Author: The InnovaSpace TeamSpace Without Borders! InnovaSpace CEO Thais Russomano recently contributed an article to the magazine - Asian Hospital & Healthcare Management - examining the challenges humankind faces if we are to spend more time in space. It gives a good overview of the topic without being too technical and is open access, so we thought you might like to take a look! The article features on pages 6-9 of the magazine and you can download the magazine free by following this LINK
Author: Hamzah RahmanYear 3 student - Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine & Space Enthusiast! The General Practitioner (GP) medical professional has undoubtedly played a major role in providing a plethora of care packages and programmes for individuals seeking to travel; from immunisations and vaccinations to advice and even guidance for mothers in the late gestational stage. The advent of jet flight allowed the masses to venture to destinations that only aristocracy could once afford, which in turn generated a greater need for primary healthcare management. The GP is therefore the point of access to these healthcare packages and consequently plays a pivotal role in enabling tourists to travel safely. This responsibility is deeply intertwined with the historic increase in accessibility to affordable flight. The first British commercial jetliner was the de Havilland Comet in 1949. This aircraft enabled more people to travel further, as well as reducing the price of tickets substantially. The GP during this age would have played an important role in ensuring that passengers were fit to fly, by managing their pre-flight healthcare requirements. The Boeing 707 soon joined the aviation world in 1957 and dramatically changed the way we travelled; it opened flight corridors that were once untenable, and consequently, accessed a greater consumer market - the working classes. In 1969, Boeing unveiled the revolutionary 747, coined the “Jumbo Jet” due to its sheer size, which resulted in greater passenger capacity and far more affordable tickets. With such quantum leaps forward in jet aviation, by the mid-70s the British GP was providing care and advice to thousands of travellers from all walks of life, different backgrounds and with all manner of pre-existing health conditions. The workload of the GP thus became much more diverse and they gained great responsibility in permitting the public to exercise their freedom to travel safely. Just as jet flight was once an exclusive mode of transport for those from higher socio-economic backgrounds, spaceflight has now emerged onto the world market with exclusive and expensive tickets to fly. Undoubtedly, spaceflight will become more affordable in the coming years and decades, and as such will inevitably require a more established initial healthcare access point for travellers- a service that GPs could provide. As space tourism flights become more accessible through lower prices and increased provision, the remit of travel healthcare provided by general practice could evolve in the near future to encompass spaceflight health clearance.
The James Webb Space Telescope (NASA) is currently overwhelming scientists and us all with spectacular pictures from deep space. Meanwhile, we humans who still have our feet firmly planted on Earth, continue to take our cosmic photos, which also have the power to mesmerise and inspire us. I took this shot of our natural satellite last night (11 July 22), and although there was the interference of some turbulence in the upper atmosphere, the beautiful Moon continued to embellish the night skies over Fagnano Castello, a town located in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy.
Author: Enric Garcia Torrents, MSc, PhD candidateMedical Anthropology Research Center, Universitat Rovira i Virgili The main role of a medical anthropologist is to study human health, the whole range of actual and potential care systems, and the ways in which biocultural adaptations emerge, succeed or fail from a transdisciplinary, multidimensional and ecological perspective. We contemplate the processes and situations from within and outside the limits of our own culture, and even our own civilisation, from a long-range evolutionary perspective to the minute details of small social networks analysis. We dive deep into the complexities and repeating patterns with a skill set and toolkit as sharp, in many cases, as that of a fully trained physician-scientist, being able to engage constructively in laboratory, fieldwork and clinical practice. “It is possible that the greatest contribution that anthropology can make will be to keep men's imaginations open, as they tend to let the predictable hardware coerce the form of the software.” Space medical anthropologists, on the other hand, are bound to take the whole field of medical anthropology one step further and even beyond, daring to question what it is to be a healthy human today, what it may mean to be so tomorrow, and indeed, what the near future might bring, depending on what we decide to do at this point in history. Most importantly, space medical anthropologists work on how to achieve this healthy state by skillfully setting the stage here and now, maximising humanity’s chance for a sustainable way onward to the stars. As for myself, nowadays I'm a scholar working as a doctoral candidate at a Medical Anthropology Research Center while undertaking medical studies (MD-PhD student-researcher, second and third year within the dual degree). I have previous academic background in neuroscience and smart systems, and currently a contract from the Spanish Ministry of Universities to undertake research on mental health and clinical decision making for choosing the best possible treatments for each individual, funded from a future professor’s training programme. My work on space medical anthropology is rather narrow, focusing almost exclusively on figuring out the best ways for people to withstand extreme experiences without losing mental acuity, exploring optimal solutions to boosting cognitive performance, resilience and overall wellbeing in situations of acute and profound distress.
