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Abstract Common and rare alleles are now being annotated across millions of human genomes, and omics technologies are increasingly being used to develop health and treatment recommendations. However, these alleles have not yet been systematically characterized relative to aerospace medicine. Here, we review published alleles naturally found in human cohorts that have a likely protective effect, which is linked to decreased cancer risk and improved bone, muscular, and cardiovascular health. Although some technical and ethical challenges remain, research into these protective mechanisms could translate into improved nutrition, exercise, and health recommendations for crew members during deep space missions.

Abstract Future multi-year crewed planetary missions will motivate advances in aerospace nutrition and telehealth. On Earth, the Human Cell Atlas project aims to spatially map all cell types in the human body. Here, we propose that a parallel Human Cell Space Atlas could serve as an openly available, global resource for space life science research. As humanity becomes increasingly spacefaring, high-resolution omics on orbit could permit an advent of precision spaceflight healthcare. Alongside the scientific potential, we consider the complex ethical, cultural, and legal challenges intrinsic to the human space omics discipline, and how philosophical frameworks may benefit from international perspectives.

Abstract Organismal adaptations to spaceflight have been characterized at the molecular level in model organisms, including Drosophila and C. elegans. Here, we extend molecular work to energy metabolism and sex hormone signaling in mice and humans. We found spaceflight induced changes in insulin and estrogen signaling in rodents and humans. Murine changes were most prominent in the liver, where we observed inhibition of insulin and estrogen receptor signaling with concomitant hepatic insulin resistance and steatosis. Based on the metabolic demand, metabolic pathways mediated by insulin and estrogen vary among muscles, specifically between the soleus and extensor digitorum longus. In humans, spaceflight induced changes in insulin and estrogen related genes and pathways. Pathway analysis demonstrated spaceflight induced changes in insulin resistance, estrogen signaling, stress response, and viral infection. These data strongly suggest the need for further research on the metabolic and reproductive endocrinologic effects of space travel, if we are to become a successful interplanetary species.

Abstract Background Spaceflight poses a unique set of challenges to humans and the hostile spaceflight environment can induce a wide range of increased health risks, including dermatological issues. The biology driving the frequency of skin issues in astronauts is currently not well understood. Methods To address this issue, we used a systems biology approach utilizing NASA’s Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) on space flown murine transcriptomic datasets focused on the skin, biochemical profiles of 50 NASA astronauts and human transcriptomic datasets generated from blood and hair samples of JAXA astronauts, as well as blood samples obtained from the NASA Twins Study, and skin and blood samples from the first civilian commercial mission, Inspiration4. Results Key biological changes related to skin health, DNA damage & repair, and mitochondrial dysregulation are identified as potential drivers for skin health risks during spaceflight. Additionally, a machine learning model is utilized to determine gene pairings associated with spaceflight response in the skin. While we identified spaceflight-induced dysregulation, such as alterations in genes associated with skin barrier function and collagen formation, our results also highlight the remarkable ability for organisms to re-adapt back to Earth via post-flight re-tuning of gene expression. Conclusion Our findings can guide future research on developing countermeasures for mitigating spaceflight-associated skin damage.

Summary: Following on from the NASA twins’ study, there has been a tremendous interest in the use of omics techniques in spaceflight. Individual space agencies, NASA’s GeneLab, JAXA's ibSLS, and the ESA-funded Space Omics Topical Team and the International Standards for Space Omics Processing (ISSOP) groups have established several initiatives to support this growth. Here, we present recommendations from the Space Omics Topical Team to promote standard application of space omics in Europe. We focus on four main themes: i) continued participation in and coordination with international omics endeavors, ii) strengthening of the European space omics infrastructure including workforce and facilities, iii) capitalizing on the emerging opportunities in the commercial space sector, and iv) capitalizing on the emerging opportunities in human subjects research.

Background: Understanding and countering the well-established negative health consequences of spaceflight remains a primary challenge preventing safe deep space exploration. Targeted/personalized therapeutics are at the forefront of space medicine strategies, and cross-species molecular signatures now define the ‘typical’ spaceflight response. However, a lack of direct genotype–phenotype associations currently limits the robustness and, therefore, the therapeutic utility of putative mechanisms underpinning pathological changes in flight. Methods: We employed the worm Caenorhabditis elegans as a validated model of space biology, combined with ‘NemaFlex-S’ microfluidic devices for assessing animal strength production as one of the most reproducible physiological responses to spaceflight. Wild-type and dys-1 (BZ33) strains (a Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) model for comparing predisposed muscle weak animals) were cultured on the International Space Station in chemically defined media before loading second-generation gravid adults into NemaFlex-S devices to assess individual animal strength. These same cultures were then frozen on orbit before returning to Earth for next-generation sequencing transcriptomic analysis. Results: Neuromuscular strength was lower in flight versus ground controls (16.6% decline, p < 0.05), with dys-1 significantly more (23% less strength, p < 0.01) affected than wild types. The transcriptional gene ontology signatures characterizing both strains of weaker animals in flight strongly corroborate previous results across species, enriched for upregulated stress response pathways and downregulated mitochondrial and cytoskeletal processes. Functional gene cluster analysis extended this to implicate decreased neuronal function, including abnormal calcium handling and acetylcholine signaling, in space-induced strength declines under the predicted control of UNC-89 and DAF-19 transcription factors. Finally, gene modules specifically altered in dys-1 animals in flight again cluster to neuronal/neuromuscular pathways, suggesting strength loss in DMD comprises a strong neuronal component that predisposes these animals to exacerbated strength loss in space. Conclusions: Highly reproducible gene signatures are strongly associated with space-induced neuromuscular strength loss across species and neuronal changes in calcium/acetylcholine signaling require further study. These results promote targeted medical efforts towards and provide an in vivo model for safely sending animals and people into deep space in the near future.

