NASA Research on Bone Health and Radiation

Flashcards based on lecture notes about Dr. Candice Tahimic's research on astronaut health and the impact of ionizing radiation on bone health.

What is Dr. Candice Tahimic’s research focus at UNF?

Her research aims to reduce the negative impacts of space flight on astronaut health.

What are the groups affected by radiation exposure that can lead to bone loss?

1. Astronauts 2. Cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy 3. Radiation workers 4. Victims of nuclear accidents.

What was the hypothesis regarding diets or drugs in mitigating bone loss due to ionizing radiation?

Specialized diets or drugs capable of preventing the early increase in pro-osteoclastogenic and oxidative stress-related factors will mitigate cancellous bone loss.

What are some potential candidates for the hypothesis being tested?

1.) Antioxidant diet cocktail 2.) Dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA) 3.) Ibuprofen 4.) Dried Plum.

What is the significance of ensuring no difference in weight or food intake across treatments?

It indicates that the results observed are due to the treatments and not confounded by differences in weight or eating habits.

What is the objective of the qPCR approach in gene expression measurement?

To quantify the relative amount of mRNA in a sample.

What is indicated by increased expression of pro-osteoclastogenic cytokines?

It suggests that there is an imbalance in bone remodeling leading to bone density loss.

What role do dried prunes play according to the research conclusions?

Dried prunes mitigate some of the issues related to bone density loss caused by ionizing radiation.

What are trabecular bone parameters mentioned for analysis?

BV/TV (percent bone volume/total volume), Tb.N (trabecular number), Tb.Sp (trabecular separation), Tb.Th (trabecular thickness).

What happens to the expression of ROS response genes if a treatment protects against radiation?

It is expected that the expression of these genes would go down.