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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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At least 397 records · Page 22
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1992

Strategies for enhancing catecholamine-mediated neurotransmission

Major findings made during this project period included the following observations: changes in tyrosine availability do affect brain dopamine release, as assessed by in vivo microdialysis, but that neuronal feedback mechanisms limit the durations of this effect except when dopaminergic neurotransmission has been deficient; the circulating hormone TRH markedly stimulates brain dopamine release, an effect probably mediated by its diketopiperazine metabolite; the amount of circulating L-dopa which enters the brain is both enhanced by carbohydrate consumption and suppressed by protein intake (both nutritional effects can be damaging, inasmuch as a sudden rush of L-dopa into the brain can facilitate dyskinesias, while the inhibition of brain L-dopa uptake by proteins suppresses its conversion to brain dopamine; an appropriate mixture of dietary proteins and carbohydrates can obviate both effects); serotonin release from superfused hypothalamic slices is a linear function of available tryptophan levels throughout the normal dynamic range; the daily rhythm in plasma melatonin levels is abnormal both in the sudden infant death syndrome and in women with secondary amenorrhea; tyrosine can potentiate the anorectic effects of widely-used sympathomimetic drugs; newly-described COMT inhibitors can enhance brain dopamine release in vivo; and a cell culture system, based on Y-79 (retinoblast) cells, exists in which melatonin reliably suppresses dopamine release.

Wurtman, Richard J.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Numerical modeling for an electric-field hyperthermia applicator

Hyperthermia, in conjunction with radiation and chemotherapy for treatment of cancers, is an area of current concern. Experiments have shown that hyperthermia can increase the potency of many chemotherapy drugs and the effectiveness of radiation for treating cancer. A combination of whole body or regional hyperthermia with chemotherapy or radiation should improve treatment results. Conventional methods for inducing whole body hyperthermia, such as exposing a patient in a radiant cabinet or under a hot water blanket, conduct heat very slowly from the skin to the body core. Thus a more efficient system, such as the three-plate electric-field hyperthermia applicator (EHA), is developed. This three-plate EHA has one top plate over and two lower plates beneath the patient. It is driven at 27.12 MHz with 500 Watts through a matching circuit. Using this applicator, a 50 kg pig was successfully heated to 42 C within 45 minutes. However, phantom and animal studies have indicated non-uniform heating near the side of the body. In addition, changes in the size and distance between the electrode plates can affect the heating (or electromagnetic field) pattern. Therefore, numerical models using the method of moments (MOM) or the finite difference time domain (FDTD) technique are developed to optimize the heating pattern of this EHA before it is used for human trials. The accuracy of the numerical modeling has been achieved by the good agreement between the MOM and FDTD results for the three-plate EHA without a biological body. The versatile FDTD technique is then applied to optimize the EHA design with a human body. Both the numerical and measured data in phantom blocks will be presented. The results of this study will be used to design an optimized system for whole body or regional hyperthermia.

Wu, Te-Kao↗
NASA NTRS1982

Susceptibility of the squirrel monkey to different motion conditions

The exact stimulus eliciting vomiting in animal studies of motion sickness is difficult to specify because the vestibular stimulation produced by many motion conditions is confounded by voluntary movements with animals. This is an important problem because experiments with animal models of motion sickness can provide useful information about antimotion sickness drugs or the role of neural mechanisms, only when animals are exposed to the same motion stimuli in each experimental session. A series of tests were conducted to determine the susceptibility of 15 adult squirrel monkeys to motion sickness in freely moving and restrained test conditions. Canal stimulation was varied by exposing the monkey in freely moving conditions to varying degrees of angular velocity (60, 90, 120, 150 deg/sec), and in restrained conditions to one angular velocity (150 deg/sec) and to cross-coupling effects of whole-body roll movements during rotation. Otolith stimulation was investigated by using sinusoidal vertical linear acceleration during free movement conditions, and off-vertical rotation and earth-horizontal (BBQ) rotation while restrained. The percentage of freely moving animal vomiting during vertical axis rotation was 27, 93, 86, and 92 for the angular velocities of 60, 90, 120, and 150 deg/sec respectively. None of the monkeys vomited during vertical axis rotation or cross-coupled rotation when restrained. Otolith stimulation appears to be a less provocative stimulus for the squirrel monkey as the percentage of animals vomiting were 13, 0, and 7 for the conditions of free movement during oscillation, restraint during off-vertical, and BBQ rotation respectively. Motion sickness to the point of vomiting occurred regularly only in conditions where self-motion was possible. Such effects could occur because voluntary movement during motion augments vestibular effects by producing self-inflicted cross-coupling, but the failure to elicit vomiting with experimenter-coupling cross-coupling argues against this interpretation. Alternatively, these results might imply that feedback from movement control mechanisms may play an important role in sensory conflict as suggested by Oman's sensory-motor conflict theory.

