For the interpretation of neuronal data obtained during functional neurosurgery from alert human patients with Parkinson’s disease, it is important to know to what extent the behavior of single neurons in the Basal ganglia (BG) depends on the level of consciousness, and to what degree on chronic dopamine depletion. We recorded the activity of single GPi neurons during the transition from deep a...

INTRODUCTION Effects of systemic inflammation on cerebral function are not clear, as both inflammation-induced encephalopathy as well as stress-hormone mediated alertness have been described. METHODS Experimental endotoxemia (2 ng/kg Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide [LPS]) was induced in 15 subjects, whereas 10 served as controls. Cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL1-RA and IL-10), cortisol, br...

The effects of intraduodenal and dietary lipid on alertness, mood and performance in a task requiring sustained attention were investigated in two studies. The first experiment compared the effect of duodenal infusion of either 100 g/l Intralipid (8.36 kJ/min) or isotonic saline (9 g NaCl/l) in paired studies carried out on two non-consecutive days on five male volunteers. Two consecutive 3 h i...

PURPOSE To gain insight into which job-specific health requirements relate to work ability, the following two research questions were formulated: Which job-specific health requirements are associated with the appraisal of work ability in ambulance drivers and paramedics? How are appraisals of physical and mental work ability associated with the appraisal of overall work ability in ambulance dri...

In this study, we investigated whether alertness training in healthy older adults increases visual processing speed (VPS) and functional connectivity the cingulo-opercular network predicts gain. Using theory of attention, derived quantitative estimates VPS before after training. Study 1, 75 participated training, active-control or no ( n = 25 each). A significant Group × Session interaction ind...