Space Medicine

jfenciso · 2018-10-29 05:25:05

This thread will be used to talk about possible health issue of the Martian settlers. We shouldn't set aside this kind of issue.

IanM · 2018-10-29 07:38:44

There's this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHO_Model … _Medicines

I think vaccinations should be mandatory in the absence of medical contraindications for travel to Mars.

louis · 2018-10-29 09:03:39

One aspect of health on Mars is that it is very likely that the lack of pathogens will be as dangerous as their presence. At least, we know that the immune system is not being activated much while people are in space, and this seems to have longer term consequences. We also know that people with poorly functioning immune systems can suffer ill health as a result. We don't know whether the effects of being on Mars for say 5 or 6 years might be quite deleterious to health, because the immune system will cease to function in the sterile conditions of Mars habs.

That may be an argument for more vaccination - not to protect health but to keep the immune system functioning. Or maybe Mars colonists will be required to take a kind of bio yoghurt each day that includes some (mild) pathogens.

SpaceNut · 2018-10-29 20:19:09

Natural medicines is probably closer to what jfenciso is thinking as in herbal and other such

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_p … _herbalism

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/arti … lants.aspx

https://themysteriousworld.com/top-15-m … al-plants/

We no longer eat a healthy meal with these in consideration as to what they do for the body.

Health Benefits Of Ginger
Ginger juice can balance digestive process.
Improves the nutrients absorption power of body.
Anti-inflammatory properties of ginger can cure joint pain.
Ginger could keep away nausea in post surgery.
Help to fight against cancer, diabetics and asthma
Clear and charge up the micro-circulatory channels of the body.

IanM · 2018-10-29 21:37:11

I'd be somewhat wary of herbal remedies and also bring along the WHO's List of Essential Medicines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHO_Model … _Medicines. That said, Chamomile does sound good for a cold or so, and aspirin can be derived from willow bark.

louis · 2018-10-30 03:01:19

Will Martian colonists get colds? Colds are caught from other people...assuming your colonists are screened before departure, they shouldn't be catching any colds...

There are some viruses that lie dormant in the human body e.g. in cold sores, STDs etc...those could be communicated presumably and it is probably those which we need to be focussed on.

IanM wrote:

I'd be somewhat wary of herbal remedies and also bring along the WHO's List of Essential Medicines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHO_Model … _Medicines. That said, Chamomile does sound good for a cold or so, and aspirin can be derived from willow bark.

knightdepaix · 2018-12-05 16:40:02

For analysis of samples in medical, pharmaceutical case, how about using gas chromatography and Argon as carrier gas?

SpaceNut · 2018-12-05 17:16:24

Do you mean for a mars grown sample return that was for testing of contaminants?

knightdepaix · 2018-12-06 22:37:55

I meant a chromatography facility at the settler base that use locally sourced supercritical carbon dioxide for liquid chromatography (LC) and hydrogen from water splitting for gas chromatography (GC). Specialized GC uses Argon.

The hydrogen waste from GC is reacted with the Martian carbon dioxide to regenerate water that is going to be splitted again for hydrogen and methanol. The methanol, that represented the waste and unused hydrogen content, is stored together with locally sourced methane to be converted to hydrocarbons.

If a local source of nitrogen is mined, the hydrogen waste content is the feedstock for manufacturing ammonia.

Most technologies associated with those chemical reactions are all known or in protection for chemicals.

Chromatography facility can perform many experiments and testings, not just on medicine, but also mining, agricultural, chemical, pharmaceutical aspects of the settlement.

Last edited by knightdepaix (2018-12-06 22:39:44)

Void · 2019-01-24 22:32:09

I am posting about some indications that gum disease and perhaps other infections could be related to some types of dementia.

Alzheimer’s specifically, some of you might already have encountered this.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/21 … o-stop-it/
Quote:

We may finally know what causes Alzheimer’s – and how to stop it

Although this could be a dead end, I am reminded that when I was much younger, it was not known what caused stomach ulcers.
Doctors, if I remember right prescribed restrictive diets. I recall an article indicating that a foreign country's doctors decided it was pickles that caused ulcers.

