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Research Containing: Microgravity

Intrinsic cardiovascular autonomic regulatory system of astronauts exposed long-term to microgravity in space: observational study

by on 22 August 2016in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

The fractal scaling of the long-term heart rate variability (HRV) reflects the ‘intrinsic’ autonomic regulatory system. Herein, we examine how microgravity on the ISS affected the power-law scaling β (beta) of astronauts during a long-duration (about 6 months) spaceflight. Ambulatory electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring was performed on seven healthy astronauts (5 men, 52.0 ± 4.2 years of age) five times: before launch, 24 ± 5 (F01) and 73 ± 5 (F02) days after launch, 15 ± 5 days before return (F03), and after return to Earth. The power-law scaling β was calculated as the slope of the regression line of the power density of the MEM spectrum versus frequency plotted on a log10–log10 scale in the range of 0.0001–0.01 Hz (corresponding to periods of 2.8 h to 1.6 min). β was less negative in space (−0.949 ± 0.061) than on Earth (−1.163 ± 0.075; P o 0.025). The difference was more pronounced during the awake than during the rest/sleep span. The circadian amplitude and acrophase (phase of maximum) of β did not differ in space as compared with Earth. An effect of microgravity was detected within 1 month (F01) in space and continued throughout the spaceflight. The intrinsic autonomic regulatory system that protects life under serious environmental conditions on Earth is altered in the microgravity environment, with no change over the 6-month spaceflight. It is thus important to find a way to improve conditions in space and/or in terms of human physiology, not to compromise the intrinsic autonomic regulatory system now that;plans are being made to inhabit another planet in the near future.

Related URLs:
http://www.nature.com/articles/npjmgrav201518

THE ASTRONAUT-ATHLETE: OPTIMIZING HUMAN PERFORMANCE IN SPACE

by on 22 August 2016in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

Abstract: Hackney, KJ, Scott, JM, Hanson, AM, English, KL, Downs, ME, and Ploutz-Snyder, LL. The astronaut-athlete: optimizing human performance in space. J Strength Cond Res 29(12): 3531–3545, 2015—It is well known that long-duration spaceflight results in deconditioning of neuromuscular and cardiovascular systems, leading to a decline in physical fitness. On reloading in gravitational environments, reduced fitness (e.g., aerobic capacity, muscular strength, and endurance) could impair human performance, mission success, and crew safety. The level of fitness necessary for the performance of routine and off-nominal terrestrial mission tasks remains an unanswered and pressing question for scientists and flight physicians. To mitigate fitness loss during spaceflight, resistance and aerobic exercise are the most effective countermeasure available to astronauts. Currently, 2.5 h·d−1, 6–7 d·wk−1 is allotted in crew schedules for exercise to be performed on highly specialized hardware on the International Space Station (ISS). Exercise hardware provides up to 273 kg of loading capability for resistance exercise, treadmill speeds between 0.44 and 5.5 m·s−1, and cycle workloads from 0 and 350 W. Compared to ISS missions, future missions beyond low earth orbit will likely be accomplished with less vehicle volume and power allocated for exercise hardware. Concomitant factors, such as diet and age, will also affect the physiologic responses to exercise training (e.g., anabolic resistance) in the space environment. Research into the potential optimization of exercise countermeasures through use of dietary supplementation, and pharmaceuticals may assist in reducing physiological deconditioning during long-duration spaceflight and have the potential to enhance performance of occupationally related astronaut tasks (e.g., extravehicular activity, habitat construction, equipment repairs, planetary exploration, and emergency response).

Related URLs:
http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Fulltext/2015/12000/The_Astronaut_Athlete___Optimizing_Human.35.aspx

DECLIC, First Results On Orbit

by on 22 August 2016in Physical Sciences No comment

DECLIC is a multi-user facility to investigate critical fluids behaviour and directional solidification of transparent alloys, developed in the frame of a joint NASA/CNES research program. The instrument is a miniaturized thermo optical laboratory in which one can plug inserts containing the materials to be studied.

