Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Ushakov, A. S..
A comparative analysis is made of hormone reactions after short and long term spaceflights. Endocrinological indicators from venous blood and daily urine samples of cosmonauts completing flights lasting from 7 to 237 days were examined. No pathological indicators were found in the metabolic shifts in the erythrocytes and disruption of the functional state of their membranes.
The effects of weightlessness on the body composition of rats were investigated using 5 male rats exposed to 18.5 days of weightlessness on the COSMOS 1129 biosatellite and killed after reentry. The animals were immediately dissected and the three major body divisions (musculoskeletal system, skin, and pooled viscera) were analyzed for fat, water, solids, and six elements. These results were determined as percentages of the fat-free body or its components and then compared with two groups of terrestrial controls, one of which was subjected to a flight simulation in a spacecraft mock-up while the other was under standard vivarium conditions. Compared with the control groups, the flight group was found to exhibit a reduced fraction of total body water, a net shift of body water from skin to viscera, a marked diminution in the fraction of extracellular water in the fat-free body, a marked reduction in the fraction of bone mineral, no change in the quantity of stored fat or adrenal masses, and a net increase in total muscle mass as indicated by total body creatine, protein, and body cell mass.
The effects of 18.5 days of weightlessness on the body composition of young, growing, male laboratory rats were examined. Three groups of 5 rats each were examined. It is indicated that exposure of young, growing, male rats to 18.5 days of weightlessness produces: (1) no effect on the quantity of fat stored by the body; (2) a slight reduction in the quantity of fat free tissue laid down by the body; (3) a small reduction in the fraction of water contained by the fat free body mass; (4) a similar reduction in the fraction of water contained by the fat free skin and fat free carcass; (5) a shift in relative distribution of the total body water from skin to viscera; (6) a diminution in the fraction of extracellular water contained by the fat free body; (7) no effect on the fraction of total skeletal musculature contained by the fat free body, as indicated by body creatine content; (8) a sizeable reduction in the fraction of bone mineral contained by the fat free body, as calculated from body calcium content. The nature of the physiological changes induced by unloading from Earth gravity in the mammalian organism are illustrated.
Five male rats were dissected into three major compartments (musculo-skeletal system, skin, and pooled viscera) and compared with synchronous controls. The flight group show a 6.7% reduction in total body water probably attributable to a 36.2% reduction in the extracellular compartment, reductions of 6.6% in musculo-skeletal water and 17.2% in skin water, an apparent shift of some water from skin to viscera, and a 20% reduction in bone mineral mass. Among organ fresh masses there was a 7.5% increase in kidneys and a 14.0% decrease in spleen.
The nutrition of astronautics during long flights is discussed, especially with respect to the changes brought about in the body by the condition of weightlessness.
Problem of supplying spacecrew with food of animal origin