Search results for "Sleep"

2017

Moving and acting underwater within recreational or occupational activities requires intact executive functions, since they subserve higher cognitive functions such as successful self-regulation, coping with novel situations, and decision making; all of which could be influenced by nitrogen narcosis due to elevated partial pressure under water. However, specific executive functions that could provide a differentiated view on humans’ cognitive performance ability have not yet been systematically analyzed in full-water immersion, which is a research gap addressed within this approach to contribute to a better understanding of nitrogen narcosis. In this study, 20 young, healthy, and certified …

Association of basal forebrain volumes and cognition in normal aging.

2013

The basal forebrain cholinergic system (BFCS) is known to undergo moderate neurodegenerative alterations during normal aging and severe atrophy in Alzheimer's disease (AD). It has been suggested that functional and structural alterations of the BFCS mediate cognitive performance in normal aging and AD. But, it is still unclear to what extend age-associated cognitive decline can be related to BFCS in normal aging. We analyzed the relationship between BFCS volume and cognition using MRI and a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery in a cohort of 43 healthy elderly subjects spanning the age range from 60 to 85 years. Most notably, we found significant associations between general intell…

Occupational health disparities among U.S. long-haul truck drivers: the influence of work organization and sleep on cardiovascular and metabolic dise…

2018

Objective The organization of work has undergone vast transformations over the past four decades in the United States and has had profound impacts on worker health and wellbeing. The profession of commercial truck driving is one of the best examples. Particularly for long-haul truck drivers, changes in work organization have led to disproportionately poor physiological, psychological, and sleep health outcomes. Methods The present study examined disparities in cardiometabolic disease risk among long-haul truck drivers and the general population, and the influence of work organization and sleep in generating these outcomes. Researchers collected survey data from 260 drivers, and blood assay …

Audiologic profile of OSAS and simple snoring patients: the effect of chronic nocturnal intermittent hypoxia on auditory function

2016

The objective of this work was to study the effect of nocturnal intermittent hypoxia on auditory function of simple snoring patients and subjects affected by OSAS; we compared the audiologic profile with the severity of OSAS to detect early signs of cochlear damage. One hundred-sixty patients underwent overnight polysomnography, micro-otoscopy, multi-frequency audiometry, acufenometry, TEOAE recording and d-ROMs test. All subjects were divided in four groups, based on presence/absence of AHI (simple snoring without OSAS, mild OSAS, moderate OSAS, severe OSAS). Sixty (37.5 %) patients were not affected by OSAS, 58 (36.25 %) presented a mild OSAS, 18 (11.25 %) a moderate OSAS and 24 (15 %) a …

Early life stress programming of NG2+ glia transcriptome alters functional properties of voltage gated sodium (Nav) channels and cognitive performance

2020

AbstractThe precise mechanisms underlying the detrimental effects of early life stress (ELS) on adult mental health remain still elusive. To date, most studies have exclusively targeted neuronal populations and not considered neuron-glia crosstalk as a crucially important element for the integrity of stress-related brain function. Here, we have investigated the impact of ELS on a glial subpopulation with unique properties in brain homeostasis, the NG2+ cells. ELS shifted the NG2+ transcriptome towards more mature stages, and these transcriptional effects were dependent on stress-induced glucocorticoids. The functional relevance of one candidate gene, Scn7a, could be confirmed by an increase…

Development of an Efficient In Vivo System (P-junc-TpaseIS(1223)) for Random Transposon Mutagenesis of Lactobacillus casei

2012

ABSTRACT The random transposon mutagenesis system P junc -TpaseIS 1223 is composed of plasmids pVI129, expressing IS 1223 transposase, and pVI110, a suicide transposon plasmid carrying the P junc sequence, the substrate of the IS 1223 transposase. This system is particularly efficient in Lactobacillus casei , as more than 10,000 stable, random mutants were routinely obtained via electroporation.

In partenza verso il majhul. Italiani ed egiziani in fuga per Alessandria d'Egitto

2019

This article analyzes two novels set in Alexandria. The first one is "Cortile a Cleopatra" by the Italian writer Fausta Cialente. The second one is "Nobody sleeps in Alexandria" (Lâ ahad yanâm fî'l-Iskandariyya) by Ibrahim Abdel Meguid. The analysis focus on actions that characterize the genre of travel literature in which the traveler is expected to perform two actions: leaving then returning. If the traveler does not come back to the starting point, his experience is not considered as "travel", rather as "change of residence". But it does not always work out that way. In the two novels, the protagonists leave with intentions of ever coming back. At the same time, their departure includes …

Are long-haul truck drivers unusually alert? A comparison with long-haul airline pilots.

2020

Abstract Background Recent studies suggest heavy vehicle drivers self-estimate their sleepiness unexpectedly low during night duties. The present study compared sleepiness ratings of long-haul truck drivers with those of long-haul airline pilots during night and non-night duties. In addition, the correspondence between self-rated manifest and predicted latent sleepiness was examined in the two groups. Methods Twenty-two drivers and 33 pilots participated. Their working hours, sleep, on-duty sleepiness, and use of sleepiness countermeasures were measured in naturalistic conditions. Predictions of latent sleepiness were based on the measurements of working hours and sleep using the Sleep/Wake…

The self-reported causes of sleepiness in shift-working tram and truck drivers

2021

Identifying the causes of sleepiness in various safety-critical work environments is neces-sary for implementing more efficient fatigue management strategies. In transportation, little is known about drivers' own perceptions of these causes. Therefore, we instructed shift-working tram (n = 23) and long-haul truck drivers (n = 52) to report at the end of their shifts what made them sleepy if they felt so. These self-reports, measured on-duty sleepiness, and sleep amounts were recorded on every shift over a period of 2-3 weeks per driver. The causes of sleepiness were queried with smartphone applications and sleep logs. Sleepiness was measured with the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) and sl…

Accumulation of sleep loss among shift-working truck drivers.

2021

Sleep loss is known to contribute to road traffic accidents. Professional drivers are vulnerable to curtailment of sleep due to long driving bouts and shift work. To fill in the gap in the literature related to the buildup of sleep loss in irregular shift systems, we recorded the sleep and working hours of 47 shift-working long-haul truck drivers during a two-week period. Sleep (time in bed) was verified by actigraphy and sleep logs. Sleepiness was measured using the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS). Individual sleep need was based on self-assessments. We examined the accumulated sleep versus self-reported sleep need across the study period, using midnights as points of observation, and th…