And now I believe that ulcers in the stomach are in part caused by a microbe (H. pylori) which is treatable with anti-biotics.

Well if we go into space and people get dementia, that will not be good, it will be troublesome. So, this then is an issue for space medicine, if these people are not to be returned to Earth.

And of course if people on Earth continue to get dementia, this then is an economic burden, which I would like to see disappear, for more that one reason. It is an illness of great magnitude, and the money could be better spent on other things. More money to develop space is one part of the possibilities.

So, then I make some people more aware of a possibility that may benefit us all.

……

But I do have an idea which is fairly obvious so it may already be being addressed.

The notion connects to the fact that I have had relatives die some of who did have dentures at a young age, and some who keep there teeth into their death in their mid 80's.

So I don't know for sure, maybe if you have dentures can you still have gum disease? Maybe they don't get all your roots out? These things I don't know.

But if you have an elderly population and statistics on dentures (Who got them and at what age), and gum disease (or other infections), and who got alzheimers, couldn't you compile statistics on that, and get some probabilities of a relationship?

It is possible that if you got dentures at a very young age then you did have gum disease. But the people I know who did say get them after teen age, are were quite sharp to the end of their days. One is passed and one now has parkenson's, but that is a whole different thing I suspect.

It is a vague guess based on speculation and just a few observations, but I felt it might be good to point out that possibility.

Done.

Last edited by Void (2019-01-24 22:42:59)

jfenciso · 2020-12-02 04:39:26

Speaking about facts, what are the common health issues experienced by the astronaut in space? What I know about their sickness is muscle dystrophy, and the vision was affected by microgravity due to the changes of pressure in the eye. We need to list down the health issues and look for plants that have medicinal properties to treat that sickness.

Kindly share with me a scientific paper or review paper about the health issues in space.

kbd512 · 2020-12-02 12:39:12

jfenciso,

Here's a link to the famous "twins study" that NASA recently reported the results on:

The NASA Twins Study: A multidimensional analysis of a year-long human spaceflight

"Health Standards for Long Duration and Exploration Space Flight" would be a good read for understanding how astronaut health issues are dealt with by NASA.

As I understand it, the primary issues are muscle atrophy, especially the cardiac muscle and the muscles in the lower body, bone demineralization, visual acuity changes, and changes to the immune system response. Beyond that, any flight within or outside of Earth's protective Van Allen belts is subject to heavy doses of ionizing radiation from our Sun and far more energetic relativistic ions, colloquially known as GCRs (Galactic Cosmic Rays), which are mostly Hydrogen ions accelerated by supernovas to near the speed of light, which can be shielded against using passive means, along with much heavier relativistic ions up to Iron, for which there is no practical material with acceptable weight for passive absorption of the energy imparted by those ions. Thankfully, most GCRs (90%+) are Hydrogen and Helium ions.

Artificial gravity takes care of every significantly deleterious human health effect from long duration space flight except radiation exposure, most of which can be mitigated by using UHMWPE (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) or BNNT (Boron Nitride NanoTubes) or LH2 (Liquid Hydrogen) or other similar Hydrogen-rich or Boron-rich substances for spacecraft.

On the surface of Mars or a large orbiting body like Phobos or Deimos or Earth's own moon, habitat modules can be buried under 2 meters of Martian or lunar regolith to provide Earth sea level protection against all forms of cosmic background radiation. Strictly speaking, no tunnels have to be excavated since a small electric Bobcat-type skid steer front loader can bury the habitat modules after they're arranged and connected on the Martian or lunar surface.

The best place to be, from a human health perspective, as it pertains to radiation, is the surface of another rotating planet, because that immediately blocks 1/2 of all incoming radiation by virtue of having the entire mass of the entire planet behind you to intercept the incoming radiation stream. That principle applies to pretty much any planetary body.

