Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is characterized by normal fluctuations in heart rate in phase with the respiratory cycle. There are many proposed mechanisms underlying the RSA phenomenon, including respiratory-induced cardiac loading (i.e., Bainbridge reflex), arterial baroreflex activation, vagal feedback from pulmonary stretch receptors, and central neural mechanisms. It is currently unclear to what extent these mechanisms are responsible for eliciting RSA in humans, particularly in response to stressors...

INTRODUCTION: Historically, space has been the venue of the healthy individual. With the advent of commercial spaceflight, we face the novel prospect of routinely exposing spaceflight participants (SPFs) with multiple comorbidities to the space environment. Preflight screening procedures must be developed to identify those individuals at increased risk during flight. We examined the responses of volunteers to centrifuge accelerations mimicking commercial suborbital spaceflight profiles to evaluate how potential SFPs might tolerate such forces...

BACKGROUND: There is a widely held belief that strenuous exercise should be avoided on arrival at high altitude (HA) and during acclimatization. Data from chamber studies are contradictory and the studies are usually of short duration, therefore differing from the "real world." METHODS: We studied 48 trekkers during a 10-d ascent to 16,827 ft (5129 m) in the Cordillera Real area of Bolivia. Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scores were recorded for the hardest perceived exertion during the day after ascents to 12,576, 14,600, and 16,827 ft (3833, 4450, and 5129 m)...

Lumbar puncture (LP) is a commonly performed low-risk procedure terrestrially, used diagnostically for evaluation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure as well as for collection of CSF for analysis. NASA is investigating noninvasive means for measurement of intracranial pressure (ICP) to assess the potential contribution of elevated intracranial pressures to recently reported changes in astronauts' visual acuity and eye anatomy, known collectively as the Visual Impairment/Intracranial Pressure risk. However, many of these noninvasive technologies are still under development, have limited clinical validation, are several years away from being ready for in-flight use, or only provide qualitative rather than quantitative ICP values...

BACKGROUND: This study examined the uptake and effectiveness of fatigue mitigation guidance material including sleep recommendations for a trip with a westward ultra-long-range flight and return long-range flight. METHODS: There were 52 flight crew (4-pilot crews, mean age 55 yr) who completed a sleep/duty diary and wore an actigraph prior to, during, and after the trip. Primary crew flew the takeoff and landing, while relief crew flew the aircraft during the Primary crew's breaks...

BACKGROUND: Hot air ballooning incidents are relatively rare; however, when they do occur they are likely to result in a fatality or serious injury. Human error is commonly attributed as the cause of hot air ballooning incidents; however, error in itself is not an explanation for safety failures. This research aims to identify and establish the relative importance of factors contributing toward hot air ballooning incidents. METHODS: Twenty-two Australian Ballooning Federation (ABF) incident reports were thematically coded using a bottom-up approach to identify causal factors...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to elucidate the overall risk and demographic/occupational predictors of neck pain among professional aviators. METHODS: There were 413 surveys characterizing the severity and character of neck pain symptoms that were administered to a multinational cohort of pilots representing 3 separate airframe types. All results were compared to a nonaviator control group. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed to elucidate independent predictors of occupationally related neck pain...

INTRODUCTION: Bio-mathematical models are increasingly used for predicting fatigue in airline operations, and have been proposed as a possible component of fatigue risk management systems (FRMS). There is a need to continue to evaluate fatigue models against data collected from crews conducting commercial flight operations. METHODS: A comparison was made between several in-flight studies of pilot fatigue, conducted over a 10-yr period on a variety of operations, and the predictions of a widely used bio-mathematical model, the System for Aircrew Fatigue Evaluation (SAFE)...

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the distribution and dynamics of temperature changes on the surface of selected body parts after systemic cryostimulation. The changes that occurred as a reaction to the 1st, 5th, and 10th session of a series of 10 sessions were also analyzed. METHODS: The study group consisted of 24 students (12 women and 12 men, ∼21 yr of age) from the University School of Physical Education in Krakow. They were treated in a cryogenic chamber at the Rehabilitation Center in Krakow once daily for 10 d...

BACKGROUND: The T-10 parachute has been the U.S. Army standard parachute since 1952 and is now being replaced by the T-11, which has a capacity for heavier loads. This investigation compared injury rates between the two parachute systems during mass tactical parachute training exercises at Fort Bragg, NC. METHODS: Investigators were on the drop zone for all parachute operations. Data on injured jumpers were collected on the drop zone and supplemented with medical records...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.