Aerospace medicine and human performance
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Aerosp Med Hum Perform · Sep 2021
Fatigue, Emotion, and Cognitive Performance in Simulated Long-Duration, Single-Piloted Flight Missions.
Fatigue of air force pilots has become an increasing concern due to changes in mission characteristics. In the current study we investigated fatigue, emotions, and cognitive performance in a simulated 11-h mission in the 39 Gripen fighter aircraft. ⋯ Significant increase in self-reported fatigue, general decrease in two positive emotional states, as well increase of one negative emotional state occurred after approximately 7 h into the mission. Self-reported fatigue negatively correlated with enthusiasm and cheerfulness (r 0.75; 0.49, respectively) and positively correlated with boredom and gloominess (r 0.61; r 0.30, respectively). Response time in the low-order task negatively correlated with enthusiasm, cheerfulness and calmness (r 0.44; r 0.41; r 0.37, respectively) and positively correlated with boredom and anxiousness (r 0.37; r 0.28, respectively). Mission duration had an adverse impact on emotions in these environmental conditions, particularly after 7 h. DISCUSSION: These results contribute to the understanding of fatigue development in general and of emotion-cognition relationships. These findings emphasize that both emotional states and the type of cognitive tasks to be performed should be considered for planning long-duration missions in single-piloted fighter aircrafts as to increase the probability of missions success. Rosa E, Gronkvist M, Kolegard R, Dahlstrom N, Knez I, Ljung R, Willander J. Fatigue, emotion, and cognitive performance in simulated long-duration, single-piloted flight missions. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2021; 92(9):710719.
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Hemorrhage and traumatic brain injury can be lethal if left unattended. The transportation of severely wounded combat casualties from the battlefield to higher level of care via aeromedical evacuation (AE) may result in unintended complications. This could become a serious concern at the time of evacuation of mass casualties or for prolonged field care scenarios with limited resources. ⋯ Physiological parameters were affected during aeromedical evacuation in all groups. This was worsened for injured animals with MAP less than 60 mmHg associated with low Spo₂ in a simulated aeromedical evacuation. This represented a high risk of mortality for severely polytraumatized animals.Arnaud F, Pappas G, Maudlin-Jeronimo E, Goforth C. Simulated aeromedical evacuation in a polytrauma rat model. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2019; 90(12):1016-1025.
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Aerosp Med Hum Perform · Nov 2019
ReviewChallenges in Clinical Management of Radiation-Induced Illnesses During Exploration Spaceflight.
A literature review was conducted to identify terrestrial management standards for radiation-induced illnesses, focusing on prodromal symptom treatment. Terrestrial management was compared to current spaceflight medical capabilities to identify gaps and highlight challenges involved in expanding capabilities for future exploration spaceflight. ⋯ Current spaceflight medical resources, such as those found on the International Space Station, may be sufficient to manage some aspects of radiation-induced illness, although effective treatment of all potential manifestations would require substantial expansion of capabilities. Terrestrial adjunctive therapies or more experimental treatments are unavailable in current spaceflight medical capabilities but may have a role in future management of acute radiation exposure.DISCUSSION: Expanded medical capabilities for managing radiation-induced illnesses could be included onboard future exploration vehicles. However, this would require substantial research, time, and funding to reach flight readiness, and vehicle limitations may restrict such capabilities for exploration missions. The benefits of including expanded capabilities should be weighed against the likelihood of significant radiation exposure and extensive mission design constraints.Blue RS, Chancellor JC, Suresh R, Carnell LS, Reyes DP, Nowadly CD, Antonsen EL. Challenges in clinical management of radiation-induced illnesses during exploration spaceflight. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2019; 90(11):966-977.
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Aerosp Med Hum Perform · Sep 2019
Body Composition Comparison of Upper- and Underclass Reserve Officers' Training Corps Cadets.
UND (N = 21) and UPP (N = 15) Air Force ROTC cadets volunteered for this study. BIS was used to measure fat mass percentage (FM%), fat free mass percentage (FFM%), total body water percentage (TBW%), extracellular fluid percentage (ECF%), and intracellular fluid percentage (ICF%). Separate one-way ANOVAs were run between UND and UPP for all dependent variables with a Bonferroni correction factor. Additionally, a Pearson correlation between abdominal circumference (AC) and FM% was conducted. ⋯ This study observed significant differences in BC across class ranks in ROTC cadets. Findings from this study suggest that due to an increased exposure to ROTC training, UPP cadets have a more ideal body composition (FFM% and FM%) when compared to UND cadets.Johnson QR, Mackey CS, Muddle TD, Smith DB, DeFreitas JM. Body composition comparison of upper- and underclass Reserve Officers Training Corps cadets. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2019; 90(9):813-818.
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Physicians rely on intuition and pattern recognition to rapidly evaluate and treat patients. While the realities of our medical system require liberal use of these heuristics to efficiently make clinical decisions, such thinking patterns are error-prone-leaving the clinician at the whims of their cognitive biases. CASE REPORT: We describe a case of Lyme disease in which a pilot's rash and radicular pain were misdiagnosed on two separate occasions until, nearly a month after initially seeking medical care, the pilot was appropriately diagnosed and treated. ⋯ Saul S, Tanael M. Rash, radiculopathy, and cognitive biases. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2019; 90(7):652-654.