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February 19-March 4, 2001 |
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If you choose to follow any links to the abstracts and/or complete text of articles, books, and documents listed below, you will be leaving the Strategian Web site. If you wish to return to this page from the Web page you are sent to, please use the Back option of your browser. Feature Items: J. Todd Arnedt, Gerald J. S. Wilde, Peter W. Munt, and Alistair W. MacLean How Do Prolonged Wakefulness and Alcohol Compare in the Decrements They Produce on a Simulated Driving Task? (... the effects of alcohol ingestion were compared with those of prolonged wakefulness on a simulated driving task. The authors used a sample of eighteen healthy, male subjects aged between 19 and 35 years. The subjects drove for 30 minutes on a simulated driving task at blood alcohol concentrations of 0.00, 0.05 and 0.08%. How sleepy the subjects felt was assessed by the researchers before and after the driving task. The driving performance of the subjects was evaluated in terms of lane position [tracking], speed deviation [the difference between the actual speed and the posted speed limit], and the number of off-road occurrences. The authors compared their results to those of a 1996 study that had examined the effects of the loss of sleep on the performance of a simulated driving task. While this study did involve a small number of subjects and used a simulated driving task where no other traffic was present, the authors conclude that the findings suggest that impairments in simulated driving are evident even at relatively modest blood alcohol levels, and that wakefulness prolonged by as little as 3 hours [getting only 3 hours of sleep as opposed to 5.5 hours of sleep during a 24-hour period] can produce decrements in the ability to maintain speed and road position as serious as those found at the legal limits of alcohol consumption. 18.5 and 21 hours of wakefulness [during a 24-hour period] produced impairments of driving performance of the same magnitude as 0.05 and 0.08% blood alcohol concentration, respectively. Other keywords and phrases -- consume, consuming, drink, drinking, sleep deprivation -- from the text of the abstract) Accident Analysis & Prevention Volume 33, Number 3 (May 2001): 337-344. S.R. Sheffield and R.L. Lochmiller Effects of Field Exposure to Diazinon on Small Mammals Inhabiting a Semienclosed Prairie Grassland Ecosystem. I. Ecological and Reproductive Effects. (... the authors tested the effects of the cholinesterase-inhibiting insecticide diazinon on small mammals. The widespread use of cholinesterase-inhibiting pesticides [and insecticides] in the environment presents increasing concerns about their effects on human, wildlife, and ecosystem health. As a group, these pesticides are generally highly toxic and have great potential for negatively affecting nontarget organisms. Using small plots of semienclosed grassland, the authors tested the hypothesis that diazinon, applied at two different recommended label application rates, would not cause any observable adverse ecological or reproductive effects on small mammal populations and communities. Communities of the Cotton Rat, Prairie Vole, House Mouse, and other small mammals were placed in the small grassland plots at the same densities and sex ratios as they might be found in the wild. Diazinon 4E was [then] applied at two different maximum recommended label application rates to some of the plots while other plots were not treated with the insecticide and were used as controls. Two 30-day trials were then run during peak rodent breeding seasons with the plots of grassland being sampled three times during each trial. The researchers found that the hypothesis was not supported. Instead of finding that diazinon did not cause adverse effects, the researchers found that ecological relationships in the enclosed prairie grassland ecosystem were disrupted by diazinon, probably through a combination of sublethal effects, particularly reproductive effects, impacting individuals and their populations. This suggests that negative impacts on populations and community structure and function may persist longer than diazinon persists in the environment. In particular, the incidence of reproductive condition was found to be reduced 20 to 80% and 33 to 100% in diazinon-exposed males and females, respectively. Reproductive productivity, including percentage of pregnant females and of females giving birth, was significantly reduced in diazinon-exposed animals. Percentage of pregnant females ranged from 13.6 to 43.5% in diazinon-exposed animals compared to 40 to 80% for control animals, and percentage of females giving birth ranged from 0 to 17% in diazinon-exposed animals compared to 22 to 50% for control animals. Other keywords and phrases -- biomonitor, environmental contaminants, Microtus ochrogaster, Mus musculus, persistent, Reithrodontomys fulvescens, Sigmodon hispidus -- from the text of the abstract) Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Volume 20, Number 2 (2001): 284-296. **An abstract of the article is currently available through the Web site of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry** How to find the above journals, magazines, and other publications? See Step 3: Locate of the Information Strategy for details. Questions about any or all of the above? Please let me know. |
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