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NASA NTRS1989

Biophysical aspects of heavy ion interactions in matter

The biological effects of high energy, high charge nuclei (HZE particles) occupy a central role in the management of space radiation hazards due to galactic cosmic rays. For the energy range of interest, the mean free path for nuclear interactions of these heavy ions is comparable to the thickness of the material traversed, and a significant fraction of stopping particles will undergo a nuclear reaction with the nuclei of the stopping material. Transport methods for HZE particles are dependent on models of the interaction of man-made systems with the space environment to an even greater extent than methods used for other types of radiation. Hence, there is a major need to validate these transport codes by comparison with experimental data. The basic physical properties of HZE particles will be reviewed and illustrated with the results of nuclear fragmentation experiments performed with 670A MeV neon ions incident on a water absorber and with measurements of multiple Coulomb scattering of uranium beams in copper. Finally, the extent to which physical measurements yield radiobiological predictions is illustrated for the example of neon.

Schimmerling, Walter↗

NASA NTRS1990

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 28

This is the twenty-eighth issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 60 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of 3 Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 20 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas include: adaptation, aviation medicine, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, enzymology, equipment and instrumentation, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive system, and space medicine.

Stone, Lydia Razran↗

NASA NTRS1991

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 29

This is the twenty-ninth issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It is a double issue covering two issues of the Soviet Space Biology and Aerospace Medicine Journal. Issue 29 contains abstracts of 60 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of three Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. A review of a book on environmental hygiene and a list of papers presented at a Soviet conference on space biology and medicine are also included. The materials in this issue were identified as relevant to 28 areas of space biology and medicine. The areas are: adaptation, aviation medicine, biological rhythms, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, digestive system, endocrinology, equipment and instrumentation, genetics, habitability and environment effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, personnel selection, psychology, radiobiology, reproductive system, space biology and medicine, and the economics of space flight.

Stone, Lydia Razran↗

NASA NTRS1991

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 30

This is the thirtieth issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 47 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of three Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 20 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas include: adaptation, biospheric research, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, endocrinology, equipment and instrumentation, gastrointestinal system, group dynamics, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, human performance, immunology, life support systems, mathematical modeling, metabolism, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, psychology, radiobiology, and space biology and medicine.

Stone, Lydia Razran↗

NASA NTRS1990

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest, issue 31

This is the thirty first issue of NASA's Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 55 journal papers or book chapters published in Russian and of 5 Soviet monographs. Selected abstracts are illustrated with figures and tables from the original. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to 18 areas of space biology and medicine. These areas include: adaptation, biological rhythms, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, endocrinology, enzymology, genetics, group dynamics, habitability and environmental effects, hematology, life support systems, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, psychology, radiobiology, and space biology and medicine.

Hooke, Lydia Razran↗

NASA NTRS1990

Radiation biology of HZE particles

The biological effects of heavy charged particle (HZE) radiation are of particular interest to travellers and planners for long duration space flights where exposure levels represent a potential health hazard. The unique feature of HZE radiation is the structured pattern of its energy deposition in targets which may be related to charge, velocity, or rate of energy loss. There are many consequences of this feature to biological endpoints when compared to effects of ionizing photons. Dose vs response and dose rate kinetics are modified, DNA and cellular repair systems are altered in their abilities to cope with damage and, the qualitative features of damage are unique for different ions. These features must be incorporated into any risk assessment system for radiation health management. HZE induced mutation, cell inactivation and altered organogenesis will be discussed emphasizing studies with the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and cultured cells. Observations from radiobiology experiments in space will also be reviewed along with plans for future space-based studies.

