Biological filters and their use in potable water filtration systems in spaceflight conditions
Publication date: May 2018Source: Life Sciences in Space Research, Volume 17Author(s): Starla G. Thornhill, Manish KumarAbstractProviding drinking water to space missions such as the International Space Station (ISS) is a costly requirement for human habitation. To limit the costs of water transport, wastewater is collected and purified using a variety of physical and chemical means. To date, sand-based biofilters have been designed to function against gravity, and biofilms have been shown to form in microgravity conditions. Development of a universal silver-recycling biological filter system that is able to function in bo...
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
If technological intelligent extraterrestrials exist, what biological traits are de rigueur
Publication date: May 2018Source: Life Sciences in Space Research, Volume 17Author(s): E.R. TaylorAbstractIf extraterrestrials exist in the depths of cosmic space, and are capable of interstellar communications, even space flight, there is no requirement that they be humanoid in form. However, certain humanoid capabilities would be advantageous for tool fashioning and critical to operating space craft as well as functioning under the disparate extreme conditions under which they may be forced to operate. They would have to be “gas breathing”. The reasonable assumption that life based upon the same elements as Earth lif...
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Persistent depletion of plasma gelsolin (pGSN) after exposure of mice to heavy silicon ions
Publication date: May 2018Source: Life Sciences in Space Research, Volume 17Author(s): Kanokporn Noy Rithidech, Paiboon Reungpatthanaphong, Montree Tungjai, Witawat Jangiam, Louise Honikel, Elbert B. WhortonAbstractLittle is known about plasma proteins that can be used as biomarkers for early and late responses to radiation. The purpose of this study was to determine a link between depletion of plasma gelsolin (pGSN) and cell-death as well as inflammatory responses in the lung (one of the tissues known to be radiosensitive) of the same exposed CBA/CaJ mice after exposure to heavy silicon (28Si) ions. To prevent the develop...
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Late effects of 1H irradiation on hippocampal physiology
Publication date: May 2018Source: Life Sciences in Space Research, Volume 17Author(s): Frederico Kiffer, Alexis K. Howe, Hannah Carr, Jing Wang, Tyler Alexander, Julie E. Anderson, Thomas Groves, John W. Seawright, Vijayalakshmi Sridharan, Gwendolyn Carter, Marjan Boerma, Antiño R. AllenAbstractNASA’s Missions to Mars and beyond will expose flight crews to potentially dangerous levels of charged-particle radiation. Of all charged nuclei, 1H is the most abundant charged particle in both the galactic cosmic ray (GCR) and solar particle event (SPE) spectra. There are currently no functional spacecraft shielding materials t...
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Early effects of 16O radiation on neuronal morphology and cognition in a murine model
Publication date: May 2018Source: Life Sciences in Space Research, Volume 17Author(s): Hannah Carr, Tyler C. Alexander, Thomas Groves, Frederico Kiffer, Jing Wang, Elvin Price, Marjan Boerma, Antiño R. AllenAbstractAstronauts exposed to high linear energy transfer radiation may experience cognitive injury. The pathogenesis of this injury is unknown but may involve glutamate receptors or modifications to dendritic structure and/or dendritic spine density and morphology. Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, where it acts on ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors located ...
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Acute exposure to space flight results in evidence of reduced lymph Transport, tissue fluid Shifts, and immune alterations in the rat gastrointestinal system
Publication date: May 2018Source: Life Sciences in Space Research, Volume 17Author(s): W.E. Cromer, D.C. ZawiejaAbstractSpace flight causes a number of alterations in physiological systems, changes in the immunological status of subjects, and altered interactions of the host to environmental stimuli. We studied the effect of space flight on the lymphatic system of the gastrointestinal tract which is responsible for lipid transport and immune surveillance which includes the host interaction with the gut microbiome.We found that there were signs of tissue damage present in the space flown animals that was lacking in ground c...
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
HZETRN radiation transport validation using balloon-based experimental data
Publication date: May 2018Source: Life Sciences in Space Research, Volume 17Author(s): James E. Warner, Ryan B. Norman, Steve R. BlattnigAbstractThe deterministic radiation transport code HZETRN (High charge (Z) and Energy TRaNsport) was developed by NASA to study the effects of cosmic radiation on astronauts and instrumentation shielded by various materials. This work presents an analysis of computed differential flux from HZETRN compared with measurement data from three balloon-based experiments over a range of atmospheric depths, particle types, and energies. Model uncertainties were quantified using an interval-based v...
