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Show New Type Pressure Tube Gauges Effect Of Atomic Explosion LOS ANGELES, Calif. When an atomic bomb explodes, what physiological physi-ological effects does it produce on the people within the burst area? Research at the atomic energy project on the Los Angeles campus cam-pus of the University of California Is trying to answer this question. Under the direction of Dr. Benedict Bene-dict Cassen, clinical professor of biophysics in the U.C.L.A. medical school, rats and mice are being subjected sub-jected to air blast pressures in a new-type blast tube which can produce sudden air pressure pulses. According to Dr. Cassen, these are the first known laboratory experiments ex-periments to use the new tube for air blast research on mice. Previous results with high explosives, explo-sives, as well as new results with the blast tube, show that air pressure pres-sure pulses will first rupture the eardrums, then cause lung hemorrhages, hemor-rhages, followed by internal hemorrhages, hemor-rhages, says the U.C.L.A. atomic scientist. A lethal dose for mice is finally reached at approximately 25 pounds over atmospheric pressure. "Our air blast tube has revealed the nature of many important physiological physi-ological effects on rats and mice," Dr. Cassen said, "but we must continue con-tinue on a larger scale before we can actually adapt our findings to human use." Dr. Cassen hastened to point out that the most serious hazards of an atomic explosion are much more likely to be produced by crushing, missiles, and other secondary effects ef-fects rather than by the primary force of the blast itself. |