REVIEW OF RESEARCH IN U.S.S.R. 485 



1. Is radiation damage to the CNS similar to natural aging in this system? 



2. Are the feedback, multiplexing, and other cybernetic mechanisms in the 

 CNS such that complete or nearly complete compensations for quite 

 massive difTuse neuronal injury can take place? 



3. What tests can be used to bring out difTuse functional damage which is 

 well compensated? 



4. Is the role of the nervous system in tumor induction absolutely passive, 

 i.e., are the abnormal nervous structures seen in tumors simply the 

 result of cells growing out of control? 



5. Does the nervous system exert any direct local control over mitotic ac- 

 tivity, even of a limited magnitude, or are cell division and differentia- 

 tion controlled wholly by local and circulating biochemical factors? 



6. Is there a complete overlap between the innate mechanisms which are 

 tested by the totality of usual behavioral studies and conditional reflex 

 techniques? 



7. Does antenatal radiation make it possible to produce functionally dam- 

 aged nervous systems comparable to those found in psychopathic or 

 otherwise mentally disturbed humans? 



8. What is the role of direct autonomic system damage in such proven 

 postirradiation eflfects as vascular reactivity changes? 



These questions difTer considerably from the problem of central nervous 

 radiosensitivity as posed originally and emphasize the continuing need for 

 radiological research at the basic scientific level. 



References 



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 Alekseyeva, G. I. 1958. The condition of the receptor apparatus in the walls of large 



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 Anisomova-AIeksandrova, V. V. 1959. Morphological changes in various components 



of the peripheral ner\'ous system after exposure of the organism to ionizing radia- 

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