@spaceflight
Paper is only talking about leukocytes. The excerpt makes it sound like all human tissues are functioning 3 times higher hack on Earth.
Also, while I'm here: 3 isn't a transcriptionally reasonable number to observe. Transcripts are produced in doublings. We normally express the number in terms of log2-fold changes for this reason. You can get a number like 3 through averages between subjects.
@spaceflight
Holy crap, I realized I have a LOT pro problems with this pop science study:
This is their PCA. It's got an "arch" effect as you might expect with samples collected over time, except their starting point is in the middle, not the end.
They threw out 68/139 samples for low quality (guess you can't take RNAlater into space?)
Their final sample set looks like it's only 3 astronauts completing the entire 10 point time series. Those 3 astronauts are NOT consistent with themselves.
@spaceflight
Blood is a pretty variable tissue, and even modest circadian sampling time differences could produce 250 LFC>1 genes.
It would have been trivial to include the daily variability with the same sequencing kits of 20 more terrestrial astronauts over the same time period, and see if the changes that the astronauts observed were outside the confidence intervals for normal variation.
Of course, maybe a NASA budget isn't what it used to be...
@spaceflight
Oh, and remember I was just saying that gene expression moves as "doubles"
Genes with adjusted p-values <0.1 and LFC values >|0.5| were identified as gene candidates differentially expressed between a given time-point comparison.
They're just ignoring that and going for half a doubling, and a p-value of 0.1 after FDR
Also no conveniently published results table and no data on the usual subject protection system of NIH.
It's behind some obscure, "email someone at NASA"
@dnavinci@dnavinci in case you're talking about this article https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1171103/full
You may either contact one of the authors at the University of Ottawa or Damien Chaussabel, Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, United States /
Jean-Pol Frippiat, Université de Lorraine, France
Sulev Kõks, Murdoch University, Australia
It's the accepted norm in this field to upload the data to automated retrieval platforms such as SRA/GEO - or if there's a subject privacy risk - dbGAP
RNA alone at this point is not considered personally identifying
• When you’re in #microgravity, all those systems still work to push fluids to the upper body, unopposed by gravity, so you get this #swelling of tissues in the head 🤯
• In some crew members, in addition to mild visual changes, there have been findings such as optic nerve swelling, retinal changes, changes in the shape of the eye 👁️ and a suggestion that there might be an increase in intracranial pressure
• Up to a third of muscle 💪 from particular muscle groups being lost 〽️ within seven to 10 days of flight. This also includes deterioration of heart ❤️ muscle
• Lack of gravity also has the effect of causing bone 🦴 to, almost literally, dissolve away
• With a new dawn 🌅 every 90 minutes, #astronauts struggle to adapt to artificial night times 😴
• There is growing evidence that #spaceflight has a detrimental effect on the immune system ⚕️.
• Astronauts often report “seeing” bright flashes ⚡ of light, which are caused by cosmic rays passing through their brains 🧠 https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140506-space-trips-bad-for-your-health
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