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The spinal pain syndrome appears in cosmonauts on both short and long-duration missions. This untoward factor may affect body systems functioning and complicate the successful accomplishment of space mission. Purpose of the investigation was to examine the lumbar spine and to elucidate whether its condition relates to the spinal pain development and changes in heart rate variability (HRV) in the microgravity environment. The experiment was conducted in dry immersion as a method of microgravity effects simulation. It was shown that in dry immersion locomotion reproduces the patterns peculiar for significant gravitational unloading. Spinal pain intensity, angles and heights of the lumbar intervertebral discs and HRV were measured in 19 selected volunteers. During the experiment, all the volunteers developed pains in the back that abated gradually. Pain dependence on the height of intervertebral discs and cardiac regulatory mechanisms were investigated.

Structure and prevalence of various forms of noncoronary heart diseases (NCHD) and cardiac rhythm disorders (CRD) in state aviation pilots, as well as rates of ensuing grounding were studied. The total of 220 NCHD and 100 essentially healthy pilots were examined. Cardiovascular clinical and functional investigations consisted of physical examination, ECG, dispersion mapping (DM ECG), provocative tests and other techniques used for pilots' certification. Effectiveness of the clinical and instrumental methods of diagnosing arrhythmias was evaluated. CRD presence was verified by Holter monitoring. Extrasystoles prevalence was recorded in NCHD pilots; clinically significant forms of the diseases were commonly detected in pilots with chronic infections of the tonsils. In addition, radiodiagnostics of the immune status was applied to confirm the role of infection and immunology factor. DM ECG screening for differentiation between the norm and pathology was found useful in detecting early metabolic shifts and CVS functional evaluation. These results provided the basis for guidelines concerning medical expertise of pilots with noncoronary arrhythmias.

A one-year prospective study involved 22 patients with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW) and 20 healthy people. Means age of patients was 34.3 +/- 16.3 years. All 22 patients were successfully treated with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of additional pathways. RFA effectiveness was evaluated with the help of clinical questionnaire, data of ECG, EchoCG, heart rate variability (HRV), frequency response and nonlinear dynamics. Cardiac rhythm disturbances were verified using Holter monitoring applied to all patients. Positive clinical effect was achieved in all the WPW patients, as RFA arrested cardiac arrhythmias completely. Holter monitoring did not register cardiac disturbances which points to high RFA effectiveness in WPW patients. HRV, frequency response and nonlinear dynamics reassumed their normal patterns.