[Investigations into the distribution of neohistamine methylsulfate in the organism of the warm blooded animals following its intragastric administration]. / Izuchenie raspredeleniia neostigmina metilsul'fata v organizme teplokrovnykh zhivotnykh posle vnutrizheludochnogo vvedeniia.

The objective - of the present study was to elucidate the specific features of the distribution of neohistamine methylsulfate (proserin) in the organism of the omnivorous warm blooded animals following its intragastric administration. The analytical methods included TLC, HPLC, and UV-spectrophotometry. Neohistamine methylsulfate was administered intrgastrically to the male Wistar rats at a dose equivalent to the triple LD50 dose. The substance of interest was extracted by acetone from the biological matrices of the dead animals and purified by sequential treatment with the relevant solvents and chromatography in a thin layer of the reverse-phase sorbent (C14-C15 bonded phase model) with the elution in the buffer solution (pH 1.98) - acetone (8:2) system. The compound of interest was identified based on the Rf values (obtained by TLC), retention time (in HPLC), and the spectral characteristics. The quantitative determination of the analyte in the biomatrices was performed with the use of UV spectrophotometry. The analytical methods were validated based on the criteria for linearity, selectivity, correctness, and precision as well as detection threshold and results of quantitation. The largest amount of the study compound were determined in the heart (365.2±33.94 mcg/g), spleen (288.6±24.97 mcg/g), kidney (127.6±9.33 mcg/g), and the gastric walls (124.6±12.17 mcg/g) of the experimental animals.

Positive effect of balance training with visual feedback on standing balance abilities in people with incomplete spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVES: (1) To evaluate the learning potential and performance improvements during standing balance training with visual feedback (VBT) in individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) and (2) to determine whether standing static and dynamic stability during training-irrelevant tasks can be improved after the VBT. SETTING: National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Japan. METHODS: Six participants with chronic motor and sensory incomplete SCI who were able to stand for at least 5 min without any form of assistive device performed the VBT, 3 days per week, for a total of 12 sessions. During the training, participants stood on a force platform and were instructed to shift their center of pressure in the indicated directions as represented by a cursor on a monitor. The performance and the rate of learning were monitored throughout the training period. Before and after the program, static and dynamic stability was assessed. RESULTS: All participants showed substantial improvements in the scores, which varied between 236±94 and 130±14% of the initial values for different exercises. The balance performance during training-irrelevant tasks was significantly improved: for example, the area inside the stability zone after the training reached 221±86% of the pre-training values. CONCLUSION: Postural control can be enhanced in individuals with incomplete SCI using VBT. All participants showed substantial improvements during standing in both game performance and training-irrelevant tasks after the VBT.

[Studies of the eye tracking function in changed sensory conditions with new soft- and hardware and computer tests].

The new soft- and hardware is intended to specifically test the eye-tracking profession in order to diagnose and monitor the ocular and related sensory systems. Oculography is used to investigate different forms, including spontaneous and evoked, of visual tracking by computer stimulation of the sensory inputs. The system validation was a part of the pre- and post-flight examination of Russian spacecrew members, and protocol of the 7-d dry immersion. As a result, demonstrated was a considerable degradation of the precision and velocity, and extension of time parameters after long-duration missions with differentiation of concurrent peripheral vestibular disturbances and central structural changes. Throughout the period of immersion, the parameters displayed diverse changes which rendered distinction between baseline and experimental data impossible. Comparative analysis of the post-flight and experimental data showed that the most marked deviations in the eye tracking function were peculiar to cosmonauts on return from long-duration space flight.

[Effect of long-term microgravity on the vestibular function].

Comprehensive computerized oculomotor testing was used to investigate the vestibular function in 9 Russian members of ISS crews 3-9 on days 1 (2), 4 (5) and 8 (9) of return from long-term stay in microgravity (126 to 195 days). The vestibular function was assessed by the static otolith-cervical-ocular reflex, dynamic otolith-cervical-ocular reactions, vestibular reactivity, and spontaneous oculomotor activity. The postflight investigations revealed functional disorders in the peripheral (an increased vestibular reactivity, absent or damped otolith-cervical-ocular reflex), and central (spontaneous typical and atypical nystagmus, gaze nystagmus) vestibular analyzer. The pattern and extent of vestibular disorders after long-term exposure in microgravity were individual by character; however, some of the vestibular reactions, including disappearance or considerable damping of the static otolith-cervical-ocular reflex, exaggerated vestibular reactivity and spontaneous eye movements, displayed consistency.

[The algorithm of quantitative evaluation of the human state with the help of the Lusher test]. / Algoritm kolichestvennoi otsenki sostoianiia operatorov s pomoshch'iu testa Liushera.

A Lusher test-based algorithm of the quantitative evaluation of the ability to perform under the conditions of determinant and stochastic stimuli was developed and validated in experiments with volunteered subjects.

[Pursuit function of the eye during 7-day dry immersion without and with a support stimulator]. / Slediashchaia funktsiia glaz v usloviiakh 7-sutochnoi "sukhoi" immersii s primeneniem kompensatora opornoi nagruzki.

A computerized comprehensive investigation of the oculomotor system was performed following dry immersion of 12 human subjects deprived of or provided with support afferentation stimulation. The purpose was to determine effects of weak proprioceptive, tactile and support afferentation on the eye pursuit parameters and significance of the support input for the ocular function. Individual and general characteristics of spontaneous and induced oculomotor reactions were described and effectiveness of the eye tracking correction by stimulation of foot support afferentation during immersion was evaluated. The pursuit function was tested before the experiment (baseline data), in 3 hrs. since the beginning of immersion, on day 5 in immersion, shortly after and on day 3 of the completion of the experiment. The group of subjects without support stimulation exhibited marked omnidirectional deviations in the eye tracking parameters throughout the whole period of the experiment. In the group of subjects provided with support stimulation these parameters were but little different from baseline values. To conclude, a support stimulator stabilized the pursuit function of the eye making it less variant. However, there was no uniformity in the subjects' reaction to stimulation which infers that the methods of improving the eye pursuit function should be personally "molded".