Cars built in the last decade have been shown to be safer than older models, including in the most common types of crashes - frontal collisions.
However, a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Virginia's Center for Applied Biomechanics shows that women wearing seat belts are significantly more likely to suffer injury than their male counterparts.
Belted female auto occupants have 73% greater odds of being seriously injured in frontal car crashes compared to belted males (after controlling for collision severity, occupant age, stature, body mass index and vehicle model year).
The difference in risk is greatest for injury to the lower extremities, but also occurs with several other types of injury.
"Until we understand the fundamental biomechanical factors that contribute to increased risk for females, we'll be limited in our ability to close the risk gap," said Jason Forman, a principal scientist with the Center for Applied Biomechanics.
"This will take substantial effort, and in my view the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not have the resources needed to address this issue."
Approximately one in every thousand children develops a urethral stricture, sometimes even when they are still a foetus in the womb.
In order to prevent life-threatening levels of urine from accumulating in the bladder, paediatric surgeons like Gaston De Bernardis at the Kantonsspital Aarau have to surgically remove the affected section of the urethra and sew the open ends of the tube back together again.
It would be less damaging to the kidneys, however, if a stent could be inserted to widen the constriction while the foetus is still in the womb.
Stents have been used to treat blocked coronary vessels for some time now, but the urinary tract in foetuses is much narrower in comparison.
It's not possible to produce stents with such small dimensions using conventional methods, which is why De Bernardis approached the Multi-Scale Robotics Lab at ETH Zurich.
The lab's researchers have now developed a new method that enables them to produce highly detailed structures measuring less than 100 micrometres in diameter, as they report in a recently published journal article.
