ABSTRACT
This experiment illustrates that the 1991 Montazer and Thomas conclusion that grip strength declines over time is incomplete 15 men performed 4 grip-strength trials with intertrial rests of 120 sec. Analysis showed that performance did not decrease over the 4 trials, on the contrary, the pattern was that of a learning curve, with a significant difference across the 4 trials, i.e., on Trial 1 grip strength was lower than on successive trials. Such a result points to the importance of 'warming-up' the muscle to obtain optimum functioning. Also, subjects should be familiar with the task and the equipment to reduce the chance of a Type I error. Implications for research are discussed.
Subject(s)
Hand Strength , Isometric Contraction , Muscle Fatigue , Adolescent , Adult , Humans , Male , Reference Values , Reproducibility of ResultsABSTRACT
It is argued that space sickness is not so much a physiological problem, but a psychological one, having its roots in the perception of the environment, and its associated cognitive processing. This cognitive processing is argued to be that of field dependence and field independence, for which exist psychobiological and cognitive assessment tests. Since there is an obvious economic advantage in the use of cognite testing, it is recommended that this could be used as an initial screening when selecting for astronauts.
Subject(s)
Astronauts/psychology , Cognition , Orientation , Space Flight , Space Motion Sickness/psychology , Weightlessness/adverse effects , Aerospace Medicine , Disease Susceptibility , Humans , Personnel Selection , Proprioception , Psychological Tests , Space Motion Sickness/etiology , Space Motion Sickness/physiopathology , Visual PerceptionABSTRACT
A major characteristic of prenatal alcohol intake is a subsequent birth weight decrement. Experimental animal work has demonstrated that nutritional effects apart, there is a strong, direct alcohol effect responsible for this decrement. Consistency in this effect of birth weight decrement has been demonstrated in a range of species. Early work with animals had equally demonstrated that this effect can be transitory and that catch up is possible. Quite recently, human studies have supported such animal findings to the extent that now we need to question even more strongly our approach required for counselling on alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
