OBJECTIVETo investigate the neural mechanism of mind wandering.

METHODSEvent-related potentials (ERP) was recorded from 10 healthy college students while having a sustained attention to response task (SART), which consisted of frequent stimuli and rare stimuli with varied probability ratios. The fault response to the rare stimulus suggested the occurrence of an episode of mind wandering. The ERP of the frequent stimuli before the erroneous or correct responses of the rare stimuli were analyzed with two-way ANOVA of repeated-measurement [(wandering: yes, no)×(probability ratio: 0.1/0.9, 0.2/0.8, 0.3/0.7)].

RESULTSThe reaction time of the error response was shorter than that of the correct one. Significant probability effects were also found: the larger the frequent probability, the shorter its reaction time and the lower its accuracy. The sensitivity d' had no significant effect. The statistical parametric mapping of ERP suggested an interaction effect in the bilateral parietal areas (500-600 ms) and frontal areas (800-900 ms); the probability effect occurred in the left prefrontal lobe and the right parietal lobe (300-350 ms) and mind wandering effect in the bilateral occipital lobes (150-350 ms), frontal poles (250-300 ms), bilateral frontal-temporal-parietal regions (400-600 ms) and left prefrontal (800-900 ms).

CONCLUSIONSDuring mind wandering, the activation of cognitive processing for environment information decreases and speedy responses are more common with faults. The functional failure of the executive attention system influenced by the probability structure of SART may cause the occurrence of mind wandering.

Adult ; Attention ; physiology ; Awareness ; physiology ; Cognition ; physiology ; Evoked Potentials ; physiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Spatio-Temporal Analysis ; Thinking ; physiology ; Young Adult

Vigilance is the body level of awareness for objective things. It has been used in security, medical and other fields since people used it as an objective indicator. Therefore automatical vigilance detection has become a major issue needed to be resolved as soon as possible. The methods of vigilance detection at home and abroad in recent years was analyzed in this paper, which will benefit the research and the people dedicated in vigilance detection.
Arousal ; physiology ; Awareness ; physiology ; Brain ; physiology ; Electrocardiography ; Electroencephalography ; Humans ; Neural Networks (Computer) ; Pulse ; Signal Detection, Psychological ; physiology ; Task Performance and Analysis

OBJECTIVEEarly researches found that different heartbeat perceivers have different heartbeat evoked potential (HEP) waves. Two tasks were considered in our experiments to get more details about the differences between good and poor heartbeat perceivers at attention and resting state.

METHODSThirty channels of electroencephalogram (EEG) were recorded in 22 subjects, who had been subdivided into good and poor heartbeat perceivers by mental tracking task. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to remove cardiac field artifact (CFA) from the HEP.

RESULTS(1) The good heart-beat perceivers showed difference between attention and resting state in the windows from 250 ms to 450 ms after R wave at C3 location and from 100 ms to 300 ms after R wave at C4 location; (2) The difference waveforms between good and poor heartbeat perceivers was a positive waveform at FZ from 220 ms to 340 ms after R wave, which was more significant in attention state.

CONCLUSIONAttention state had more effect on the HEPs of good heartbeat perceivers than that of poor heartbeat perceivers; and perception ability influenced HEPs more strongly in the attention state than in the resting state.

Adult ; Afferent Pathways ; physiology ; Attention ; physiology ; Awareness ; physiology ; Biofeedback, Psychology ; physiology ; Brain ; physiology ; Electroencephalography ; Evoked Potentials ; physiology ; Heart ; physiology ; Heart Rate ; physiology ; Humans ; Male ; Perception ; physiology ; Reference Values ; Sensation ; physiology

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the incidence of awareness during general anesthesia in patients undergoing surgery. METHODS: A total of 1,800 patients who underwent the selected and acute surgery with general anesthesia were enrolled. Brain function monitors were not used. Patients were interviewed twice during 24 h and 96 h postoperatively to determine intraoperative awareness. RESULTS: Of all the inpatients, 13 (0.72%) reported clear awareness and never forgot anything during the operation; 145 (8.1%) reported dreaming during anesthesia with doubtful intraoperative recollection. Among the 145 patients, 108(74.5%) were females and 114(78.6%) received propofol anesthesia. CONCLUSION Intraoperative recollections are rare complication of general anesthesia, and are associated with the increased ASA physical status. Age and sex do not influence the incidence of awareness. Dreaming during anesthesia is related to younger females and propofol maintenance.
Adult ; Anesthesia, General ; adverse effects ; Awareness ; physiology ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Intraoperative Complications ; epidemiology ; Intraoperative Period ; Male ; Mental Recall ; physiology ; Middle Aged ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUNDThe awareness, treatment and prevention of chronic diseases are generally poor among the elderly population of China, whereas the prevention and control of chronic diseases in elderly veteran communities have been ongoing for more than 30 years. Therefore, investigating the awareness status of chronic disabling neurological diseases (CDND) and common chronic diseases (CCD) among elderly veterans may provide references for related programs among the elderly in the general population.

METHODSA cross-sectional survey was conducted among veterans ≥60 years old in veteran communities in Beijing. The awareness of preventive strategies against dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), sleep disorders, cerebrovascular disease (CVD) and CCD such as hypertension, and the approaches used to access this information, including media, word of mouth (verbal communication among the elderly) and health care professionals, were investigated via face-to-face interviews.

