GLTRS--Glenn
TITLE AND SUBTITLE:
Monitoring Astronaut Health at the Nanoscale Cellular Level Through the Eye

AUTHOR(S):
Rafat R. Ansari, Bhim S. Singh, Luigi Rovati, Franco Docchio, and Jerry Sebag

REPORT DATE:
April 2000

FUNDING NUMBERS:
WU-101-51-00-00

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES):
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field
Cleveland, Ohio 44135-3191

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER:
E-12243

SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES):
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Washington, DC 20546-0001

REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED:
Technical Memorandum

SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY REPORT NUMBER:
NASA TM-2000-210041

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES:
Prepared for the Third Annual International Conference on Integrated Nano/Microtechnology for Space Applications sponsored by the Institute
for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research, Houston, Texas, January 23-28, 2000. Rafat R. Ansari, National Center for Microgravity Research,
21000 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44135; Bhim S. Singh, NASA Glenn Research Center; Luigi Rovati and Franco Docchio, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy; Jerry Sebag, Doheny Eye Institute, University of Southern California Medical School, 1975 Zonal Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90033-1039. Responsible person, Bhim S. Singh, organization code 6712, (216) 433-5008.

ABSTRACT:
A user friendly goggles-like head-mounted device equipped with a suite of instruments for several non-invasive and quantitative medical evaluation of the eye, skin, and brain is desired for monitoring the health of astronauts during space travel and exploration of neighboring and distant planets. Real-time non-invasive evaluation of the different structures within the above organs can provide indices of the health of not just these organs, but the entire body. The techniques such as dynamic light scattering (for the early detection of uveitis, cholesterol levels, cataract, changes in the vitreous and possibly Alzheimer's disease), corneal autofluorescence (to assess extracellular matrix biology e.g., in diabetes), optical activity measurements (of anterior ocular fluid to evaluate blood-glucose levels), laser Doppler velocimetry (to assess retinal, optic nerve, and choroidal blood flow), reflectometry/oximetry (for assessing ocular and central nervous system oxygen metabolism), optical coherence tomography (to determine retinal tissue microstructure) and possibly scanning laser technology (for intraocular tissue imaging and scanning) will be integrated into this compact device. Skin sensors will also be mounted on the portion of the device in contact with the periocular region. This will enable monitoring of body temperature, EEG, and electrolyte status. This device will monitor astronaut health during long-duration space travel by detecting aberrations from pre-established "norms", enabling prompt diagnosis and possibly the initiation of early preventative/curative therapy. The non-invasive nature of the device technologies permits frequent repetition of tests, enabling real-time complete crew health monitoring. This device may ultimately be useful in tele-medicine to bring modern healthcare to under-served areas on Earth as well as in so-called "advanced" care settings (e.g. diabetes in the USA).

SUBJECT TERMS:
Bio-astronautics; Space exploration; Optical diagnostics; Health

NUMBER OF PAGES:
21

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