Related URLs:
https://cadmos.cnes.fr/sites/default/files/migration/automne/standard/2014_10/p8782_a528d45ac3dd0799d3fe13b58fdaf027IAC_10_A2_5_1.pdf

The Importance of Caveolin-1 as Key-Regulator of Three-Dimensional Growth in Thyroid Cancer Cells Cultured under Real and Simulated Microgravity Conditions

by on 22 August 2016in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

We recently demonstrated that the CAV1 gene was down-regulated, when poorly differentiated thyroid FTC-133 cancer cells formed spheroids under simulated microgravity conditions. Here, we present evidence that the caveolin-1 protein is involved in the inhibition of spheroid formation, when confluent monolayers are exposed to microgravity. The evidence is based on proteins detected in cells and their supernatants of the recent spaceflight experiment: "NanoRacks-CellBox-Thyroid Cancer". The culture supernatant had been collected in a special container adjacent to the flight hardware incubation chamber and stored at low temperature until it was analyzed by Multi-Analyte Profiling (MAP) technology, while the cells remaining in the incubation chamber were fixed by RNAlater and examined by mass spectrometry. The soluble proteins identified by MAP were investigated in regard to their mutual interactions and their influence on proteins, which were associated with the cells secreting the soluble proteins and had been identified in a preceding study. A Pathway Studio v.11 analysis of the soluble and cell-associated proteins together with protein kinase C alpha (PRKCA) suggests that caveolin-1 is involved, when plasminogen enriched in the extracellular space is not activated and the vascular cellular adhesion molecule (VCAM-1) mediated cell-cell adhesion is simultaneously strengthened and activated PRKCA is recruited in caveolae, while the thyroid cancer cells do not form spheroids.

Related URLs:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26633361

New Insights in Plant Biology Gained from Research in Space

by on 22 August 2016in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

Recent space flight experiments have provided many new insights into the role of gravity in plant growth and development. Scientists have been taking seeds and plants into space for decades in an effort to understand how the stressful environment of space affects them. The resultant data have yielded significant advances in the development of advanced life-support systems for long-duration space flight and a better understanding of the fundamental role of gravity in directing the growth and development of plants. Experiments have improved as new spaceflight hardware and technology paved the way for progressively more insightful and rigorous plant research in space. The International Space Station (ISS) provided an opportunity for scientists to both monitor and control their experiments in real-time. Experiments on the ISS have provided valuable insights into endogenous growth responses, light-responses, and transcriptomic and proteomic changes that occur in the microgravity environment. In recent years most studies of plants in space have used Arabidopsis thaliana, but the single-celled, Ceratopteris richardii spore is also a valuable model system that has been used to understand plant gravity response. Experiments using these fern spores have revealed a dynamic and gravity-responsive trans-cell Ca2+ current that directs polarization of these spores, and a possible role of extracellular nucleotides in establishing or contributing to this current. As technology continues to improve, space flight experiments will provide many new insights into the role and effects of gravity on plant growth and development.

Related URLs:
http://gravitationalandspacebiology.org/index.php/journal/article/view/692

Viability of the lichen Xanthoria elegans and its symbionts after 18 months of space exposure and simulated Mars conditions on the ISS

by on 22 August 2016in Biology & Biotechnology, Earth Science and Remote Sensing No comment

The lichen Xanthoria elegans has been exposed to space conditions and simulated Mars-analogue conditions in the lichen and fungi experiment (LIFE) on the International Space Station (ISS). After several simulations and short space exposure experiments such as BIOPAN, this was the first long-term exposure of eukaryotic organisms to the hostile space conditions of the low Earth orbit (LEO). The biological samples were integrated in the EXPOSE-E facility and exposed for 1.5 years outside the ISS to the combined impact of insolation, ultraviolet (UV)-irradiation, cosmic radiation, temperatures and vacuum conditions of LEO space. Additionally, a subset of X. elegans samples was exposed to simulated Martian environmental conditions by applying Mars-analogue atmosphere and suitable solar radiation filters. After their return to Earth the viability of the lichen samples was ascertained by viability analysis of LIVE/DEAD staining and confocal laser-scanning microscopy, but also by analyses of chlorophyll a fluorescence. According to the LIVE/DEAD staining results, the lichen photobiont showed an average viability rate of 71%, whereas the even more resistant lichen mycobiont showed a rate of 84%. Post-exposure viability rates did not significantly vary among the applied exposure conditions. This remarkable viability is discussed in the context of particular protective mechanisms of lichens such as anhydrobiosis and UV-screening pigments.

