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At least 73 records · Page 4

Effect of suprachiasmatic lesions on diurnal heart rate rhythm in the rat

Heart rate and locomotor activity of rats kept under 12L/12D illumination regimen were recorded every six minutes for ten days using implantable radio transmitters. Some of the rats then received bilateral RF lesions into the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Control sham operations were performed on the rest of the animals. After recovery from surgery, recording of heart rate and locomotor activity was continued for ten days. SCN-lesioned rats showed no significant diurnal fluctuation in heart rate, while normal and sham-operated rats showed the normal diurnal rhythm in that function. The arrhythmic diurnal heart-rate pattern of SCN rats appeared to be correlated with their sporadic activity pattern. The integrity of the suprachiasmatic nucleus is therefore necessary for the generation and/or expression of diurnal rhythmicity in heart rate in the rat.

Saleh, M. A.↗

Exercise training-induced hypervolemia - Role of plasma albumin, renin, and vasopressin

The purpose of the present study was twofold: (1) to determine the rate of induction and decay of exercise-training hypervolemia with a short-duration high-intensity training regimen; and (2) to assess the protein, osmotic, and endocrine responses that contribute to that mechanism. The test subjects were eight volunteer, healthy, trained college men (20-22 yr) engaged in isotonic exercise on a bicycle ergometer. Factors associated with plasma hypervolemia during training are identified. The results suggest that an efficient procedure for increasing plasma volume is the daily performance of high-intensity isotonic leg exercise for 2 h/day.

Convertino, V. A.↗

Tolerance of Lower Body Negative Pressure (LBNP) in endurance runners, weightlifters, swimmers and nonathletes

Thirteen endurance runners (R), 12 weightlifters (WL), 12 swimmers (SW) and 10 nonathletes (NA) were tested for their tolerance of lower body negative pressure (LBNP) in consecutive 5 minute stages at -20, -30, -40, -50 and -60 torr. Each subject also performed an exercise test on a bicycle ergometer with progressive workloads to exhaustion to determined aerobic capacity. The R had a much higher aerobic capacity than any of the other groups, but a significantly lower LBNP tolerance. While responses in heart rate and pulse pressure were quite similar in all 4 groups, the rate of increase in leg volume relative to LBNP stress (leg compliance, LC) was considerably greater in R than in the other athletes and NA. The greater LC in R could be attributed not only to a more rapid shift of blood to the lower extremities but also to a greater tendency for edema formation, both contributing to a more rapid loss in effective central blood volume for a given LBNP stress. These results substantiate earlier observations which led to the conclusion that endurance running is not advisable as a training regimen for astronauts.

Source record↗

Functional-morphological parallels of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal system response reaction to long-term hypokinesia

The effect of 2 and 4 week hypokinesia regimens on the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal system (HPAS) was investigated in 110 inbred mice. Progressive exhaustion and pathological reorganization of the HPAS morphofunctional structures was revealed. On the basis of established facts of interlineary and interspecies differences in the HPAS response, it is suggested that the animal body response reaction to the long term effects of hypokinesia depends largely on its HPAS resistance and the values of this system's defensive adaptation potential.

Tsvetov, Y. P.↗

Effects of the Cosmos 1129 Soviet paste diet on body composition in the growing rat

Six Simonsen albino rats (45 days of age) were placed on a regimen of 40 g/day the semipurified Soviet paste diet used in the 18.5 day Cosmos 1129 spacecraft was to support the rats for various experiments on the physiological effects of weightlessness. The animals were maintained on the Soviet paste diet for 35 days, metabolic rate was measured and body composition was determined by direct analysis. The results were compared with a control group of rates of the same age, which had been kept on a standard commercial grain diet during the same period of time.

