When backyard fun turns to trauma: risk assessment of blunt ballistic impact trauma due to potato cannons

International Journal of Legal Medicine
January 2012, Volume 126, Issue 1, pp 13-18
Cover Date 2012-01-01
DOI 10.1007/s00414-011-0552-y

Matthias Frank (1,2), Oliver Jobski (3), Britta Bockholdt (4), Rico Grossjohann (1), Dirk Stengel (1,2), Axel Ekkernkamp (1,2), Peter Hinz (2)

1. Department of Trauma and Orthopedic Surgery, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Sauerbruchstrasse, 17475, Greifswald, Germany
2. Department of Trauma and Orthopedic Surgery, Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin, Berlin, Germany
3. Landeskriminalamt (LKA) Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rampe, Germany
4. Department of Legal Medicine, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

Abstract

Although potato cannons are an area of great interest among internet users, they are almost completely unknown in the medical community. These simple ballistic devices are made from plastic plumbing pipes and are powered with propellant gas from aerosol cans. By combustion of the gas–oxygen mixture, a high pressure is produced which propels the potato chunks through the barrel. It is the aim of this study to investigate the hazardous potential of these shooting devices. Test shots were performed using three illegally manufactured potato cannons that were confiscated by police authorities. Velocity, impulse, kinetic energy, and energy density were calculated. The risk of head and chest injuries was investigated by using Sturdivan's Blunt Criterion (BC), an energy based five parametric trauma model assessing the vulnerability to blunt weapons, projectile impacts, and behind-body-armor exposures. The probability of lethality due to blunt impact trauma to the chest was assessed using Sturdivan's lethality model. For potential head impacts, all test shots far exceeded the critical BC (head) value which corresponds to a 50% risk of skull fracture. The risk of injury with regard to chest impacts was similar. All but two test shots far exceeded the critical BC (chest) value corresponding to a 50% risk of sustaining a thoracic skeletal injury of Abbreviated Injury Scale 2 or 3. The probability of a lethal injury due to blunt chest impact was as high as 20%. To conclude, this work demonstrates that potato cannons should be considered dangerous weapons rather than as toys used by adventurous adolescents.

Ethical standards

Ethical approval was not required for this experimental investigation.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00414-011-0552-y

Is 27 really a dangerous age for famous musicians? Retrospective cohort study

BMJ. 2011 Dec 20;343:d7799
doi: 10.1136/bmj.d7799
(Published 20 December 2011)

Martin Wolkewitz, statistician [1], Arthur Allignol, statistician [1], Nicholas Graves, health economist [2], and Adrian G Barnett, statistician [2]

[1] Freiburg Center of Data Analysis and Modelling, University of Freiburg and Institute of Medical Biometry and Medical Informatics, University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany
[2] Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation and School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4059, Australia

OBJECTIVE:

To test the "27 club" hypothesis that famous musicians are at an increased risk of death at age 27. Design Cohort study using survival analysis with age as a time dependent exposure. Comparison was primarily made within musicians, and secondarily relative to the general UK population.

SETTING:

The popular music scene from a UK perspective.

PARTICIPANTS:

Musicians (solo artists and band members) who had a number one album in the UK between 1956 and 2007 (n = 1046 musicians, with 71 deaths, 7%).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:

Risk of death by age of musician, accounting for time dependent study entry and the number of musicians at risk. Risk was estimated using a flexible spline which would allow a bump at age 27 to appear.

RESULTS:

We identified three deaths at age 27 amongst 522 musicians at risk, giving a rate of 0.57 deaths per 100 musician years. Similar death rates were observed at ages 25 (rate = 0.56) and 32 (0.54). There was no peak in risk around age 27, but the risk of death for famous musicians throughout their 20s and 30s was two to three times higher than the general UK population.

CONCLUSIONS:

The 27 club is unlikely to be a real phenomenon. Fame may increase the risk of death among musicians, but this risk is not limited to age 27.

http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d7799?view=long&pmid=22187325

Leaning to the Left Makes the Eiffel Tower Seem Smaller - Posture-Modulated Estimation

Psychological Science
December 2011 vol. 22 no. 12 1511-151
Version of Record - Dec 8, 2011

Anita Eerland, Tulio M. Guadalupe and Rolf A. Zwaan

Psychology Institute, Faculty of Social Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract

In two experiments, we investigated whether body posture influences people’s estimation of quantities. According to the mental-number-line theory, people mentally represent numbers along a line with smaller numbers on the left and larger numbers on the right. We hypothesized that surreptitiously making people lean to the right or to the left would affect their quantitative estimates. Participants answered estimation questions while standing on a Wii Balance Board. Posture was manipulated within subjects so that participants answered some questions while they leaned slightly to the left, some questions while they leaned slightly to the right, and some questions while they stood upright. Crucially, participants were not aware of this manipulation. Estimates were significantly smaller when participants leaned to the left than when they leaned to the right.

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/22/12/1511

Devices, systems and methods using magnetic force systems affecting the tongue or hyoid muscles in the upper airway

United States Patent 8,020,560
Issue Dt: 09/20/2011

Inventors
Joe Paraschac, Ryan P. Boucher, Edward M. Gillis, Octavian Iancea, Andrew W. Kramer, Brian K. McCollum, Scott A. McGill, Lionel M. Nelson, Andres D. Tomas

Assignee   
Apneon, Inc.
20813 Stevens Creek Blvd.
Suite 100
Cupertino, California 95014

Original Assignee
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Groenewoudseweg 1
5621 BA Eindhoven
Netherlands

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for resisting posterior movement of the tongue during sleep, thereby keeping an airway open. The systems and methods employ a first structure that can be placed either in or on a tongue within an oral cavity and/or in a region of hyoid muscle. The first structure includes a ferromagnetic material. The systems and methods employ a second structure that can be placed either in or on external tissue outside the oral cavity and/or in or on external tissue outside the oral cavity in a desired relationship with the first structure. The second structure includes a magnetic material that magnetically interacts with the ferromagnetic material by attracting the ferromagnetic material, thereby resisting posterior movement of the tongue.

http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=US&NR=8020560B2&KC=B2&FT=D

http://assignments.uspto.gov/assignments/q?db=pat&pat=8020560