R A Fox↗
NASA NTRS1991

Motion sickness elicited by passive rotation in squirrel monkeys

Previous studies on the role of the area postrema (AP) in vomiting induced in the cat by motion and drugs have shown that the AP is not essential for motion-induced vomiting, but is necessary for vomiting to apomorphine and xylazine. To confirm these findings and to determine the role of the AP in the formation of Conditioned Taste Aversion (CTA), the AP was ablated bilaterally in 10 adult female cats. With one exception, the ablated cats continued to vomit to the same 1n0tion that elicited emesis before the ablation. Doses of xylazine and apomorphine that elicit emesis in intact cats, failed to induce emesis in the ablated cats. Histological examination indicated that 8 cats had complete lesions and 2 had partial lesions. Investigations of effects of AP ablations on CTA revealed that cats with complete lesions did not form CTA to flavored milk paired with xylazine injections. However, cats with partial lesion developed xylazine-induced CTA. Seven of the 8 completely lesioned cats developed motion-induced CTA, even though emesis was not consistently elicited by motion. These results suggest that there are multiple routes for inducing CTA and the emetic reflex, that CTA can form without eliciting emesis, and that CTA may be a sensitive measure of sub-emetic motion sickness.

M Corcoran↗
NASA NTRS1994

An update on Lab Rover: A hospital material transporter

The development of a hospital material transporter, 'Lab Rover', is described. Conventional material transport now utilizes people power, push carts, pneumatic tubes and tracked vehicles. Hospitals are faced with enormous pressure to reduce operating costs. Cyberotics, Inc. developed an Autonomous Intelligent Vehicle (AIV). This battery operated service robot was designed specifically for health care institutions. Applications for the AIV include distribution of clinical lab samples, pharmacy drugs, administrative records, x-ray distribution, meal tray delivery, and certain emergency room applications. The first AIV was installed at Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass. Lab Rover was beta tested for one year and has been 'on line' for an additional 2 years.

Mattaboni, Paul↗
NASA NTRS1994

Rapid susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium avium complex and Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from AIDS patients

In ominous projections issued by both U.S. Public Health Service and the World Health Organization, the epidemic of HIV infection will continue to rise more rapidly worldwide than predicted earlier. The AIDS patients are susceptible to diseases called opportunistic infections of which tuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection are most common. This has created an urgent need to uncover new drugs for the treatment of these infections. In the seventies, NASA scientists at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, had adopted a biochemical indicator, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), to detect presence of life in extraterrestrial space. We proposed to develop ATP assay technique to determine sensitivity of antibacterial compounds against MAC and M. tuberculosis.

Dhople, Arvind M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Viper

A Viper aircraft was redesigned with a new airfoil and engine to verify if improvements can be made to the baseline configuration. The two major redesigning processes were: replacing the baseline aircraft's NACA 652-415 airfoil with an NLF 0414 Natural Laminar Flow airfoil, and the baseline aircraft's Lycoming 0-235 engine with a Teledyne Continental GR-36 rotary combustion engine. As a result of these changes: (1) the Viper aircraft becomes smaller in most respects (gross weight, wing platform area, and horizontal tail area); (2) overall drag of the aircraft decreased (due to reduction in area and the reduced drug of the new airfoil); (3) cruise velocity, the maximum rate of climb at sea level, and takeoff distance (but not landing distance) decreased; and (4) cost increased. Although the overall drag decreased, the performance remained about the same due to the reduced horsepower available from the Teledyne Continental engine.

Gilbert, L. E. Paul↗
NASA NTRS1991

A physical control interface with proprioceptive feedback and multiple degrees of freedom

The use of the drug thalidomide by pregnant mothers in Britain resulted in a variety of deformities including the birth of children having no arms. Such children were provided with powered artificial arms with up to five degrees of freedom simultaneously controlled in real time by shoulder movement. The physiological sense of proprioception was extended from the user into the device, reducing the need for visual feedback and conscious control. With the banning of thalidomide, this technique fell into disuse but it is now being re-examined as a control mechanism for other artificial limbs and it may have other medical applications to allow patients to control formerly paralyzed limbs moved by electrical stimulation. It may also have commercial applications in robotic manipulation or physical interaction with virtual environments. To allow it to be investigated further, the original pneumatic control system has recently been converted to an electrical analogue to allow interfacing to electronic and computer-assisted systems. A harness incorporates force-sensitive resistors and linear potentiomenters for sensing position and force at the interface with the skin, and miniature electric motors and lead screws for feeding back to the user the position of the robotic arm and the forces applied to it. In the present system, control is applied to four degrees of freedom using elevation/depression and protraction/reaction of each shoulder so that each collar bone emulates a joystick. However, both electrical and mechanical components have been built in modular form to allow rapid replication and testing of a variety of force and position control strategies.

