scholarly journals Biofilms—Impacts on Human Health and Its Relevance to Space Travel

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle S Landry ◽  
Jose M Morey ◽  
Bharat Bharat ◽  
Nora M Haney ◽  
Sandip S Panesar
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Bacterial Biofilms ◽  
Space Travel ◽  
Space Flights ◽  
Biofilm Removal ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Future Space ◽  
Limited Food ◽  
The Impact

As the world looks towards the stars, the impacts of endogenous and exogenous microorganisms on human health during long-duration space flight are subjects of increased interest within the space community. The presence and continued growth of bacterial biofilms about spacecraft has been documented for decades; however, the impact on crew health is in its infancy. The impacts of biofilms are well known in the medical, agricultural, commercial, and industrial spaces. It less known that biofilms are undermining many facets of space travel and that their effects need to be understood and addressed for future space missions. Biofilms can damage space crew health and spoil limited food supply. Yet, at the same time, they can benefit plant systems for food growth, nutrient development, and other biological systems that are being explored for use in space travel. Various biofilm removal techniques have been studied to mitigate the hazards posed by biofilm persistence during space travel. Because the presence of biofilms can advance or hinder humanity’s space exploration efforts, an understanding of their impacts over the duration of space flights is of paramount importance.

scholarly journals Microbiome for Mars: surveying microbiome connections to healthcare with implications for long-duration human spaceflight, virtual workshop, July 13, 2020

Microbiome ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael LaPelusa ◽  
Dorit Donoviel ◽  
Sergio E. Branzini ◽  
Paul E. Carlson ◽  
Stephanie Culler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Space Travel ◽  
Human Spaceflight ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Microbiome Research

AbstractThe inaugural “Microbiome for Mars” virtual workshop took place on July 13, 2020. This event assembled leaders in microbiome research and development to discuss their work and how it may relate to long-duration human space travel. The conference focused on surveying current microbiome research, future endeavors, and how this growing field could broadly impact human health and space exploration. This report summarizes each speaker’s presentation in the order presented at the workshop.

scholarly journals Challenges to Airway Management in Space

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Preethi Reddy
Keyword(s):  
Airway Management ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Space Travel ◽  
Human Interest ◽  
Space Flights ◽  
Space Tourism ◽  
Hazardous Environments

Human interest in space exploration is boundless. We are driven to investigate the unknown and push the limits of our understanding of our universe. Given that space flights are for extended periods of time —in the hazardous environments of space and the growth of the space tourism industry is credibly anticipated; the incidence of medical and surgical events is bound to increase during space travel. Airway management becomes an essential skill in such situations. Microgravity, shortage of medical personnel, inability of the crew to return to earth expeditiously or access real time assistance from earth are some of the reasons that warrant training and preparation of the crew, towards this end. The purpose of this chapter would be to explore the challenges and the various recourses available for airway management during space travel.

The Impact of Information Technology on Human Space Exploration Missions

1997 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony R. Gross ◽  
Madeleine M. Gross
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Space Flights ◽  
Automation Systems ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Further Development

Human space expeditions have, from the beginning, involved great risk and complexity. Space flights, accordingly, have utilized substantial quantities of highly skilled labor. The rapid creation and evolution of increasingly powerful information technologies promise a new human-automation systems balance of work. This balance holds the potential of greatly increased crewed and robotic space exploration capability, along with dramatically reduced costs. Since further development of sophisticated information technology systems must, from the outset, consider both the human and the machine as “components” of an integrated system, research supporting the development and optimal utilization of such systems will necessarily incorporate significant human factors components. This paper examines the impact of information technologies on lunar and planetary missions; exemplar inherent human factors aspects, such as display and control in virtual environment/teleoperated systems, are considered.

Simulating Microgravity in a Large Animal Model

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. C. Gadomski ◽  
K. C. McGilvray ◽  
J. T. Easley ◽  
R. H. Palmer ◽  
C. M. Puttlitz
Keyword(s):  
Bone Mass ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Microgravity Environment ◽  
Large Animal Model ◽  
Large Animal ◽  
Mechanical Unloading ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Future Space ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Skeletal Integrity

The microgravity environment encountered during spaceflight has numerous deleterious effects on the human body, with one of the most drastic being decreased bone mass due to mechanical unloading. These alterations in bone mass and skeletal strength are one of the foremost limitations of future space exploration. Due to the cost of long-duration space missions, it is critically important to develop ground-based models of the microgravity environment encountered during spaceflight to investigate possible countermeasures to maintain skeletal integrity.

scholarly journals Design of an Autonomous and Timed Water Delivery System in Microgravity

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
William Elke ◽  
Maia Heineck ◽  
Jonah Meffert ◽  
Ellie Monaghan ◽  
Jason Palesse
Keyword(s):  
Space Exploration ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Microgravity Environment ◽  
Space Travel ◽  
Water Delivery ◽  
International Space ◽  
Schedule Flexibility ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Manned Space ◽  
Fully Functioning

For long-duration, manned, space exploration missions to be feasible, farming techniques in space must become reliable and fruitful. The NASA Project Veggie team currently runs experiments on the International Space Station (ISS) in order to better understand how plants react to a microgravity environment. Current watering strategies on the ISS involve manual watering of all plants by the crewmembers. This poses a problem because watering plants must be scheduled into the crewmembers’ days which means less time to work, etc. The objective of Team International Space Salads (ISSa) was to create a device and prove that it could function in microgravity without electricity to autonomously water the plants in order to allow for schedule flexibility of the ISS crewmembers and to lay the foundation for watering systems for deep-space travel. The final device did not function fully as planned, however, the plant growing, surface tension experiments, and the device collectively progressed the multi-year project to a state where successive teams would have the knowledge and tools necessary to create a fully functioning device.

Role of Nutraceuticals in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention: A Review in the Indian Context

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-145
Author(s):  
Sheena Chhabra ◽  
Apurva Bakshi ◽  
Ravineet Kaur
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Disease Prevention ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Indian Context ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Immense Potential ◽  
Specific Health

Nutraceuticals have been around for quite some time. As the nomenclature suggests, they are placed somewhere between food (nutra-) and medicine (-ceuticals) in terms of their impact on human health. Researches have focused on the impact of various types of nutraceuticals on health, their efficacy in health promotion and disease prevention, and often on suitable uses of certain categories of nutraceuticals for specific health issues. However, we are still far from utilizing the immense potential of nutraceuticals for benefiting human health in a substantial manner. We review the available scholarly literature regarding the role of nutraceuticals in health promotion, their efficacy in disease prevention and the perception of nutraceuticals' health benefits by consumers. Thereafter we analyze the need for regulation of nutraceuticals and various provisions regarding the same.

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