Journal of Injury and Violence Research
Volume:8 Issue: 1, Jan 2016

Crash helmet plays an important role in protecting the deriver's head during crashes and reduces the rate of severe injuries and fatalities. Although it has been proved that wearing the crash helmet can save the deriver’s life by around 42%; previous studies showed that the rate of wearing crash helmet has not been acceptable in Iran. Due to the huge number of motorcyclists on the roads in Iran, the use of crash helmet is an important area of research. The aim of this study was to assess the factors that could possibly relate to or affect the use of crash helmet by the motorcyclists.
This is an observational study on 414 motorcyclists in Shiraz, Southern Iran. All participants completed a questioner containing demographic features, crash helmet use, motorcycle license, and the reasons for using motorcycles.
All the participants were males and aged from16 to 64 years with mean age 27±9.28. The results of logistic regression model revealed that only the drivers who had motorcycle license (OR=2.73, C.I: 1.40-7.24), employed the motorcycle for reasons other than pleasure (OR=3.18, C.I: 1.42-7.37) and been driving for 10 or more years (OR=1.92 95% C.I: 1.12-3.30) had greater rate of wearing crash helmet. Interestingly, educational levels, age, and other demographical variables had no relationship with crash helmet usage.
It is believed that in order to increase the rate of crash helmet use, it is necessary to enact obligatory requirement for driving license by motorcyclists and increase the legal age for motorcycle driving.

Spiritual well-being has been lauded to exert a protective effect against suicidal behavior. This study examines the characteristics of spiritual functioning and their association with a self-reported history of suicidal thoughts and behavior in a sample of Veterans being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The sample includes 472 Veterans admitted to a PTSD Residential Rehabilitation Program. Measures included the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness and Spirituality, PTSD Checklist – Military Version, Combat Experiences Scale, and individual items pertaining to history of suicidal thoughts and attempts, spiritual practices, and select demographics.
Problems with forgiveness and negative religious coping were uniquely associated with suicide risk, above and beyond age, gender, or ethnicity, combat exposure, and severity of PTSD symptomatology. Organizational religiousness was associated with decreased risk for thinking about suicide in the presence of these covariates. Daily spiritual experiences were inversely associated with suicidal thoughts. Differences in spirituality factors did not distinguish Veterans with both suicidal ideation and prior attempts from those who had ideations absent any prior attempts.
The findings suggest that enhanced or diminished spiritual functioning is associated with suicidal thoughts and attempts among Veterans dealing with PTSD.

Research has suggested that sexual minority youth are more likely to experience a number of behavioral and health-related risk factors due to their exposure to negative attitudes and beliefs about sexual minorities. Few studies, however, have examined the prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among sexual minority youth. With self-cutting and suicidal ideation common in middle and high schools, understanding the antecedents and correlates of such behavior may help identify troubled students and initiate preventative measures.
Bivariate probit regression analyses are performed using data from 7,326 high school students collected via the Delaware Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
Results indicate that bullying victimization, fighting, substance use, sexual behavior, depression, and unhealthy dieting behaviors were generally associated with NSSI and suicidal ideation. Some effects - including those from sexual activity, substance use, and unhealthy dieting behaviors – significantly differed based on gender and orientation.
Risk factors for suicide and NSSI vary by gender and orientation. Both prevention/intervention specialists and researchers should consider the intersection of these risk factors with sexual orientation in their efforts.