From the perspective of human physiology, if we could figure out how to live indefinitely in the clouds of Venus at an altitude of about 50km above the surface of that planet, then that is the most ideal "second home" within our solar system, on account of the temperature, pressure, radiation protection, gravity, and abundance of sunlight provided. No other destination in our solar system, certainly not Mars, even comes close to the stratosphere of Venus in terms of livability. The surface of Venus is quite hellish in nature, but the surface and 50km into the atmosphere present drastically different living conditions. That said, nobody here on Earth complains that they can't live at the bottom of the Marianas Trench. However, the key is figuring out how to make blimps or balloons survive indefinitely the Venusian atmosphere. Pure Oxygen or some combination of Oxygen and Nitrogen is a lifting gas on Venus. You need fluoropolymers to resist sulfuric acid attack to achieve that. The sulfuric acid itself can be collected from the clouds and transformed into liquid water by combing the Hydrogen from the acid with Oxygen from the CO2. High grade stainless steels would have no trouble resisting the surface temperatures and pressures for mining and refining of metals or other elements from the surface of Venus, not that people living in plastic or synthetic fabric blimps would have need for lots of those materials. All that CO2 could be transformed into CNT fibers for blimp envelopes with a fluoropolymer plastic film applied for acid resistance. To go outside at 50km up, you only need a lightweight chemical suit and oxygen tank, since temperatures and pressures would approximate Earth sea level at that altitude above the surface of Venus.

tahanson43206 · 2020-12-02 14:22:13

For kbd512 re #12 - Thanks for another of your classic posts!

SearchTerm:Venus life on in stratosphere
SearchTerm:Mars life on at surface

(th)

SpaceNut · 2020-12-02 18:05:23

Portsmouth NH ha Lanza medical manufacturing plant that is Hugh in terms of making medications. So maybe we need some old time herbalists or medicine men for hire to know what to initially grow beyond what medications we will take with us.

jfenciso · 2020-12-02 23:00:24

SpaceNut wrote:

Portsmouth NH ha Lanza medical manufacturing plant that is Hugh in terms of making medications. So maybe we need some old time herbalists or medicine men for hire to know what to initially grow beyond what medications we will take with us.

We need to study the application of ethnobotany for space exploration. It is a good start to explore more things about space medicine.

Mars_B4_Moon · 2021-05-29 19:48:46

Meet the 'robot' saving lives at Mercy Hospital of Buffalo
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/buffa … ng-surgery

Mars_B4_Moon · 2021-07-14 05:46:33

Scientists Say They’ve Created Candy That Heals Tooth Enamel
https://futurism.com/neoscope/candy-heals-tooth-enamel

SpaceNut · 2021-07-14 20:24:05

Now where are the bags full....

of course the robots are being used in covid wards too which is a step towards space medical use.

Mars_B4_Moon · 2021-12-21 03:30:42

Some more biological experiment news on the ISS

Research into ageing set to blast into space
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/rese … into-space

SpaceX is launching human muscle cells into space as part of a study that hopes to uncover the secrets of ageing
https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex- … ng-2021-12

ISS Artificial Gravity Study Shows Promise For Long Duration Spaceflight
https://hackaday.com/2021/06/08/iss-art … aceflight/

Void · 2021-12-21 17:03:59

I am glad that Japan did that starting work.

I think 1/6 g and 1/3 g could be informative in the future.

Done.

Calliban · 2021-12-22 05:04:40

louis wrote:

One aspect of health on Mars is that it is very likely that the lack of pathogens will be as dangerous as their presence. At least, we know that the immune system is not being activated much while people are in space, and this seems to have longer term consequences. We also know that people with poorly functioning immune systems can suffer ill health as a result. We don't know whether the effects of being on Mars for say 5 or 6 years might be quite deleterious to health, because the immune system will cease to function in the sterile conditions of Mars habs.
That may be an argument for more vaccination - not to protect health but to keep the immune system functioning. Or maybe Mars colonists will be required to take a kind of bio yoghurt each day that includes some (mild) pathogens.

This is an interesting question. One of the problems contributing to 'diseases of civilisation' is that the western diet does not promote good gut health, which depends upon a complex balance of bacteria. This is a difficult problem to put right even on Earth, because some of the paleolithic bacteria may have gone extinct. It will be more difficult still on Mars, which has no native microbial biome, or at least, not one that we can make use of.

Viral immunity is another matter. Do we attempt to purposefully introduce the common cold in order to allow colonists to build immunity?

