Vestibular patients exhibit drawing and writing vertical compression similar to astronauts during spaceflight.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine how vestibular dysfunction influences spatial perception and motor output, using drawing tasks as a tool to explore changes in body schema.

Methods: Twenty patients with otolith dysfunction were compared to eight astronauts tested before, during, and after six months of exposure to microgravity aboard the International Space Station. Participants were instructed to draw squares, circles, and crosses, and write words both horizontally and vertically.

Parallel evolution of salinity tolerance in accessions from Cape Verde Islands.

Soil salinization poses a notable threat to agriculture. The Cape Verde Islands are located 600 km off the coast of Africa and are characterized by arid environments and high-salinity soils. Here, we find that plants native to these islands accumulate glucuronyl-mannose that protects them from salt stress.

Apoplast Metabolomics Profiling Reveals Nitrogen-Dependent Modulation of Plant-Pathogen Interactions.

In the present study, we analysed the role played by the apoplast in the crosstalk between biotic and abiotic stress conditions. In particular, we studied the crosstalk between nitrogen (N) limitation and infection of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana by Erwinia amylovora, an apoplastic bacterium. Our previous findings indicated that low N (LN) conditions increase E.

Perception of body translation amplitude in altered gravity during parabolic flight.

Introduction: This study aimed to assess how individuals perceive the amplitude of passive body translation in microgravity and hypergravity.

Methods: Six subjects participated in parabolic flights aboard the Novespace A-310 Zero-G aircraft, performing tasks that involved linear translation ranging from 25 to 250 cm across different axes, all while blindfolded. After each motion stimulus, subjects reported their perceived displacement, while trial duration and movement amplitude and dynamics were recorded.

Pathogen-induced root glutamine concentration is a determinant of the outcome of the Medicago truncatula-Aphanomyces euteiches interaction.

Our work highlights that glutamine plays a central role in contributing to the outcome of disease in the Medicago truncatula-Aphanomyces euteiches interaction when modulating plant N supply. Nitrogen (N) is essential for the growth of plants and microorganisms. The quantity and quality of N supply can impact plant development but also its interaction with pathogens.

Cardiovascular responses to standing with and without lower body compression garments after long-duration spaceflight.

Long-duration astronauts (>4 mo on the International Space Station, 87 total person-missions) participated in an orthostatic test consisting of 2 min of prone rest followed by 3.5 min of standing preflight, within hours of landing on the first day of recovery (R + 0), and 1, 3, 7, 14, and 30 days after landing. Astronauts and cosmonauts performed exercise during spaceflight and fluid loading before landing to mitigate cardiovascular deconditioning.

Potential benefits and human systems integration of parastronauts with bilateral vestibulopathy for a space mission.

Upon landing after long-duration spaceflight, astronauts often experience motion sickness and impaired performance in mission-critical tasks such as egress, navigating obstacles, jumping, and recovering from falls. These changes are mainly attributable to central adaptations in their vestibular system. Current inflight countermeasures, which primarily focus on strength and endurance, are insufficient for preparing astronauts for postflight recovery.

Metabolic profiling of Achillea millefolium from the Chernobyl exclusion zone reveals the adaptive strategies to low-dose chronic radiation exposure.

The radionuclide contamination of the environment is an abiotic stress factor that influences biological systems. Plants growing in contaminated areas for many generations provide a unique opportunity to study adaptive strategies aimed at maintaining homeostasis under elevated radiation levels. Using non-targeted metabolomics approaches, we investigated the metabolomic profiles of Achillea millefolium L.

Vestibular stimulation and space-time interaction affect the perception of time during whole-body rotations.

Among the factors, such as emotions, that distort time perception, vestibular stimulation causes a contraction in subjective time. Unlike emotions, the intensity of vestibular stimulation can be easily and precisely modified, making it possible to study the quantitative relationship between stimulation and its effect on time perception. We hypothesized that the contraction of subjective time would increase with the vestibular stimulation magnitude.

Cognitive performance in ISS astronauts on 6-month low earth orbit missions.

Introduction: Current and future astronauts will endure prolonged exposure to spaceflight hazards and environmental stressors that could compromise cognitive functioning, yet cognitive performance in current missions to the International Space Station remains critically under-characterized. We systematically assessed cognitive performance across 10 cognitive domains in astronauts on 6-month missions to the ISS.

Methods: Twenty-five professional astronauts were administered the Cognition Battery as part of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Human Research Program Standard Measures Cross-Cutting Project.

Changes in SWEET-mediated sugar partitioning affect photosynthesis performance and plant response to drought.

