Pupillary response to cognitive workload during saccadic tasks in Parkinson's disease.

The relationship between cognitive workload and cognitive impairments in Parkinson's disease (PD) is currently not well known. This study compared cognitive workload during saccadic tasks between patients with PD and controls. Sixteen controls, 11 patients with no obvious cognitive impairment (PD-NCI) (MOCA score≥26), and 10 PD patients with cognitive impairment (PD-CI) (MOCA score<26) performed prosaccade and antisaccade tasks.

Genitourinary injuries after traffic accidents: Analysis of a registry of 162,690 victims.

Background: Traffic accidents are the most frequent cause of genitourinary injuries (GUI). Kidney injuries after trauma have been well described. However, there exists a paucity of data on other traumatic GUI after traffic accidents.

Acquisition and analysis of road incidents based on vehicle dynamics.

Because motor vehicle crashes have decreased during the last decade in many countries in the world and are more diffuse, local authorities have difficulties to define road safety policies. An experiment with 51 cars of public fleets equipped with a specific Event Data Recorder was carried out in France during one year. The purposes of this research were to evaluate if incident data (critical driving situations) help to understand crashes, and to explore a new way for road infrastructure safety diagnosis.

Training the elderly in pedestrian safety: Transfer effect between two virtual reality simulation devices.

Objectives: A virtual-reality training program has been developed to help older pedestrians make safer street-crossing decisions in two-way traffic situations. The aim was to develop a small-scale affordable and transportable simulation device that allowed transferring effects to a full-scale device involving actual walking.

Methods: 20 younger adults and 40 older participants first participated in a pre-test phase to assess their street crossings using both full-scale and small-scale simulation devices.

Influence of lane departure warnings onset and reliability on car drivers' behaviors.

Lane departures represent an important cause of road crashes. The objective of the present study was to assess the effects of an auditory Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS) for partial and full lane departures (onset manipulation) combined with missed warnings (reliability manipulation: 100% reliable, 83% reliable and 66% reliable) on drivers' performances and acceptance. Several studies indicate that LDWS improves drivers' performances during lane departure episodes.

Determinants of On-Road Driving in Multiple Sclerosis.

Objective: To investigate the cognitive, visual, and motor deficits underlying poor performance on different dimensions of on-road driving in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Design: Prospective cross-sectional study.

Setting: MS clinic and driving simulator lab.

Attention and driving performance modulations due to anger state: Contribution of electroencephalographic data.

Driver internal state, including emotion, can have negative impacts on road safety. Studies have shown that an anger state can provoke aggressive behavior and impair driving performance. Apart from driving, anger can also influence attentional processing and increase the benefits taken from auditory alerts.

Longitudinal Executive Changes in Drivers with Parkinson's Disease: Study Using Neuropsychological and Driving Simulator Tasks.

Background/aims: (1) To investigate how specific executive functions change over 2 years in drivers with Parkinson's disease (PD) compared to controls, using both neuropsychological and driving simulator tasks; and (2) to explore the association between the decline of specific executive functions and changes in driving habits in PD.

Methods: Sixteen PD patients and 21 controls underwent neuropsychological testing twice and performed tasks on a driving simulator, with an interval of approximately 2 years. Questions on participants' self-perception of their driving ability were administered.

Enhancing Older Drivers' Safety: On Effects Induced by Stereotype Threat to Older Adults' Driving Performance, Working Memory and Self-Regulation.

In a study concerned with driving behaviors of older drivers (mean age 70 years) in a driving simulator, our findings indicate that telling older drivers that they are more at risk of accidents because of their age and their driving performance-related decline (i.e., exposing them to a stereotype threat concerning older drivers) severely impairs their self-regulatory skills.

Delay Kalman Filter to Estimate the Attitude of a Mobile Object with Indoor Magnetic Field Gradients.

More and more services are based on knowing the location of pedestrians equipped with connected objects (smartphones, smartwatches, .). One part of the location estimation process is attitude estimation.

The impact of false warnings on partial and full lane departure warnings effectiveness and acceptance in car driving.

In the past, lane departure warnings (LDWs) were demonstrated to improve driving behaviours during lane departures but little is known about the effects of unreliable warnings. This experiment focused on the influence of false warnings alone or in combination with missed warnings and warning onset on assistance effectiveness and acceptance. Two assistance unreliability levels (33 and 17%) and two warning onsets (partial and full lane departure) were manipulated in order to investigate interaction.

Time pressure and regulations on hospital-in-the-home (HITH) nurses: An on-the-road study.

This study investigated both causal factors and consequences of time pressure in hospital-in-the-home (HITH) nurses. These nurses may experience additional stress from the time pressure they encounter while driving to patients' homes, which may result in greater risk taking while driving. From observation in natural settings, data related to the nurses' driving behaviours and emotions were collected and analysed statistically; semi-directed interviews with the nurses were analysed qualitatively.

Physical Human Activity Recognition Using Wearable Sensors.

This paper presents a review of different classification techniques used to recognize human activities from wearable inertial sensor data. Three inertial sensor units were used in this study and were worn by healthy subjects at key points of upper/lower body limbs (chest, right thigh and left ankle). Three main steps describe the activity recognition process: sensors' placement, data pre-processing and data classification.

