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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 127 records · Page 7

Effect of hydraulic retention time on inorganic nutrient recovery and biodegradable organics removal in a biofilm reactor treating plant biomass leachate

A fixed-film (biofilm) reactor was designed and its performance was determined at various retention times. The goal was to find the optimal retention time for recycling plant nutrients in an advanced life support system, to minimize the size, mass, and volume (hold-up) of a production model. The prototype reactor was tested with aqueous leachate from wheat crop residue at 24, 12, 6, and 3 h hydraulic retention times (HRTs). Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), nitrates and other plant nutrients, carbohydrates, total phenolics, and microbial counts were monitored to characterize reactor performance. BOD removal decreased significantly from 92% at the 24 h HRT to 73% at 3 h. Removal of phenolics was 62% at the 24 h retention time, but 37% at 3 h. Dissolved oxygen concentrations, nitric acid consumption, and calcium and magnesium removals were also affected by HRT. Carbohydrate removals, carbon dioxide (CO2) productions, denitrification, potassium concentrations, and microbial counts were not affected by different retention times. A 6 h HRT will be used in future studies to determine the suitability of the bioreactor effluent for hydroponic plant production.

NASA Center KSC↗

Cytochemical localization of reserves during seed development in Arabidopsis thaliana under spaceflight conditions

Successful development of seeds under spaceflight conditions has been an elusive goal of numerous long-duration experiments with plants on orbital spacecraft. Because carbohydrate metabolism undergoes changes when plants are grown in microgravity, developing seed storage reserves might be detrimentally affected during spaceflight. Seed development in Arabidopsis thaliana plants that flowered during 11 d in space on shuttle mission STS-68 has been investigated in this study. Plants were grown to the rosette stage (13 d) on a nutrient agar medium on the ground and loaded into the Plant Growth Unit flight hardware 18 h prior to lift-off. Plants were retrieved 3 h after landing and siliques were immediately removed from plants. Young seeds were fixed and processed for microscopic observation. Seeds in both the ground control and flight plants are similar in their morphology and size. The oldest seeds from these plants contain completely developed embryos and seed coats. These embryos developed radicle, hypocotyl, meristematic apical tissue, and differentiated cotyledons. Protoderm, procambium, and primary ground tissue had differentiated. Reserves such as starch and protein were deposited in the embryos during tissue differentiation. The aleurone layer contains a large quantity of storage protein and starch grains. A seed coat developed from integuments of the ovule with gradual change in cell composition and cell material deposition. Carbohydrates were deposited in outer integument cells especially in the outside cell walls. Starch grains decreased in number per cell in the integument during seed coat development. All these characteristics during seed development represent normal features in the ground control plants and show that the spaceflight environment does not prevent normal development of seeds in Arabidopsis.

STS-68 Shuttle Project↗

Pre-exercise hypervolemia and cycle ergometer endurance in men

Time to exhaustion at 87-91% of peak VO2 was measured in 5 untrained men (age: 31 +/- 8 years, body mass: 74.20 +/- 16.50 kg, body surface area: 1.90 +/- 0.24 m2, peak VO2: 2.87 +/- 0.40 l min-1, plasma volume: 3.21 +/- 0.88 l; means +/-SD) after consuming nothing (N) or two fluid formulations (10 ml kg-1, 743 +/- 161 ml): Performance 1 (P1), a multi-ionic carbohydrate drink, containing 55 mEq l-1 Na+, 4.16 g l-1 citrate, 20.49 g l-1 glucose, and 365 mOsm kg-1 H2O, and AstroAde (AA), a sodium chloride-sodium citrate hyperhydration drink, containing 164 mEq l-1 Na+, 8.54 g l-1 citrate, <5 mg l-1 glucose, and 253 mOsm kg-1 H2O. Mean (+/-SE) endurance for N, P1 and AA was 24.68 +/- 1.50, 24.55 +/- 1.09, and 30.50 +/- 3.44 min respectively. Percent changes in plasma volume (PV) from -105 min of rest to zero min before exercise were -1.5 +/- 3.2% (N), 0.2 +/- 2.2% (P1), and 4.8 +/- 3.0% (AA; P < 0.05). The attenuated endurance for N and P1 could not be attributed to differences in exercise metabolism (VE, RE, VO2) from the carbohydrate or citrate, terminal heart rate, levels of perceived exertion, forehead or thigh skin blood flow velocity, changes or absolute termination levels of rectal temperature. Thus, the higher level of resting PV for AA just before exercise, as well as greater acid buffering and possible increased energy substrate from citrate, may have contributed to the greater endurance.