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-03-21 10:12:38

Medicine on Mars: How To Maintain Health on the Red Planet
https://www.digitaltrends.com/features/ … e-on-mars/

Mars mission could bring health benefits on Earth.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01665-3

How Bad is the Radiation on Mars?
https://www.universetoday.com/14979/mars-radiation1/

NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft was equipped with a special instrument called the Martian Radiation Experiment (or MARIE), which was designed to measure the radiation environment around Mars. Since Mars has such a thin atmosphere, radiation detected by Mars Odyssey would be roughly the same as on the surface.
Over the course of about 18 months, the Mars Odyssey probe detected ongoing radiation levels which are 2.5 times higher than what astronauts experience on the International Space Station – 22 millirads per day, which works out to 8000 millirads (8 rads) per year. The spacecraft also detected 2 solar proton events, where radiation levels peaked at about 2,000 millirads in a day, and a few other events that got up to about 100 millirads.

Living in outer space: Changes in blood flow volume
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 … 134512.htm

How Much Radiation Would You Get During A Mars Mission
https://www.universetoday.com/107093/ho … s-mission/

Leveraging Space To Advance Stem Cell Science
http://spaceref.com/international-space … icine.html
'once the body is exposed to low-gravity conditions for extended periods of time, it experiences accelerated bone loss and aging.'

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-06-08 08:34:23

Doctors Take Out Patient's Damaged Liver, Transplant It Back After Treating It
https://www.newsweek.com/doctors-take-o … it-1713686

Gel that repairs heart attack damage could improve health of millions
https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 … h-millions

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-08-08 12:16:08

Will Mars have Virus Lockdowns, Compulsory Flu Shots and you are Legally Bound to take Vaccination?

Russia's official toll of COVID-related deaths exceeds 820,000
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ru … 022-08-05/

Newly Elected President of Costa Rica: "As of today… any action taken against anyone who does not want to be vaccinated is an action that is against the law.”
https://twitter.com/TexasLindsay_/statu … 5709587458

Shaun Ryder, singer with British band the Happy Mondays, thinks the sudden death of his brother and bandmate Paul may be related to getting the Covid booster
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/a … death.html

Covid vaccine: Fertility and miscarriage claims fact-checked
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57552527

If you were infected with COVID-19 during the first Omicron wave, you 'really don't have a lot of good protection' against the BA.5 subvariant: Fauci
https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-p … ba5-2022-7

SpaceNut · 2022-08-08 19:44:22

Covid is the gift that keeps on giving....So how would one isolate in a bubble on mars that has everyone else with a level of risk?

New Mars Forums

Announcement

#1 2018-10-29 05:25:05

Space Medicine

#2 2018-10-29 07:38:44

Re: Space Medicine

#3 2018-10-29 09:03:39

Re: Space Medicine

#4 2018-10-29 20:19:09

Re: Space Medicine

#5 2018-10-29 21:37:11

Re: Space Medicine

#6 2018-10-30 03:01:19

Re: Space Medicine

#7 2018-12-05 16:40:02

Re: Space Medicine

#8 2018-12-05 17:16:24

Re: Space Medicine

#9 2018-12-06 22:37:55

Re: Space Medicine

#10 2019-01-24 22:32:09

Re: Space Medicine

#11 2020-12-02 04:39:26

Re: Space Medicine

#12 2020-12-02 12:39:12

Re: Space Medicine

#13 2020-12-02 14:22:13

Re: Space Medicine

#14 2020-12-02 18:05:23

Re: Space Medicine

#15 2020-12-02 23:00:24

Re: Space Medicine

#16 2021-05-29 19:48:46

Re: Space Medicine

#17 2021-07-14 05:46:33

Re: Space Medicine

#18 2021-07-14 20:24:05

Re: Space Medicine

#19 2021-12-21 03:30:42

Re: Space Medicine

#20 2021-12-21 17:03:59

Re: Space Medicine

#21 2021-12-22 05:04:40

Re: Space Medicine

#22 2022-03-21 10:12:38

Re: Space Medicine

#23 2022-06-08 08:34:23

Re: Space Medicine

#24 2022-08-08 12:16:08

Re: Space Medicine

#25 2022-08-08 19:44:22

Re: Space Medicine

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