Creasey, G. H.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) utilizing Man-Tended Capability (MTC) hardware onboard Space Station Freedom

Because of the time and distance involved in returning a patient from space to a definitive medical care facility, the capability for Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) exists onboard Space Station Freedom. Methods: In order to evaluate the effectiveness of terrestrial ACLS protocols in microgravity, a medical team conducted simulations during parabolic flights onboard the KC-135 aircraft. The hardware planned for use during the MTC phase of the space station was utilized to increase the fidelity of the scenario and to evaluate the prototype equipment. Based on initial KC-135 testing of CPR and ACLS, changes were made to the ventricular fibrillation algorithm in order to accommodate the space environment. Other constraints to delivery of ACLS onboard the space station include crew size, minimum training, crew deconditioning, and limited supplies and equipment. Results: The delivery of ACLS in microgravity is hindered by the environment, but should be adequate. Factors specific to microgravity were identified for inclusion in the protocol including immediate restraint of the patient and early intubation to insure airway. External cardiac compressions of adequate force and frequency were administered using various methods. The more significant limiting factors appear to be crew training, crew size, and limited supplies. Conclusions: Although ACLS is possible in the microgravity environment, future evaluations are necessary to further refine the protocols. Proper patient and medical officer restraint is crucial prior to advanced procedures. Also emphasis should be placed on early intubation for airway management and drug administration. Preliminary results and further testing will be utilized in the design of medical hardware, determination of crew training, and medical operations for space station and beyond.

Smith, M.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Resource recovery and epidemiology of anaerobic wastewater treatment process in a controlled ecological life support system

The results of work accomplished under two different areas: (1) Resource Recovery of an Anaerobic Wastewater Treatment process, and (2) Epidemiological Study of an Anaerobic Wastewater Treatment Process are documented. The first part of the work was to set up and test three anaerobic digesters and then run these three digesters with a NASA-simulated wastewater. The second part of the work was to use a multi-drug resistant strain of Salmonella choleraesuis as the indicator bacteria for the epidemiological study. Details of these two parts can be found in two master's theses and are described in Sections 3 and 4 of this report. Several important results condensed from these two parts are summarized in Section 2.

Li, Ku-Yen↗
NASA NTRS1995

Third International Workshop on Ion Mobility Spectrometry

Basic research in ion mobility spectrometry has given rise to rapid advancement in hardware development and applications. The Third International Workshop on Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) was held October 16-19, 1994, at Johnson Space Center to provide a forum for investigators to present the most recent results of both basic and applied IMS research. Presenters included manufacturers and various users, including military research organizations and drug enforcement agencies. Thirty papers were given in the following five sessions: Fundamental IMS Studies, Instrument Development, Hyphenated IMS Techniques, Applications, and Data Reduction and Signal Processing. Advances in hardware development, software development, and user applications are described.

Cross, John H.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Hand-portable gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometer for the determination of the freshness of fish

A hand-held, portable gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometer (GC-IMS) device was used to detect the presence of volatile amine compounds in the headspace of decomposing fish. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) largely relies on olfactory discrimination with respect to fresh and spoiled, frozen and unfrozen fish. The fish are delivered at ship docks on pallets, and each pallet of fish can range from 30-40 thousand dollars in value. Fresh fish were placed in a teflon bag and the direct headspace was interrogated. In the first three days, only low molecular weight volatile amines were detected. On the fourth day, a number of spectral signatures were observed which indicated the presence of 1,5-diaminopentane, cadaverine. Analyses typically took from 0.5-1 minute.

Snyder, A. Peter↗
NASA NTRS1995

Application of the ionscan for the detection of methamphetamine and ephedrine in abondoned clandestine laboratories

Clandestine methamphetamine laboratories are prevalent in southern California. The most common encountered synthesis results in vapor release, and drug residue being left behind. The suspected manufacturing area can be vacuumed and/or methanol wiped and screened immediately at the lab site using the Ionscan. Positive results are confirmed by obtaining vacuum sweep samples with subsequent analysis at the DEA Laboratory. This procedure has been utilized successfully for identifying methamphetamine and ephedrine from clandestine laboratories that have been abandoned and/or remodeled.