Nelson, Gregory A.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Embryogenesis and organogenesis of Carausius morosus under space flight conditions (7-IML-1)

The experiment is part of a radiobiological space research program to obtain experimental data on the biological effectiveness of the structured component of cosmic radiation during spaceflight. In this proposed experiment, Carausius morosus embryos of different ages will develop under spaceflight conditions. The experiment is designed to determine the influence of galactic heavy ions of very high energy deposition in microgravity on developmental processes of different radiation sensitivity and regenerative capacity. Layers of Carausius morosus eggs are sandwiched between different track detectors (cellulose nitrate, CR39). This method allows the localization of the trajectory of each heavy ion in the biological layer and the identification of the site of the penetration inside the egg.

Buecker, D. H.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Total Dose Effects (TDE) of heavy ionizing radiation in fungus spores and plant seeds: Preliminary investigations

The opportunity to compare cosmic radiation effects caused during long and short duration exposure flights in biological objects are limited until now, and data obtained so far are very rare and insufficient. Because of the very long exposure of the experiment during the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) mission (approximately 2000 days) structural changes of the hardware material can be expected which will influence its biocompatibility and, thus, will interact with the radiobiological effects. The aim of the experiment flown on LDEF was a detailed investigation of biological effects caused by cosmic radiation especially of particles of high atomic number Z and high energy. The flight hardware consisted of standard BIOSTACK containers; in these containers a special sandwich construction consisted of visual plastic detectors with seed rsp. spore layers interlocked.

Kranz, A. R.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Digest of Russian Space Life Sciences, issue 33

This is the thirty-third issue of NASA's USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. It contains abstracts of 55 papers published in Russian journals. The abstracts in this issue have been identified as relevant to the following areas of space biology and medicine: biological rhythms, body fluids, botany, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, developmental biology, endocrinology, equipment and instrumentation, gastrointestinal system, genetics, hematology, human performance, metabolism, microbiology, musculoskeletal system, neurophysiology, nutrition, operational medicine, psychology, radiobiology, and reproductive system.

Stone, Lydia Razran↗

NASA NTRS1991

Caenorhabditis elegans - A model system for space biology studies

The utility of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans in studies spanning aspects of development, aging, and radiobiology is reviewed. These topics are interrelated via cellular and DNA repair processes especially in the context of oxidative stress and free-radical metabolism. The relevance of these research topics to problems in space biology is discussed and properties of the space environment are outlined. Exposure to the space-flight environment can induce rapid changes in living systems that are similar to changes occurring during aging; manipulation of these environmental parameters may represent an experimental strategy for studies of development and senescence. The current and future opportunities for such space-flight experimentation are presented.

Johnson, Thomas E.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Heavy ion beams in extended materials - Computational methods and experiment

The transport of heavy ion beams in extended materials is a problem of interest in accelerator and space shielding, radiation therapy, and astrophysical and radiobiological studies. The beam particles change their energy and direction of motion through atomic/molecular collisions and undergo occasional radical transformation in nuclear collision. In health physics applications, a heavy ion beam of initially well defined radiation quality is transformed into a complex mixture of diverse quality components after passing through a modest amount of material. This transformation of radiation quality must be understood to adequately explain the biological response of tissue to heavy ion radiation. A theoretical/experimental program to define an ion beam and its products in extended matter is described.

Wilson, J. W.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Dose rate and repair effects on cell damage in earth orbit

Radiobiology experiments performed in space will encounter continuous exposures to the cosmic rays and fractionated exposures to trapped protons which accumulate to several hundred dose fractions in a few weeks. Using models of track structure and cellular kinetics combined with models of the radiation environment and radiation transport, we consider calculations of damage rates for cell cultures. Analysis of the role of repair mechanisms for space exposures for the endpoints of survival and transformation is emphasized.