Pace, N.↗

Protein synthesis rates in atrophied gastrocnemius muscles after limb immobilization

Noting that protein synthesis declines in the gastrocnemius 6 hr after immobilization, the study sought to detect an increase of protein synthesis when the limb was freed, and to examine the effects of exercise on the rate of increase. Rats were used as subjects, with their hind legs in plaster of Paris in plantar flexion to eliminate strain on the gastrocnemius. Periods of immobilization were varied and samples of blood from the muscle were taken to track protein synthesis rates for different groups in immobilization and exercise regimens (running and weightlifting). Synthesis rates declined 3.6% during time in the cast, then increased 6.3%/day after the casts were removed. Both running and weightlifting were found to increase the fractional rate of protein formation in the gastrocnemius muscle when compared with contralateral muscles that were not exercised and were used as controls, suggesting that the mechanism controlling protein synthesis in skeletal muscles is rapidly responsive to changes in muscular contractile activity.

Tucker, K. R.↗

Behavioral study of ultradian activity periods of mice enclosed in experimental cages of different dimensions

Male mice are enclosed in cages of different dimensions (cage A - 23x8x8 cm., cage B - 36x27x17 cm.), in an alternating light/dark regimen, at an ambient temperature of 22 to 23 C. The successions of the behavioral sequences of ultradian activity periods are noticed by direct observation during 11 consecutive hours in light. The experimental situation modifies the mean duration time and the behavioral organization of each activity period. However, the comparison of the overall activity time lengths and the comparison of the overall behavioral frequencies suggest that the energy spent per mouse is constant.

Guillot, A.↗

Antimotion-sickness efficacy of scopolamine 12 and 72 hours after transdermal administration

The antimotion sickness remedy, transdermal therapeutic system-scopolamine, administered in this experiment was scheduled to deliver 1.0 mg of scopolamine over a period of 3 d, and this paper compares its efficacy 12 and 72 h after administration. In a double-blind study, six male college students were individually exposed to a standardized provocative test in a slow rotation room after six apparently identical treatments comprising four placebos and two medications. Efficacy was categorized as beneficial, inconsequential, or detrimental. None of the responses was detrimental. Following the first administration of the therapeutic system, there were four beneficial responses after 12 h but none was beneficial after 72 h. Following the second treatment regimen, there were four beneficial responses after 12 h and three beneficial responses after 72 h. Great individual differences were demonstrated, two subjects accounting for six beneficial responses and two accounting for only one beneficial response. The difference in efficacy after 12 and 72 h has practical and theoretical significance.

Graybiel, A.↗

Effects of chronic acceleration on body composition

Studies of the centrifugation of adult rats showed an unexpected decrease in the mass of fat-free muscle and bone, in spite of the added load induced by centrifugation. It is suggested that the lower but constant fat-free body mass was probably regulated during centrifugation. Rats placed in weightless conditions for 18.5 days gave indirect but strong evidence that the muscle had increased in mass. Other changes in the rats placed in weightless conditions included a smaller fraction of skeletal mineral, a smaller fraction of water in the total fat-free body, and a net shift of fluid from skin to viscera. Adult rats centrifuged throughout the post-weaning growth period exhibited smaller masses of bone and central nervous system (probably attributable to slower growth of the total body), and a larger mass of skin than controls at 1 G. Efforts at simulating the effects of weightlessness or centrifugation on the body composition of rats by regimens at terrestrial gravity were inconclusive.

Pitts, G. C.↗

Cardiovascular responses to hypogravic environments

The cardiovascular deconditioning observed during and after space flight is characterized in a review of human space and simulation studies and animal simulations. The various simulation techniques (horizontal bed rest, head-down tilt, and water immersion in man, and immobilization of animals) are examined, and sample results are presented in graphs. Countermeasures such as exercise regimens, fluid replacement, drugs, venous pooling, G-suits, oscillating beds, electrostimulation of muscles, lower-body negative pressure, body-surface cooling, and hypoxia are reviewed and found to be generally ineffective or unreliable. The need for future space experimentation in both humans and animals is indicated.