Authors: The Team: Life - To & BeyondAn initiative to carry out research & outreach activities related to Astrobiology & Space-allied Studies 'Life' is the most dynamic entity known to humanity and is central to our existence. In this, 'Space Sciences' is one of the most multi-disciplinary fields of human endeavour. Therefore, to celebrate the interdependence between 'Life' and 'Space', we, as a group of space enthusiasts, initiated a non-profit community named "Life- To & Beyond" or "L-T&B" on the 8th of February, 2022. Why us? Life- To implies Astrobiology, i.e. the scientific study of the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the cosmos, and Life- Beyond implies Space-Allied Studies, i.e. humanity's current efforts to move beyond our planet and simultaneously conserve its novelty. Thus, as our name implies, we aspire to figure out more about Life and Space, which, in turn, are the two sides of the same coin, known as the 'Universe'. Our Vision and Mission:
We, the members of team L-T&B, firmly believe that 'to explore is to be Human', and so, we rejoice 'Life' as a 'Cosmic Phenomenon' by attempting to: • Figure out the chronicle of our past (i.e. from the big bang and even beyond to conscious life on earth); • Work on our present (i.e. our current efforts to move beyond our planet and at the very same time conserve its unique richness); and • Create a glorious future for humans (i.e. our ultimate fate in the universe). Furthermore, we have the vision to generate awareness and create an impact in every community and country in the world by creating local or accessible opportunities for learning and research concerning Space sciences and STEAM fields with a special focus on Astrobiology and Space-Allied Studies (i.e., Space Pharmacy, Space Biotechnology, Analog missions, Space robotics, space architecture, etc.). To turn our vision into a reality, we vow to engage in Research, Communication, and Outreach concerning our focus areas. Additionally, to spice up our enterprise, we work towards bringing about an intra-, inter-, multi-, and trans-disciplinary approach in whatever we do, including making quality education and research opportunities (and facilities) available to all. To fuel this initiative, we have taken the onerous on us to share information about events and opportunities related to space sciences with all. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a well-established part of basic life support (BLS), having saved countless lives since its first development in the 1960s. External chest compressions (ECCs), which form the main part of BLS, must be carried out until Advanced Life Support can begin. It is essential that ECCs are performed to the correct depth and frequency to guarantee effectiveness. The absence of gravity during spaceflight means that performing ECCs is more challenging. The likelihood of a dangerous cardiac event occurring during a space mission is remote, however, the possibility does exist. Nowadays, the selection process for space missions considers individuals at ages and with health standards that would have prohibited their selection in the past. With increased age, less stringent health requirements, longer duration missions and increased physical labour, due to a rise in orbital extravehicular activity, the risk of an acute life-threatening condition occurring in space has become of greater concern. The advent of space tourism may even enhance this possibility, with its popularity set to rise over the coming years as private companies test their new technology. Therefore, space scientists and physicians will have a greater responsibility to ensure space travellers, whether professional astronauts or space tourists, are adequately trained and familiarised with extraterrestrial BLS and CPR methods. Recently, work has been undertaken to develop methods of basic and advanced life support in microgravity and hypogravity, and several CPR techniques have been developed and tested. This blog presents one of these, the Evetts-Russomano MicroG CPR Method. Evetts-Russomano MicroG CPR Method In the Evetts-Russomano (ER) method, the rescuer can respond immediately, as it requires no additional CPR equipment/medication or the use of a restraint system. To assume the position, the rescuer places their left leg over the right shoulder of the patient and their right leg around the patient’s torso, allowing their ankles to be crossed approximately in the centre of the patient’s back; this is to provide stability and a solid platform against which to deliver force, without the patient being pushed away. From this position, chest compressions can be performed while still retaining easy access to perform ventilation. When adopting the ER CPR method, the rescuer must be situated in a manner that also allows sufficient space on the patient’s chest for the correct positioning of their hands to deliver the chest compressions. Extraterrestrial CPR simulation The main difference between extraterrestrial and terrestrial CPR is the strength of the gravitational field. In microgravity, patient and rescuer are both essentially weightless. When thinking about the technique of terrestrial CPR, with the rescuer accelerating their chest and upper body to generate a force to compress the patient’s chest, it is obvious that this cannot work in microgravity without significant aids. To this end, the ER CPR method has been developed using a ground-based microG simulation, during parabolic flights, and subsequently tested under-water! Video credits: Ground-based MicroG Simulation (land) = Space Researcher Lucas Rehnberg, MD (MicroG Center PUCRS, Brazil) Parabolic Flight MicroG Simulation (air)= Researchers = Thais Russomano, Simon Evetts, Lisa Evetts & João Castro (ESA 29th Parabolic Flight Campaign, Bordeaux, France) Underwater MicroG Simulation (water) = Sea King Dive Center, Chengdu, China - Instructor Gang Wei; Chinese Space First Responder & Space Researcher/Instructor Chris Yuan A project of InnovaSpace, PECA and Guangxi Diving Paradise Club, China Free Resource: Extraterrestrial CPR and Its Applications in Terrestrial Medicine
