Aerospace medicine and its scientific and technological fallout in the field of general biomedicine
Rotondo, G.
Minerva Medica 75(25): 1475-1492
1984
ISSN/ISBN: 0026-4806 PMID: 6377121 Document Number: 233516
A general preliminary study is made of possible "fall-out" applications from military technology--especially in certain electronics sectors--enabling such technology to be used for non-military purposes that would greatly benefit society, for example in the biomedical field. The continued and profitable exchange that is rapidly developing, not only between technology and science but also between science and technology in the specific sector of aviation medicine, in discussed in detail. The direct and indirect theoretical and practical applications of aviation medicine in medical science, practical medicine and health services are briefly outlined (apparatus for inhaling oxygen; safety and "delethalisation" methods for accidents caused by violent impact; the application of minor technologies in the fields of immunology and hygiene-prophylaxis to air transport and rescue services; the selection and medico-legal check-ups of all military and civilian flight personnel; the emergency transport of transplant organs and seriously ill patients requiring emergency transplants, etc.). Current and possible future practical applications of the vast experience acquired by space medicine had to solve complex problems relating to space flight and man's survival in space, such as: the absence of gravity (and its functional effects on the body's main system and organs), exposure to cosmic and solar radiation, conditioning and prolonged isolation in the space capsule, modifications in circadian rhythms, "space sickness", etc. Finally, the study recalls that the evolution and refinement of aerospace technology has made it possible to make use of exceptional space conditions, such as "microgravity", to conduct in-depth studies--in extreme conditions--of certain biological phenomena and to gain further knowledge of the genesis and to gain of various vital processes. Another area under study is the production--in extremely favourable conditions--of new, vaccines, enzymes and hormones, new drugs for therapy and prophylaxis and for biopharmacology, and new food sources which are of prime importance for man's future requirements.