Improving the safety effect of speed camera programs through innovations: Evidence from the French experience.

Problem: This study investigates the effect of the French Automated Speed Enforcement Program (ASEP) on casualties involving different types of road users.

Method: Interrupted time-series analyses were conducted to estimate the effect of the ASEP.

Results: Overall, the ASEP was associated with a decrease of 19.

Does exposure to aircraft noise increase the mortality from cardiovascular disease in the population living in the vicinity of airports? Results of an ecological study in France.

The impact of aircraft noise on health is of growing concern. We investigated the relationship between this exposure and mortality from cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, and stroke. We performed an ecological study on 161 communes (commune being the smallest administrative unit in France) close to the following three major French airports: Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Lyon Saint-Exupéry, and Toulouse-Blagnac.

Using software-modified smartphones to validate self-reported mobile phone use in young people: A pilot study.

A newly developed smartphone application was piloted to characterize and validate mobile phone use in young people. Twenty-six volunteers (mean age 17.3 years) from France, Spain, and the Netherlands used a software-modified smartphone for 4 weeks; the application installed on the phone recorded number and duration of calls, data use, laterality, hands-free device usage, and communication system used for both voice calls and data transfer.

Effects of introducing an administrative .05% blood alcohol concentration limit on law enforcement patterns and alcohol-related collisions in Canada.

Except for Quebec, all Canadian provinces have introduced administrative laws to lower the permitted blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to .05% or .04% for driving-or having the care of-a motor vehicle.

Effect of hyperoxic and hyperbaric conditions on the adenosinergic pathway and CD26 expression in rat.

The nucleoside adenosine acts on the nervous and cardiovascular systems via the A2A receptor (A2AR). In response to oxygen level in tissues, adenosine plasma concentration is regulated in particular via its synthesis by CD73 and via its degradation by adenosine deaminase (ADA). The cell-surface endopeptidase CD26 controls the concentration of vasoactive and antioxidant peptides and hence regulates the oxygen supply to tissues and oxidative stress response.

Mental workload and driving.

The aim of this review is to identify the most representative measures of subjective and objective mental workload in driving, and to understand how the subjective and objective levels of mental workload influence the performance as a function of situation complexity and driving experience, i.e., to verify whether the increase of situation complexity and the lack of experience increase the subjective and physiological levels of mental workload and lead to driving performance impairments.

Road crash fatality rates in France: a comparison of road user types, taking account of travel practices.

Background: Travel practices are changing: bicycle and motorized two-wheeler (MTW) use are rising in some of France's large cities. These are cheaper modes of transport and therefore attractive at a time of economic crisis, but they also allow their users to avoid traffic congestion. At the same time, active transport modes such as walking and cycling are encouraged because they are beneficial to health and reduce pollution.

Powered two-wheeler drivers' risk of hitting a pedestrian in towns.

Introduction: The risk of collision between pedestrians and powered two-wheelers is poorly understood today. The objective of this research is to determine the risk for powered two-wheeler drivers of hitting and injuring a pedestrian per kilometer driven in towns and to compare this risk with that run by four-wheeled vehicle drivers.

Method: Using the bodily injury accidents recorded by the police on nine roads in the city of Marseille in 2011 and a campaign of observations of powered two-wheeler traffic, we estimated the risk per kilometer driven by powered two-wheeler drivers of hitting a pedestrian and compared it with the risk run by four-wheeled vehicle drivers.

Assessing the Impact of Anger State on the Three Attentional Networks with the ANT-I.

Anger is a negative and highly aroused emotion. Previous research has revealed that a high level of arousal can induce the participant in a physical preparation and self-awareness. The aim of this research was to study the influence of anger on the attentional network using the Attention Network Test-Interactions (ANT-I).

Crossing a two-way street: comparison of young and old pedestrians.

Introduction: Choosing a safe gap in which to cross a two-way street is a complex task and only few experiments have investigated age-specific difficulties.

Method: A total of 18 young (age 19-35), 28 younger-old (age 62-71) and 38 older-old (age 72-85 years) adults participated in a simulated street-crossing experiment in which vehicle approach speed and available time gaps were varied. The safe and controlled simulated environment allowed participants to perform a real walk across an experimental two-way street.

Powered two-wheeler drivers' crash risk associated with the use of bus lanes.

Context: Authorizing powered two-wheeler drivers to drive in lanes reserved to buses is a measure that is sometimes mentioned to improve mobility conditions for these users. But what effect would this measure have on the safety of these users and on the safety of the other users with whom they share the traffic space?

Objective: The objective of this study is to contribute elements to help answer this question. More precisely, the objective is to estimate the risk of having an accident per kilometer driven by powered two-wheeler drivers who drive in bus lanes and to compare this risk with that of powered two-wheeler drivers who drive in general traffic lanes.

Divided attention in young drivers under the influence of alcohol.

Introduction: The present research evaluates driving impairment linked to divided attention task and alcohol and determines whether it is higher for novice drivers than for experienced drivers.

Method: Novice and experienced drivers participated in three experimental sessions in which blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) were 0.0 g/L, 0.