Aerotitis in Air Travel

In the years 1964-1969, 2,015 cases of aerotitis were reported as an occupational disease in California. Most of the cases were in women flight crew members on commercial airlines (women predominate in such crews). Cases were also reported in passengers. Upper respiratory infection frequently appeared to be a predisposing event.     

Congestion Transition in Air Traffic Networks

Air Transportation represents a very interesting example of a complex techno-social system whose importance has considerably grown in time and whose management requires a careful understanding of the subtle interplay between technological infrastructure and human behavior. Despite the competition with other transportation systems, a growth of air traffic is still foreseen in Europe for the next years. The increase of traffic load could bring the current Air Traffic Network above its capacity limits so that safety standards and performances might not be guaranteed anymore. Lacking the possibility of a direct investigation of this scenario, we resort to computer simulations in order to quantify the disruptive potential of an increase in traffic load. To this end we model the Air Transportation system as a complex dynamical network of flights controlled by humans who have to solve potentially dangerous conflicts by redirecting aircraft trajectories. The model is driven and validated through historical data of flight schedules in a European national airspace. While correctly reproducing actual statistics of the Air Transportation system, e.g., the distribution of delays, the model allows for theoretical predictions. Upon an increase of the traffic load injected in the system, the model predicts a transition from a phase in which all conflicts can be successfully resolved, to a phase in which many conflicts cannot be resolved anymore. We highlight how the current flight density of the Air Transportation system is well below the transition, provided that controllers make use of a special re-routing procedure. While the congestion transition displays a universal scaling behavior, its threshold depends on the conflict solving strategy adopted. Finally, the generality of the modeling scheme introduced makes it a flexible general tool to simulate and control Air Transportation systems in realistic and synthetic scenarios.     

Experimental Pulmonary Air Embolism in Dogs

Air infused into the jugular vein of dogs at a constant rate for one hour produced transient hypotension, modest elevation of the systemic venous pressure and a considerable fall of the arterial oxygen tension. All of these measurements returned almost to normal on the termination of the infusion. A lethal rate of infusion, 0.69 ml of air per kg of body weight per minute, produced heart failure with a decided rise of systemic venous pressure and fall of blood pressure. The pre-failure oxygen pressure did not fall to a lethal level. Six and a half minutes was the longest time that the characteristic murmur could be heard after the cessation of infusion of non-fatal doses of air.     

Air pollution abatement in Praque city

Air quality is a major concern in highly populated EU urban areas. European Commission adopted a series of directives to improve air quality. At local, regional, national levels efforts to reduce adverse impacts of poor air quality on human health are taken. Air quality management strategies are discussed and the measures proposed to improve air quality in Prague are compared. As road traffic is a major source for air pollution in EU cities, a Decision Support System (DSS) developed in the framework of the HEAVEN project aims to evaluate the environmental effects of near real-time traffic flows and Transport Demand Management Strategies (TDMS) in large urban areas.     

Air dissipation in saline breast implants

Residual air within saline breast implants can cause patient discomfort due to the mechanical and auditory effects of sloshing. Small amounts of air have no clinical significance, but if larger quantities are present and audible, the patient is reassured that the implant shell is gas-permeable and that the air will dissipate/diffuse. This study examined the time necessary for air dissipation in saline breast implants.Twelve McGhan style #68 saline breast implants were divided into two groups: group A, which included six implants with a size of 240 cc, and group B, which included six implants with a size of 270 cc. The implants were filled with room-temperature, intravenous, normal saline to their designated volumes, plus 30 cc of overfill. All air was evacuated, and each implant was inoculated with 5 cc of air. The implants were then submerged in a single tank of normal saline at 37 degrees C, at a depth of 20.4 cm to replicate capillary pressure.Intragroup analysis showed the air bubble was absent in group A at an average of 35.3 days (variance = 4.13) and in group B at an average of 38.0 days (variance = 0). If audible intraluminal air is present in the clinical setting, the patient can be reassured that the problem will resolve in approximately 30 days or less.     

Viral Hepatitis in the Air Force

The reported incidence of viral hepatitis in the Air Force has increased over the past 10 years. The total number of days lost from duty has declined as has the average number of days lost per case. Distribution of USAF reported cases has been roughly equally divided among the three diagnostic categories, in contrast to the total United States reported distribution. Relatively few USAF cases have had a documented history of drug abuse since we began collecting this information, and the proportion of these cases has steadily declined. Finally, these diseases still represent significant economic and operational costs to the Air Force so that prevention and control remain important items of concern to commanders and the medical service.     

Retroperitoneal Free Air

In the examination of 500 “well” executives, the number of unknown diseases found averaged 5.4 per person. Almost half of these executives had newly detected disease that was potentially significant to their health.Treatment was necessary in more than 47.7 per cent of them.One out of five of the total significant unknown defects found was either a peptic ulcer or gallstones; one out of five was a rectal adenoma; and one out of five was either hypertension or cardiac disease.One-third of the executives were overweight. Diabetes was found in every 20th person; and malignant disease was detected in one of every 41 people.For an examination to be “adequate” for the detection of unknown disease, the general physical examination must be complete and thorough. A proctoscopic is necessary, and certain basic laboratory screening procedures should be completed in each individual.Complete and routine x-ray studies of the gallbladder and gastrointestinal tract should be done, since they are the most important single diagnostic procedure, in detecting early, major, unsuspected, and often asymptomatic diseases.Routine consultations with specialists are a valuable asset in disease detection.Repeated periodic examinations help in detection of new unknown disease that was not present or not noted in earlier examinations.