OBJECTIVE RhD-positive subjects are protected against toxoplasmosis-associated impairment of psychomotor performance. Here we searched for RhD-positivity-associated maternal protection against the effects of toxoplasmosis. METHODS In the present retrospective cohort study, we analysed data from 785 (139 RhD-negative) Toxoplasma-free and 194 (27 RhD-negative) Toxoplasma-infected pregnant women...

Toxoplasma gondii, a parasitic protozoan, infects about 30-60% of people worldwide. The latent toxoplasmosis, i.e. life-long presence of cysts in the brain and muscular tissues, has no effect on human health. However, infected subjects score worse in psychomotor performance tests and have different personality profiles than Toxoplasma-negative subjects. The mechanism of this effect is unknown; ...

OBJECTIVE To study the relationship between performance on an endoscopic sinus surgery simulator (ES3) and fundamental perceptual, visuospatial, and psychomotor abilities. DESIGN Validation study. SETTING Tertiary care medical center. PARTICIPANTS Thirty-four medical students and 4 otolaryngology residents voluntarily enrolled. INTERVENTIONS Subjects performed tasks on the ES3, minimall...

Our aim was to investigate how circadian adaptation to night shift work affects psychomotor performance, sleep, subjective alertness and mood, melatonin levels, and heart rate variability (HRV). Fifteen healthy police officers on patrol working rotating shifts participated to a bright light intervention study with 2 participants studied under two conditions. The participants entered the laborat...

This study aimed to investigate the effects of sleep deprivation on postural control, subjective fatigue assessment and psychomotor performance, and to assess the efficiency of an objective posturographic test as an indicator of mental fatigue. Postural sway using static posturography (Romberg's test), subjective fatigue assessment (Stanford Sleepiness Scale) and psychomotor performance (Sternb...

Benzodiazepine overdose is the most commonly encountered drug overdose in Iran. It has been reported by many authors that flumazenil possesses highly specific antagonistic activity on central benzodiazepine receptors. We conducted a prospective study on 150 patients brought to the toxicology emergency ward in Loghman-Hakim hospital with benzodiazepine overdose to assess the efficacy of flu...

INTRODUCTION Standard aeromedical doctrine dictates that aircrew receiving treatment for depression are grounded during treatment and follow-up observation, generally amounting to at least 1 yr. The Canadian Forces has initiated a program to return selected aircrew being treated for depression to restricted flying duties once stabilized on an approved antidepressant with resolution of depressio...