Search results for "Weightless"

Blood flow in the internal jugular veins during the spaceflight - Is it actually bidirectional?

2020

Recently intriguing results of the research performed on astronauts of the International Space Station have been published. Unexpectedly, in some crew members a stagnant and bidirectional flow in the internal jugular vein was found, and in one of the astronauts this vein seemed to be totally thrombosed. If it actually were the case that in the settings of weightlessness there is a substantial risk of jugular vein thrombosis, any long-term human space missions would be extremely dangerous. Yet, we interpret these findings differently. In our opinion, what has been explained as bidirectional flow, actually represented the flow separation, and what has been described as occluded vein was rathe…

Axial loading and posture cues in contraction of transversus abdominis and multifidus with exercise

2020

AbstractAstronauts are at increased risk of spine injury. With a view to developing training approaches for the muscles of the spine in microgravity, this study examined the effects of axial loading and postural cues on the contraction of transversus abdominis and lumbar multifidus in supine lying using a novel exercise device (GravityFit). Thirty (18 males and 12 females) endurance-trained runners without a history of spinal pain aged 33–55 years were recruited. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed under one rest and five exercise conditions, which involved variations in axial loading and postural cues. Whole volume of the abdominal and lumbar paraspinal muscles was imaged and tr…

Sensorimotor adaptation of point-to-point arm movements after spaceflight: the role of internal representation of gravity force in trajectory plannin…

2011

International audience; After an exposure to weightlessness, the central nervous system operates under new dynamic and sensory contexts. To find optimal solutions for rapid adaptation, cosmonauts have to decide whether parameters from the world or their body have changed and to estimate their properties. Here, we investigated sensorimotor adaptation after a spaceflight of 10 days. Five cosmonauts performed forward point-to-point arm movements in the sagittal plane 40 days before and 24 and 72 h after the spaceflight. We found that, whereas the shape of hand velocity profiles remained unaffected after the spaceflight, hand path curvature significantly increased 1 day after landing and return…

Effects of a 21 days space flight on the mechanical performance and the EMG power spectrum of the leg muscles

2002

Effect of chronic unloading and rehabilitation on human Achilles tendon properties: a velocity-encoded phase-contrast MRI study

2008

The objective of this study was to measure and monitor changes in Achilles tendon mechanical properties and force production capability of triceps surae muscles after 4 wk of limb suspension and 6 wk of physical rehabilitation. Five healthy volunteers underwent unilateral lower limb suspension followed by weekly physiotherapy. A velocity-encoded, phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (VE-PC-MRI) technique was used to estimate the tendon strain as a function of force produced during the submaximal isometric contractions. After limb suspension, triceps surae muscle strength decreased to 53.2 ± 15.6% (mean ± SD) of the presuspension level ( P < 0.05). Young's modulus, estimated from the…

Soleus aponeurosis strain distribution following chronic unloading in humans: an in vivo MR phase-contrast study.

2006

The in vivo strain properties of human skeletal muscle-tendon complexes are poorly understood, particularly following chronic periods of reduced load bearing. We studied eight healthy volunteers who underwent 4 wk of unilateral lower limb suspension (ULLS) to induce chronic unloading. Before and after the ULLS, maximum isometric ankle plantar flexion torque was determined by using a magnetic resonance (MR)-compatible dynamometry. Volumes of the triceps surae muscles and strain distribution of the soleus aponeurosis and the Achilles tendon at a constant submaximal plantar flexion (20% pre-maximal voluntary contraction) were measured by using MRI and velocity-encoded, phase-contrast MRI techn…

Kinematic and dynamic processes for the control of pointing movements in humans revealed by short-term exposure to microgravity.

2004

The generation of accurate motor commands requires implicit knowledge of both limb and environmental dynamics. The action of gravity on moving limb segments must be taken into account within the motor command, and may affect the limb trajectory chosen to accomplish a given motor task. Exactly how the CNS deals with these gravitoinertial forces remains an open question. Does the CNS measure gravitational forces directly, or are they accommodated in the motor plan by way of internal models of physical laws? In this study five male subjects participated. We measured kinematic and dynamic parameters of upward and downward arm movements executed at two different speeds, in both normal Earth grav…

Oculovestibular interactions under microgravity.

1993

On a space mission in March 1992 a set of experiments were performed aimed at clarifying the interaction between visual, proprioceptive and vestibular inputs to the equilibrium system. Using the VESTA goggle facility from the European Space Agency we investigated the effect of pure neck receptor stimulation on eye position as measured by the flash afterimage method and on perception of a head-fixed luminous line in space. Space vestibular adaptation processes were measured by rotating pattern perception during prescribed head movements. It was found that static ocular counterrotation does not occur under micro gravity conditions. This result suggests that the neck receptors apparently do no…

Aparatūra “Lotoss” poliuretāna plastmasas detaļu atliešanai kosmosā

2020

1980. gadā kosmosa stacijā “Salūts” pirmoreiz kosmonautikas vēsturē tika realizēts putupoliuretāna ieguves eksperiments mikrogravitācijas apstākļos, kura rezultāta tika iegūtas jaunas atziņas par ķīmiski tehnoloģisko procesu norisi kosmosā. Kosmosā tapa Maskavas olimpisko spēļu simbola lācīša figūra. Iekārtu "Lotoss", kas pašreiz atrodas Latvijas Ķīmijas vēstures muzeja krājumā, LPSR Zinātņu Akadēmijas Koksnes ķīmijas institūtā izstrādājis latviešu ķīmiķis, ķīmijas doktors, izgudrotājs un gleznotājs Arnolds Alksnis, un tā domāta polimerizācijas reakciju pētīšanai bezsvara stāvoklī.

Influence of proprioceptive information on space orientation on the ground and in orbital weightlessness

1989

Conscious space orientation depends on afferent information from different sense organs including the labyrinth, the eyes, tactile cues from the skin, joint receptors, muscle spindles, tendon organs and possibly viscera. An important role is played by impulses from the cervical position receptors in interaction with concomitant information from the otolith system. In order to isolate the effect of cervical position receptors from that of the otolith system, space experiments in orbital weightlessness and in parabolic aircraft flight were performed. It was found that stimulation of the neck receptors in weightlessness markedly influences the perception of the subjective vertical and horizont…