Sandler, H.↗

Cardiovascular responses during orthostasis - Effect of an increase in maximal O2 uptake

A study is described which tests the hypothesis that changes in aerobic activity (increases in maximum oxygen uptake) will reduce the effectiveness of cardiovascular reflexes to regulate blood pressure during orthostasis. The hypothesis was tested by measuring heart rate, blood pressure and blood volume responses in eight healthy male subjects before and after an eight-day endurance regimen. The results of the study suggest that the physiologic responses to orthostasis are dependent upon the rate of plasma volume loss and pooling, and are associated with training-induced hypervolemia. It is indicated that endurance type exercise training enhances cardiovascular adjustments during tilt. The implications of these results for the use of exercise training as a countermeasure and/or therapeutic method for the prevention of cardiovascular instability during orthostatic stress are discussed.

Convertino, V. A.↗

Evaluation of OMV ranging and docking systems

The Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV) will serve as a shuttle-based or permanent space station-based vehicle designed to rendezvous and soft dock with various other free-flying space vehicles for purposes of inspection, support, and retrieval. This study is concerned primarily with the eventual need for the OMV to rendezvous and dock softly with the Edwin P. Hubble Space Telescope (ST). Utilizing the available capabilities of the large microwave anechoic chamber facility at Marshall Space Flight Center for simulating docking target vehicle motions in a free-space environment, a program is being devised for benchmark testing of rendezvous and docking sensor systems proposed for use on the OMV. A testing regimen suitable for evaluating the accuracy and tracking agility in sensing range, range rate, and angle information at close ranges (0 R 30m) has been developed.

Mcdonald, M. W.↗

Efficacy of phosphatidylcholine in the modulation of motion sickness susceptibility

This study evaluated the efficacy of pharmacological doses of phosphatidylcholine (lecithin) in the modulation of motion sickness induced by exposure to coriolis stimulation in a rotating chair. Subjects received daily dietary supplements of 25 grams of lecithin (90 percent phosphatidylcholine) and were tested for their susceptibility to motion sickness after 4 h, 2 d, and 21 d. A small but statistically significant increase in susceptibility (+15 percent) was noted 4 h after supplemental phosphatidylcholine, with four of nine subjects demonstrating a marked increase in susceptibility. This finding was attributed to choline's stimulatory action on cholinergic systems, an action which opposes that of the classical antimotion sickness drug scopolamine. Chronic lecithin loading revealed a trend towards reduced susceptibility, possibly indicating the occurrence of adaptive mechanisms such as receptor down-regulation. Withdrawal from lecithin loading, perhaps coupled with anticholinergic treatment, might prove to be a potent prophylactic regimen and ought to be tested.

Kohl, R. L.↗

Effects of exercise-heat acclimation on fluid, electrolyte, and endocrine responses during tilt and +Gz acceleration in women and men

Two aspects of prolonged endurance training were investigated: (1) the effects of exercise-heat acclimation (on a cycle ergometer at 40 C, 42 rh) on orthostatic tolerance (70 deg head-up tilt) and on a +Gz (head-to-foot) acceleration tolerance of male and female subjects; and (2) comparison of their fluid-electrolyte shifts and hormonal (plasma epinephdrine, norepinephrine, renin, and vasopressin) responses during tilting and centrifugation. The adaptive responses during the 12 d, 2-h acclimation did not alter acceleration tolerance of either men or women, or the women's tilt tolerance, but did increase men's tilt tolerance from 30.4 min before to 58.3 min after acclimation. The patterns of fluid, electrolyte, and protein shifts at tolerance in acceleration and tilting tests were virtually the same in men and women. On the other hand, the hormonal plasma epinephrine, norepinephrine, renin, and vasopressin resonses displayed different shift patterns during acceleration and tilting. It is concluded that the responses to tilting cannot be used to predict responses to acceleration. Future experiments for relating the orthostatic and the acceleration tolerances, and the practical questions of the training regimens for future astronauts are discussed.

