Personal Injury Blog

Persons who have suffered severe burn injuries are likely to experience changes in the bacterial makeup in their gastrointestinal tract that can have long-term health hazards.

The changes involve the breakdown of the good bacteria that reside in a healthy person’s gastrointestinal tract. The researchers found that when a person suffered a severe burn, there is sometimes a big increase in the number of potentially harmful germs in the gut, and a simultaneous drop in the beneficial bacteria.

What was even more worrying was that the potentially dangerous bacteria included pathogens like E. coli and salmonella that can cause potentially serious infections. The researchers analyzed stool samples of patients who had suffered severe burn injuries, and found that the dangerous germs comprised approximately 32% of the bacterial content in the tracts of patients with severe burn injuries. In patients who had suffered less severe burn injuries, the bad bacteria comprised just 0.5% of the bacterial content.

When there is an imbalance like this, the person may be at risk of suffering a number of conditions including irritable bowel disease, diabetes, obesity and rheumatoid arthritis. In fact, some of the complications arising as a result of the imbalance could possibly be a factor in fatality after severe burn injuries.

The researchers also recommend that burn injury patients be treated with probiotics or beneficial bacteria, that can help restore balance in the gastrointestinal tract, and boost micro biotic health. In fact, they believe that probiotics can also help other patients who have suffered from other types of severe injuries, including traumatic brain injuries.

Severe injuries can have a long-term impact on a person's ability to earn an income. Apart from scarring and long-term disfigurement, a person with burn injuries could also have to deal with joint pain, nerve damage, and other consequences of the burns that may result in economic loss. Speak to a burn injury lawyer in Burbank about filing a claim for compensation after burn injuries.

States that are experimenting with identification programs for teenage drivers that involve sticking a decal on their license plates don't necessarily see a drop in the number of accidents, or citations involving teen drivers.

Those interesting findings came from a study conducted in New Jersey, which is the only state in the country that currently requires novice drivers to have an identifying red decal on their license plates. Anyone who is driving with a learner's permit must have the decal on his license plate.

The researchers went through accident rates as well as citation rates involving teenage drivers in the years following the decal law which was passed in 2010. The researchers found that the decal program has not necessarily reduced the rate of accidents involving teenage drivers.

The researchers believe that the decal program has not had any kind of impact on crash risks involving teenage drivers, because these teenage drivers are driving under supervision. They can only drive with an older adult, or caregiver in the car with them. That supervised driving probably reduces the risk of risky driving and, and minimizes the risk of citations and accidents.

However, the researchers also agree that it is still far too early to tell whether there are any long-term benefits from having such identification decal programs, for teenage motorists. One thing seems to be certain from the study. Teen drivers seem to do much better at driving safely when they are supervised by parents and parents take a very proactive role in their safety.

If you're the parent of a teen driver, get a parent-child driving contract that clearly lays out the rules for responsible driving, and talk frequently with your child about safe driving, and avoiding dangerous driving practices.

The federal government is working together with a number of industry groups to launch a new in-car alcohol detection device that would use sensors to detect the amount of alcohol in a person’s system, and turn off the ignition if the person driving is under the influence. Government analysts expect that the device, when it is launched, will help save thousands of lives every year in drunk driving accidents.

Approximately 30% of all traffic accident fatalities in the United States every year occur in alcohol-related car accidents. Those numbers have been on the decline over the past few decades, as stringent anti-drunk driving awareness campaigns and DUI enforcement efforts have helped reduce the number of drivers under the influence of alcohol on our streets. However, approximately 10,000 fatalities every year is still far too many.

The federal administration is working with the auto industry on a project called the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety program. This is a collaboration between the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and an industry consortium. The program's aim is to develop an in-car device that would prevent motorists from operating their vehicles, if their blood-alcohol level is above a certain predetermined level.

In contrast to the breathalyzer devices that some motorists like repeat DUI offenders are required to install in their vehicles after a DUI arrest, these in-car devices currently being developed by the federal administration, will focus on touch sensors. The sensors would be placed in areas around the car that frequently touch the persons, like the steering wheel. The sensors will detect alcohol content that is higher than a pre-determined limit, and shut down the ignition, preventing the person from driving. The device has the potential to dramatically cut down drunk driving accidents.