Cucinotta, F. A.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Long-term modulation of galactic cosmic radiation and its model for space exploration

As the human exploration of space has received new attention in the United States, studies find that exposure to space radiation could adversely impact the mission design. Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR), with its very wide range of charges and energies, is particularly important for a mission to Mars, because it imposes a stiff mass penalty for spacecraft shielding. Dose equivalent versus shielding thickness calculations, show a rapid initial drop on exposure with thickness, but an asymptotic behavior at a higher shielding thickness. Uncertainties in the radiobiology are largely unknown. For a fixed radiation risk, this leads to large uncertainties in shielding thickness for small uncertainties in estimated dose. In this paper we investigate the application of steady-state, spherically-symmetric diffusion-convection theory of solar modulation to individual measurements of differential energy spectra from 1954 to 1989 in order to estimate the diffusion coefficient, kappa(r,t), as a function of time. We have correlated the diffusion coefficient to the Climax neutron monitor rates and show that, if the diffusion coefficient can be separated into independent functions of space and time: kappa(r,t)=K(t) k(sub 0) beta Pk(sub 1) (r), where beta is the particle velocity and P the rigidity, then (i) The time dependent quantity 1/K(t), which is proportional to the deceleration potential, phi(r,t), is linearly related to the Climax neutron monitor counting rate. (ii) The coefficients obtained from hydrogen or helium intensity measurements are the same. (iii) There are different correlation functions for odd and even solar cycles. (iv) The correlation function for the Climax neutron monitor counting rate for given time, t, can be used to estimate mean deceleration parameter phi(t) to within +/- 15% with 90% confidence. We have shown that k(r,t) determined from hydrogen and/or helium data, can be used to fit the oxygen and iron differential energy spectra with a root mean square error of about +/- 10%, and essentially independent of the particle charge or energy. We have also examined the ion chamber and C-14 measurements which allow the analysis to be extended from the year 1906 to 1990. Using this model we have defined reference GCR spectra at solar minimum and solar maximum. These can be used for space exploration studies and provide a quantitative estimate of the error in dose due to changes in GCR intensities.

Badhwan, G. D.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Cellular changes in microgravity and the design of space radiation experiments

Cell metabolism, secretion and cell-cell interactions can be altered during space flight. Early radiobiology experiments have demonstrated synergistic effects of radiation and microgravity as indicated by increased mutagenesis, increased chromosome aberrations, inhibited development, and retarded growth. Microgravity-induced changes in immune cell functions include reduced blastogenesis and cell-mediated, delayed-type hypersensitivity responses, increased cytokine secretions, but inhibited cytotoxic effects an macrophage differentiation. These effects are important because of the high radiosensitivity of immune cells. It is difficult to compare ground studies with space radiation biology experiments because of the complexity of the space radiation environment, types of radiation damage and repair mechanisms. Altered intracellular functions and molecular mechanisms must be considered in the design and interpretation of space radiation experiments. Critical steps in radiocarcinogenesis could be affected. New cell systems and hardware are needed to determine the biological effectiveness of the low dose rate, isotropic, multispectral space radiation and the potential usefulness of radioprotectants during space flight.

Morrison, D. R.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Proton-induced fragmentation of carbon at energies below 100 MeV

Radiation effects caused by single cosmic ray particles have been studied for many years in radiobiological experiments for different biological objects and biological end-points. Additionally, single event effects in microelectronic devices have gained large interest. There are two fundamental mechanisms by which a single particle can cause radiation effects. On the one hand, a cosmic ray ion with high linear energy transfer can deposit a high dose along its path. On the other hand, in a nuclear collision, a high dose can be deposited by short range particles emitted from the target nucleus. In low earth orbits a large contribution to target fragmentation events originates from trapped protons which are encountered in the South Atlantic Anomaly. These protons have energies up to a few hundred MeV. We study the fragmentation of C, O and Si nuclei - the target nuclei of biological material and microelectronic devices - in nuclear collisions. Our aim is to measure production cross sections, energy spectra, emission directions and charge correlations of the emitted fragments. The present knowledge concerning these data is rather poor. M. Alurralde et al. have calculated cross sections and average energies of fragments produced from Si using the cascade-evaporation model. D.M. Ngo et al. have used the semiempirical cross section formula of Silberberg and Tsao to calculate fragment yields and the statistical model of Goldhaber to describe the reaction kinematics. Cross sections used in these models have uncertainties within a factor of two. Our data will help to test and improve existing models especially for energies below 300 MeV/nucleon. Charge correlations of fragments emitted in the same interaction are of particular importance, since high doses can be deposited if more than one heavy fragment with a short range is produced.

