Aviat Space Envir Md
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To identify and characterize civilian air ambulance services, a questionnaire was mailed nationwide to 583 prospective air ambulance services, with 154 responding. Our survey identified differences between hospital, hospital-affiliated, and private air ambulance services as to aircraft ownership, availability, types of aircraft, types of patients being transported, types of medical personnel and equipment, aircraft retrofit, and their feelings regarding air ambulance regulations. ⋯ Based upon this data, we recommend that air ambulance regulations be directed at levels of patient care. Such regulations and guidelines will assist patient safety during aeromedical transports without jeopardizing currently operating air ambulance services.
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Aviat Space Envir Md · Jun 1985
Otolith tilt-translation reinterpretation following prolonged weightlessness: implications for preflight training.
Observations with three astronauts yielded two major findings. First, perceived self-motion during sinusoidal roll differed immediately postflight from preflight. ⋯ These results support an "otolith tilt-translation reinterpretation" hypothesis, which has clear implications for understanding astronaut reports of space motion sickness during the early period of orbital flight. A proposal for "prophylactic adaptation training" which may provide preflight adaptation to weightlessness, derives from this research.
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A comprehensive review of helicopter accident data from ACC sources is presented for the period 1971-1982. Accident and fatality rates have declined from the high values quoted in earlier studies in the 1960's and are now similar to those of fixed wing aircraft equipped with ejection seats. This improvement is related to the replacement of older reciprocating engined helicopters by turbine powered units and parallel progress in helicopter design, aircraft servicing, and pilot training. ⋯ Particular attention is paid to subsidiary aetiologies such as tail rotor strikes, disorientation, and ground accidents. Helicopter accidents involving fatalities on Operation Corporate are mentioned briefly. Methods whereby occupant protection and aircraft crashworthiness can be improved are covered and it is concluded that assisted escape, although an ideal solution, is by no means an urgent requirement for helicopters, in view of the dramatic reduction in accident and fatality rates.
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Aviat Space Envir Md · May 1985
Case ReportsThe airline passenger undergoing withdrawal or overdose from narcotics or other drugs.
Inflight passenger problems associated with withdrawal or overdose from narcotics or other drugs have been assessed. The specific categories of common drugs of abuse covered are: opiates, amphetamines and cocaine, central nervous system depressants, marijuana, phencyclidine, LSD and mescaline, and peyote. ⋯ Relatively recent newspaper accounts of inflight disturbances related to abuse substances have highlighted the problem. Some case histories are given by the authors along with recommendations for methods of dealing with these problems.
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Aviat Space Envir Md · Feb 1985
Comparative StudyCarbohydrate metabolism in U.S. Navy submarine personnel.
One- and two-hour postprandial glucose and insulin values were measured in 58 submariners with 5 or more FBM patrols and in 58 non-submariners. An interrelationship between serum glucose and insulin for classifying defects in carbohydrate metabolism indicated that 55% of the submariners and 45% of the non-submariners exhibited some type of defect. Exercise appears to play an important role in the maintenance of normal carbohydrate metabolism in these subjects. ⋯ Negative correlation between exercise vs. 1 and 2-h glucose and 2-h insulin was significant for all subjects. An inverse relationship was observed between amount of exercise and the severity of carbohydrate metabolic defects in submariners and non-submariners as well as in normal weight and obese individuals. No statistical differences were found between the submariner and non-submariner groups with respect to age, % body fat, fatness (normal or obese), glycosylated hemoglobin, or family history of diabetes.