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Development of a step-down method for altering male C57BL/6 mouse housing density and hierarchical structure: Preparations for spaceflight studies
This study was initiated as a component of a larger undertaking designed to study bone healing in microgravity aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Spaceflight experimentation introduces multiple challenges not seen in ground studies, especially with regard to physical space, limited resources, and inability to easily reproduce results. Together, these can lead to diminished statistical power and increased risk of failure. It is because of the limited space, and need for improved statistical power by increasing sample size over historical numbers, NASA studies involving mice require housing mice at densities highe...
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Sequencing Nothing: Exploring Failure Modes of Nanopore Sensing and Implications for Life Detection
Publication date: Available online 16 May 2018Source: Life Sciences in Space ResearchAuthor(s): Alexandra Pontefract, Julie Hachey, Maria T. Zuber, Gary Ruvkun, Christopher E. CarrAbstractThe detection of extant life is a major focus of many planned future planetary missions, a current challenge of which is the ability to target biomarkers capable of providing unambiguous evidence of life. DNA sequencing is increasingly recognized as a powerful tool for life detection for planetary exploration missions; beyond use of sequence information to determine the origins of the sample (e.g., extant life or forward contamination), r...
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
A new method for the performance of external chest compressions during hypogravity simulation.
Discussion2015 guidelines were achieved using the MR CPR method at 0.38Gz, with no significant difference with and without braces. Participants were closer to achieving the required ECC depth in the terrestrial position without braces. ECC depth was not achieved at 0.17Gz, due to a greater reduction in effective body weight. (Source: Life Sciences in Space Research)
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Spatial resolution requirements for active radiation detectors used beyond low earth orbit
The objective of this study was to reduce coincident events while avoiding over-design and complexity.Monte Carlo simulations, using Geant4, were performed for 4He, 12C, 28Si and 56Fe ions at energies of 300, 900 and 2400 MeV/n incident upon aluminum shields having areal densities of 5.4, 13.5, and 54 g/cm2. The identity, energy and spatial distribution of all particles downstream from the shielding were analyzed using a novel approach based on proximity distributions. Results indicated that pixel dimensions on the order of 1 mm were sufficient to reduce errors caused by coincident events for active space radiation dete...
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Attachment of Turner's thick-toed geckos (Chondrodactylus turneri GRAY 1864) during weightlessness and their responses to flotation
Publication date: August 2018Source: Life Sciences in Space Research, Volume 18Author(s): V.M. Barabanov, V.I. Gulimova, R.K. Berdiev, S.V. SavelievAbstractWe investigated the behavior of 15 female Turner's thick-toed geckos (Chondrodactylus turneri GRAY 1864) during a 30-day orbital experiment on the unmanned spacecraft “BION-M” No. 1. During weightlessness, the geckos maintained their ability to attach to the surfaces using the subdigital pads on their toes. On average, the geckos spent 99.9% of the time adhering to surfaces during the flight and only 0.1% floating freely. The active geckos, when starting to float, i...
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
The effect of competing risks on astronaut and cosmonaut mortality
In this study we tested the hypothesis that the reported reductions in mortality from natural causes result, to some degree, from survival bias created by early deaths from external causes.Statistical comparisons of baseline characteristics between cause-of-death groups showed no significant differences. Cause-specific survival curves showed no difference in long-term mortality from external causes among either astronauts or cosmonauts compared to Kaplan-Meier curves with censoring for competing causes. Cause-specific survival curves for natural causes suggested a possible upward bias in mortality estimates published thus ...
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Procedures for chemical fixation in immunohistochemical analyses of PIN proteins regulating polar auxin transport: Relevance to spaceflight experiments
In this study, adequate chemical fixatives and fixation protocols were developed, which can be used to detect localization of PsPIN1 and ZmPIN1a proteins in young etiolated pea and maize seedlings, respectively, using anti PsPIN1 and ZmPIN1a antibodies. These protocols can be used in spaceflight experiments to investigate the effects of the microgravity environment on the ISS on PIN protein localization in pea and maize seedlings. (Source: Life Sciences in Space Research)
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
The influence of nitrogen concentration and precipitation on fertilizer production from urine using a trickling filter
This study describes a 646 day experiment, in which trickling filters were monitored for their ability to mineralize nitrogen when loaded with artificial urine solutions of different concentrations (40, 60, 80 and 100% v/v). Former studies have indicated that increasing urine concentrations slow nitrogen conversion rates and induce growing instability. In the current experiment, nitrogen conversion rates, measured as nitrate production/day, did not differ between concentration levels and increasing instability was not observed. Instead, the buffering capacity of the mussel shells added as buffer system (∼75% calcium carb...
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
