ALBERT

Description: A summary is provided of the major operations required to conduct the wide range of primate experiments on the Bion 11 mission, which flew for 14 days beginning December 24, 1996. Information is given on preflight preparations, including flight candidate selection and training; attachment and implantation of bioinstrumentation; flight and ground experiment designs; onboard life support and test systems; ground and flight health monitoring; flight monkey selection and transport to the launch site; inflight procedures and data collection; postflight examinations and experiments; and assessment of results.

Description: The ALTEA project investigates the risks of functional brain damage induced by particle radiation in space. A modular facility (the ALTEA facility) is being implemented and will be operated in the International Space Station (ISS) to record electrophysiological and behavioral descriptors of brain function and to monitor their time dynamics and correlation with particles and space environment. The focus of the program will be on abnormal visual perceptions (often reported as "light flashes" by astronauts) and the impact on retinal and brain visual structures of particle in microgravity conditions. The facility will be made available to the international scientific community for human neurophysiological, electrophysiological and psychophysics experiments, studies on particle fluxes, and dosimetry. A precursor of ALTEA (the 'Alteino' project) helps set the experimental baseline for the ALTEA experiments, while providing novel information on the radiation environment onboard the ISS and on the brain electrophysiology of the astronauts during orbital flights. Alteino was flown to the ISS on the Soyuz TM34 as part of mission Marco Polo. Controlled ground experiments using mice and accelerator beams complete the experimental strategy of ALTEA. We present here the status of progress of the ALTEA project and preliminary results of the Alteino study on brain dynamics, particle fluxes and abnormal visual perceptions. c2004 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Description: Future activities in space will require greater periods of time in extreme environments in which the body periphery will be vulnerable to chilling. Maintaining the hands and fingers in comfortable conditions enhances finger flexibility and dexterity, and thus effects better work performance. We have evaluated the efficacy of promoting heat transfer and release by the extremities by increasing the blood flow to the periphery from more distant parts of the body. The experimental garment paradigm developed by the investigators was used to manipulate the temperature of different body areas. Six subjects, two females and four males, were evaluated in a stage-1 baseline condition, with the inlet temperature of the circulating water in the liquid cooling/warming garment (LCWG) at 33 degrees C. At stage 2 the total LCWG water inlet temperature was cooled to 8 degrees C, and at stage 3 the inlet water temperature in specific segments of the LCWG was warmed (according to protocol) to 45 degrees C, while the inlet temperature in the rest of the LCWG was maintained at 8 degrees C. The following four body-area-warming conditions were studied in separate sessions: (1) head, (2) upper torso/arm, (3) upper torso/arm/head, and (4) legs/feet. Skin temperature, heat flux and blood perfusion of the fingers, and subjective perception of thermal sensations and overall physical comfort were assessed. Finger temperature (T(fing)) analyses showed a statistically significant condition x stage interaction. Post-hoc comparisons (T(fing)) indicated that at stage 3, the upper torso/arm/head warming condition was significantly different from the head, upper torso/arm and legs/feet conditions, showing an increase in T(fing). There was a significant increase in blood perfusion in the fingers at stage 3 in all conditions. Subjective perception of hand warmth, and overall physical comfort level significantly increased in the stage 3 upper torso/arm/head condition. The findings indicate that physiological methods to enhance heat transfer by the blood to the periphery within protective clothing provide an additional tool for increasing total and local human comfort in extreme environments.

Description: Presented are results of studying 24-hr variability of the cardiac rhythm which characterizes individual difference in reactions of two crew members to the same set of stresses during a 115-day MIR mission. Spacelab (USA) cardiorecorders were used. Data of monitoring revealed significantly different baseline health statuses of the cosmonauts. These functional differences were also observed in the mission. In one of the cosmonauts, the cardiac regulation changed over to a more economic functioning with the autonomous balance shifted towards enhanced sympathetic activity. After 2-3 months on mission he had almost recovered pre-launch level of regulation. In the other, the regulatory system was appreciably strained at the beginning of the mission as compared with preflight baseline. Later on, on flight months 2-3, this strain kept growing till a drastic depletion of the functional reserve. On return to Earth, this was manifested by a strong stress reaction with a sharp decline in power of high-frequency and grow in power of very low frequency components of the heart rhythm. The data suggest that adaptation to space flight and reactions in the readaptation period are dependent on initial health status of crew members, and functional reserve.

Description: RNA-binding proteins, which are involved in the synthesis, processing, transport, translation, and degradation of RNA, are emerging as important, often multifunctional, cellular regulatory proteins. Although relatively few RNA-binding proteins have been studied in plants, they are being identified with increasing frequency, both genetically and biochemically. RNA-binding proteins that regulate chloroplast mRNA stability and translation in response to light and that have been elegantly analyzed in Clamydomonas reinhardtii have counterparts with similar functions in higher plants. Several recent reports describe mutations in genes encoding RNA-binding proteins that affect plant development and hormone signaling.

