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Geochemistry of polymict ureilite EET83309, and a partially-disruptive impact model for ureilite origin

Bulk-compositional data for the EET83309 polymict ureilite were obtained using INAA and radiochemistry procedures and electron probe analysis. It was found that the EET83309 has a bulk composition indistinguishable from ordinary ('monomict') ureilites for all elements except light-middle REEs (which are present in much higher concentrations), suggesting that polymict ureilites are mixtures of ordinary ureilites which were mixed on a very small number of parent bodies. Despite the light-REE enrichments, polymict ureilites are nearly devoid of basaltic (Al-rich) material. It is suggested that the missing basalt may have been blown off the parent body by a partially disruptive collision with a large C-rich projectile. This impact model of ureilite origin reconciles many paradoxical aspects of ureilite composition.

Warren, Paul H.

A Hypothesis on Biological Protection from Space Radiation Through the Use of New Therapeutic Gases

Radiation exposure to astronauts could be a significant obstacle for long duration manned space exploration because of current uncertainties regarding the extent of biological effects. Furthermore, concepts for protective shielding also pose a technically challenging issue due to the nature of cosmic radiation and current mass and power constraints with modern exploration technology. The concern regarding exposure to cosmic radiation is the biological damage it induces. As damage is associated with increased oxidative stress, it is important and would be enabling to mitigate and/or prevent oxidative stress prior to the development of clinical symptoms and disease. This paper hypothesizes a "systems biology" approach in which a combination of chemical and biological mitigation techniques are used conjunctively. It proposes using new, therapeutic, medical gases as both chemical radioprotectors for radical scavenging and biological signaling molecules for management of the body s response to exposure. From reviewing radiochemistry of water, biological effects of CO, H2, NO, and H2S gas, and mechanisms of radiation biology, it is concluded that this approach may have great therapeutic potential for radiation exposure. Furthermore, it also appears to have similar potential for curtailing the pathogenesis of other diseases in which oxidative stress has been implicated including, cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic inflammatory disease, hypertension, ischemia/reperfusion injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome, parkinson s and alzheimer s disease, cataracts, and aging

Schoenfeld, Michael P.

A Hypothesis on Biological Protection from Space Radiation Through the Use of New Therapeutic Gases as Medical Counter Measures

Radiation exposure to astronauts could be a significant obstacle for long duration manned space exploration because of current uncertainties regarding the extent of biological effects. Furthermore, concepts for protective shielding also pose a technically challenging issue due to the nature of cosmic radiation and current mass and power constraints with modern exploration technology. The concern regarding exposure to cosmic radiation is the biological damage it induces. As damage is associated with increased oxidative stress, it is important and would be enabling to mitigate and/or prevent oxidative stress prior to the development of clinical symptoms and disease. This paper hypothesizes a "systems biology" approach in which a combination of chemical and biological mitigation techniques are used conjunctively. It proposes using new, therapeutic, medical gases as both chemical radioprotectors for radical scavenging and biological signaling molecules for management of the body s response to exposure. From reviewing radiochemistry of water, biological effects of CO, H2, NO, and H2S gas, and mechanisms of radiation biology, it is concluded that this approach may have great therapeutic potential for radiation exposure. Furthermore, it also appears to have similar potential for curtailing the pathogenesis of other diseases in which oxidative stress has been implicated including cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic inflammatory disease, hypertension, ischemia/reperfusion injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome, Parkinson s and Alzheimer s disease, cataracts, and aging.

Schoenfeld, Michael P.

A Hypothesis on Biological Protection from Space Radiation Through the Use of New Therapeutic Gases

Radiation exposure to astronauts could be a significant obstacle for long duration manned space exploration because of current uncertainties regarding the extent of biological effects. Furthermore, concepts for protective shielding also pose a technically challenging issue due to the nature of cosmic radiation and current mass and power constraints with modern exploration technology. The concern regarding exposure to cosmic radiation is the biological damage it induces. As damage is associated with increased oxidative stress, it is important and would be enabling to mitigate and/or prevent oxidative stress prior to the development of clinical symptoms and disease. This paper hypothesizes a "systems biology" approach in which a combination of chemical and biological mitigation techniques are used conjunctively. It proposes using new, therapeutic, medical gases as both chemical radioprotectors for radical scavenging and biological signaling molecules for management of the body s response to exposure. From reviewing radiochemistry of water, biological effects of CO, H2, NO, and H2S gas, and mechanisms of radiation biology, it is concluded that this approach may have great therapeutic potential for radiation exposure. Furthermore, it also appears to have similar potential for curtailing the pathogenesis of other diseases in which oxidative stress has been implicated including cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic inflammatory disease, hypertension, ischemia/reperfusion injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome, Parkinson s and Alzheimer s disease, cataracts, and aging.

Schoenfeld, Michael P.

