Payload crew members' view of spacelab operations

Various operational aspects of the Spacelab 1 mission are reviewed by the four payload crew members. Two-shift operations, voice communication with ground investigators, joint participation in experiment activity, Spacelab performance, and recent advances are discussed.

Superior nuclear receptor selectivity and therapeutic index of methylprednisolone aceponate versus mometasone furoate

Although introduced more than 50 years ago, topical glucocorticoids are still the first line therapy for many inflammatory skin disorders such as atopic eczema, contact dermatitis and many others. Recently, significant improvements have been made to optimize the ratio of desired to unwanted effects. While with early compounds such as triamcinolone, topical side effects such as skin atrophy and telangiectasias can be observed rather frequently, newer drugs such as methylprednisolone aceponate or mometasone furoate have a significantly improved therapeutic index. The present study compared these two modern topical glucocorticoids, which possess the highest therapeutic index currently found, in terms of nuclear receptor selectivity in vitro and induction of the most important local side effects (skin atrophy and telangiectasias) in a relevant rodent model in vivo. We demonstrate that methylprednisolone aceponate displays higher specificity in nuclear receptor binding compared with mometasone furoate. Methylprednisolone aceponate was also markedly superior in terms of minimizing induction of skin atrophy or telangiectasias when compared with mometasone furoate. Based on these observations, methylprednisolone aceponate is expected to have a greater therapeutic index as compared with mometasone furoate, at least in the test systems used here. The degree to which this observation may translate into a clinical setting requires confirmation.

European vestibular experiments on the Spacelab-1 mission: 3. Caloric nystagmus in microgravity

Response to caloric stimulation was examined in two subjects in the weightless environment of orbital flight. Using air insufflation, a binaural temperature stimulus profile was performed twice on each subject during flight. In all but one test, which was carried out on the first mission day, a caloric nystagmus was registered. This zero-g nystagmus was similar to ground-based pre- and postflight responses with regard to its intensity, its temporal correlation with the stimulus profile (nystagmus was always directed towards the warmer ear) and the subjective sensations reported by the tested subjects. These findings demonstrate that mechanisms other than thermoconvection are involved in the elicitation of the caloric nystagmus response. At each stage of the temperature stimulus profile, linear acceleratory stimulation was presented in the form of oscillations in the X-axis. Some differences were found between one-g and zero-g conditions in the resultant modification of the nystagmus response.