NASA Center ARC↗

Cyclic variations in nitrogen uptake rate in soybean plants: uptake during reproductive growth

Net uptake of NO3- by non-nodulated soybean plants [Glycine max (L.) Merr. cv. Ransom] growing in flowing hydroponic culture was measured daily during a 63 d period of reproductive development between the first florally inductive photoperiod and [unknown word] seed growth. Removal of NO3- from a replenished solution containing 1.0 mol m-3 NO3- was determined by ion chromatography. Uptake of NO3- continued throughout reproductive development. The net uptake rate of NO3- cycled between maxima and minima with a periodicity of oscillation of 3 to 7 d during the floral stage and about 6 d during the fruiting stage. Coupled with increasing concentrations of carbon and C : N ratios in tissues, the oscillations in net uptake rates of NO3- are evidence that the demand for carbohydrate by reproductive organs is contingent on the availability of nitrogen in the shoot pool rather than that the demand for nitrogen follows the flux of carbohydrate into reproductive tissues.

Non-NASA Center↗

Ammonium and nitrate uptake by soybean during recovery from nitrogen deprivation

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] plants that had been subjected to 15 d of nitrogen deprivation were resupplied for 10 d with 1.0 mol m-3 nitrogen provided as NO3-, NH4+, or NH4(+) + NO3- in flowing hydroponic culture. Plants in a fourth hydroponic system received 1.0 mol m-3 NO3- during both stress and resupply periods. Concentrations of soluble carbohydrates and organic acids in roots increased 210 and 370%, respectively, during stress. For the first day of resupply, however, specific uptake rates of nitrogen, determined by ion chromatography as depletion from solution, were lower for stressed than for non-stressed plants by 43% for NO3- resupply, by 32% for NH4(+) + NO3- resupply, and 86% for NH4+ resupply. When specific uptake of nitrogen for stressed plants recovered to rates for non-stressed plants at 6 to 8 d after nitrogen resupply, carbohydrates and organic acids in their roots had declined to concentrations lower than those of non-stressed plants. Recovery of nitrogen uptake capacity of roots thus does not appear to be regulated simply by the content of soluble carbon compounds within roots. Solution concentrations of NH4+ and NO3- were monitored at 62.5 min intervals during the first 3 d of resupply. Intermittent 'hourly' intervals of net influx and net efflux occurred. Rates of uptake during influx intervals were greater for the NH4(+)-resupplied than for the NO3(-)-resupplied plants. For NH4(+)-resupplied plants, however, the hourly intervals of efflux were more numerous than for NO3(-)-resupplied plants. It thus is possible that, instead of repressing NH4+ influx, increased accumulation of amino acids and NH4+ in NH4(+)-resupplied plants inhibited net uptake by stimulation of efflux on NH4+ absorbed in excess of availability of carbon skeletons for assimilation. Entry of NH4+ into root cytoplasm appeared to be less restricted than translocation of amino acids from the cytoplasm into the xylem.

NASA Discipline Number 61-10↗

Purification and stability characterization of a cell regulatory sialoglycopeptide inhibitor

Previous attempts to physically separate the cell cycle inhibitory and protease activities in preparations of a purified cell regulatory sialoglycopeptide (CeReS) inhibitor were largely unsuccessful. Gradient elution of the inhibitor preparation from a DEAE HPLC column separated the cell growth inhibitor from the protease, and the two activities have been shown to be distinct and non-overlapping. The additional purification increased the specific biological activity of the CeReS preparation by approximately two-fold. The major inhibitory fraction that eluted from the DEAE column was further analyzed by tricine-SDS-PAGE and microbore reverse phase HPLC and shown to be homogeneous in nature. Two other fractions separated by DEAE HPLC, also devoid of protease activity, were shown to be inhibitory to cell proliferation and most likely represented modified relatives of the CeReS inhibitor. The highly purified CeReS was chemically characterized for amino acid and carbohydrate composition and the role of the carbohydrate in cell proliferation inhibition, stability, and protease resistance was assessed.