Brown, Patricia A.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Application of Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) in forensic chemistry and toxicology with focus on biological matrices

The IMS (Ion Mobility Spectroscopy) instrument 'Ionscan' takes advantage of the fact that trace quantities of illicit drugs are adsorbed on dust particles on clothes, in cars and on other items of evidence. The dust particles are collected on a membrane filter by a special attachment on a vacuum cleaner. The sample is then directly inserted into the spectrometer and can be analyzed immediately. We show casework applications of a forensic chemistry and toxicology laboratory. One new application of IMS in forensic chemistry is the detection of psilocybin in dried mushrooms without any further sample preparation.

Bernhard, Werner↗
NASA NTRS1995

A Compact Fiber Optic Eye Diagnostic System

A new fiber optic probe developed for determining transport properties of sub-micron particles in fluid experiments in a microgravity environment has been applied to study different parts of an eye. The probe positioned in front of an eye, delivers a low power (approximately few microW) light from a laser diode into the eye and guides the light which is back scattered by different components (aqueous humor, lens, and vitreous humor) of the eye through a receiving optical fiber to a photo detector. The probe provides rapid determination of macromolecular diffusivities and their respective size distributions in the eye lens and the gel-like materials in the vitreous humor. In a clinical setting, the probe can be mounted on a standard slit-lamp apparatus simply using a Hruby lens holder. The capability of detecting cataracts, both nuclear and cortical, in their early stages of formation, in a non invasive and quantitative fashion, has the potential in patient monitoring and in developing and testing new drugs or diet therapies to 'dissolve' or slow down the cataract formation before the surgery becomes necessary. The ability to detect biochemical and macromolecular changes in the vitreous structure can be very useful in identifying certain diseases of the posterior chamber and their complications, e.g., posterior vitreous detachment and diabetic retinopathy.

Ansari, Rafat R.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Ophthalmic Diagnostics Using a New Dynamic Light Scattering Fiber Optic Probe

A new fiber optic probe is developed to study different parts of the eye. The probe positioned in front of an eye, delivers a low power light from a laser diode into the eye and guides the light which is back scattered by different components (aqueous humor, lens, and vitreous humor) of the eye through a receiving optical fiber to a photo detector. The probe provides rapid determination of macromolecular diffusivities and their respective size distributions in the eye lens and the gel-like material in the vitreous humor. We report alpha-crystalline size distributions, as a function of penetration depth, inside the lens and hyaluronic acid molecular size distribution in the vitreous body. In a clinical setting, the probe can be mounted on a slit-lamp apparatus simply by using a H-ruby lens holder. The capability of detecting cataracts, both nuclear and peripheral, in their early stages of formation, in a non invasive and quantitative fashion, has the potential in patient monitoring and in developing and testing new drugs or diet therapies to 'dissolve' or slow down the cataract formation before surgery is necessary. The ability to detect biochemical and macromolecular changes in the vitreous structure can be very useful in identifying certain diseases of the posterior chamber, e.g., posterior vitreous detachment.

Ansari, Rafat R.↗
NASA NTRS1995

A Compact Fiber Optic Eye Diagnostics System

A new fiber optic probe development for determining transport properties of sub-micron particles in fluids experiments in a microgravity environment has been applied to study different parts of the eye. The probe positioned in front of an eye, delivers a low power (approximately a few mu W) light from a laser diode into the eye and guides the light which is back scattered by different components (aqueous humor, lens, and vitreous humor) of the eye through a receiving optical fiber to a photo detector. The probe provides rapid determination of macromolecular diffusivities and their respective size distributions in the eye lens and the gel-like material in the vitreous humor. For a clinical use, the probe is mounted on a standard slit-lamp apparatus simply using Hruby lens holder. The capability of detecting cataracts, both nuclear and cortical, in their early stages of formation, in a non invasive and quantitative fashion, has the potential in patient monitoring and in developing and testing new drugs or diet therapies to 'dissolve' or slow down the cataract formation before the surgery becomes necessary. The ability to detect biochemical and macromolecular changes in the vitreous structure can be very useful in identifying certain diseases of the posterior chamber and their complications, e.g., posterior vitreous detachment and diabetic retinopathy.

Ansari, Rafat R.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Protein crystallization studies

The Structural Biology laboratory at NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center uses x-ray crystallographic techniques to conduct research into the three-dimensional structure of a wide variety of proteins. A major effort in the laboratory involves an ongoing study of human serum albumin (the principal protein in human plasma) and its interaction with various endogenous substances and pharmaceutical agents. Another focus is on antigenic and functional proteins from several pathogenic organisms including the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the widespread parasitic genus, Schistosoma. My efforts this summer have been twofold: first, to identify clinically significant drug interactions involving albumin binding displacement and to initiate studies of the three-dimensional structure of albumin complexed with these agents, and secondly, to establish collaborative efforts to extend the lab's work on human pathogens.

Lyne, James Evans↗