npj MicrogravityPub Date : 2024-03-15DOI: 10.1038/s41526-024-00378-4
François-Xavier Lehr, Bruno Pavletić, Timo Glatter, Thomas Heimerl, Ralf Moeller, Henrike Niederholtmeyer
{"title":"Enhanced assembly of bacteriophage T7 produced in cell-free reactions under simulated microgravity.","authors":"François-Xavier Lehr, Bruno Pavletić, Timo Glatter, Thomas Heimerl, Ralf Moeller, Henrike Niederholtmeyer","doi":"10.1038/s41526-024-00378-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41526-024-00378-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>On-demand biomanufacturing has the potential to improve healthcare and self-sufficiency during space missions. Cell-free transcription and translation reactions combined with DNA blueprints can produce promising therapeutics like bacteriophages and virus-like particles. However, how space conditions affect the synthesis and self-assembly of such complex multi-protein structures is unknown. Here, we characterize the cell-free production of infectious bacteriophage T7 virions under simulated microgravity. Rotation in a 2D-clinostat increased the number of infectious particles compared to static controls. Quantitative analyses by mass spectrometry, immuno-dot-blot and real-time PCR showed no significant differences in protein and DNA contents, suggesting enhanced self-assembly of T7 phages in simulated microgravity. While the effects of genuine space conditions on the cell-free synthesis and assembly of bacteriophages remain to be investigated, our findings support the vision of a cell-free synthesis-enabled \"astropharmacy\".</p>","PeriodicalId":54263,"journal":{"name":"npj Microgravity","volume":"10 1","pages":"30"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10943216/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140141154","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj MicrogravityPub Date : 2024-03-14DOI: 10.1038/s41526-024-00373-9
Mats Holmstrom, Mark Lester, Beatriz Sanchez-Cano
{"title":"Future opportunities in solar system plasma science through ESA's exploration programme.","authors":"Mats Holmstrom, Mark Lester, Beatriz Sanchez-Cano","doi":"10.1038/s41526-024-00373-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41526-024-00373-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The solar wind interacts with all solar system bodies, inducing different types of dynamics depending on their atmospheric and magnetic environments. We here outline some key open scientific questions related to this interaction, with a focus on the Moon and Mars, that may be addressed by future Mars and Moon missions by the European Space Agency's Human and Robotic Exploration programme. We describe possible studies of plasma interactions with bodies with and without an atmosphere, using multi-point and remote measurements, and energetic particle observations, as well as recommend some actions to take.</p>","PeriodicalId":54263,"journal":{"name":"npj Microgravity","volume":"10 1","pages":"29"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10940603/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140133212","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj MicrogravityPub Date : 2024-03-13DOI: 10.1038/s41526-024-00376-6
Björn Jörges, Nils Bury, Meaghan McManus, Ambika Bansal, Robert S Allison, Michael Jenkin, Laurence R Harris
{"title":"The effects of long-term exposure to microgravity and body orientation relative to gravity on perceived traveled distance.","authors":"Björn Jörges, Nils Bury, Meaghan McManus, Ambika Bansal, Robert S Allison, Michael Jenkin, Laurence R Harris","doi":"10.1038/s41526-024-00376-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41526-024-00376-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Self-motion perception is a multi-sensory process that involves visual, vestibular, and other cues. When perception of self-motion is induced using only visual motion, vestibular cues indicate that the body remains stationary, which may bias an observer's perception. When lowering the precision of the vestibular cue by for example, lying down or by adapting to microgravity, these biases may decrease, accompanied by a decrease in precision. To test this hypothesis, we used a move-to-target task in virtual reality. Astronauts and Earth-based controls were shown a target at a range of simulated distances. After the target disappeared, forward self-motion was induced by optic flow. Participants indicated when they thought they had arrived at the target's previously seen location. Astronauts completed the task on Earth (supine and sitting upright) prior to space travel, early and late in space, and early and late after landing. Controls completed the experiment on Earth using a similar regime with a supine posture used to simulate being in space. While variability was similar across all conditions, the supine posture led to significantly higher gains (target distance/perceived travel distance) than the sitting posture for the astronauts pre-flight and early post-flight but not late post-flight. No difference was detected between the astronauts' performance on Earth and onboard the ISS, indicating that judgments of traveled distance were largely unaffected by long-term exposure to microgravity. Overall, this constitutes mixed evidence as to whether non-visual cues to travel distance are integrated with relevant visual cues when self-motion is simulated using optic flow alone.</p>","PeriodicalId":54263,"journal":{"name":"npj Microgravity","volume":"10 1","pages":"28"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10937641/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140121336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj MicrogravityPub Date : 2024-03-12DOI: 10.1038/s41526-024-00367-7
