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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2003

Hot HB Stars in Globular Clusters: Physical Parameters and Consequences for Theory: The Second Parameter Pair M 3 and M 13 - VI

We present the results of spectroscopic analyses of hot horizontal branch (HB) stars in M 13 and M 3, which form a famous "second parameter" pair. F rom the spectra and Stromgren photometry we derived - for the first time in M 13 - atmospheric parameters (effective temperature and surface gravity). For stars with Stromgren temperatures between 10,000 and 12,000 K we found excellent agreement between the atmospheric parameters derived from Stromgren photometry and those derived from Balmer line profile fits. However, for cooler stars there is a disagreement in the parameters derived by the two methods, for which we have no satisfactory explanation. Stars hotter than 12,000 K show evidence for helium depletion and iron enrichment, both in M 3 and M 13. Accounting for the iron enrichment substantially improves the agreement with canonical evolutionary models, although the derived gravities and masses are still somewhat too low. This remaining discrepancy may be an indication that scaled-solar metal-rich model atmospheres do not adequately represent the highly non-solar abundance ratios found in blue HB stars affected by diffusion. We discuss the effects of an enhancement in the envelope helium abundance on the atmospheric parameters of the blue HB stars, as might be caused by deep mixing on the red giant branch or primordial pollution from an earlier generation of intermediate mass asymptotic giant branch stars. Key words. Stars: atmospheres - Stars: evolution - Stars: horizontal branch - Globular clusters: individual: M 3 - Globular clusters: individual: M 13

Moehler, S.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Seedborne fungal contamination: consequences in space-grown wheat

Plants grown in microgravity are subject to many environmental stresses that may promote microbial growth and result in disease symptoms. Wheat (cv. Super Dwarf) recovered from an 8-day mission aboard a NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) space shuttle showed disease symptoms, including girdling of leaf sheaths and chlorosis and necrosis of leaf and root tissues. A Neotyphodium species was isolated from the seed and leaf sheaths of symptomatic wheat used in the spaceflight mission. Certain isozymes of a peroxidase unique to extracts from the microgravity-grown plants were observed in extracts from earth-grown Neotyphodium-infected plants but were not present in noninfected wheat. The endophytic fungus was eliminated from the wheat seed by prolonged heat treatment at 50 degrees C followed by washes with water at 50 degrees C. Plants from wheat seed infected with the Neotyphodium endophyte were symptomless when grown under greenhouse conditions, whereas symptoms appeared after only 4 days of growth in closed containers. Disease spread from an infected plant to noninfected plants in closed containers. Dispersion via spores was found on asymptomatic plants at distances of 7 to 18 cm from infected plants. The size and shape of the conidia, mycelia, and phialide-bearing structures and the ability to grow rapidly on carbohydrates, especially xylose, resembled the characteristics of N. chilense, which is pathogenic on orchard grass, Doctylis glomerati. The Neotyphodium wheat isolate caused disease symptoms on other cereals (wheat cv. Malcolm, orchard grass, barley, and maize) grown in closed containers.

NASA Discipline Plant Biology↗
NASA NTRS1997

Rat pregnancy and parturition survive spaceflight challenge: new considerations of developmental consequences

Results of the NASA-NIH.R1 and NASA-NIH.R2 pregnant rat studies are reported and compared with results of Cosmos-1514 study. Similarities and differences between the Cosmos and STS flights are reviewed. STS rats were videotaped so that in-flight and post-flight behavior could be observed. Rats were observed during readaptation to 1-g and labor and delivery. Results indicate that pregnancy can proceed after exposure to microgravity and that vaginal delivery can occur despite readaptation to 1-g. Analysis of videotape revealed that flight dams experienced almost twice as many labor contractions as controls.

short duration↗
NASA NTRS1991

Pharmacokinetic consequences of spaceflight

Spaceflight induces a wide range of physiological and biochemical changes, including disruption of gastrointestinal (GI) function, fluid and electrolyte balance, circulatory dynamics, and organ blood flow, as well as hormonal and metabolic perturbations. Any of these changes can influence the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of in-flight medication. That spaceflight may alter bioavailability was proposed when drugs prescribed to alleviate space motion sickness (SMS) had little therapeutic effect. Characterization of the pharmacokinetic and/or pharmacodynamic behavior of operationally critical medications is crucial for their effective use in flight; as a first step, we sought to determine whether drugs administered in space actually reach the site of action at concentrations sufficient to elicit the therapeutic response.

NASA Center JSC↗
NASA NTRS1979

A review of the consequences of fluid and electrolyte shifts in weightlessness

This review describes the renal-endocrine mechanisms related to the early losses of fluid-electrolytes from the body during weightlessness as well as their contribution to longer term adaptation of fluid-electrolyte balance. The hypotheses presented were generated by a systematic analysis of body fluid and renal dynamics observed under conditions of actual and simulated spaceflight. These have increased our understanding of the effects of acute headward fluid shifts on renal excretion, the factors promoting excess sodium excretion and the regulation of extracellular fluid composition.