Non-NASA Center↗

Metabolic myopathies

Metabolic myopathies are disorders of muscle energy production that result in skeletal muscle dysfunction. Cardiac and systemic metabolic dysfunction may coexist. Symptoms are often intermittent and provoked by exercise or changes in supply of lipid and carbohydrate fuels. Specific disorders of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism in muscle are reviewed. Evaluation often requires provocative exercise testing. These tests may include ischemic forearm exercise, aerobic cycle exercise, and 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy with exercise.

Review↗

Launch-Off-Need Shuttle Hubble Rescue Mission: Medical Issues

The Space Shuttle Hubble repair mission (STS-125) is unique in that a rescue mission (STS-400) has to be ready to launch before STS-125 life support runs out should the vehicle become stranded. The shuttle uses electrical power derived from fuel cells that use cryogenic oxygen and hydrogen (CRYO) to run all subsystems including the Environmental Control System. If the STS-125 crew cannot return to Earth due to failure of a critical subsystem, they must power down all nonessential systems and wait to be rescued by STS-400. This power down will cause the cabin temperature to be 60 F or less and freeze the rest of the vehicle, preventing it from attempting a reentry. After an emergency has been declared, STS-125 must wait at least 7 days to power down since that is the earliest that STS-400 can be launched. Problem The delayed power down of STS-125 causes CYRO to be consumed at high rates and limits the survival time after STS-400 launches to 10 days or less. CRYO will run out sooner every day that the STS-400 launch is delayed (weather at launch, technical issues etc.). To preserve CRYO and lithium hydroxide (LiOH - carbon dioxide removal) the crew will perform no exercise to reduce their metabolic rates, yet each deconditioned STS-125 crewmember must perform an EVA to rescue himself. The cabin may be cold for 10 days, which may cause shivering, increasing the metabolic rate of the STS-125 crew. Solution To preserve LiOH, the STS-125 manifest includes nutrition bars with low carbohydrate content to maintain crew respiratory quotient (RQ) below 0.85 as opposed to the usual shuttle galley food which is rich in carbohydrates and keeps the RQ at approximately 0.95. To keep the crew more comfortable in the cold vehicle warm clothing also has been included. However, with no exercise and limited diet, the deconditioned STS-125 crew returning on STS-400 may not be able to egress the vehicle autonomously requiring a supplemented crash-and-rescue capability.

Hamilton, Douglas↗

Regional differences in lectin binding patterns of vestibular hair cells

Surface glycoconjugates of hair cells and supporting cells in the vestibular endorgans of the bullfrog were identified using biotinylated lectins with different carbohydrate specificities. Lectin binding in hair cells was consistent with the presence of glucose and mannose (CON A), galactose (RCA-I), N-acetylglucosamine (WGA), N-acetylgalactosamine (VVA), but not fucose (UEA-I) residues. Hair cells in the bullfrog sacculus, unlike those in the utriculus and semicircular canals, did not strain for N-acetylglucosamine (WGA) or N-acetylgalactosamine (VVA). By contrast, WGA and, to a lesser extent, VVA, differentially stained utricular and semicircular canal hair cells, labeling hair cells located in peripheral, but not central, regions. In mammals, WGA uniformly labeled Type I hair cells while labeling, as in the bullfrog, Type II hair cells only in peripheral regions. These regional variations were retained after enzymatic digestion. We conclude that vestibular hair cells differ in their surface glycoconjugates and that differences in lectin binding patterns can be used to identify hair cell types and to infer the epithelial origin of isolated vestibular hair cells.

NASA Discipline Neuroscience↗

Interpretation of the 3- to 4-Micron Infrared Spectrum of Mars

Infrared reflection spectra have been recorded for a large number of inorganic and organic samples, including minerals and biological specimens, for the purpose of interpreting the 3- to 4-micron spectrum of Mars. A previous suggestion that the Martian bands indicated the presence of carbohydrates is shown not to be a required conclusion. However, no satisfactory explanation is advanced and the problem remains unresolved.

INORGANIC COMPOUND↗

Inhibition of browning in foodstuffs

Addition of water-soluble sulfur-containing compounds, thio compounds or potential thio compounds, to a mixture of carbohydrates, and either proteins, peptides, or amino acids can retard or completely eliminate the browning process. Determining factor is dependent upon the concentration of the anti-browning agent in the aqueous media.

Rosenthal, N. A.↗