Search

92 fire fighters with the toxic encephalopathies and with no signs of this disease have been examined using the electrophysiological and medical-psychological procedures. The resulting study indices have been processed using a discriminant analysis. The probability of the toxic encephalopathy development in the subjects with occupational exposure to a complex of the harmful chemical substances has been calculated using the diagnostic coefficients and a prognostic index.

This work has shown that a complex of toxic substances to which the fire fighters-liquidators organisms may be exposed can exert the neurotropic effects forming the negative medical-psychological consequences a long-term period after the fire. They are expressed as the progressive processes of the nervous system diseases including the common brain disorders and the middle structure dysfunctions, the accelerated biological aging rates, emotional-personality sphere disintegration, attention-mnemic sphere disorders, all this prevents from the further social adaptation among the sufferers.

A study of 47 firemen exposed to a complex of toxic substances while putting out fire and 46 subjects with chronic mercury intoxications was carried out 5-10 years after the exposure to toxic substances. Along with clinical psychiatric examination, neuropsychological testing was conducted. Non-specificity of mental disorders, polymorphism and progressive development were found. Psychoorganic syndrome with secondary neurotic disturbances proved to be a core feature of mental disorders. It is emphasized that neuropsychological examination or usage of neuropsychological methods during a psychiatric examination are important for practical diagnosis of exogenous organic mental disorders, especially for outpatient examination of corresponding occupational groups.

The ALTEA project investigates the risks of functional brain damage induced by particle radiation in space. A modular facility (the ALTEA facility) is being implemented and will be operated in the International Space Station (ISS) to record electrophysiological and behavioral descriptors of brain function and to monitor their time dynamics and correlation with particles and space environment. The focus of the program will be on abnormal visual perceptions (often reported as "light flashes" by astronauts) and the impact on retinal and brain visual structures of particle in microgravity conditions. The facility will be made available to the international scientific community for human neurophysiological, electrophysiological and psychophysics experiments, studies on particle fluxes, and dosimetry. A precursor of ALTEA (the 'Alteino' project) helps set the experimental baseline for the ALTEA experiments, while providing novel information on the radiation environment onboard the ISS and on the brain electrophysiology of the astronauts during orbital flights. Alteino was flown to the ISS on the Soyuz TM34 as part of mission Marco Polo. Controlled ground experiments using mice and accelerator beams complete the experimental strategy of ALTEA. We present here the status of progress of the ALTEA project and preliminary results of the Alteino study on brain dynamics, particle fluxes and abnormal visual perceptions., (c2004 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The ALTEA project participates to the quest for increasing the safety of manned space flights. It addresses the problems related to possible functional damage to neural cells and circuits due to particle radiation in space environment. Specifically it aims at studying the functionality of the astronauts' Central Nervous Systems (CNS) during long space flights and relating it to the peculiar environments in space, with a particular focus on the particle flux impinging in the head. The project is a large international and multidisciplinary collaboration. Competences in particle physics, neurophysiology, psychophysiology, electronics, space environment, data analyses will work together to construct the fully integrated vision electrophysiology and particle analyser system which is the core device of the project: an helmet-shaped multi-sensor device that will measure concurrently the dynamics of the functional status of the visual system and passage of each particle through the brain within a pre-determined energy window. ALTEA is scheduled to fly in the International Space Station in late 2002. One part of the multi-sensor device, one of the advanced silicon telescopes, will be launched in the ISS in early 2002 and serve as test for the final device and as discriminating dosimeter for the particle fluences within the ISS., (c2002 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The ALTEA project studies the problems related to possible functional damage to the Central Nervous System (CNS) due to particle radiation in space environment. The project is a large international and multi-disciplinary collaboration. The ALTEA instrumentation is an helmet-shaped multi-sensor device that will measure concurrently the dynamics of the functional status of the visual system and the passage of each particle through the brain within a pre-determined energy window. ALTEA is scheduled to fly in the International Space Station in February 2003. One part of the multi-sensor device, one of the advanced silicon telescopes, will be launched in the ISS in early 2002 and serve as test for the final device and as discriminating dosimeter for the particle fluences within the ISS.

The study covered influence of combined toxic chemicals on fire extinguishers. Acute exposure of respiratory and peripheral nervous systems was demonstrated. Consequences of the exposure were proved to include polyneuropathies, neuroses and other health disorders.