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Review of NASA's Biomedical Research Program (2000) / Chapter Skim
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10 Setting Priorities in Research
Pages 68-71

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From page 68...
... Six issues in biomedical research were identified as the most important for ensuring astronaut health, safety, and performance during and after long-duration spaceflight. The committee recognized that until the research facilities of the ISS are completed and can be fully utilized, NASA-supported research will necessarily be directed largely to ground-based investigations designed to frame critical hypotheses that can later be tested in space.
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From page 69...
... ORTHOSTATIC INTOLERANCE UPON RETURN TO EARTH GRAVITY High-priority issues included determination of the mechanisms underlying inadequate total peripheral resistance during postflight orthostatic stress; extension of current knowledge of cardiovascular adjustments to long-duration exposure to microgravity; reevaluation and refinement of existing countermeasures; and development of methods for referencing intrathoracic vascular pressures to systemic pressures in microgravity. These studies also require flight opportunities.
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From page 70...
... One recommended area of study, to determine whether combined effects of radiation and stress on the immune system in spaceflight might have additive or synergistic effects on host defenses, has not been implemented, although preliminary ground-based animal studies could give important insights into this question (Todd et al., 1999~. The remaining recommendation, to determine how selection and design of the space vehicle affect the radiation environment, goes beyond the boundaries of the biomedical research program and is not considered in the present report.
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From page 71...
... However, the 2000 NRA, in soliciting research on the development of predictive tools for the assessment and support of psychological well-being, has begun to redress this imbalance. REFERENCES National Research Council (NRC)
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