Brain structural plasticity in visual and sensorimotor areas of airline pilots: A voxel-based morphometric study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Airline pilot is a highly specialized profession that requires to response quickly and accurately in the presence of a wide variety of visual information. Although functional imaging studies have employed virtual simulation to identify brain areas that underlie various flying-related tasks, little is known about the specific patterns of structural plasticity in the airline pilot's brain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we examined differences of gray matter and white matter volumes between 42 airline pilots and 39 non-pilots by using voxel-based morphometry, and further assessed the association between magnitude of structural alterations and flight time in the pilots. RESULTS: We found significantly increased white matter volume in the cuneus area in the pilot group compared to the non-pilot group (p < 0.05, FWE corrected). Using a relaxed threshold, it was also observed that the pilots had increased gray matter volume in the lingual gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, cuneus, and postcentral gyrus, and increased white matter volume in the postcentral area (p < 0.001, uncorrected). Moreover, the pilots' flight time was positively correlated with gray matter volume in the postcentral gyrus and white matter volume in the cuneus area (p < 0.001, uncorrected). CONCLUSIONS: The morphological changes in specific visual and sensorimotor areas may provide airline pilots with neural efficiency in the visuo-motor processing related to flight.

Cardiovascular Risk Factor Modification in Asymptomatic Adults and Implications for Pilots.

This study aims to examine the available evidence that supports a more aggressive approach to managing asymptomatic people with low to intermediate cardiovascular risks; to evaluate the appropriate threshold for initiating pharmacologic interventions to treat hyperglycaemia, hyperlipidaemia, and hypertension; and to describe the implications for airline pilots. A systematic search was performed employing an OvidSP interface, including all EBM Reviews, EMBASE, and Ovid MEDLINE databases. Data, including sixteen randomised controlled trials, on the appropriate threshold for initiating pharmacologic interventions were extracted. Studies on the treatment of hyperlipidaemia indicated that the threshold for initiation of intervention in intermediate-risk people is a LDL-C level of 3.36 mmol/l (130 mg/dl). There was no lower limit or optimal LDL-C level below which further reduction was no longer beneficial. Studies on the treatment of hyperglycaemia suggested that a threshold of fasting plasma glucose of ≥5.3 mmol/l (95 mg/dl) and 2-hour postprandial glucose level of 7.8 mmol/l (140 mg/dl) is reasonable for initiating pharmacologic intervention. Initiating treatment to people with a blood pressure of ≥130/≤89 mmHg or ≤139/≥85 mmHg significantly reduced the risk of developing stage 1 hypertension. Multifactorial intervention studies showed that, in hypertensive patients (BP ≥160/≥100 mmHg), initiating treatment to those with a total cholesterol of 6.5 mmol/l (251.35 mg/dl) or higher resulted in a significant reduction in the risk of developing fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events. The available evidence from large quality trials supports a more aggressive approach to managing hyperglycaemia, hyperlipidaemia, and hypertension in asymptomatic pilots with a 5-year CVD risk of 5-10% and 10-15%.

Study on the effect of abnormal lipid metabolism of civil aviation pilots on traditional Chinese medicine constitution / 国际中医中药杂志

Objective Research on the correlation of dyslipidemia of civil aviation pilots and the TCM constitution aimed to explore that how professional environmental affects the lipid metabolism and the constitution.MethodsMeasure the lipid statusand TCM constitution of 656 pilots, and 496 of them with dyslipidemia were studied. The sample were stratified according to the age and the types of dyslipidemia, including young and middle-aged groups, only abnormal total cholesterol metabolism (TC), only abnormal triglyceride metabolism (TG), and both abnormal cholesterol and triglycerides metabolism groups and then the differences in prevalence of traditional Chinese medicine in different groups were analyzed and discussed. ResultsThe prevalence of abnormal lipid metabolism was 75.61% in 656 pilots. The top three TCM constitutions among the pilot with dyslipidemia were phlegm dampness constitution (35.89%), dampness heat constitution (33.06%) and deficiency of Yang(20.97%). If age was not considered, the prevalence of TCM constitutions were not significantly different between the groups of only abnormal TC and TG (P>0.05), while the prevalence of Yang deficiency and dampness heat constitutions of only either TC or TG abnormal group were significantly higher than those of the group of both abnormal TC, TG (χ2 values were 6.793, 5.077, P<0.05). Take age as considered, TC metabolic abnormalities in youth group, the prevalence of damp heat constitution of the only TC abnormal group was higher than both TC, TG abnormal group (χ2=7.637,P<0.01); and the prevalence of Qi deficiency and Yang deficiency constitution of the only TG abnormal group were higher than both TC, TG abnormal group (χ2values were 6.139, 7.525,P<0.05). In the middle-aged group, the prevalences of Yang deficiency and Qi stagnation constitution of only TC abnormal group were higher than only TG abnormal group (χ2 values were 9.750, 3.922,P<0.05), and the prevalence of Yang deficiency of only TC abnormal group was higher than both TC, TG abnormal group (χ2=5.208,P<0.05). The prevalence of Yang deficiency of both TC, TG abnormal group was higher than only TG abnormal group (χ2= 4.489,P<0.05). Conclusions The result showed high prevalence of dyslipidemia in the population of civil aviation pilots. Age and lipid metabolism status could affect the types of TCM constitution. Damp-heat constitution was the common type of TCM constitution in the population of the young pilot, and Yang deficiency and Qi stagnation constitution were the common types in the population of middle-aged people whose lipid metabolism were disorder. The group of only abnormal TC influence on TCM constitution more than both abnormal TC and TG.

Relationship between Brazilian airline pilot errors and time of day

Flight safety is one of the most important and frequently discussed issues in aviation. Recent accident inquiries have raised questions as to how the work of flight crews is organized and the extent to which these conditions may have been contributing factors to accidents. Fatigue is based on physiologic limitations, which are reflected in performance deficits. The purpose of the present study was to provide an analysis of the periods of the day in which pilots working for a commercial airline presented major errors. Errors made by 515 captains and 472 copilots were analyzed using data from flight operation quality assurance systems. To analyze the times of day (shifts) during which incidents occurred, we divided the light-dark cycle (24:00) in four periods: morning, afternoon, night, and early morning. The differences of risk during the day were reported as the ratio of morning to afternoon, morning to night and morning to early morning error rates. For the purposes of this research, level 3 events alone were taken into account, since these were the most serious in which company operational limits were exceeded or when established procedures were not followed. According to airline flight schedules, 35 percent of flights take place in the morning period, 32 percent in the afternoon, 26 percent at night, and 7 percent in the early morning. Data showed that the risk of errors increased by almost 50 percent in the early morning relative to the morning period (ratio of 1:1.46). For the period of the afternoon, the ratio was 1:1.04 and for the night a ratio of 1:1.05 was found. These results showed that the period of the early morning represented a greater risk of attention problems and fatigue.

Drawing up a Job Self-regulation Questionnaire for Airline Pilots / 航天医学与医学工程

Objective To draw up a job self-regulation questionnaire for airline pilots and to evaluate its reliabilities and validities.Methods A job self-regulation questionnaire was developed based on documents and interviews.In order to examine the validity,208 airline pilots of CAAC were tested and 31 department leaders of them were interviewed.Results The self-regulation of airline pilot was composed of eight key dimensions,which had been examined in the confirmatory factor analysis.The Cronbach of full questionnaire was ?=0.743,and the reliability of each dimension was beyond Cronbach ?=0.516.Coefficient of stability of the questionnaire was beyond 0.606(P