Responsible Center: NASA JSC
Grant Monitor: Whitmire, Alexandra
Center Contact: alexandra.m.whitmire@nasa.gov
Unique ID: 12562
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Solicitation / Funding Source: 2017-2018 HERO 80JSC017N0001-HHCHFBP: Human Health Countermeasures, Human Factors, Behavioral Performance. Appendix D
Grant/Contract No.: 80NSSC19K1480
Project Type: Flight
Flight Program:
TechPort: No |
No. of Post Docs: 3
No. of PhD Candidates: 5
No. of Master's Candidates: 2
No. of Bachelor's Candidates: 2
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No. of PhD Degrees: 3
No. of Master's Degrees: 1
No. of Bachelor's Degrees: 0
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Human Research Program Gaps: |
(1) BMed-101:We need to identify, quantify, and validate the key selection factors for astronaut cognitive and behavioral strengths (e.g., resiliency) and operationally-relevant performance threats for increasingly Earth independent, long-duration, autonomous, and/or long-distance exploration missions. (2) BMed-103:What are the validated, efficacious treatments (individual or Team-based) and/or countermeasures to prevent adverse behavioral conditions, CNS/neurological, and/or psychiatric disorders caused by either single and/or integrated exposures to spaceflight hazards during exploration class missions? (3) BMed-104:Given the potentially negative spaceflight associated CNS changes and behavioral experiences of stressors during long-duration missions (e.g., isolation, confinement, reduced sensory stimulation, altered gravity, space radiation), what are validated modifications to habitat/vehicle to mitigate stressors impacting on CNS / cognition / behavioral health? (4) BMed-105:Given the potentially negative spaceflight associated CNS/cognitive changes and behavioral experiences of stressors during long-duration missions (e.g., isolation, confinement, reduced sensory stimulation, altered gravity, space radiation), what are validated medical or dietary countermeasures to mitigate stressors impacting on CNS / cognition / behavioral health? (5) BMed-107:What are the long-term changes and risks to astronaut health post-mission that, when using a continuity of care model, helps retrospectively identify and understand individual susceptibility (e.g., hereditary, dose, thresholds) to mitigate adverse CNS, cognitive, and behavioral health changes resulting from long-duration exploration missions, promoting the behavioral health of current and future crews?
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Flight Assignment/Project Notes: |
NOTE: End date changed to 06/30/2025 per NSSC information (Ed., 5/17/24)
NOTE: End date changed to 06/30/2024 per S. Mack/JSC (Ed., 7/11/23)
NOTE: End date changed to 06/30/2023 per NSSC information (Ed., 3/3/23)
NOTE: End date changed to 01/31/2023 per NSSC information (Ed., 3/10/21) |
Task Description: |
Operating in isolated, confined, and controlled (ICC) or extreme (ICE) environments impacts physical status, psychological symptoms, and cognitive function, all serving to degrade crew performance and jeopardize mission success. Countermeasures, such as exercise training help to reduce such risk, but individuals are still susceptible to problems adapting to and operating in ICC/ICE environments. Physical training has been shown to have positive benefits on cognitive and immune functions, and psychological status of individuals. However, importantly, increased stress levels have been shown to substantially limit individual engagement with these types of physical activity. Therefore, to ensure the efficacy of a physical training countermeasure, strategies need to be developed to ensure crewmembers maintain sufficient levels of training stimuli to provide these protective effects, while in the presence of the increased levels of stress associated with operating in ICC/ICE environments. The overarching hypothesis of this proposal is that structured exercise training performed in an isolated and confined spaceflight analog will ameliorate stress-induced changes in behavioral health, cognitive, sensorimotor, and immune system function. We further posit that adding a guided imagery (GI) intervention component to the exercise training regimen will increase exercise adherence and positive affective responses, and that the beneficial effects of exercise on behavioral health, cognitive, and immune system function will be mediated by reductions in stress and improvements/maintenance of physical health. The specific aims are as follows:
SA1. Determine the effects of an in-flight validated exercise regimen (‘SPRINT’) on behavioral health, fatigue, cognitive, sensorimotor, and immune system function in an ICC spaceflight analog;
SA2. Determine the impact of guided imagery on exercise adherence and positive affective responses to exercise in the ICC spaceflight analog. We will also explore the effects of adding guided imagery to the exercise regimen on behavioral health, fatigue, cognitive, sensorimotor, and immune system function;
SA3. Determine if exercise training, with or without guided imagery, has a positive impact on biomarkers of stress and central nervous system function in the ICC spaceflight analog and can increase resilience during an acute stress model of sleep deprivation relative to the control group.
We will use the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) and recruit crewmembers over 12 separate 45-day HERA missions. We anticipate enrolling participants from 3 campaigns (4 crewmembers per mission) over a 3-year period (n= 48). Four HERA missions (n=16) will receive the in-flight validated Integrated Aerobic and Resistance Exercise Training Prescription (‘SPRINT’) protocol only; Four HERA missions (n=16) will receive the same training regimen but with GI to augment the exercise response; And four HERA missions (n=16) will serve as the control group, receiving access to the exercise equipment but no GI or ‘SPRINT’ protocol. Measures of behavioral health, cognitive, sensorimotor, and immune (NK-cell cytotoxicity) function will be measured before, during, and after the mission, and the mediating/correlating effects of stress and central nervous system function will be determined by measuring biomarkers (cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), Macrophage Inflammatory Protein (MIP), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)) longitudinally in saliva. On completion of this project we expect to: (1) determine if the ‘SPRINT’ protocol is sufficient to maintain behavioral health of individuals during a spaceflight stress analog; and (2) ascertain whether or not the addition of a GI can augment the exercise training effects on ameliorating stress (including acute stress derived from sleep deprivation) and central nervous system dysfunction to maintain behavioral health, cognitive, sensorimotor, and immune system function in a high fidelity, isolated, confined, and controlled spaceflight simulation analog. |