| 1. |
- Watling, Christopher N., et al.
(författare)
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Do repeated rumble strip hits improve driver alertness?
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Sleep Research. - : Wiley. - 0962-1105 .- 1365-2869.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Driving while sleepy is associated with increased crash risk. Rumble strips are designed to alert a sleepy or inattentive driver when they deviate outside their driving lane. The current study sought to examine the effects of repeated rumble strip hits on levels of physiological and subjective sleepiness as well as simulated driving performance. In total, 36 regular shift workers drove a high-fidelity moving base simulator on a simulated road with rumble strips installed at the shoulder and centre line after a working a full night shift.The results show that, on average, the first rumble strip occurred after 20 min of driving, with subsequent hits occurring 10 min later, with the last three occurring approximately every 5 min thereafter. Specifically, it was found that the first rumble strip hit reduced physiological sleepiness; however, subsequent hits did not increase alertness. Moreover, the results also demonstrate that increased subjective sleepiness levels, via the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, were associated with a greater probability of hitting a rumble strip. The present results suggest that sleepiness is very resilient to even strongly arousing stimuli, with physiological and subjective sleepiness increasing over the duration of the drive, despite the interference caused by rumble strips.
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| 2. |
- Sjörs Dahlman, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Growth factors and neurotrophins in patients with stress-related exhaustion disorder
- 2019
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Ingår i: Psychoneuroendocrinology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0306-4530 .- 1873-3360. ; 109
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2019 The Authors Growth factors, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF), and neurotrophic factors, including brain-derived neurotophic factor (BDNF), have attracted attention in studies of the biological effects of long-term stress exposure due to their neuroprotective roles. This study investigated whether circulating levels of EGF, VEGF and BDNF were altered in individuals with stress-related exhaustion disorder. Forty patients diagnosed with exhaustion disorder and 40 healthy subjects (50% women) provided fasting blood samples for analysis of EGF, VEGF, and BDNF in plasma. We found significantly lower levels of EGF, VEGF, and BDNF in patients with ED compared to healthy controls. This pattern was seen in both male and female patients. Given the important roles of BDNF and VEGF for brain plasticity and neurogenesis, decreased levels after long-term stress exposure could indicate increased risk of neuronal damage and cognitive impairments in this patient group.
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| 3. |
- Schwarz, Johanna F. A., et al.
(författare)
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In-car countermeasures open window and music revisited on the real road : popular but hardly effective against driver sleepiness
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Sleep Research. - : Wiley. - 0962-1105 .- 1365-2869. ; 21:5, s. 595-599
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study investigated the effects of two very commonly used countermeasures against driver sleepiness, opening the window and listening to music, on subjective and physiological sleepiness measures during real road driving. In total, 24 individuals participated in the study. Sixteen participants received intermittent 10-min intervals of: (i) open window (2 cm opened); and (ii) listening to music, during both day and night driving on an open motorway. Both subjective sleepiness and physiological sleepiness (blink duration) was estimated to be significantly reduced when subjects listened to music, but the effect was only minor compared with the pronounced effects of night driving and driving duration. Open window had no attenuating effect on either sleepiness measure. No significant long-term effects beyond the actual countermeasure application intervals occurred, as shown by comparison to the control group (n = 8). Thus, despite their popularity, opening the window and listening to music cannot be recommended as sole countermeasures against driver sleepiness.
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| 4. |
- Åkerstedt, Torbjörn, et al.
(författare)
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Having to stop driving at night because of dangerous sleepiness : awareness, physiology and behaviour
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Sleep Research. - : Wiley. - 0962-1105 .- 1365-2869. ; 22:4, s. 380-388
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A large number of accidents are due to the driver falling asleep at the wheel, but details of this link have not been studied on a real road. The purpose of the present study was to describe the development of sleepiness indicators, leading to the drive being terminated prematurely by the onboard expert driving instructor because of imminent danger. Eighteen individuals participated during a day drive and a night drive on a motorway (both 90 min). Eight drivers terminated (N) prematurely (after 43 min) because of sleep-related imminent danger [according to the driving instructor or their own judgement (two cases)].The results showed very high sleepiness ratings (8.5 units on the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale) immediately before termination (<7 at a similar time interval for those 10 who completed the drive). Group N also showed significantly higher levels of sleep intrusions on the electroencephalography/electro-oculography (EEG/EOG) than those who completed the drive (group C). The sleep intrusions were increased in group N during the first 40 min of the night drive. During the day drive, sleep intrusions were increased significantly in group N. The night drive showed significant increases of all sleepiness indicators compared to the day drive, but also reduced speed and driving to the left in the lane. It was concluded that 44% of drivers during late-night driving became dangerously sleepy, and that this group showed higher perceived sleepiness and more sleep intrusions in the EEG/EOG.