Schmitz, M.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Theoretical Evaluation of the Radiation Hazards from Cosmic Rays Within Space Vehicles

We may summarize our efforts as follows: a. Improvement of our calculations of the radial dose distribution from delta rays ejected in the passage of heavy ions through matter through the application of new data to a previous calculation by Kobetich and Katz (1968). Supplementing this calculation, we have found the radial distribution of electron energy spectra and the radial distribution of microdosimetric quantities (Cucinotta et al, 1996, 1997). b. Extension of the Katz model of cellular survival to bacteria, to lethal mutations in C. Elegans in vivo, to mutation induction in vitro, to thindown in radiobiology (observed experimentally at GSI, Darmstadt, and there called "Darmstadt hooks", predicted by Katz theory years before GSI was constructed). c. Coupling the Katz theory of RBE to the NASA theory of the diffusion of heavy ion beams in matter to yield predictions of the effects for monoenergetic heavy ion beams as well as range modulated beams used for cancer therapy. Here we have directed attention to the role of "ion-kill" (the effects produced by heavy ions passing through the nucleus of a cell), responsible for increased RBE, decreased OER, and reduced repair. We predict that the use of beams of heavy ions in cancer therapy will create late effect problems for fractionated therapy. We highlight also the damage by "ion-kill", from single heavy ions in the cosmic rays, to the central nervous system in space flight. d. The coupling of Katz theory and the NASA theory of heavy ion diffusion and penetration through matter, and knowledge of the space radiation environment, has been applied to design of shielding, to the cell damage in space flight.

Katz, Robert↗

NASA NTRS1998

Radiation Effects and Protection for Moon and Mars Missions

Manned and robotic missions to the Earth's moon and Mars are exposed to a continuous flux of Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) and occasional, but intense, fluxes of Solar Energetic Particles (SEP). These natural radiations impose hazards to manned exploration, but also present some constraints to the design of robotic missions. The hazards to interplanetary flight crews and their uncertainties have been studied recently by a National Research Council Committee (Space Studies Board 1996). Considering the present uncertainty estimates, thick spacecraft shielding would be needed for manned missions, some of which could be accomplished with onboard equipment and expendables. For manned and robotic missions, the effects of radiation on electronics, sensors, and controls require special consideration in spacecraft design. This paper describes the GCR and SEP particle fluxes, secondary particles behind shielding, uncertainties in radiobiological effects and their impact on manned spacecraft design, as well as the major effects on spacecraft equipment. The principal calculational tools and considerations to mitigate the radiation effects are discussed, and work in progress to reduce uncertainties is included.

Parnell, Thomas A.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Space Radiation Cancer Risk Projections for Exploration Missions: Uncertainty Reduction and Mitigation

In this paper we discuss expected lifetime excess cancer risks for astronauts returning from exploration class missions. For the first time we make a quantitative assessment of uncertainties in cancer risk projections for space radiation exposures. Late effects from the high charge and energy (HZE) ions present in the galactic cosmic rays including cancer and the poorly understood risks to the central nervous system constitute the major risks. Methods used to project risk in low Earth orbit are seen as highly uncertain for projecting risks on exploration missions because of the limited radiobiology data available for estimating HZE ion risks. Cancer risk projections are described as a product of many biological and physical factors, each of which has a differential range of uncertainty due to lack of data and knowledge. Monte-Carlo sampling from subjective error distributions represents the lack of knowledge in each factor to quantify risk projection overall uncertainty. Cancer risk analysis is applied to several exploration mission scenarios. At solar minimum, the number of days in space where career risk of less than the limiting 3% excess cancer mortality can be assured at a 95% confidence level is found to be only of the order of 100 days.

Cucinotta, Francis↗