Related URLs:
http://elib.dlr.de/90411/1/Annette-Brandt-download.php.pdf

Microgravity Flammability of PMMA Rods in Concurrent Flow

by on 22 August 2016in Physical Sciences No comment

Microgravity experiments burning cast PMMA cylindrical rods in axial flow have been conducted aboard the International Space Station in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) facility using the Burning and Suppression of Solids (BASS) flow duct, as part of the BASS-II experiment. Twenty-four concurrent-flow tests were performed, focusing on finding flammability limits as a function of oxygen and flow speed. The oxygen was varied by using gaseous nitrogen to vitiate the working volume of the MSG. The speed of the flow parallel to the rod was varied using a fan at the entrance to the duct. Both blowoff and quenching limits were obtained at several oxygen concentrations. Each experiment ignited the rod at the initially hemispherical stagnation tip of the rod, and allowed the flame to develop and heat the rod at a sufficient flow to sustain burning. For blowoff limit tests, the astronaut quickly turned up the flow to obtain extinction. Complementary 5.18-second Zero Gravity Facility drop tests were conducted to compare blowoff limits in short and long duration microgravity. For quenching tests, the flow was incrementally turned down and the flame allowed to stabilize at the new flow condition for at least the solid-phase response time before changing it again. Quenching was observed when the flow became sufficiently weak that the flame could no longer provide adequate heat flux to compensate for the heat losses (conduction into the rod and radiation). A surface energy balance is presented that shows the surface radiative loss exceeds the conductive loss into the rod near the limit. The flammability boundary is shown to represent a critical Damkohler number, expressed in terms of the reaction rate divided by the stretch rate. For the blowoff branch, the boundary exhibits a linear dependence on oxygen concentrationandstretchrate,indicatingthatthetemperatureatblowoffmustbefairlyconstant. Forthe quenching branch, the dominance of the exponential nature of the Arrhenius kinetics reaction rate indicates that the temperature is critical.

Related URLs:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280234405_Microgravity_Flammability_of_PMMA_Rods_in_Concurrent_Flow

Results from on-board CSA-CP and CDM Sensor Readings during the Burning and Suppression of Solids– II (BASS-II) Experiment in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG)

by on 22 August 2016in Physical Sciences No comment

For the first time on ISS, BASS-II utilized MSG working volume dilution with gaseous nitrogen (N2). We developed a perfectly stirred reactor model to determine the N2 flow time and flow rate to obtain the desired reduced oxygen concentration in the working volume for each test. We calibrated the model with CSA-CP oxygen readings offset using the Mass Constituents Analyzer reading of the ISS ambient atmosphere data for that day. This worked out extremely well for operations, and added a new vital variable, ambient oxygen level, to our test matrices. The main variables tested in BASS-II were ambient oxygen concentration, ventilation flow velocity, and fuel type, thickness, and geometry.;BASS-II also utilized the on-board CSA-CP for oxygen and carbon monoxide readings, and the CDM for carbon dioxide readings before and after each test. Readings from these sensors allow us to evaluate the completeness of the combustion. The oxygen and carbon dioxide readings before and after each test were analyzed and compared very well to stoichiometric ratios for a one step gas-phase reaction. The CO versus CO2 followed a linear trend for some datasets, but not for all the different geometries of fuel and flow tested. We calculated the heat release rates during each test from the oxygen consumption and burn times, using the constant 13.1 kJ of heat released per gram of oxygen consumed. The results showed that the majority of the tests had heat release rates well below 100 Watts. Lastly, the global equivalence ratio for the tests is estimated to be fuel rich: 1.3 on average using mass loss and oxygen consumption data.

Related URLs:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280234625_Results_from_on-board_CSA-CP_and_CDM_Sensor_Readings_during_the_Burning_and_Suppression_of_Solids_-_II_BASS-II_Experiment_in_the_Microgravity_Science_Glovebox_MSG

Characterization of fungi isolated from the equipment used in the International Space Station or Space Shuttle

by on 22 August 2016in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

As a part of a series of studies regarding the microbial biota in manned space environments, fungi were isolated from six pieces of equipment recovered from the Japanese Experimental Module "KIBO" of the International Space Station and from a space shuttle. Thirty-seven strains of fungi were isolated, identified and investigated with regard to morphological phenotypes and antifungal susceptibilities. The variety of fungi isolated in this study was similar to that of several previous reports. The dominant species belonged to the genera Penicillium, Aspergillus and Cladosporium, which are potential causative agents of allergy and opportunistic infections. The morphological phenotypes and antifungal susceptibilities of the strains isolated from space environments were not significantly different from those of reference strains on Earth.

Related URLs:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26969809

The International Space Station and the Commercialization of Low Earth Orbit

by on 22 August 2016in Biology & Biotechnology, Earth Science and Remote Sensing, Education, Physical Sciences, Technology Development & Demonstration No comment

This paper will explore the opportunities and challenges in developing the commercial market in LEO through the ISS program and all its facets, including operations, mission support activities, utilization, and contracting. The role of NASA-funded research in the vertical translation of basic research in space to practical application in the market or to other government service agencies will also be addressed. Other aspects, including government regulation, investment and tax incentives, and possible roles of various government agencies will also be explored. Of particular importance, the role of private industry, currently in the supply business, in the development of the demand for LEO capabilities and services beyond the federal government will be highlighted. In conclusion, this paper will address the prospects in reaching the goal of commercializing LEO starting from where we are today in human spaceflight and the International Space Station.

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