Review↗
NASA NTRS2000

Neocortical malformation as consequence of nonadaptive regulation of neuronogenetic sequence

Variations in the structure of the neocortex induced by single gene mutations may be extreme or subtle. They differ from variations in neocortical structure encountered across and within species in that these "normal" structural variations are adaptive (both structurally and behaviorally), whereas those associated with disorders of development are not. Here we propose that they also differ in principle in that they represent disruptions of molecular mechanisms that are not normally regulatory to variations in the histogenetic sequence. We propose an algorithm for the operation of the neuronogenetic sequence in relation to the overall neocortical histogenetic sequence and highlight the restriction point of the G1 phase of the cell cycle as the master regulatory control point for normal coordinate structural variation across species and importantly within species. From considerations based on the anatomic evidence from neocortical malformation in humans, we illustrate in principle how this overall sequence appears to be disrupted by molecular biological linkages operating principally outside the control mechanisms responsible for the normal structural variation of the neocortex. MRDD Research Reviews 6:22-33, 2000. Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Review↗
NASA NTRS2000

Paleoproterozoic snowball earth: extreme climatic and geochemical global change and its biological consequences

Geological, geophysical, and geochemical data support a theory that Earth experienced several intervals of intense, global glaciation ("snowball Earth" conditions) during Precambrian time. This snowball model predicts that postglacial, greenhouse-induced warming would lead to the deposition of banded iron formations and cap carbonates. Although global glaciation would have drastically curtailed biological productivity, melting of the oceanic ice would also have induced a cyanobacterial bloom, leading to an oxygen spike in the euphotic zone and to the oxidative precipitation of iron and manganese. A Paleoproterozoic snowball Earth at 2.4 Giga-annum before present (Ga) immediately precedes the Kalahari Manganese Field in southern Africa, suggesting that this rapid and massive change in global climate was responsible for its deposition. As large quantities of O(2) are needed to precipitate this Mn, photosystem II and oxygen radical protection mechanisms must have evolved before 2.4 Ga. This geochemical event may have triggered a compensatory evolutionary branching in the Fe/Mn superoxide dismutase enzyme, providing a Paleoproterozoic calibration point for studies of molecular evolution.

Earth (Planet)↗
NASA NTRS1997

Cardiovascular consequences of bed rest: effect on maximal oxygen uptake

Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) is reduced in healthy individuals confined to bed rest, suggesting it is independent of any disease state. The magnitude of reduction in VO2max is dependent on duration of bed rest and the initial level of aerobic fitness (VO2max), but it appears to be independent of age or gender. Bed rest induces an elevated maximal heart rate which, in turn, is associated with decreased cardiac vagal tone, increased sympathetic catecholamine secretion, and greater cardiac beta-receptor sensitivity. Despite the elevation in heart rate, VO2max is reduced primarily from decreased maximal stroke volume and cardiac output. An elevated ejection fraction during exercise following bed rest suggests that the lower stroke volume is not caused by ventricular dysfunction but is primarily the result of decreased venous return associated with lower circulating blood volume, reduced central venous pressure, and higher venous compliance in the lower extremities. VO2max, stroke volume, and cardiac output are further compromised by exercise in the upright posture. The contribution of hypovolemia to reduced cardiac output during exercise following bed rest is supported by the close relationship between the relative magnitude (% delta) and time course of change in blood volume and VO2max during bed rest, and also by the fact that retention of plasma volume is associated with maintenance of VO2max after bed rest. Arteriovenous oxygen difference during maximal exercise is not altered by bed rest, suggesting that peripheral mechanisms may not contribute significantly to the decreased VO2max. However reduction in baseline and maximal muscle blood flow, red blood cell volume, and capillarization in working muscles represent peripheral mechanisms that may contribute to limited oxygen delivery and, subsequently, lowered VO2max. Thus, alterations in cardiac and vascular functions induced by prolonged confinement to bed rest contribute to diminution of maximal oxygen uptake and reserve capacity to perform physical work.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS1995

Nutritional value of protein hydrolysis products (oligopeptides and free amino acids) as a consequence of absorption and metabolism kinetics

When pigs were submitted to duodenal infusion of solutions containing a large percentage of small peptides (PEP) or free amino acids with the same pattern (AAL) amino acids appear in the portal blood more rapidly and more uniformly after infusion of PEP then after infusion of AAL, with the notable exception of methionine for which the opposite was true. These differences were lowered when a carbohydrate (maltose dextrin) was present in the solution, but nevertheless remained significant for the first hour after the infusion. The long-term (8-hour) uptake of free amino acids into the liver and the peripheral tissues differed in profile according to the nature of the duodenal infusion. Peripheral uptake was appreciably less well balanced after infusion of free amino acids (deficiency of threonine and phenylalanine) than after infusion of small peptides (deficiency of methionine). Accordingly, in the rat, under conditions of discontinuous enteral nutrition the mixture of small peptides was of greater nutritive value than the mixture of free amino acids. It thus appears that the absorption kinetics which results in important variations in the temporal distribution of free amino acids in the tissues may be at the origin of transitory imbalances in tissue amino acid uptake, and as a result of a lower nutritive value.

