Bodily fluids and tissues are examined using both routine and specialized biochemical analyses, with emphasis placed on oxidative stress. Comprehensive histopathologic evaluations are also performed. Along with the exercise model, this approach yields a toxicologic profile which relates the insult to specific tissue damage, and concomitant vital function and integrated heart and lung function derangement. Knowledge of biochemical and physicochemical interactions helps in understanding injury mechanisms and new avenues of prophylaxis or treatment. Nitrogen dioxide is an environmental toxin found in high concentration in confined crew compartment fires.
Emphasis is placed on the impact of respiratory pattern on dosimetry.
Blast overpressure is inherent with denotation. In impulse noise experiments, sonomicrometry is used to assess cardiac function, and biochemical mechanisms of contusion injury are examined. Computer technology has enabled modeling the relationship between impulse noise and pathological injury. This model is being transitioned to an incapacitation model. A similar computer model for combined gas injury is being developed in order to simulate injury from exposure to a complex mixture of gases, typically found in fire scenarios.