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A Irving

Publications and source records attributed to A Irving.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Lack of interaction between two antihistamines, mizolastine and cetirizine, and ethanol in psychomotor and driving performance in healthy subjects.

The pharmacodynamic interaction between mizolastine, a new H1 antihistamine, and ethanol was assessed in a randomized, double-blind, three-way crossover, placebo-controlled study. Eighteen healthy young male volunteers received mizolastine 10 mg, or cetirizine 10 mg or placebo once daily for 7 days with a 1-week wash-out interval. An oral dose of ethanol or ethanol placebo, given 2 h after dosing on days 5 or 7 of each treatment period, was administered to achieve a peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.7 g/l then maintained for 1 h by two further doses of ethanol. Driving ability and psychomotor performance were evaluated using actual and simulated driving tests, critical flicker fusion threshold (CFF), adaptive tracking and divided attention (DAT) tasks. Ethanol produced a significant decrement in all tasks up to 5.5 h after administration: an increase in steering movements of 4.6, in lateral deviation of 0.45 m, in braking reaction time of 80 ms, in driving test and DAT performance of + 3.2; and a decrease in CFF and in tracking speed of 2.6 m.s-1. Neither mizolastine nor cetirizine significantly impaired driving ability or arousal (CFF) compared with the placebo. However, both drugs significantly impaired DAT performance 6:00 h post-dose (increase of + 2.1 for mizolastine and + 2.4 for cetirizine). The tracking speed was significantly decreased 7:50 h after mizolastine administration (-1.3 m.s-1) and more consistently from 1:30 to 7:50 h after cetirizine administration (-1.4 m.s-1). No significant adverse interaction, i.e. potentiation, occurred between ethanol and either antihistamine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Methods for testing impairment of driving due to drugs.

The Transport and Road Research Laboratory has been concerned for a long time with possible causes of driving difficulties and has developed methods for investigating driving performance. The question addressed here was how applicable these methods are in assessing driving problems arising from the use of drugs which can impair performance, particularly widely-available centrally-acting drugs. We assessed four types of driving-related tests by comparing their sensitivities with two laboratory tests, developed elsewhere, which measure more basic effects of drugs on performance, using drugs known to impair skills. Performances under the influences of ethanol, the benzodiazepine lorazepam, and the antihistamine triprolidine, each given both as a single high dose and a single low dose, were compared with performances after placebo. We used double-blind crossover design, in which subject variability was minimized by studying only women of a limited age range (45-55 y). The driving-related tests detected the effects of the substances used, although they were generally less sensitive than the laboratory tests. The individual sensitivities of the driving test could be improved to match those used for more general assessments.

Automobile Driving↗
PubMed1981

On-line computer-assisted exercise mapping.

The ability of exercise ECG body surface mapping to detect the presence and distribution of coronary artery disease was investigated in 76 patients presenting with chest pain. The ECG data were recorded from 16 leads regularly placed over the left praecordium. All 16 leads were input simultaneously to a PDP8 computer and 8-second samples were stored at rest, at the termination of symptom-limited exercise, and in the recovery period. ST isopotential surface maps were subsequently constructed. The presence and praecordial projection of ST abnormality were related to the arteriographic distribution of coronary disease. The ECG data were abnormal in 56 of 58 patients with coronary disease and permitted the identification of left anterior descending artery disease in 49 of 53, right coronary artery disease in 39 of 43, and circumflex artery disease in 24 of 30. Mapping separated those with single vessel from those with multiple vessel disease in 91% of patients with coronary disease. These preliminary results suggest that exercise ECG body surface mapping may provide an attractive non-invasive approach to the investigation of patients with coronary disease.

Adult↗