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The biology of human survival : life and death in extreme environments / Claude A. Piantadosi.
Holman Biotech Commons QP82 .P536 2003
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Piantadosi, Claude A.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Extreme environments.
- Adaptation (Biology).
- Human physiology.
- Adaptation, Physiological.
- Survival--physiology.
- Environment.
- Environmental Exposure--adverse effects.
- Adaptation, Psychological.
- Stress.
- Technology--trends.
- Medical Subjects:
- Adaptation, Physiological.
- Survival--physiology.
- Environment.
- Environmental Exposure--adverse effects.
- Adaptation, Psychological.
- Stress.
- Technology--trends.
- Physical Description:
- xiv, 263 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.
- Contents:
- 1. The Human Environment 1
- The nature of human physical boundaries 1
- The importance of preparation for extreme exposures 4
- Some basic concepts of survival analysis 5
- Characteristics of life-support systems 8
- 2. Survival and Adaptation 10
- The science of human physiology 10
- Principles of physiological regulation and adaptation 13
- Defining physiological adaptation to the environment 16
- Acclimatization and acclimation 18
- 3. Cross-Acclimation 21
- The complexity of adaptation to environment 21
- Positive and negative cross-acclimation 22
- Biochemical mediators of physiological adaptation 24
- Stress proteins and the stress response 25
- 4. Food for Thought 29
- A brief overview of human starvation 29
- Starvation: an affliction of the very young and the very old 30
- Assessing the severity of starvation 31
- Why children die of starvation 33
- Other critical factors in human starvation 34
- Starvation and obesity: strange bedfellows 36
- The molecular basis of obesity and hunger 38
- 5. Water and Salt 41
- The composition of body water 42
- Why do human food and water requirements differ? 43
- The body's minimum daily water requirements 45
- The mechanism of dehydration and the body's responses 47
- Dehydration and heat tolerance 49
- Survival time without drinking water 51
- 6. Water That Makes Men Mad 54
- The composition of seawater 55
- Ingestion of seawater 55
- Survival at sea 56
- Lessons from the USS Indianapolis 57
- A practical approach to salt and water loss at sea 60
- 7. Tolerance to Heat 63
- Mammalian homeothermy 63
- Humans as tropical primates 64
- Body heat balance 65
- Heat acclimatization 70
- Heat acclimatization and physical fitness 71
- The limitations of human tolerance to heat 72
- Heat illnesses 73
- Death by heatstroke 76
- 8. Endless Oceans of Sand 78
- The camel and the Berber 79
- Desert lessons from Pablo and the Haj 83
- Thermal stress and behavior 84
- Importance and regulation of heat-escape activities 86
- 9. Hypothermia 89
- The effects of extreme cold on the extremities 89
- Settings for systemic hypothermia 90
- The physiology of hypothermia 92
- Unexpected effects of cold and hypothermia 95
- The subtle effect of winter on human mortality 96
- 10. Life and Death on the Crystal Desert 99
- Life in Antarctica 99
- The race for the South Pole 100
- Failure to adapt to Antarctic conditions 104
- Engineering out the need to tolerate cold 106
- Human acclimation to cold 107
- Estivation 111
- Hibernation 112
- Hibernation, energy conservation, and suspended animation 117
- 11. Survival in Cold Water 119
- The sinking of the Titanic 119
- Water temperature and human survival 121
- Prediction of survival time in cold water 121
- Survival behavior in cold water 123
- Hypothermia in deep sea diving 125
- Respiratory heat losses and slow cooling 127
- 12. Air as Good as We Deserve 129
- Life in an oxidizing atmosphere 129
- Biological oxidations and oxygen toxicity 132
- Antioxidant defenses and the oxidant
- antioxidant balance 135
- The free radical theory of aging 136
- 13. Bends and Rapture of the Deep 140
- Decompression sickness 141
- Rapture of the deep 145
- Pressure reversal of anesthesia and the high-pressure nervous syndrome 148
- Implications of high pressure for human life on other planets 150
- 14. Sunken Submarines 152
- The sinking of the Kursk 152
- The debate over submarine escape 155
- The physics of submarine disasters 156
- Analysis of survival factors on sunken submarines 158
- 15. Climbing Higher 164
- The physical environment of high altitude 164
- Physiological responses to high altitude 166
- High-altitude illnesses 173
- The zone of death 176
- Limits of human ascent to high altitude 179
- 16. Into the Wild Blue Yonder 181
- The International Standard Atmosphere 181
- Human visitation to the stratosphere 183
- Depressurization accidents 185
- The Armstrong line 188
- The pressure suit 189
- 17. G Whiz 193
- The continuity principle 193
- Gravity and acceleration 194
- High-G environments 195
- Limits of high-G tolerance 197
- Adaptation to sustained G forces 201
- 18. The Gravity of Microgravity 203
- Space sickness 204
- Intolerance of upright posture 204
- Loss of bone mass in space 206
- Loss of muscle mass in space 209
- 19. Weapons of Mass Destruction 212
- Biological and chemical warfare agents 213
- Thermonuclear weapons 217
- Types of radiation 219
- Biological effects of radiation 220
- Radiation and the human body 223
- 20. Human Prospects for Colonizing Space 227
- Advanced life-support systems 228
- Mission to Mars 230
- Habitability factors in long-duration spaceflight 232
- Deleterious effects of long-term exposure to microgravity 234
- Effects of life in space on human immunity 235
- Long-term effects of radiation on human life in space 238
- Establishment of permanent human populations in space 242.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-254) and index.
- ISBN:
- 0195165012
- OCLC:
- 51454527
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