Sugars, produced through photosynthesis, are at the core of all organic compounds synthesized and used for plant growth and their response to environmental changes. Their production, transport, and utilization are highly regulated and integrated throughout the plant life cycle. The maintenance of sugar partitioning between the different subcellular compartments and between cells is important in adjusting the photosynthesis performance and response to abiotic constraints.

Functional activities essential for space exploration performed in partial gravity during parabolic flight.

Test subjects were assessed in a partial gravity environment during parabolic flight while they performed mission-critical activities that challenged their balance and locomotion. These functional activities included rising from a seated position and walking, jumping down, recovering from falls, and maintaining an upright stance. Twelve volunteers were tested during 10 parabolas that produced 0.

Natural variation in response to combined water and nitrogen deficiencies in Arabidopsis.

Understanding plant responses to individual stresses does not mean that we understand real-world situations, where stresses usually combine and interact. These interactions arise at different levels, from stress exposure to the molecular networks of the stress response. Here, we built an in-depth multiomic description of plant responses to mild water (W) and nitrogen (N) limitations, either individually or combined, among 5 genetically different Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) accessions.

Multi-omics analyses of sid2 mutant reflect the need of isochorismate synthase ICS1 to cope with sulfur limitation in Arabidopsis thaliana.

The SID2 (SA INDUCTION-DEFICIENT2) gene that encodes ICS1 (isochorismate synthase), plays a central role in salicylic acid biosynthesis in Arabidopsis. The sid2 and NahG (encoding a bacterial SA hydroxylase) overexpressing mutants (NahG-OE) have currently been shown to outperform wild type, presenting delayed leaf senescence, higher plant biomass and better seed yield. When grown under sulfate-limited conditions (low-S), sid2 mutants exhibited early leaf yellowing compared to the NahG-OE, the npr1 mutant affected in SA signaling pathway, and WT.

Modality-Independent Effect of Gravity in Shaping the Internal Representation of 3D Space for Visual and Haptic Object Perception.

Visual and haptic perceptions of 3D shape are plagued by distortions, which are influenced by nonvisual factors, such as gravitational vestibular signals. Whether gravity acts directly on the visual or haptic systems or at a higher, modality-independent level of information processing remains unknown. To test these hypotheses, we examined visual and haptic 3D shape perception by asking male and female human subjects to perform a "squaring" task in upright and supine postures and in microgravity.

Localized osmotic stress activates systemic responses to N limitation in symbiotic plants.

In mature symbiotic root nodules, differentiated rhizobia fix atmospheric dinitrogen and provide ammonium to fulfill the plant nitrogen (N) demand. The plant enables this process by providing photosynthates to the nodules. The symbiosis is adjusted to the whole plant N demand thanks to systemic N signaling controlling nodule development.

Cognitive and balance functions of astronauts after spaceflight are comparable to those of individuals with bilateral vestibulopathy.

Introduction: This study compares the balance control and cognitive responses of subjects with bilateral vestibulopathy (BVP) to those of astronauts immediately after they return from long-duration spaceflight on board the International Space Station.

Methods: Twenty-eight astronauts and thirty subjects with BVP performed five tests using the same procedures: sit-to-stand, walk-and-turn, tandem walk, duration judgment, and reaction time.

Results: Compared to the astronauts' preflight responses, the BVP subjects' responses were impaired in all five tests.

The Root-Colonizing Endophyte Supports Nitrogen-Starved Seedlings with Nitrogen Metabolites.

The root-colonizing endophytic fungus promotes the root and shoot growth of its host plants. We show that the growth promotion of leaves is abolished when the seedlings are grown on media with nitrogen (N) limitation. The fungus neither stimulated the total N content nor did it promote NO uptake from agar plates to the leaves of the host under N-sufficient or N-limiting conditions.

Multi-Omics Analysis of Responses to Chronic Radiation Exposure in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Our understanding of the long-term consequences of chronic ionising radiation for living organisms remains scarce. Modern molecular biology techniques are helpful tools for researching pollutant effects on biota. To reveal the molecular phenotype of plants growing under chronic radiation exposure, we sampled L.

Astronauts eye-head coordination dysfunction over the course of twenty space shuttle flights.

Background: Coordination of motor activity is adapted to Earth's gravity (1 g). However, during space flight the gravity level changes from Earth gravity to hypergravity during launch, and to microgravity (0 g) in orbit. This transition between gravity levels may alter the coordination between eye and head movements in gaze performance.

The Arabidopsis Target of Rapamycin kinase regulates ammonium assimilation and glutamine metabolism.

In eukaryotes, a target of rapamycin (TOR) is a well-conserved kinase that controls cell metabolism and growth in response to nutrients and environmental factors. Nitrogen (N) is an essential element for plants, and TOR functions as a crucial N and amino acid sensor in animals and yeast. However, knowledge of the connections between TOR and the overall N metabolism and assimilation in plants is still limited.