Intestinal Absorption/drug effects↗
NASA NTRS1993

[Genotoxic modification of nucleic acid bases and biological consequences of it. Review and prospects of experimental and computational investigations]

The review is presented of experimental and computational data on the influence of genotoxic modification of bases (deamination, alkylation, oxidation) on the structure and biological functioning of nucleic acids. Pathways are discussed for the influence of modification on coding properties of bases, on possible errors of nucleic acid biosynthesis, and on configurations of nucleotide mispairs. The atomic structure of nucleic acid fragments with modified bases and the role of base damages in mutagenesis and carcinogenesis are considered.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS1992

Changes in skeletal muscle gene expression consequent to altered weight bearing

Skeletal muscle is a dynamic organ that adapts to alterations in weight bearing. This brief review examines changes in muscle gene expression resulting from the removal of weight bearing by hindlimb suspension and from increased weight bearing due to eccentric exercise. Acute (less than or equal to 2 days) non-weight bearing of adult rat soleus muscle alters only the translational control of muscle gene expression, while chronic (greater than or equal to 7 days) removal of weight bearing appears to influence pretranslational, translational, and posttranslational mechanisms of control. Acute and chronic eccentric exercise are associated with alterations of translational and posttranslational control, while chronic eccentric training also alters the pretranslational control of muscle gene expression. Thus alterations in weight bearing influence multiple sites of gene regulation.

NASA Discipline Musculoskeletal↗
NASA NTRS1988

Metabolic consequences of resistive-type exercise

This brief review concerns acute and chronic metabolic responses to resistive-type exercise (RTE) (i.e., Olympic/power weight lifting and bodybuilding). Performance of RTE presents power output substantially greater (10-15-fold) than that evident with endurance-type exercise. Accordingly, RTE relies heavily on the anaerobic enzyme machinery of skeletal muscle for energy supply, with alterations in the rate of aerobic metabolism being modest. Hydrolysis of high energy phosphate compounds (PC, ATP), glycogenolysis, and glycolysis are evident during an acute bout of RTE as indicated by metabolic markers in mixed fiber type skeletal muscle samples. The type of RTE probably influences the magnitude of these responses since the increase in blood lactate is much greater during a typical "bodybuilding" than "power lifting" session. The influence of RTE training on acute metabolic responses to RTE has received little attention. An individual's inherent metabolic characteristics are apparently sufficient to meet the energy demands of RTE as training of this type does not increase VO2max or substantially alter the content of marker enzymes in mixed fiber type skeletal muscle. Analyses of pools of fast- vs slow-twitch fibers, however, indicate that RTE-induced changes may be fiber type specific. Future studies should better delineate the metabolic responses to RTE and determine whether these are related to the enhanced performance associated with such training.

Review↗
NASA NTRS2005

A Gas-Poor Planetesimal Feeding Model for the Formation of Giant Planet Satellite Systems: Consequences for the Atmosphere of Titan

Given our presently inadequate understanding of the turbulent state of the solar and planetary nebulae, we believe the way to make progress in satellite formation is to consider two end member models that avoid over-reliance on specific choices of the turbulence (alpha), which is essentially a free parameter. The first end member model postulates turbulence decay once giant planet accretion ends. If so, Keplerian disks must eventually pass through the quiescent phases, so that the survival of satellites (and planets) ultimately hinges on gap-opening. In this scenario, the criterion for gap-opening itself sets the value for the gas surface density of the satellite disk.

Estrada, P. R.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Potassium-bearing Iron-Nickel Sulfides in Nature and High-Pressure Experiments: Geochemical Consequences of Potassium in the Earth's Core

Introduction: Potassium (K) as a large ion lithophile element has dominantly been concentrated in the Earth s crust and the mantle through differentiation, and in the form of K-40 contributes to the planet s heat budget. However, whether or not K also enters core-forming phases, has been debated for over three decades. Arguments favoring entry of K in the core are based on: (1) K-sulfide (with Fe, Ni, Cu, Na, and Cl; djerfisherite) found in highly reduced enstatite chondrites (or aubrites, enstatite achondrites); (2) demonstration that K, owing to an s-d electronic switch at high-pressure, exhibits transition- element like character, (3) solubility of measurable K in Fe-Ni-S liquids at high pressure, temperature conditions, and (4) models of cooling of the core that seem to require, besides convection, some form of radioactivity, and thus lending support to the experimental work. In this contribution, we assess the effect of sequestering K in the core, as it is perhaps an element that is a key to reconciling geochemistry, paleomagnetism, accretion, and thermal evolution models for the planet.

