Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNEs) preparedness for sporting event mass gatherings: A systematic review of the literature

Polarised crowd in motion: insights into statistical and dynamical behavior

The collection of active agents often exhibits intriguing statistical and dynamical properties, particularly when considering human crowds. In this study, we have developed a computational model to simulate the recent experiment on real marathon races by Bain et al. (Science 363:46-49, 2019). Our primary goal is to investigate the impact of race staff on crowd dynamics. By comparing simulated races with and without the presence of race staff, our study reveals that the local velocity and density of participants display a wave pattern akin to real races for both the cases. The observed traveling wave in the crowd consistently propagates at a constant speed, regardless of the system size under consideration. The participants' dynamics in the longitudinal direction primarily contribute to velocity fluctuations, while fluctuations in the transverse direction are suppressed. In the absence of race staff, density and velocity fluctuations weaken without significantly affecting other statistical and dynamic characteristics of the crowd. Through this research, we aim to deepen our understanding of crowd motion, providing insights that can inform the development of effective crowd management strategies and contribute to the successful control of such events.

Assessing the success rate of treatment in simple and complex congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PURPOSE

To assess and compare the success rate (SR) of probing and intubation in patients with congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction (CNLDO).

METHODS

We conducted a literature search for identifying relevant studies published in English using PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science databases from the date of inception to Feb 2023. After extracting data, the SR was compared between the study groups: simple and complex CNLDO. To compare the treatment outcome, the mean difference of the SR was considered as the effect size. Random effects model or fixed effects model were performed for statistical inferences.

RESULTS

A total of 21 studies were eligible to be analyzed. The pooled SR of treatment was 88% in simple, and 57% in complex CNLDO. Exerting intubation in increased the SR from 87% (SR of probing) to 92% in simple CNLDO which was not significant. However, compared to probing, intubation has a significantly higher SR in complex CNLDO (46 to 82%). While the SR of probing was significantly lower in complex CNLDO, the difference between the SR of intubation was not significant between groups. Although increasing the age does not have an adverse effect on the SR in simple CNDLO, it causes a significant decrease in the SR of complex group.

CONCLUSION

This study revealed that even though the addition of NLD intubation does not provide significant benefits beyond probing alone for patients with simple CNLDO, in children with complex CNLDO, NLD intubation should be considered as a primary treatment due to its substantial increase in surgical success rates. Delaying the treatment would increase its success in patients with complex but not the simple CNLDO.

Terrorism-Related Attacks in East Asia from 1970 through 2020

AIM

This study aims to analyze and describe terrorism-related attacks in East Asia from 1970 through 2020.

BACKGROUND

East Asia consists of South Korea, North Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Taiwan, and Macao. According to the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) 2022, the impact of terrorism in East Asia is very low. However, the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on July 8, 2022 demonstrates that East Asia is not safe from terrorist attacks. This descriptive analysis of terrorist attacks in East Asia will help first responders, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), hospital-based medical providers, and policymakers establish a more refined hazard vulnerability assessment (HVA) framework and develop a Counter-Terrorism Medicine (CTM) mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery plan.

METHODS

This is a descriptive observational study drawing data from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) from January 1, 1970 through December 31, 2020. Epidemiology outcomes included primary weapon type, primary target type, the country where the incident occurred, and the number of total deaths and injured collected. Data from 2021 were not yet available at the time of this study. Results were exported into an Excel spreadsheet (Microsoft Corp.; Redmond, Washington USA) for analysis.

RESULTS

There were 779 terrorism-related events in East Asia from 1970 through 2020. In total, the attacks resulted in 1,123 deaths and 9,061 persons injured. The greatest number of attacks (371; 47.63%) occurred in Japan and the second most occurred in China (268; 34.4%). Explosives were the most used primary weapon type (308; 39.54%) in the region, followed by incendiary devices (260; 33.38%). Terrorist attacks drastically diminished from their peak of 92 in 1990, but there were additional peaks of 88 in 1996, 18 in 2000, 20 in 2008, and 36 attacks in 2014.

CONCLUSIONS

A total of 779 terrorist attacks occurred from 1970 through 2020 in East Asia, resulting in 1,123 deaths and 9,061 injuries. Of those, 82.03% attacks occurred in Japan and China. Terrorist attacks drastically diminished since their peak in 1996, but there is an overall uptrend in attacks since 1999.