[Effect of loading suit "Penguin" on human metabolism during movements]. / Vliianie profilakticheskogo nagruzochnogo kostiuma "Pingvin" na metabolizm cheloveka pri dvizheniiakh.

Additional energy expenses due to stretching of the elastic elements of anti-loading suit (ALS) "Penguin" as a whole (shoulders-feet) or only its lower part (waist-feet) in the course of cyclic leg movements were measured in five female and five male volunteers. ALS design enabled tensometric monitoring of efforts applied to specific elastic elements, and total efforts applied to the shoulder or pelvic girdles separately. Energy spend were determined with the indirect calorimetric techniques from the data of the expired air analysis. Registered were electromyograms of m. longus spinae, femoral extensor (m. biceps femoris) and femoral flexor (m. rectus femoris), and m. gastrocnemius. On the first stage, bicycle ergometer was pedaled w/o loading with a frequency of 60 cycles/min. The next stage included testing by incremental loading in which pedaling ceased at the pulse rate of 150/min. Results of the experiments that did not require stretching elastic parts of the suit and in which the total strain effort made up 20 to 25 kg and 15 to 16 kg by males and females, respectively, were compared. It was ascertained that ALS enhanced metabolism during motion by 20 to 30%; however, there was no significant difference in energy expenses when loaded by the whole suit or only its lower part.

[Assessment of human tolerance for local pressures on the head and an objective statement of the requirements for the hygienic characteristics of protective helmets]. / Otsenka perenosimosti chelovekom lokal'nykh dvlenii na golovu iob"ektivatsiia trebovanii k gigienicheskim kharakteristikam zashchitnykh shlemov.

To obtain reference data for a statistically substantiated evaluation of man's tolerance to the local pressure on the head (as applied to protective helmets kept on for a long time), 86 experiments were carried out in which 11 test subjects participated. The local pressure of 0.05-0.5 kg/cm2 was applied to 8 areas of the head. The tolerance time was measured as the time interval from the beginning of the exposure to the emergence of localized sensations of the type: unpleasant, painful, very painful or intolerable. As a result, statistically significant relationships between the tolerance time and the level of the local pressure were obtained for the 8 locations and 3 grades of subjective sensations. These data can be used in evaluating protective helmets to be worn for a long time as well as in developing hygienic requirements for the advanced helmet-like devices.