ABSTRACT
Presented are data of the follow-up (about 30 years maximum) of cosmonauts (n = 36, main group) and candidates to cosmonauts (n = 65, control) who were also subjected to the systematic medical certification over the whole period in the corps of cosmonauts. Analysis of the data on morbidity, body mass, physiological and biochemical parameters (BP, lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, hemoglobin etc.) revealed that for the most part, dynamics of the health parameters and morbidity in remote periods after space flight was age-specific.
Subject(s)
Astronauts , Health Status , Space Flight , Adult , Aerospace Medicine , Age Factors , Blood Pressure/physiology , Body Mass Index , Carbohydrate Metabolism , Female , Hemoglobins/metabolism , Humans , Lipid Metabolism , Male , Time FactorsSubject(s)
Aerospace Medicine/history , Space Flight/history , Women/history , Aerospace Medicine/methods , Female , History, 20th Century , Humans , Russia , Women's HealthABSTRACT
The contribution of vestibular, optokinetic, and optovestibular stimulation to experimental motion sickness was evaluated in 29 volunteer subjects. Vestibular stimulation (Coriolis effect) was found to induce the most significant vestibular-autonomic disorders. Optokinetic stimulation (pseudo-Coriolis effect) and optovestibular stimulation could provoke such disorders only in susceptible subjects. In quantitative terms, optokinetic and optovestibular stimulation were less effective than vestibular Coriolis stress. Nystagmic reactions of susceptible subjects to the three types of stimulation differed significantly from those of tolerant subjects. This may be important from the theoretical point of view because susceptibility to motion sickness and responses to vestibular and optokinetic stimulation may be universal and associated with the general CNS mechanism, i.e. inhibition mechanism. The identified correlation between the duration of postoptokinetic illusion and motion sickness susceptibility may be used to differentiate susceptible and tolerant subjects.
Subject(s)
Eye Movements , Motion Sickness/etiology , Vestibule, Labyrinth/physiology , Adult , Coriolis Force , Dark Adaptation , Electronystagmography , Humans , Male , Posture , Rotation/adverse effectsABSTRACT
By clinical-physiological and biochemical methods adaptation to prolonged (182 days) head-down tilting (--4.5 degrees) was investigated. It was found that man exposed to hypokinesia for a month or longer, with countermeasures lacking, showed polymorphic clinical-physiological and biochemical disorders accompanied by a decline of his adaptive capabilities. This may aggravate further adaptation and readaptation processes.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Physiological , Bed Rest/adverse effects , Posture , Adult , Blood Pressure , Humans , Intraocular Pressure , Lipids/blood , Male , Physical Exertion , Time Factors , Weightlessness/adverse effectsABSTRACT
Eight test subjects were exposed to a five-day bed rest experiment in the recumbent and head-down position (at an angle of 0 degrees,--4 degrees,--8 degrees, and--12 degrees) to study the physiological effects of the exposure. The head-down tilting at--4 degrees and--12 degrees was shown to simulate physiological effects of real space flight better than bed rest at 0 degrees. The results made it possible to model an acute stage of weightlessness adaptation and to assay the contribution of gravity-induced blood redistribution to the physiological reactions.
Subject(s)
Bed Rest , Models, Biological , Posture , Weightlessness , Adult , Blood Pressure , Electrocardiography , Exercise Test , Humans , Intraocular Pressure , Male , Nose/physiology , Ocular Physiological Phenomena , Pulse , Time FactorsABSTRACT
The paper presents the results of clinical, physiological and biochemical examination of 27 polar explorer--members of the 17th Soviet Antartic Expedition at the Vostok station. It gives data on the morbidity rate and describes the development of the asthenic-neurotic syndrome. On the basis of studies of catecholamines and serotonin, the role of the sympatho-adrenal system in the human adaptation to the harsh environments of the Central Antarctica has been shown.
