There are many significant internal medicine problems in aerospace medicine. Although discussing them all is beyond the scope of this chapter, the following topics have been selected because of their particular importance or frequency in aviation medicine. The emphasis will be on aeromedical significance, evaluation, and disposition rather than general medical diagnosis and treatment. This emph...

We present a case of gelastic seizures in a student naval aviator. He was noted to have uncontrollable fits of laughter on several occasions, but was not referred to his flight surgeon until he had a gelastic seizure while flying in formation, which jeopardized the safety of the flight. He had an aura consisting of lack of concentration, which was then followed by 10 s or less of hysterical lau...

Shape-memory actuators are used where a large force and stroke are required and thermodynamic efficiency is not essential. Since the discovery of shape memory in titanium-nickel, a number of inventions have been made having applications in medicine, aerospace, automotive, and consumer products. These devices range in size from meters to micrometers. Sales are now more than a hundred million USD...

In aerospace medicine, attention focuses on the effects of the loss of gravitational pull on the body. The more fundamental question involved is the basic physiology of anti-gravity mechanisms upon the body. From this viewpoint, the entire spectrum of the consequences of weightlessness may be seen. Then evidence affirming the broad concept of sensory deprivation in general, and anti-gravity dep...

T H E UNITED STATES Navy was a proud participant in the vast preparation and the farflung operational activities which, in bold exhibitions of professional skill, culminated in our first manned space fl.ights. In terms of magnitude, this represented the largest concentrated effort the Navy has ever put forth in a peaceful enterprise. In terms of sacrifice, many important tasks were temporarily ...

1Division Space Physiology, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center, Cologne, Germany; 2Institute of Biomechanics and Orthopaedics, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany; 3Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China; 4Department of Orthopedic and Trauma Surgery, University of Col...

1 Prosthetics and Orthotics Program, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT, United States, 2 Cooperative Studies Program, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, West Haven, CT, United States, 3 Department of Biostatistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States, 4 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States, 5 Robotics...

Neck injury is an unquantified clinical and epidemiological problem in pilots exposed to high G forces. The description and assessment of potential deleterious effects on the cervical vertebrae are important aspects of occupational preventive aerospace medicine. This report presents the findings from a prevalence study of acute neck injury, resulting from high G forces, in pilots of high perfor...