The Beirut terrorist bombing on October 23, 1983, caused 234 immediate deaths and injured at least 112 survivors. Military medical records were available for each casualty; postmortem examination reports were available for each immediate fatality. This represented a unique opportunity to assess type, incidence, treatment, and outcome of neurological injuries suffered in a mass casualty terrorist bombing situation. Three categories of neurological injuries are described: head injuries, spine and spinal cord injuries, and peripheral nerve injuries. The following types and numbers of injuries occurred among the 112 immediate survivors of the explosion: 37 head injuries--28 concussions, 20 scalp lacerations, 13 skull fractures, 6 facial bone fractures, 4 cerebral contusions, 5 dural lacerations, 2 cerebrospinal fluid fistulas, and 2 intracerebral hematomas; 2 spine or spinal cord injuries--1 cervical and 1 thoracolumbar spine fracture associated with neurological deficit; and 9 peripheral nerve injuries--1 facial nerve palsy, 2 brachial plexus palsies, 1 median and 1 radial nerve palsy, and 4 peroneal nerve palsies. Among 234 immediate fatalities, the types and numbers of neurological injuries were: 167 head injuries--93 scalp lacerations, 85 skull fractures, and 24 facial bone fractures; and 22 spine and spinal cord injuries--15 cervical and 7 thoracolumbar fractures. Seven of the 112 immediate survivors died; 4 of these deaths were related to severe head injuries. The treatment and outcome of survivors with neurological injuries is briefly described. One-third of the immediate survivors who suffered either a scalp laceration or a concussion had a concomitant skull fracture.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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rr R. SAFRANSKI and MUEN BAE+ ASTRACT. The purpose of this study is to statistically and empirically evaluate the effectiveness of the gun control laws that have been adopted by states and municipalities. States are divided into two groups: states with no restrictions as to gun use and states with restrictions (e.g., waiting periods, license, etc.). Multiple linear regression models are used to evaluate the relationship between the number of gun related deathsin 1990 and sets of determinants which include state laws and regulations governing the use offirearms. The study results indicate that gun control laws have a very mild effect on the number of gun related deaths while socioeconomic variables such as a state's poverty level, unemployment rate and alcohol consumption, have significant impact on firearm related deaths. These findings suggest that any reduction in resources spent on socialprograms tied to the Crime Bill may be counter-productive.
In Professor Tomislav V. Kovandzic's "Comment on the Recent Work of Kwon, Scott, Safranski, and Bae: No, Your Evidence Doesn't Prove What You Think it Does!," he makes several blanket and ill-informed statements about our article appearing in the January 1997 issue of The American foumal of Economics and Sociology (,pp. 41-50). We conclude that his comments have failed to generate any new revelations about our research and we stand by the published results.WE REVIEWED TOMISLAV V. KOVANDZIC'S COMMENT article on our article (Kwon et al., 1997) with great interest and at the same time with a great deal of disappointment. We did not benefit from his comments. Kovandzic appears to have missed the main point of our study. The major finding of our study was that "The gun control laws have a very mild effect [italics added] on the number of gun related deaths while socioeconomic variables such as a state's poverty level, unemployment rate, and alcohol consumption, have significant impact on firearm related deaths" (Kwon et al. 1997, p. 41). We further emphasized the importance of socioeconomic factors in our study: "Unless this country directs its efforts toward the socioeconomic ills which appear to bear the strongest relationship to violent deaths by firearms, the fatalities likely will remain high wbetber tbis country bas gun control laws or not [italics added]" (p. 48-49). Once he missed the major ' [The research team can be reached by corresponding with Professor Ik-Whan G. Kwon,
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