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Yearlong space mission put a few traces in the body

On april 12, 1961 was Yuri Gagarin the first man to make a spaceflight. Since then, hundreds of people have been in space. We know how, among others, zero gravi

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Yearlong space mission put a few traces in the body

On april 12, 1961 was Yuri Gagarin the first man to make a spaceflight. Since then, hundreds of people have been in space. We know how, among others, zero gravity (or microgravity, which is the scientific term) and the radiation affects our bodies. But little is known about the health effects of being in space longer than six months. When the manned flight to Mars are planned, it is important to find out as much as possible, because these astronauts will spend about three years in space.

would be almost a year on the international space station (ISS), he suggested himself that the Nasa researchers would conduct a study on him and his identical twin Mark Kelly, who also has been an astronaut. Because identical twins have identical dna, the researchers were able to study the changes that are related to the special environment that Scott Kelly was in and what changes that had happened yet if he was left on the earth. Now, the study has been published in the journal Science.

Scott Kelly. Carotid artery was thicker, also the retina. In addition, he went down in weight, got slightly worse cognition and a change in intestinal flora. But the researchers could also see changes at the molecular level.

a year ago, presented the preliminary results and then reported a large amount of media around the world (including the daily News) to seven per cent of Scott Kelly's dna mutated during his time in space. This was wrong, but the twins ' gene expression differed.

Stress, diet, physical activity and many other things can affect how our genes are expressed, and may be certain genes to work more and others less. The researchers saw changes in both twins during the year, but what are the genes that were affected differed.

Scott Kelly changes in genes involved in the immune response. They also saw signs of increased inflammation in Scott. Something similar, the scientists saw not of the Land. The researchers also saw six times as many genetic changes in Scott over the last six months in space during the first six.

" It's like if you go into the kitchen and in the past have only one or a couple of kitchen appliances has been on and suddenly many machines on, said Christopher Mason, a researcher at the Weill Cornell Medicine, at a press conference.

But within six months after return had 91,3% of genförändringarna returned to normal. Some genes linked to the immune system was still changing, but because Scott is healthy, the researchers think that there is something wrong.

" I think it is reassuring to know that when you are coming back so things will basically go back as it was before, said Michael Snyder, a professor at Stanford University.

to insulate the Soil during the year, and he did not want to eat the same food as the Scott or sleep while Scott slept. In addition, Mark had the opportunity to drink alcohol on earth, something that is also found on the ISS. All of this may have influenced the results, said Andrew Feinberg, a professor at Johns Hopkins University.

A surprise was that Scott Kelly's telomeres became longer when he was on the ISS. Telomeres are the outermost ends of our chromosomes, and they become shorter the older we get. Shorter telomeres is linked to cardiovascular disease and cancers. But space travel do not the aging process is slowed down. After the return to earth was Scott's telomeres rapidly shorter, and he now has a greater percentage of short telomeres in the past. Exactly what does that mean for Scott's health in the longer term, scientists are not.

"People can't expect to live longer because they are in space," said Susan Bailey, a professor at Colorado State University.

is a single pair of twins in the study, the researchers want not to draw too big conclusions from the results. Nor do they know what all the changes mean. In addition, the ISS in orbit just 40 miles above the earth, the conditions that await astronauts who go to Mars is completely different. But the study gives researchers a basis for future space travel.

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