G D Tays, K E Hupfeld, H R McGregor, N E Beltran, Y E De Dios, E Mulder, J J Bloomberg, A P Mulavara, S J Wood, R D Seidler
{"title":"Daily artificial gravity partially mitigates vestibular processing changes associated with head-down tilt bedrest.","authors":"G D Tays, K E Hupfeld, H R McGregor, N E Beltran, Y E De Dios, E Mulder, J J Bloomberg, A P Mulavara, S J Wood, R D Seidler","doi":"10.1038/s41526-024-00367-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41526-024-00367-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Microgravity alters vestibular signaling and reduces body loading, driving sensory reweighting. The unloading effects can be modelled using head-down tilt bedrest (HDT). Artificial gravity (AG) has been hypothesized to serve as an integrated countermeasure for the declines associated with HDT and spaceflight. Here, we examined the efficacy of 30 min of daily AG to counteract brain and behavior changes from 60 days of HDT. Two groups received 30 min of AG delivered via short-arm centrifuge daily (n = 8 per condition), either in one continuous bout, or in 6 bouts of 5 min. To improve statistical power, we combined these groups (AG; n = 16). Another group served as controls in HDT with no AG (CTRL; n = 8). We examined how HDT and AG affect vestibular processing by collecting fMRI scans during vestibular stimulation. We collected these data prior to, during, and post-HDT. We assessed brain activation initially in 12 regions of interest (ROIs) and then conducted an exploratory whole brain analysis. The AG group showed no changes in activation during vestibular stimulation in a cerebellar ROI, whereas the CTRL group showed decreased activation specific to HDT. Those that received AG and showed little pre- to post-HDT changes in left vestibular cortex activation had better post-HDT balance performance. Whole brain analyses identified increased pre- to during-HDT activation in CTRLs in the right precentral gyrus and right inferior frontal gyrus, whereas AG maintained pre-HDT activation levels. These results indicate that AG could mitigate activation changes in vestibular processing that is associated with better balance performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":54263,"journal":{"name":"npj Microgravity","volume":"10 1","pages":"27"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10933323/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140112191","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj MicrogravityPub Date : 2024-03-06DOI: 10.1038/s41526-024-00371-x
Stephen K Wilke, Abdulrahman Al-Rubkhi, Chihiro Koyama, Takehiko Ishikawa, Hirohisa Oda, Brian Topper, Elizabeth M Tsekrekas, Doris Möncke, Oliver L G Alderman, Vrishank Menon, Jared Rafferty, Emma Clark, Alan L Kastengren, Chris J Benmore, Jan Ilavsky, Jörg Neuefeind, Shinji Kohara, Michael SanSoucie, Brandon Phillips, Richard Weber
{"title":"Microgravity effects on nonequilibrium melt processing of neodymium titanate: thermophysical properties, atomic structure, glass formation and crystallization.","authors":"Stephen K Wilke, Abdulrahman Al-Rubkhi, Chihiro Koyama, Takehiko Ishikawa, Hirohisa Oda, Brian Topper, Elizabeth M Tsekrekas, Doris Möncke, Oliver L G Alderman, Vrishank Menon, Jared Rafferty, Emma Clark, Alan L Kastengren, Chris J Benmore, Jan Ilavsky, Jörg Neuefeind, Shinji Kohara, Michael SanSoucie, Brandon Phillips, Richard Weber","doi":"10.1038/s41526-024-00371-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41526-024-00371-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The relationships between materials processing and structure can vary between terrestrial and reduced gravity environments. As one case study, we compare the nonequilibrium melt processing of a rare-earth titanate, nominally 83TiO<sub>2</sub>-17Nd<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>, and the structure of its glassy and crystalline products. Density and thermal expansion for the liquid, supercooled liquid, and glass are measured over 300-1850 °C using the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) in microgravity, and two replicate density measurements were reproducible to within 0.4%. Cooling rates in ELF are 40-110 °C s<sup>-1</sup> lower than those in a terrestrial aerodynamic levitator due to the absence of forced convection. X-ray/neutron total scattering and Raman spectroscopy indicate that glasses processed on Earth and in microgravity exhibit similar atomic structures, with only subtle differences that are consistent with compositional variations of ~2 mol. % Nd<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>. The glass atomic network contains a mixture of corner- and edge-sharing Ti-O polyhedra, and the fraction of edge-sharing arrangements decreases with increasing Nd<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> content. X-ray tomography and electron microscopy of crystalline products reveal substantial differences in microstructure, grain size, and crystalline phases, which arise from differences in the melt processes.</p>","PeriodicalId":54263,"journal":{"name":"npj Microgravity","volume":"10 1","pages":"26"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10918169/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140050996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj MicrogravityPub Date : 2024-03-04DOI: 10.1038/s41526-024-00370-y