Keshav, S.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Solar Wind Fluctuations and Their Consequences on the Magnetosphere

Efforts have been made to extract the physical meaning of each term in our prediction model of the Dst index using the solar wind as the only input. The work has been published Journal of Geophysical Research (Temerin and Li, 21002). We found different terms in the model representing different current in the magnetospheric system and each current has different rise and decay times, with the symmetric ring current the slowest, then the partial ring current, then the tail current. We also have been trying to understand the physical meaning of the diffusion coefficient used in our prediction model of relativistic electron fluxes at geostationary orbit. The model reproduced the observations of MeV electron flux variations well, the diffusion coefficient had be assumed only die to local magnetic field fluctuations, leading to its 10th power dependence on the L. We have studied the theoretical derivation of the diffusion coefficient and we believe that the effect electric field fluctuations at smaller L could become more significant. We have expanded our previous radiation belt electron prediction model, which predicted MeV electron geosynchronous orbit based on solar wind measurements, to predict MeV electrons inside geosynchronous orbit. The model results are compared with measurements from Polar/CEPPAD. Prediction efficiencies of 0.56 and 0.54, respectively, at L=6 and L=4, have been achieved over the entire year of 1998. This work wa reported at 2003 Fall AGU and has been accepted for publication in Space Weather (Barker et al., 2005). We also have used simultaneous measurements of the upstream solar wind and of energetic electrons at geosynchronous orbit to analyze the response of electrons over a very wide energy range, 50 keV-6MeV, to solar wind variations. Enhancements of energetic electron fluxes over this whole energy range are modulated by the solar wind speed and the polarity of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The solar wind speed seems to be a dominant controlling parameter for electrons of all energy. This work has been published in Space Weather (Li et al., 2005).

Li, Xin-Lin↗
NASA NTRS2004

Microgravity and Cellular Consequences in Lymphocyte Function

Mammalian cells adapt to the environment of low gravity and express a series of responses, some possibly from direct effects on cells and others based on environmental conditions created by microgravity. Human lymphocytes in microgravity culture are functionally diminished in activation and locomotion. Both processes are integral to optimal immune response to fight pathogens. The NASA Rotating-wall vessel (RWV) is a well-accepted analog for microgravity culture on the ground. Gene array experiments and immunoblotting identified upstream events in human lymphocytes adapting to microgravity analog culture. Microgravity induces selective changes, many of which are cell membrane related. Results showed that upstream of PKC in the T cell activation cascade, PLC-gamma and LAT are significantly diminished. ZAP 70 which controls LAT activation is also down regulated in modeled microgravity. Thus events governing cell shape might warrant attention in microgravity conditions. The goal of this study is to delineate response suites that are consequential, direct or indirect effects of the microgravity environment and which of these are essential to lymphocytes

Pellis, Neal R.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Consequences of cardiovascular adaptation to spaceflight: implications for the use of pharmacological countermeasures

There is little evidence obtained from space flight to support the notion that occurrence of cardiac dysrhythmias, impaired cardiac and vascular function, and manifestation of asymptomatic cardiovascular disease represent serious risks during space flight. Therefore, the development of orthostatic hypotension and instability immediately after return from spaceflight probably reflect the most significant operational risks associated with the cardiovascular system of astronauts. Significant reductions in stroke volume and lower reserve for increasing peripheral vascular resistance contribute to ineffective maintenance of systemic arterial blood pressure during standing after spaceflight despite compensatory elevations in heart rate. The primary mechanism underlying reduced stroke volume appears to be a reduction in preload associated with less circulating blood volume while inadequate peripheral vasoconstriction may be caused partly by hyporeactivity of receptors that control arterial smooth muscle function. A focus for development of future countermeasures for hemodynamic responses to central hypovolemia includes the potential application of pharmacological agents that specifically target and restore blood volume (e.g., fludrocortisone, electrolyte-containing beverages) and reserve for vasoconstriction (e.g., midodrine, vasopressin). Based on systematic evaluations, acute physical exercise designed to elicit maximal effort or inspiratory resistance have shown promise as successful countermeasures that provide protection against development of orthostatic hypotension and intolerance without potential risks and side effects associated with specific pharmacological interventions.

Non-NASA Center↗