Child abuse or maltreatment is a significant global public health problem of unknown global prevalence. About 40 million children aged 0 - 14 years require health and social care globally. The prevalence, determinants, and trends of national or global rates of child abuse and maltreatment are largely unknown.
Data for this retrospective cross-sectional study were derived from the 2005 Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey (2005 EDHS), and included 19474 women aged 15 - 49 years. Multivariate logistic regression analyses by stepwise regression, backward method were used to determine the independent contribution of the possible social determinants of child abuse, with the direction and magnitude of associations expressed as odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confident interval levels (95% CI).
Identified determinants of child abuse included exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV), justifying wife beating, exposure to generational IPV, and such factors as younger age of the women, male sex, partners’ lower education, poverty, residence in urban areas, younger children, and residence in households with 3 - 5 children.
Experience of IPV, mothers’ justification of wife beating, and generational IPV were associated with elevated odds of child abuse. Findings indicate possible high levels of unmet child protection needs, and stress the need for professionals working with children to employ culturally-sensitive methods in investigating social determinants of child abuse.

In Iran more than 25% of crash fatalities belong to motorcycle operators and passengers in the recent years, from which about 20% are related to passenger fatalities.
The aim of this study was to investigate the motorcycle operator and passenger characteristics as well as other contributory factors that may affect the fatality risk of motorcyclists involved in traffic crashes. To this end, motorcycle crash data between 2009 and 2012 was extracted from Iran traffic crash database and a logistic regression analysis was performed to obtain odds ratio estimates for each of the study variables.
The fatality risk of motorcyclists has a direct relationship with the number of pillion passengers carried. Results also indicate that the amount of increase in the likelihood of having a fatality in a motorcycles crash is considerably higher when the operator is accompanied by a male passenger of the same age. Furthermore, results showed that if the crash is occurred in the darkness, on curves, in rural areas and on highways, then the crash would be more likely to be fatal. Moreover, the head-on collisions, older operators, unlicensed operators and not using a safety helmet were found to increase the likelihood of a fatality in a motorcycle crash.
Preventative measures such as, imposing stricter rules regarding safety helmet usage and confining the number of pillion passengers to one, might be implemented to reduce the fatality risk in motorcycle crashes. In addition, more appropriate infrastructures for penalizing offending motorcyclists could also reduce the frequency of law violations such as not wearing helmet or riding without motorcycle license, which in turn, would result into a reduction in the fatality risk of motorcycle crashes.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive problem impacting individuals around the globe. The consequences of IPV extend beyond the adults in the relationship, as children witness a significant proportion of such violence. Exposure to IPV during childhood has devastating effects across multiple domains of functioning.
This article reviews empirical studies of the effects of exposure to IPV by developmental stage.
the psychological, social, physical, and cognitive consequences of witnessing IPV are examined across development; from the impact of prenatal exposure to effects in infancy and toddlerhood, the preschool years, school-aged children, and adolescence.
The review concludes by providing suggestions for future research based on the identified developmental variations, recommendations for developmentally-sensitive interventions for children who have witnessed IPV, and directions for policy to address the issue of violence exposure early in the lives of children.

Acute kidney injury, which was previously named as acute renal failure, is a complex clinical disorder and continues to be associated with poor outcomes. It is frequently seen in hospitalized patients, especially in critically ill patients. The primary causes of acute kidney injury are divided into three categories: prerenal, intrinsic renal and postrenal. The definition and staging of acute kidney injury are mainly based on the risk, injury, failure, loss, end-stage kidney disease (RIFLE) criteria and the acute kidney injury network (AKIN) criteria, which have previously been defined. However the clinical utility of these criteria is still uncertain. Several biomarkers such as Cystatin C and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin have been suggested for the diagnosis, severity classification and most importantly, the modification of outcome in acute kidney injury.
Current literature on the definition, biomarkers, management and epidemiology of acute kidney injury was reviewed by searching keywords in Medline and PubMed databases.
The epidemiology, pathophysiology and diagnosis of acute kidney injury were discussed. The clinical implications of novel biomarkers and management of acute kidney injury were also discussed.
The current definitions of acute kidney injury are based on the RIFLE, AKIN and KDIGO criteria. Although these criteria have been widely validated, some of limitations are still remain. Since acute kidney injury is common and harmful, all preventive measures should be taken to avoid its occurrence. Currently, there is no a definitive role for novel biomarkers.