A Hypothesis on Biological Protection from Space Radiation Through the Use of New Therapeutic Gases as Medical Counter Measures

Exposure to astronauts could be a significant obstacle for long duration manned space exploration because of current uncertainties regarding the extent of biological effects. Furthermore, concepts for protective shielding also pose a technically challenging issue due to the nature of cosmic radiation and current mass and power constraints with modern exploration technology. As biological damage from exposure is associated with increased oxidative stress, it would be enabling to mitigate and/or prevent stress prior to the development of clinical symptoms and disease. This paper hypothesizes a "systems biology" approach in which a combination of chemical and biological mitigation techniques are used conjunctively. It proposes using new, therapeutic, medical gases as both chemical radioprotectors for radical scavenging and biological promoters for management of the body s response to exposure. From reviewing radiochemistry of water, biological effects of CO, H2, NO, and H2S gas, and mechanisms of radiation biology, it is concluded that this approach may have great therapeutic potential for exposure. Furthermore, it also appears to have potential for curtailing the pathogenesis of other diseases in which oxidative stress has been implicated including cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic inflammatory disease, hypertension, ischemia/reperfusion injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome, Parkinson s and Alzheimer s disease, cataracts, and aging.

Schoenfeld, Michael P.

Efficiency of a radiophotoluminescence glass dosemeter for low-earth-orbit space radiation

Chips of a radiophotoluminescence glass dosemeter (RPLG) were used for measurements of space radiation during a 9.8 d Shuttle-Mir mission (STS-91) at an altitude of 400 km and an inclination of 51.65 degrees. Two of RPLG chips were put into each of 59 positions in or on a life-size human phantom. The RPLG values equivalent to 137Cs gamma ray absorbed doses were found to be systematically lower than those of a Mg2SiO4:Tb thermoluminescence dosemeter (TDMS). In comparison with the organ or tissue absorbed dose and dose equivalent values that were estimated using a combination of TDMS and plastic nuclear track detectors, the efficiencies of the RPLG chips were about 80% for the water absorbed dose and about 40% for the dose equivalent. Whereas the percentage values will change during different missions, such additional information obtained from small RPLG chips is useful for improving the reliability of radiation dosimetry in space.

NASA Discipline Radiation Health

Radiolysis of aqueous solutions of acetic acid in the presence of Na-montmorillonite

The gamma-irradiation of 0.8 mol dm-3 aqueous, oxygen-free acetic acid solutions was investigated in the presence or absence of Na-montmorillonite. H2, CH4, CO, CO2, and several polycarboxylic acids were formed in all systems. The primary characteristics observed in the latter system were: (1) Higher yield of the decomposition of acetic acid; (2) Lower yield of the formation of polycarboxylic acids; (3) No effect on the formation of methane; (4) Higher yield of the formation of carbon dioxide; and (5) The reduction of Fe3+ in the octahedral sites of Na-montmorillonite. A possible reaction scheme was proposed to account for the observed changes. The results are important in understanding heterogeneous processes in radiation catalysis and might be significant to prebiotic chemistry.

Non-NASA Center

Wall effects observed in tissue-equivalent proportional counters from 1.05 GeV/nucleon iron-56 particles

Tissue-equivalent proportional counters (TEPCs) have been used to measure energy deposition in simulated volumes of tissue ranging in diameter from 0.1 to 10 microm. There has been some concern that the wall used to define the volume of interest could influence energy deposition within the sensitive volume because it has a density significantly greater than that of the cavity gas. These effects become important for high-velocity heavy ions. Measurements of energy deposition were made for 1 GeV/nucleon iron particles in a TEPC simulating a 1-microm-diameter sphere of tissue. The TEPC was nested within a particle spectrometer that provided identification and flight path of individual particles. Energy deposition was studied as a function of pathlength through the TEPC. Approximately 30% of the energy transfer along trajectories through the center of the detector escapes the sensitive volume. The response of the TEPC, for trajectories through the detector, is always larger than calculations for energy loss in a homogeneous medium. This enhancement is greatest for trajectories near the cavity/wall interface. An integration of the response indicates that charged-particle equilibrium is essentially achieved for a wall thickness of 2.54 mm. However, estimates of the linear energy transfer for the incident particles are influenced by these wall effects.

Non-NASA Center

Effect of high-dose irradiation on the optically stimulated luminescence of Al2O3:C

This paper examines the effect of high-dose irradiation on the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) of Al2O3:C, principally on the shape of the OSL decay curve and on the OSL sensitivity. The effect of the degree of deep trap filling on the OSL was also studied by monitoring the sensitivity changes after doses of beta irradiation and after step-annealing of samples previously irradiated with high doses. The OSL response to dose shows a linear-supralinear-saturation behavior, with a decrease in the response for doses higher than those required for saturation. This behavior correlates with the sensitivity changes observed in the samples annealed only to 773 K, which show sensitization for doses up to 20-50 Gy and desensitization for higher doses. Data from the step-annealing study leads to the suggestion that the sensitization is caused by the filling of deep electron traps, which become thermally unstable at 1100-1200 K, whereas the desensitization is caused by the filling of deep hole traps, which become thermally unstable at 800-875 K, along with a concomitant decrease in the concentration of recombination centers (F+ -centers). Changes in the shape of the OSL decay curves are also observed at high doses, the decay becoming faster as the dose increases. These changes in the OSL decay curves are discussed in terms of multiple overlapping components, each characterized by different photoionization cross-sections. However, using numerical solutions of the rate equations for a simple model consisting of a main trap and a recombination center, it is shown that the kinetics of OSL process may also be partially responsible for the changes in the OSL curves at high doses in Al2O3:C. Finally, the implication of these results for the dosimetry of heavy charged particles is discussed. c2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Heavy Ions