Se analizó la situación actual de la investigación y la educación en incendios y explosiones en Colombia desde un enfoque de ciencia e ingeniería y se hicieron recomendaciones sobre los campos que deben desarrollarse para crear una estructura investigativa y educativa que respalde los esfuerzos por prevenirlos. Dado el riesgo de incendios y explosiones, la mayoría de los países han propiciado la creación de centros de investigación y educación orientados al desarrollo científico en esta área. En Colombia tal infraestructura tiene un desarrollo apenas incipiente. La revisión de aspectos importantes en incendios y explosiones como el análisis estadístico, la caracterización fisicoquímica de sustancias inflamables, la cinética química, la combustión, la simulación, la radiación térmica, los fenómenos de pirólisis, el smouldering, la formación de hollín y de humo, la caracterización experimental, la evaluación de riesgos, la educación y otros aspectos específicos de las explosiones evidenció que en Colombia existe un buen desarrollo en la aplicación de la combustión y la pirólisis con fines comerciales, pero sin énfasis en incendios y explosiones. En las demás áreas existen antecedentes de investigación específicamente relacionados con este campo que deben reforzarse. Se recomienda la creación de programas curriculares de posgrado en ciencia y tecnología en esta área, así como el aumento de la capacidad experimental para la caracterización de sustancias inflamables, el fortalecimiento de la investigación en ciencias básicas y el desarrollo de habilidades de computación y simulación.

In this work an optimal control technique is applied to control the excess air in the combustion process of a reverberatory furnace by the monitoring of O2 percentage in the stack, the controller is designed based on a nonlinear model estimated by artificial neural networks and a data base is used for the previous training; the data base has two subsets one for training and other to validate the net.

This work is a review and analysis of the state of art of mechanical technologies for the coffee drying and potential actions to increase the efficiency. Also, it describes the importance to use alcohol as fuel, which could be obtained from subproducts of the humid benefit process of the grain, pulp and mucilage; this could be an option to improve carbon dioxide and particles emissions in comparison with conventional mechanics drying systems in Colombia.

This work is a review of the characteristics of the combustion using highly preheated normal air. The technology has been used in the last years to provide an increase in the thermal efficiency and a significant decrease in the consumption of fuel and polluting emissions regarding the conventional combustion systems. The combustion with enthalpy excess concept is presented, and also the main combustion properties that are affected by there active preheated, the systems more used to preheat the air, the advantages and disadvantages of this technology and some computational technical.

En este trabajo se simuló numéricamente el proceso de combustión en una cámara de alta velocidad que opera con aire precalentado y metano. Las simulaciones han sido realizadas utilizando el software comercial FLUENT y para generar el mallado se empleó el software GAMBIT. Estos programas se emplearon como herramientas de diseño para investigar sobre el funcionamiento del sistema de combustión al emplear dos quemadores, sin sistema de generación de "swirl": uno con inyección axial del combustible y el otro con inyección radial, antes de construir y probar el prototipo definitivo. Los modelos utilizados han sido k - para turbulencia, P1 para la radiación y PDF - Mixture Fraction para la combustión. Los resultados numéricos obtenidos muestran que el sistema de inyección radial de combustible puede traer ventajas respecto a la inyección axial desde el punto de vista de eficiencia de combustión, siendo más completa la combustión radial debido al mejor mezclado entre el gas y el aire.

La búsqueda de tecnologías de calentamiento que reduzcan el consumo de combustible, disminuyan las emisiones contaminantes y mejoren la productividad de los procesos y calidad de los productos en procesos de alta temperatura, ha motivado la investigación y desarrollo tecnológico de sistemas térmicos. En este contexto el artículo presenta los resultados del proyecto Desarrollo y Evaluación de un Sistema de Combustión Autoregenerativo y Radiante para Procesos de Alta Temperatura en Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas PyMES, presentando la configuración, funcionamiento, caracterización, parámetros de operación y comportamiento de un prototipo desarrollado que opera con 28 kW de potencia térmica con base al poder calorífico inferior, factores de aireación de 1.05 y 1.20 y temperaturas de precalentamiento de aire hasta de 700ºC.

La necesidad de apropiar tendencias tecnológicas de última generación en equipos de combustión con aplicaciones en el sector productivo nacional, despierta el interés por estudiar los parámetros de diseño, optimización y caracterización de nuevos sistemas térmicos. En este artículo se presenta un método para el análisis de procesos de calentamiento con tubo radiante. El modelo se ha desarrollado planteando algunas hipótesis que ayudan a la caracterización de los parámetros mas influyentes involucrados en su funcionamiento y tiene como objetivos servir de guía en la etapa de diseño en aplicaciones industriales y ser una herramienta adecuada para la selección de un sistema de combustión con tubo radiante

The need for adopting the latest technological tendencies in combustion appliances, which have potential applications in the national industry, gives rise to an interest in studying the parameters of design, optimization and characterization of new thermal systems. A method for the analysis of heat transfer processes involving radiant tubes is presented in this article. Some hypotheses used in the development of the model considered helpful for the characterization of the most influencing parameters involved in the model are presented. The model attempts to serve as a guide during the design phase in industrial applications, and to be an adequate tool for the selection of a combustion system with radiant tube.