Wearable Biosensor Monitor to Support Autonomous Crew Health and Performance

During future human exploration missions, spaceflight crews will encounter adverse health outcomes and decrements in performance during the missions and for long term health. The Psychophysiological Research Lab is currently conducting a technology demonstration of a prototype wearable biosensor system (Astroskin) on astronaut surrogates during 30 day missions within NASAs Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA). HERA, located at Johnson Spaceflight Center, represents a flight analog for simulation of isolation, confinement and remote conditions of mission exploration scenarios. Astroskin, an autonomous medical monitoring system, consists of an intelligent garment for the upper body and a headband fitted with sensors, and associated software and hardware that can measure, transmit and store vital signs (ECG, respiration, blood pressure, etc.), sleep quality and activity level of the wearer. One of the main goals of the technology demonstration is to evaluate the performance of the Astroskin system (i.e., data quality), crew usability and comfort. To validate the Astroskin as a viable option for use during future spaceflight missions, crew data from HERA are sent to Ames researchers for processing and analyses. Crew surveys on usability and comfort will also be evaluated. This work supports the Exploration Medical Capabilities element within NASAs Human Research Program

Magnetic ordering in self-assembled materials consisting of cerium(III) ions and the radical forms of 2,5-TCNQX 2 (X=Cl, Br)

Ribbon-like coordination polymers composed of CeIII ions and TCNQX2 (TCNQ=tetracyanoquinodimethane; X=Cl, Br), but not TCNQ radicals, show unexpected magnetic ordering (see picture; Ce green). This behavior reveals remarkable subtlety for magnetic properties of lanthanide–organic materials

Diels-Alder adducts derived from the natural phthalide Z-ligustilide

Z-Ligustilide, a naturally occurring phthalide isolated from Ligusticum porteri, underwent Diels-Alder reactions with different dienophiles yielding novel tricyclic products with potentially interesting biological properties. Where selectivity was possible, the reactions performed showed regio- and stereoselectivity. The experimental results with ethyl acrylate were compared with the selectivity predicted by ab initio calculations

Spectroscopic studies and crystal structure of tetrabutylammonium trichlorodimethylstannate(IV): BU4NSnMe2Cl3

The structure of Bu4NSnMe2Cl3 is found to be monomer, containing a 5-coordinated bipyramidal trigonal tin(IV) center. Crystals belong to the monoclinic space group C2/c, with unit-cell dimensions a = 26.633(4) angstrom; b = 9.880(2) angstrom; c = 21.510(2) angstrom; beta = 114.82(2)degrees; Z = 8; D = 1.287 Mg/m(3); R is refined to 0.0537 and R-w = 0.0642 for 3330 reflections (F > 2 sigma(F))