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| 5. |
- Anjemark, Linnea, et al.
(författare)
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Car accidents in drivers with Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis: A Swedish nationwide study
- 2023
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Ingår i: European Journal of Neurology. - : Wiley. - 1351-5101 .- 1468-1331. ; 30:6, s. 1631-1638
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background and purpose: Parkinson's disease (PD) and multiple sclerosis (MS) can impair driving. However, we lack evidence on car accidents associated with these diseases. The aims of this study were to examine what types of car accident were associated with drivers with PD and MS, compared to individuals with ulcerative colitis (UC; the comparison group), and to evaluate the occurrence of car accidents in relation to years since diagnosis.Methods: This retrospective nationwide, registry-based study included drivers involved in car accidents between 2010 and 2019, based on the Swedish Traffic Accident Data Acquisition database. Data on pre-existing diagnoses were retrieved retrospectively from the National Patient Registry. Data analyses included group comparisons, time-to-event analysis, and binary logistic regression.Results: In total, 1491 drivers, including 199 with PD, 385 with MS, and 907 with UC, were registered to have been involved in a car accident. The mean time from diagnosis to the car accident was 5.6 years for PD, 8.0 years for MS, and 9.4 years for UC. Time to car accident since diagnosis differed significantly (p < 0.001) among groups (adjusted for age). Drivers with PD had more than twice the odds of a single-car accident than drivers with MS or UC, but no differences were observed between MS and UC.Conclusions: Drivers with PD were older and experienced the car accident within a shorter timeframe after disease diagnosis. Although several factors may cause a car accident, fitness to drive could be more thoroughly evaluated for patients with PD by physicians, even early after the diagnosis.
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| 6. |
- Skau, Simon, et al.
(författare)
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Exhaustion disorder and altered brain activity in frontal cortex detected with fNIRS
- 2021
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Ingår i: Stress-the International Journal on the Biology of Stress. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1025-3890 .- 1607-8888. ; 24:1, s. 64-75
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Patients with stress-related Exhaustion Disorder (ED) have problems with memory and executive function. These problems have been associated with deviant activity in prefrontal cortex (PFC). We investigated cognitive performance and functional activity in the PFC during prolonged mental activity in patients with ED (n = 20, 16 women) with a mean duration since diagnosis of 46 +/- 23 months in comparison to healthy individuals (n = 20, 12 women). A block of six neuropsychological tests was performed in a sequence that was repeated once. The brain imaging technique, functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used for all tests. There were no differences between the groups in terms of changes over time, i.e. difference between first and second test block. In the Stroop-Simon test, the controls showedhigher functional activity in the frontal cortex. In the left ventrolateral PFC, we observed an increased activity in controls in the incongruent compared to the congruent trials, whereas no changes were detected in the ED patient group. During processing speed tasks, only ED patients showed higher functional activity in right dorsolateral PFC. The ED patients reported lower subjective energy level and they also performed less well on a mental control task compared to healthy individuals. In conclusion, ED patients showed altered functional activity compared to controls, indicating that ED patients process information differently in the prefrontal cortex, but the functional activity did not change during the 21/2 hr procedure, as revealed by the test-retest design. Lay summary In this paper we show that patient with exhaustion disorder have a reduced functional activity in the prefrontal cortex. This functional activity was not affected by 2.5 hours mental activity.
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| 7. |
- Gospic, Katarina, et al.
(författare)
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Altruism costs-the cheap signal from amygdala
- 2014
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Ingår i: Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1749-5016 .- 1749-5024. ; 9:9, s. 1325-1332
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- When people state their willingness to pay for something, the amount usually differs from the behavior in a real purchase situation. The discrepancy between a hypothetical answer and the real act is called hypothetical bias. We investigated neural processes of hypothetical bias regarding monetary donations to public goods using fMRI with the hypothesis that amygdala codes for real costs. Real decisions activated amygdala more than hypothetical decisions. This was observed for both accepted and rejected proposals. The more the subjects accepted real donation proposals the greater was the activity in rostral anterior cingulate cortex-a region known to control amygdala but also neural processing of the cost-benefit difference. The presentation of a charitable donation goal evoked an insula activity that predicted the later decision to donate. In conclusion, we have identified the neural mechanisms underlying real donation behavior, compatible with theories on hypothetical bias. Our findings imply that the emotional system has an important role in real decision making as it signals what kind of immediate cost and reward an outcome is associated with.
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