Alexander Lang, Stephan Binneboessel, Fabian Nienhaus, Raphael Romano Bruno, Georg Wolff, Kerstin Piayda, Susanne Pfeiler, Hakima Ezzahoini, Daniel Oehler, Malte Kelm, Holger Winkels, Norbert Gerdes, Christian Jung
{"title":"Acute and short-term fluctuations in gravity are associated with changes in circulatory plasma protein levels.","authors":"Alexander Lang, Stephan Binneboessel, Fabian Nienhaus, Raphael Romano Bruno, Georg Wolff, Kerstin Piayda, Susanne Pfeiler, Hakima Ezzahoini, Daniel Oehler, Malte Kelm, Holger Winkels, Norbert Gerdes, Christian Jung","doi":"10.1038/s41526-024-00370-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41526-024-00370-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gravitational changes between micro- and hypergravity cause several adaptations and alterations in the human body. Besides muscular atrophy and immune system impairment, effects on the circulatory system have been described, which can be associated with a wide range of blood biomarker changes. This study examined nine individuals (seven males, two females) during a parabolic flight campaign (PFC). Thirty-one parabolas were performed in one flight day, resulting in ~22 s of microgravity during each parabola. Each participant was subjected to a single flight day with a total of 31 parabolas, totaling 11 min of microgravity during one parabolic flight. Before and after (1 hour (h) and 24 h), the flights blood was sampled to examine potential gravity-induced changes of circulating plasma proteins. Proximity Extension Assay (PEA) offers a proteomic solution, enabling the simultaneous analysis of a wide variety of plasma proteins. From 2925 unique proteins analyzed, 251 (8.58%) proteins demonstrated a differential regulation between baseline, 1 h and 24 h post flight. Pathway analysis indicated that parabolic flights led to altered levels of proteins associated with vesicle organization and apoptosis up to 24 h post microgravity exposure. Varying gravity conditions are associated with poorly understood physiological changes, including stress responses and fluid shifts. We provide a publicly available library of gravity-modulated circulating protein levels illustrating numerous changes in cellular pathways relevant for inter-organ function and communication.</p>","PeriodicalId":54263,"journal":{"name":"npj Microgravity","volume":"10 1","pages":"25"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10912449/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140029607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj MicrogravityPub Date : 2024-03-01DOI: 10.1038/s41526-024-00368-6
Sutton B Richmond, Rachael D Seidler, Jeffrey J Iliff, Daniel L Schwartz, Madison Luther, Lisa C Silbert, Scott J Wood, Jacob J Bloomberg, Edwin Mulder, Jessica K Lee, Alberto De Luca, Juan Piantino
{"title":"Dynamic changes in perivascular space morphology predict signs of spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome in bed rest.","authors":"Sutton B Richmond, Rachael D Seidler, Jeffrey J Iliff, Daniel L Schwartz, Madison Luther, Lisa C Silbert, Scott J Wood, Jacob J Bloomberg, Edwin Mulder, Jessica K Lee, Alberto De Luca, Juan Piantino","doi":"10.1038/s41526-024-00368-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41526-024-00368-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>During long-duration spaceflight, astronauts experience headward fluid shifts and expansion of the cerebral perivascular spaces (PVS). A major limitation to our understanding of the changes in brain structure and physiology induced by spaceflight stems from the logistical difficulties of studying astronauts. The current study aimed to determine whether PVS changes also occur on Earth with the spaceflight analog head-down tilt bed rest (HDBR). We examined how the number and morphology of magnetic resonance imaging-visible PVS (MV-PVS) are affected by HDBR with and without elevated carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>). These environments mimic the headward fluid shifts, body unloading, and elevated CO<sub>2</sub> observed aboard the International Space Station. Additionally, we sought to understand how changes in MV-PVS are associated with signs of Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome (SANS), ocular structural alterations that can occur with spaceflight. Participants were separated into two bed rest campaigns: HDBR (60 days) and HDBR + CO<sub>2</sub> (30 days with elevated ambient CO<sub>2</sub>). Both groups completed multiple magnetic resonance image acquisitions before, during, and post-bed rest. We found that at the group level, neither spaceflight analog affected MV-PVS quantity or morphology. However, when taking into account SANS status, persons exhibiting signs of SANS showed little or no MV-PVS changes, whereas their No-SANS counterparts showed MV-PVS morphological changes during the HDBR + CO<sub>2</sub> campaign. These findings highlight spaceflight analogs as models for inducing changes in MV-PVS and implicate MV-PVS dynamic compliance as a mechanism underlying SANS. These findings may lead to countermeasures to mitigate health risks associated with human spaceflight.</p>","PeriodicalId":54263,"journal":{"name":"npj Microgravity","volume":"10 1","pages":"24"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10907584/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140013749","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj MicrogravityPub Date : 2024-02-28DOI: 10.1038/s41526-024-00365-9
Grant Alexander Bateman, Alexander Robert Bateman
