Before the long journey: Development of Soviet space biology and medicine

Academician O. Gazenko, Chief of the Institute of Biomedical Problems, USSR Ministry of Public Health, reviewed the short but intense history of Soviet research in space biology and medicine. The solid academic approach of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in giving a good start at the very beginning of the space age is stressed and key people and institutions who initiated these studies are named. The basic feature of the first period of space biology is seen as the search for answers to a few fundamental questions of survival in space. It is pointed out that the initiated investigations were replaced by refined, in-depth studies of the biological, biophysical, and biochemical processes in human organism in the space environment and the search for methods which should enable cosmonaut crews to live in space for several years during interplanetary journeys. Discussing the typical problems of this effort, Gazenko each time showed how they benefit medical science and practice in general

Before the long journey

One of the leading specialists in space biology and medicine Oleg Geogiyevich Gazenko discusses the development of space biology and medicine and the problems which its specialists solve. The application of space medicine discoveries to terrestrial medicine is also discussed

UPRAVLJANJE MASOVNIM MEDIJIMA: TEHNOLOŠKI POKAZATELJI

The paper provides a professional overview of the development of media technology, as well as the influence of technology on media content and its interpretation. The aim of communication is definitively to connect the source with the receiver. It means to solve the main problem – to overwhelm the obstacle of space and time. Technological goals since the dark ages were aimed at increasing the physical features of man as direct carrier or to replace him by a more efficient one.U radu se daje stručni pregled razvoja medijske tehnologije, kao i utjecaj tehnologije na medijski sadržaj i njegovo tumačenje. Cilj komunikacije je povezivanje izvora s recipijentom. To znači riješiti glavni problem - premostiti zapreku prostora i vremena. Tehnološki ciljevi od mračnih vremena bili su usmjereni na jačanje fizičkih osobina čovjeka kao izravnog prenositelja poruke ili njegova zamjena za učinkovitije sredstvo

Ideas of I. M. Sechenov in aviation and space medicine

The contributions I. M. Sechenov (19th century) made to modern physiology are described, including his studies on gases in the blood (O2 and CO2), and how these studies were the basic building blocks of current efforts in aviation and space medicine. Sechenov also studied hypokinesia, which is becoming important in long duration space flights

Ontogenesis of mammals in microgravity

This report is an English translation of a Russian report prepared by a group of authors from the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, France, and the USA. It presents results of the first microgravity experiment on mammalian embryology performed during the flight of the biosatellite Cosmos-1514 and in ground-based simulation studies. An overview is provided of the data available about the role of gravity in animal growth and development, and future studies into this problem are discussed. A new introduction has been provided for the English version

The Development of the Vestibular Apparatus Under Conditions of Weightlessness

A series of experiments has been carried out on the effect of space flight conditions on morphogenesis and the structure of the vestibular apparatus in amphibian and fish larvae. Larval development proceeded in weightlessness without serious morphological defects. The vestibular apparatus developed; its organization in the experimental animals did not differ qualitatively from that in the controls. The specific external stimulus (gravitation) appears not to be a necessary condition for the development of a gravitation receptor in ontogenesis although the appearance of the vestibular apparatus in phylogenesis was apparently related to this stimulus

Foundations of space biology and medicine. Volume 2, book 1: Ecological and physiological bases of space biology and medicine

Barometric pressure, gas composition, toxicity, and thermal exchange of spacecraft cabin atmospheres are discussed. Effects of gravitation, acceleration, weightlessness, noise, and vibration on human behavior and performance during space flight are also described

Foundations of space biology and medicine. Volume 1: Space as a habitat

Cosmological aspects of the universe are discussed in relation to exobiological research in the context of modern biochemistry and biophysics

Topochemical differences in the amount of RNA in the motoneurons of the spinal chord in hypoxia and hypokinesia

Reactions to hypoxia and hypoknesia were compared by measuring charges in the amount of ribonucleic acid (RNA) in the cytoplasm of neurons of the intumescentia cervicalis and lumbalis. Animals were subjected to hypoxia, hypokinesia and both combined and a control group to neither. A total of two groups of motoneurons were compared, one innervating the respiratory musculature, the other the musculature of the lower extremities, so that hypoxic hypoxia would probably affect the first group primarily and hypokinesia the second. Results indicate that neither affect the amount of RNA in the neurons of the first group but a significant increase is noted in neurons of the second group. Other significant results are reported

Effect of hypokinesia on blood microcirculation

Blood microcirculation in the region of the scleral bulbar conjunctiva and the nail folds on the fingers and toes was studied in 18 practically healthy men during 182 day antiorthostatic hypokinesia and 30 day rehabilitation period. Marked changes in microcirculation in the sclera and feet and less evident changes on the hands was revealed. A complex of special prophylactic physical exercises had a distinctly favorable effect on circulation in the hands