RESULTSThe awareness rates for CCD and CVD were approximately 100%, but that for AD was the lowest at <10%. The awareness rates for sleep disorders, PD and dementia, were 51.0-89.4%. Media was the most commonly selected mode of communication by which veterans acquired knowledge about CCD and CVD. Media was used by approximately 80% of veterans. Both health care professionals and word of mouth were used by approximately 50% of veterans. With respect to the source of information about CDND excluding AD, the rates of the use of health care professionals, word of mouth and media were 10.6-28.2%, 56.5-76.5%, and approximately 50%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSThe awareness of CDND among elderly veterans was significantly lower than that of CCD. More information about CDND should be disseminated by health care professionals. Appropriate guidance will promote the rapid and extensive dissemination of information about the prevention of CDND by media and word-of-mouth peer education.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Awareness ; physiology ; Chronic Disease ; prevention & control ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Male ; Nervous System Diseases ; prevention & control ; Veterans ; statistics & numerical data

OBJECTIVES: To examine the sex-specific factors associated with being unaware of one's hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) seropositivity status in a large, HBsAg-positive population of Koreans. METHODS: In total, 1197 subjects aged 19 years or older who were HBsAg-positive according to data from the 2007-2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were included. Subjects were considered unaware of their HBsAg seropositivity status if they answered that they had no knowledge of being previously infected by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) or diagnosed with HBV hepatitis. Multivariate Poisson regression models with robust variance estimate were used to assess the significance of the variables using weighted frequencies. RESULTS: The majority (77.8%) of HbsAg-positive Korean adults (females, 81.9%; males, 74.6%) were unaware of their HBsAg seropositivity status. We found that sex (female: prevalence ratio [PR] 1.19), household income (low: PR, 1.15), marital status (never married: PR, 1.18), self-rated health (moderate: PR, 1.14; good: PR, 1.12), and alcohol use (at least 2-3 times/wk: PR, 1.21) were associated with being unaware. In females, age (50 to 59 years: PR, 1.29; > or =70 years: PR, 1.30), household income (low: PR, 1.37; middle-low: PR, 1.24), and marital status (never married: PR, 1.33) were associated with being unaware. In males, self-rated health (moderate: PR, 1.14; good: PR, 1.21) and alcohol use (at least 2-3 times/wk: PR, 1.21) were associated with being unaware. CONCLUSIONS: Factors related to the socioeconomic status of females and the health-related behaviors of males were found to be associated with being unaware of one's HBsAg seropositivity status.
Adult ; Aged ; Alcohol Drinking ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Awareness/*physiology ; Body Mass Index ; Female ; Health Status ; Hepatitis B/*diagnosis/epidemiology/virology ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/*blood ; Hepatitis B virus/*metabolism ; Humans ; Income ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nutrition Surveys ; Poisson Distribution ; Prevalence ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Sex Factors ; Young Adult

BACKGROUNDThere are few studies to assess whether the effect-site concentration of propofol can predict anesthetic depth during the target-controlled infusion (TCI) induction in elderly patients. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between effect-site concentration of propofol and depth of anesthesia during the TCI induction in elderly patients.

METHODSNinety patients (60 - 80 years) with an American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status of 1 - 3, undergoing scheduled abdominal and thoracic surgery under general anesthesia were randomly allocated into one of three groups, Group S1, S2 and S3 (30 patients in each group). The patients in Group S1 received propofol with a target plasma concentration of 4.0 microg/ml; patients in Group S2 received propofol with an initial target plasma concentrations of 2.0 microg/ml that was raised to 4.0 microg/ml 3 minutes later; patients in Group S3 received an infused scheme of 3 steps; starting from a target plasma concentration of 2.0 microg/ml that was increased stepwised by 1 microg/ml until a target plasma concentration of 4.0 microg/ml was achieved, the interval between the two steps was 3 minutes. When an Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation (OAA/S) score of 1 was achieved, remifentanil (effect-site concentration (Ce) of 4.0 ng/ml) and rocuronium 0.9 mg/kg were administered. Tracheal intubation was started 2 minutes after rocuronium injection. Changes of propofol Ce, blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and bispectral index (BIS) were recorded.

RESULTSWhen an OAA/S score of 1 was achieved, Ce of propofol were (1.7 +/- 0.4) microg/ml, (1.9 +/- 0.3) microg/ml, (1.9 +/- 0.4) microg/ml and the BIS values were 64 +/- 5, 65 +/- 8, and 62 +/- 8 in Groups S1, S2 and S3. Before intubation, Ce of propofol was (2.8 +/- 0.2) microg/ml, (2.8 +/- 0.3) microg/ml, (2.7 +/- 0.3) microg/ml, and the BIS values were 48 +/- 7, 51 +/- 7, and 47 +/- 5 in Groups S1, S2 and S3. By linear regression analysis, a significant correlation between Ce of propofol and BIS values was found (r = -0.580, P < 0.01). Systolic blood pressure (SBP) before intubation was significantly lower in Group S1 than in Groups S2 and S3. SBP and HR after intubation in the three groups were significantly increased when compared with pre-intubation values, but they did not exceed baseline values.

CONCLUSIONSDuring the TCI induction, Ce of propofol with (1.9 +/- 0.3) microg/ml may make the elderly patients unconscious. When remifentanil with a Ce of 4.0 ng/ml is added a Ce of propofol with (2.8 +/- 0.3) microg/ml is suitable for intubation. The Ce of propofol has a close correlation with the BIS values. Also, a two-step TCI technique seems to be a more suitable method of anesthesia induction in elderly patients compared with the no-stepwise TCI technique and three-step TCI technique.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Androstanols ; therapeutic use ; Anesthesia, General ; methods ; Anesthesia, Intravenous ; methods ; Anesthetics, Intravenous ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; therapeutic use ; Awareness ; physiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infusions, Intravenous ; methods ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; Linear Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neuromuscular Nondepolarizing Agents ; therapeutic use ; Piperidines ; therapeutic use ; Propofol ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; therapeutic use