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Alterations of Visual Reaction Time and Short Term Memory in Military Radar Personnel

BACKGROUND: Radar transmitters emit high-power radiofrequency radiation by creation of a high-voltage and high-frequency alternating electrical current. METHODS: Health effects of occupational exposure to military radar were investigated. Visual reaction time was recorded with a simple blind compute...

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Autores principales: MORTAZAVI, Seyed Mohammad Javad, TAEB, Shahram, DEHGHAN, Naser
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3684731/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23785684
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author MORTAZAVI, Seyed Mohammad Javad
TAEB, Shahram
DEHGHAN, Naser
author_facet MORTAZAVI, Seyed Mohammad Javad
TAEB, Shahram
DEHGHAN, Naser
author_sort MORTAZAVI, Seyed Mohammad Javad
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Radar transmitters emit high-power radiofrequency radiation by creation of a high-voltage and high-frequency alternating electrical current. METHODS: Health effects of occupational exposure to military radar were investigated. Visual reaction time was recorded with a simple blind computer-assisted-visual reaction time test. To assess the short-term memory, modified Wechsler Memory Scale test was performed. RESULTS: The mean +/- SD reaction time in radar works (N=100) and the control group (N=57) were 238.58 +/− 23.47 milliseconds and 291.86 +/− 28.26 milliseconds (P<0.0001), respectively. The scores of forward digit span in radar works and the control group were 3.56 +/− 0.77 and 4.29 +/− 1.06 (P<0.0001), while the scores of backward digit span in radar works and the control group were 2.70 +/− 0.69 and 3.62 +/− 0.95 (P<0.0001). The scores of word recognition in radar works and the control group were 3.37 +/− 1.13 and 5.86 +/− 1.11 (P<0.0001). Finally, the scores of paired words in radar works and the control group were 13.56 +/− 1.78 and 15.21 +/− 2.20 (P<0.0001). It can be concluded that occupational exposures to radar radiations decreases reaction time, which may lead to a better response to different hazards. CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that occupational exposure to radar microwave radiation leads to decreased reaction time and the lower performance of short-term memory. Altogether, these results indicate that occupational exposure to radar microwave radiations may be linked to some non-detrimental and detrimental health effects.
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spelling pubmed-36847312013-06-19 Alterations of Visual Reaction Time and Short Term Memory in Military Radar Personnel MORTAZAVI, Seyed Mohammad Javad TAEB, Shahram DEHGHAN, Naser Iran J Public Health Preliminary Report BACKGROUND: Radar transmitters emit high-power radiofrequency radiation by creation of a high-voltage and high-frequency alternating electrical current. METHODS: Health effects of occupational exposure to military radar were investigated. Visual reaction time was recorded with a simple blind computer-assisted-visual reaction time test. To assess the short-term memory, modified Wechsler Memory Scale test was performed. RESULTS: The mean +/- SD reaction time in radar works (N=100) and the control group (N=57) were 238.58 +/− 23.47 milliseconds and 291.86 +/− 28.26 milliseconds (P<0.0001), respectively. The scores of forward digit span in radar works and the control group were 3.56 +/− 0.77 and 4.29 +/− 1.06 (P<0.0001), while the scores of backward digit span in radar works and the control group were 2.70 +/− 0.69 and 3.62 +/− 0.95 (P<0.0001). The scores of word recognition in radar works and the control group were 3.37 +/− 1.13 and 5.86 +/− 1.11 (P<0.0001). Finally, the scores of paired words in radar works and the control group were 13.56 +/− 1.78 and 15.21 +/− 2.20 (P<0.0001). It can be concluded that occupational exposures to radar radiations decreases reaction time, which may lead to a better response to different hazards. CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that occupational exposure to radar microwave radiation leads to decreased reaction time and the lower performance of short-term memory. Altogether, these results indicate that occupational exposure to radar microwave radiations may be linked to some non-detrimental and detrimental health effects. Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2013-04-01 /pmc/articles/PMC3684731/ /pubmed/23785684 Text en Copyright © Iranian Public Health Association & Tehran University of Medical Sciences http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 License (CC BY-NC 3.0), which allows users to read, copy, distribute and make derivative works for non-commercial purposes from the material, as long as the author of the original work is cited properly.
spellingShingle Preliminary Report
MORTAZAVI, Seyed Mohammad Javad
TAEB, Shahram
DEHGHAN, Naser
Alterations of Visual Reaction Time and Short Term Memory in Military Radar Personnel
title Alterations of Visual Reaction Time and Short Term Memory in Military Radar Personnel
title_full Alterations of Visual Reaction Time and Short Term Memory in Military Radar Personnel
title_fullStr Alterations of Visual Reaction Time and Short Term Memory in Military Radar Personnel
title_full_unstemmed Alterations of Visual Reaction Time and Short Term Memory in Military Radar Personnel
title_short Alterations of Visual Reaction Time and Short Term Memory in Military Radar Personnel
title_sort alterations of visual reaction time and short term memory in military radar personnel
topic Preliminary Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3684731/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23785684
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