured in motorcycle and other high-energy motor vehicle accidents.

Cellular Light Scattering for the Identification of Bacteria and Its Application to the Identification of Staphylococcus.

Rapid identification of bacteria is critical in clinical and food safety applications. This paper describes a novel instrument and data analysis method for identifying bacteria based on the measurement of laser light scattering as the beam interacts with bacterial cells suspended in water. A description of the technology is followed by an identification performance study for a set of strains from the genus Staphylococcus (the inclusive target organisms) and a set of non-Staphylococcus strains (the exclusive organisms). Staphylococcus and non-Staphylococcus cells were grown on sheep blood agar (SBA), tryptic soy agar, brain heart infusion (BHI) agar, or Luria-Bertani (LB) agar and identified based on how cells scattered light. Bacteria from the genus Staphylococcus grown on solid media were correctly identified more than 92% of the time. To determine whether the system could also identify bacteria grown in liquid culture, six different Staphylococcus strains and six different non-Staphylococcus strains were grown in tryptic soy broth, BHI broth, or LB broth. This system accurately identified all targeted Staphylococcus samples tested, and no misidentifications occurred. A single-blind identification experiment was also performed on human clinical isolates obtained from the Upper Peninsula Health System. Ninety blind-coded clinical bacterial isolates on SBA were tested to determine whether they were from the genus Staphylococcus. All Staphylococcus were accurately identified, and no misidentifications occurred. This study demonstrated the proof of concept of a novel system that can rapidly and accurately identify bacteria from pure culture based on cellular light-scattering properties.