Authors: Thais Russomano, Lucas Rehnberg In book: Resuscitation Aspects, Ed: Theodoros Aslanidis Publisher: IntechOpen 2017 See Download Link at https://www.innovaspace.org/chapters.html Girls from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have launched nanosatellites to analyse air pollution, as reported by the UNICEF Office in Kyrgyzstan. According to the organisation, three nanosatellites were created by participants of the UniSat educational program, within a joint project between UNICEF and the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. The organisation further reported that - "nanosatellites, which belong to the class of small spacecraft, weigh up to 10 kilograms and are equipped with several cameras, one of which is capable of capturing elliptical images of the Earth with 4K resolution. During launch, UniSats allow you to capture stunning high-resolution images of the Earth and space. Sensors collect data on radiation, pressure, gravity, light and gas composition, and large amounts of data, video and images are sent back to Earth for analysis." "The launch of the nanosatellites is symbolic. It demonstrates the limitless potential of girls and women in Central Asia. Their ability to push the boundaries of science and technology. We are extremely pleased that this year we were able to include 2,000 female participants from the three countries in the program and inspire them to continue their education and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. We believe that the results of the UniSAT program will bring a cosmic change in society." The nanosatellites were created by the girls as part of a 10-day marathon. The project participants mastered the design, engineering, programming, and assembly of the spacecraft. They were able to visit the centre for space technology and remote sensing, and the theoretical knowledge they gained was immediately put in practice during the classes. Under the mentors’ guidance, they designed nanosatellite bodies using 3D modelling and printed them on a 3D printer. The girls also programmed UniSat subsystems and tested them in the lab before launch. "In Kyrgyzstan, only one in three girls aged 15-19 is computer literate, and more than 80 percent of girls choose social and human sciences. But how much do these choices reflect girls’ professional interests and aspirations? That’s why UNICEF launched Girls in Science in 2020 to help them expand their horizons, overcome gender stereotypes, and make their career choices. Every year, more than 10,000 girls join the initiative and more girls gain confidence in developing a career in science. In this context, the nanosatellite launch event is not only the result of two years of work for us, but also an inspiration for the potential of girls and our youth." The UniSat program is supported by the Dubai Cares International Education Foundation, Clé de Peau Beauté brand, and philanthropist Nazanin Alakija Article originally published (28/03/2022) in Russian on the website 24.Kg - LINK
Our thanks to Myrza Karimov (University of Central Asia) for supplying InnovaSpace with the version translated into English Tiyoko HashimotoInstrutora de mergulho livre, mergulho autônomo e mergulhadora em formação no mergulho profissional raso LinkedIn Profile O mergulho faz parte de uma série de habilidades para quem busca a carreira astronáutica. Por quê? A água é cerca de 800 vezes mais densa que o ar, o que dificulta a movimentação subaquática, exigindo além de mais esforço, uma movimentação mais lenta para evitar fadiga que pode levar mergulhadores inexperientes a até abortar o mergulho. Além disso, a flutuabilidade neutra, ou seja, a capacidade de "boiar" na água permite que o praticante tenha a sensação semelhante à da microgravidade. Para fazer uso da flutuabilidade neutra como treinamento, as agências espaciais têm usado, ao longo dos anos, laboratórios subaquáticos como o NBL (Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory), localizado em Houston, no Texas, Estados Unidos e que faz parte do complexo da NASA. Segundo a NASA, possui 61,21 metros de comprimento, 30,90 de largura e 12,12 metros de profundidade e permite treinamentos como caminhadas espaciais, comunicação e segurança, além de permitir testes com equipamentos de vídeo e trajes espaciais. Na ESA (Agência Espacial Europeia), em Colônia, Alemanha, os astronautas são certificados no nível de mergulhadores de resgate. Esse conhecimento, segundo a ESA, permite melhor desempenho dos astronautas nas caminhadas espaciais e permite que previnam problemas e saibam lidar com emergências de modo adequado.
De acordo com a NASA, os astronautas utilizam nitrox (mistura de nitrogênio com uma porcentagem maior de oxigênio, também conhecido como ar enriquecido no mergulho) durante as sessões de treinamento no NBL. No mergulho dependente saturado não há perda de ar, nem se solta bolhas, como ocorre no mergulho recreativo. Todo o material exalado durante um mergulho saturado, que pode ir até 320 metros de profundidade, é recaptado, reciclado, para depois ser usado novamente na respiração. Isso ocorre porque o gás em questão, além do oxigênio, é o hélio, que tem um custo bastante elevado.
Our thanks go to space enthusiast Ermis Divinis, aged 11, who used his digital media skills to create this fun summary of the Mars rovers, which have provided the scientific community with so much valuable data about the Red Planet. Enjoy!
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