{"title":"A perspective on the evidence for glymphatic obstruction in spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome and fatigue.","authors":"Grant Alexander Bateman, Alexander Robert Bateman","doi":"10.1038/s41526-024-00365-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41526-024-00365-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS) alters the vision of astronauts during long-duration spaceflights. Previously, the current authors have discussed the similarities and differences between SANS and idiopathic intracranial hypertension to try to elucidate a possible pathophysiology. Recently, a theory has been advanced that SANS may occur secondary to failure of the glymphatic system caused by venous dilatation within the brain and optic nerves. There is recent evidence to suggest glymphatic obstruction occurs in childhood hydrocephalus, multiple sclerosis and syringomyelia due to venous outflow dilatation similar to that proposed in SANS. The purpose of the current paper is to discuss the similarities and differences between the known CSF and venous pathophysiology in SANS with these other terrestrial diseases, to see if they can shed any further light on the underlying cause of this microgravity-induced disease.</p>","PeriodicalId":54263,"journal":{"name":"npj Microgravity","volume":"10 1","pages":"23"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10901896/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139991857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Linking cerebral hemodynamics and ocular microgravity-induced alterations through an in silico-in vivo head-down tilt framework.","authors":"Matteo Fois, Ana Diaz-Artiles, Syeda Yasmin Zaman, Luca Ridolfi, Stefania Scarsoglio","doi":"10.1038/s41526-024-00366-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41526-024-00366-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Head-down tilt (HDT) has been widely proposed as a terrestrial analog of microgravity and used also to investigate the occurrence of spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS), which is currently considered one of the major health risks for human spaceflight. We propose here an in vivo validated numerical framework to simulate the acute ocular-cerebrovascular response to 6° HDT, to explore the etiology and pathophysiology of SANS. The model links cerebral and ocular posture-induced hemodynamics, simulating the response of the main cerebrovascular mechanisms, as well as the relationship between intracranial and intraocular pressure to HDT. Our results from short-term (10 min) 6° HDT show increased hemodynamic pulsatility in the proximal-to-distal/capillary-venous cerebral direction, a marked decrease (-43%) in ocular translaminar pressure, and an increase (+31%) in ocular perfusion pressure, suggesting a plausible explanation of the underlying mechanisms at the onset of ocular globe deformation and edema formation over longer time scales.</p>","PeriodicalId":54263,"journal":{"name":"npj Microgravity","volume":"10 1","pages":"22"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10899661/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139984494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj MicrogravityPub Date : 2024-02-21DOI: 10.1038/s41526-024-00361-z
Sarah Piechowski, Lennard J Kalkoffen, Sibylle Benderoth, Oliver T Wolf, Jörn Rittweger, Daniel Aeschbach, Christian Mühl
{"title":"Effects of total sleep deprivation on performance in a manual spacecraft docking task.","authors":"Sarah Piechowski, Lennard J Kalkoffen, Sibylle Benderoth, Oliver T Wolf, Jörn Rittweger, Daniel Aeschbach, Christian Mühl","doi":"10.1038/s41526-024-00361-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41526-024-00361-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sleep deprivation and circadian rhythm disruptions are highly prevalent in shift workers, and also among astronauts. Resulting sleepiness can reduce cognitive performance, lead to catastrophic occupational events, and jeopardize space missions. We investigated whether 24 hours of total sleep deprivation would affect performance not only in the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT), but also in a complex operational task, i.e. simulated manual spacecraft docking. Sixty-two healthy participants completed the manual docking simulation 6df and the PVT once after a night of total sleep deprivation and once after eight hours of scheduled sleep in a counterbalanced order. We assessed the impact of sleep deprivation on docking as well as PVT performance and investigated if sustained attention is an essential component of operational performance after sleep loss. The results showed that docking accuracy decreased significantly after sleep deprivation in comparison to the control condition, but only at difficult task levels. PVT performance deteriorated under sleep deprivation. Participants with larger impairments in PVT response speed after sleep deprivation also showed larger impairments in docking accuracy. In conclusion, sleep deprivation led to impaired 6df performance, which was partly explained by impairments in sustained attention. Elevated motivation levels due to the novelty and attractiveness of the task may have helped participants to compensate for the effects of sleepiness at easier task levels. Continued testing of manual docking skills could be a useful tool both to detect sleep loss-related impairments and assess astronauts' readiness for duty during long-duration missions.</p>","PeriodicalId":54263,"journal":{"name":"npj Microgravity","volume":"10 1","pages":"21"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10881462/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139934227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}