Description: OBJECTIVE: First popularized as neurasthenia in the late 1800s by American George Beard, asthenia has been viewed by Russian psychologists and flight surgeons as a major problem that affects cosmonauts participating in long-duration space missions. However, there is some controversy about whether this syndrome exists in space; this controversy is attributable in part to the fact that it is not recognized in the current American psychiatric diagnostic system. METHODS: To address this issue empirically, we retrospectively examined the data from our 4 1/2-year, NASA-funded study of crew member and mission control interactions during the Shuttle/Mir space program. Three of the authors identified eight items of stage 1 asthenia from one of our measures, the Profile of Mood States (POMS). Scores on these items from 13 Russian and American crew members were compared with scores derived from the opinions of six Russian space experts. RESULTS: Crew members' scores in space were significantly lower than the experts' scores on seven of the eight items, and they generally were in the "not at all" to "a little" range of the item scales. There were no differences in mean scores before and after launch or across the four quarters of the missions. There were no differences in response between Russian and American crew members. CONCLUSIONS: We could not demonstrate the presence of asthenia in space as operationally defined using the POMS. However, the POMS addresses only emotional and not physiological aspects of the syndrome, and the subject responses in our study generally were skewed toward the positive end of the scales. Further research on this syndrome needs to be done and should include physiological measures and measures that are specific to asthenia.

Description: Described is the Liulin-5 experiment and instrumentation, developed for investigation of the space radiation doses depth distribution in a human phantom on the Russian Segment of the International Space Station (ISS). Liulin-5 experiment is a part of the international project MATROSHKA-R on ISS. The experiment MATROSHKA-R is aimed to study the depth dose distribution at the sites of critical organs of the human body, using models of human body-anthropomorphic and spherical tissue-equivalent phantoms. The aim of Liulin-5 experiment is long term (4-5 years) investigation of the radiation environment dynamics inside the spherical tissue-equivalent phantom, mounted in different places of the Russian Segment of ISS. Energy deposition spectra, linear energy transfer spectra, flux and dose rates for protons and the biologically-relevant heavy ion components of the galactic cosmic radiation will be measured simultaneously with near real time resolution at different depths of the phantom by a telescope of silicon detectors. Data obtained together with data from other active and passive dosimeters will be used to estimate the radiation risk to the crewmembers, verify the models of radiation environment in low Earth orbit, validate body transport model and correlate organ level dose to skin dose. Presented are the test results of the prototype unit. The spherical phantom will be flown on the ISS in 2004 year and Liulin-5 experiment is planned for 2005 year. c2004 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Description: In our earlier space experiment with super dwarf wheat we found the spikes developed in space to be barren. The cause of the full crop sterility was sensitivity of this wheat species to the ethylene concentration of 0.3-0.8 mg/m3 during the experiment. The follow-up ground experiments were made to identify species of dwarf wheat that could be raised in space greenhouse Svet and are distinguished by partial tolerance of their reproductive organs to elevated ethylene in air. The choice fell on the USU-Apogee cultivar specially developed for planting in growth chambers as an integral part of various bioregenerative life support systems, including the space ones. An experiment with wheat Apogee was performed in greenhouse Svet on board MIR. The period of the full crop vegetation cycle was not significantly altered under the spaceflight conditions. The experiment yielded 508 seeds from 12 plants, i.e. by 38% less than in laboratory experiments and by 69% more as compared with results of growing crops in ethylene-contaminated atmosphere (1 mg/m3). Mass of the space seeds was low if compared with the laboratory crops. This was the first time when the feasibility of gathering seeds from wheat that had passed the whole vegetation cycle in space flight was demonstrated. The experiment will give mightly impetus to the advancement of research on space biological LSS and gravitational biology.

Description: Results of the experiment aimed at harvesting a second space generation of wheat var. Apogee in Mir greenhouse Svet (experiment GREENHOUSE-5) are presented. In space flight, germination rate of space seeds from the first crop made up 89% against 100% of the ground seeds. The full biological ripeness was observed in 20 plants grown from the ground seeds and one plant grown from the space seeds following 80- to 90-d vegetation. The plant of the second space generation was morphologically different neither from the species in the first space crop nor from the ground controls. To study the biological characteristics of Apogee seeds gathered in the first and second crops in spaceflight experiment GREENHOUSE-5, the seeds were planted on their return to the laboratory. Morphometric analysis showed that they were essentially similar to the controls. Hence, the space experiments in Mir greenhouse Svet performed during 1998-1999 gave proof that plants cultivated in microgravity can pass the ontogenetic cycle more than once. However, initial results of the investigations into growth and development of plants through several generations are still in-sufficient to speak of possible delayed effects of the spaceflight factors (microgravity, multicomponent radiation, harmful trace contaminants etc.).

Description: To improve the interpersonal climate of crewmembers involved with long-duration space missions, it is important to understand the factors affecting their interactions with each other and with members of mission control. This paper will present findings from a recently completed NASA-funded study during the Shuttle/Mir program which evaluated in-group/out-group displacement of negative emotions; changes in tension, cohesion, and leader support over time; and cultural differences. In-flight data were collected from 5 astronauts, 8 cosmonauts, and 42 American and 16 Russian mission control personnel who signed informed consent. Subjects completed a weekly questionnaire that assessed their mood and perception of their work group's interpersonal climate using questions from well-known, standardized measures (Profile of Mood States, Group and Work Environment Scales) and a critical incident log. There was strong evidence for the displacement of tension and dysphoric emotions from crewmembers to mission control personnel and from mission control personnel to management. There was a perceived decrease in commander support during the 2nd half of the missions, and for American crewmembers a novelty effect was found on several subscales during the first few months on-orbit. There were a number of differences between American and Russian responses which suggested that the former were less happy with their interpersonal environment than the latter. Mission control personnel reported more tension and dysphoria than crewmembers, although both groups scored better than other work groups on Earth. Nearly all reported critical incidents came from ground subjects, with Americans and Russians showing important differences in response frequencies.