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Biomedical subjects

A J Bachrach

Publications and source records attributed to A J Bachrach.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

Operator performance in the one-atmosphere diving system JIM in water at 20 degrees C and 30 degrees C.

Performance and physiology of five operators of the one-atmosphere diving system JIM were assessed when diving JIM in mild (20 degrees C) and warm (30 degrees C) water. Each operator completed a minimum of 3 dives at each water temperature; during each dive 5 walks of 18 m and 3 step maneuvers were accomplished. At the conclusion of 40-min dives in water at 30 degrees C, operator heart rate averaged 151 beats/min, system interior temperature averaged 32.6 degrees C, and the mean respiration rate of operators was 28 breaths/min. Task completion times were faster in warm water. Thermal considerations in the deployment of the JIM system are discussed in relation to these data.

Adult↗

Tremor and somatosensory studies during chamber He-O2 compressions to 13.1, 25.2, 37.3, and 49.4 ATA.

Comparison was made between intentional and postural tremor amplitudes with a 2-to 50-Hz bandwidth in four men rapidly compressed from surface to 13.1, 25.2, and 37.3 ATA in 4 h while breathing helium-oxygen mixtures (Predictive Studies IV, University of Pennsylvania). Excursions with compression rates of 20 and 40 ft/min were then made to 49.4 ATA on exposure days 2 and 3, returning to saturation at 37.3 ATA for 6 additional days. During compression from 25.2 to 37.3 ATA, there were increases in tremor amplitudes for both intentional and postural tremor in the 3-to 7-Hz and 8- to 12-Hz ranges. Both types of tremor showed increases in amplitudes at 49.4 ATA on exposure days 2 and 3. Amplitude changes in postural tremor, which occurred only on the fastest compression to 49.4 ATA, were less evident than those in intentional tremor during the remaining dive profile, and adaptation to pressure exposure could be defined by day 8. Intentional tremors did not show adaptation at pressure.

Adult↗

Assessment of vertical excursions and open-sea psychological performance at depths to 250 fsw.

A series of 10 two-man descending vertical excursion dives was carried out in the open sea from an ocean-floor habitat off the coast of Puerto Rico by four aquanauts saturated on a normoxic-nitrogen breathing mixture at a depth of 106 fsw. The purpose of these dives was two-fold: to validate laboratory findings with respect to decompression schedules and to determine whether such excursions would produce evidence of adaptation to nitrogen narcosis. For the latter, tests designed to measure time estimation, short-term memory, and auditory vigilance were used. The validation of experimental excursion tables was carried out without incidence of decompression sickness. Although no signs of nitrogen narcosis were noted during testing, all subjects made significantly longer time estimates in the habitat and during the excursions than on the surface. Variability and incomplete data prevented a statistical analysis of the short-term memory results, and the auditory vigilance proved unusable in the water.

Analysis of Variance↗