Greenleaf, J. E.↗

Effect of hand-arm exercise on venous blood constituents during leg exercise

Contributions by ancillary hand and arm actions to the changes in blood constituents effected by leg exercises on cycle ergometer were assessed. Static or dynamic hand-arm exercises were added to the leg exercise (50 percent VO2 peak)-only control regimens for the subjects (19-27 yr old men) in the two experimental groups. Antecubital venous blood was analyzed at times 0, 15, and 30 min (T0, T15, and T30) for serum Na(+), K(+), osmolality, albumin, total CA(2+), and glucose; blood hemoglobin, hematocrit, and lactic acid; and change in plasma volume. Only glucose and lactate values were affected by additional arm exercise. Glucose decreased 4 percent at T15 and T30 after static exercise, and by 2 percent at T15 (with no change at T30) after dynamic arm exercise. Conversely, lactic acid increased by 20 percent at T30 after static exercise, and by 14 percent by T15 and 6 percent at T30 after dynamic arm exercise. It is concluded that additional arm movements, performed usually when gripping the handle-bar on the cycle ergometer, could introduce significant errors in measured venous concentrations of glucose and lactate in the leg-exercised subjects.

Wong, N.↗

Analysis of data acquired by Shuttle Imaging Radar SIR-A and Landsat Thematic Mapper over Baldwin County, Alabama

Seasonally compatible data collected by SIR-A and by Landsat 4 TM over the lower coastal plain in Alabama were coregistered, forming a SIR-A/TM multichannel data set with 30 m x 30 m pixel size. Spectral signature plots and histogram analysis of the data were used to observe data characteristics. Radar returns from pine forest classes correlated highly with the tree ages, suggesting the potential utility of microwave remote sensing for forest biomass estimation. As compared with the TM-only data set, the use of SIR-A/TM data set improved classification accuracy of the seven land cover types studied. In addition, the SIR-A/TM classified data support previous finding by Engheta and Elachi (1982) that microwave data appear to be correlated with differing bottomland hardwood forest vegetation as associated with varying water regimens (i.e., wet versus dry).

Wu, S.-T.↗

Paleodrainages of the Eastern Sahara - The radar rivers revisited (SIR-A/B implications for a mid-tertiary Trans-African drainage system)

The images obtained by the Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR)-A and -B systems over the southwestern Egypt and northwestern Sudan were coregistered with the Landsat images and the existing maps to aid in extrapolations of the buried paleodrainages ('radar rivers'), first discovered by SIR-A. Field observations explain the radar responses of three types of radar rivers, RR-1 (broad, aggraded valleys filled with alluvium), RR-2 (braided channels inset in the RR-1 valleys), and RR-3 (narrow, long, bedrock-incised channels). A generalized model of the radar rivers, based on field studies and regional geologic relations, shows inferred changes in river regimen since the large valleys were established during the later Paleogene-early Neogene. It is suggested that a former Trans-African master stream system may have flowed from headwaters in the Red Sea Hills southwestward across North Africa, discharging into the Atlantic at the Paleo-Niger delta, prior to the Neogene domal uplifts and building of volcanic edifices across the paths of these ancient watercourses.

Mccauley, J. F.↗

The relationship of intravascular bubbles to bends at altitude

In response to recent findings attesting to a correlation between intravehicular bubbling and decompression sickness at intermediate altitudes, an attempt was made to define a minimum pressure for a pressure suit which would obviate the need for prebreathing 100 percent oxygen prior to extravehicular activity (EVA). Fifty-seven male subjects were exposed to altitudes ranging from 16,000 to 30,000 ft in two separate protocols. The first was designed to determine a pressure at which no bends occurred if a crewmember were decompressed from a sea level space station pressure just prior to EVA without prebreathing 100 percent oxygen. The other study was designed to define an altitude and exercise regimen at which bends-susceptible and bends-resistant crewmembers could be separated. It is shown that the close association which exists between severe bubbling and bends at a pressure altitude of 4.3 psia (30,000 ft) decreases as pressure is increased and essentially disappears at pressures less than or equal to 7.8 psia (16,000 ft).

Krutz, R. W.↗