Simon Evetts | Northumbria University (original) (raw)
Papers by Simon Evetts
Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 2014
Long-duration exposure to the space environment causes physical adaptations that are deleterious ... more Long-duration exposure to the space environment causes physical adaptations that are deleterious to optimal functioning on Earth. Post-mission rehabilitation traditionally concentrates on regaining general muscle strength, neuromuscular control, and lumbo-pelvic stability. A particular problem is muscle imbalance caused by the hypertrophy of the flexor and atrophy of the extensor and local lumbo-pelvic muscles, increasing the risk of post-mission injury. A method currently used in European human spaceflight to aid post-mission recovery involves a motor control approach, focusing initially on teaching voluntary contraction of specific lumbo-pelvic muscles and optimizing spinal position, progressing to functional retraining in weight bearing positions. An alternative approach would be to use a Functional Readaptive Exercise Device to appropriately recruit this musculature, thus complementing current rehabilitation programs. Advances in post-mission recovery of this nature may both improve astronaut healthcare and aid terrestrial healthcare through more effective treatment of low back pain and accelerated post bed rest rehabilitation.
Acta Astronautica, 2014
Low back pain Preferential recruitment of spinal extensors over flexors a b s t r a c t
Extreme physiology & medicine, 2015
The new Earlobe Arterialized Blood Collector (EABC®) is a minimally invasive prototype system abl... more The new Earlobe Arterialized Blood Collector (EABC®) is a minimally invasive prototype system able to perform capillary blood collection from the earlobe (EL) with minimal training and risk. This system could improve medical emergency management in extreme environments. Consequently, a prospective validation study was designed to evaluate operational performance of the EABC® in a cohort of critically ill patients. Arterialized capillary blood was sampled from the EL of 55 invasively ventilated patients using the EABC® following a validated procedure. Operational characteristics such as the number of cuts and cartridges required, sampling failure/success ratio, bleeding complications, storage requirements and other auxiliary aspects were recorded. Result turnaround laboratory times (TAT) were compared with published references. Blood collection was as easily performed on one earlobe as the other. Twenty-six minutes (mean 25.8; SD = 3.8) were required to obtain results, 15 min for pat...
The purpose of the DYNASUIT project is to design a new intravehicular body suit for countermeasur... more The purpose of the DYNASUIT project is to design a new intravehicular body suit for countermeasure purposes, including state of the art technologies in artificial muscles, body monitoring and biofeedback. This paper presents the outputs of the first phase of this on-going activity. First, the weightlessness effects of microgravity on the body and the current countermeasure solutions are described. The main potential scenarios for DYNASUIT are then described, followed by details of the preliminary concepts and associated technologies for bio-monitoring and artificial muscles.
Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology - Proceedings, 2006
Preservation of astronaut crew health during an exploration mission to the Moon or Mars will be c... more Preservation of astronaut crew health during an exploration mission to the Moon or Mars will be crucial to mission success. The likelyhood of a life threatening medical condition occuring during a mission to Mars has been estimated by NASA to be 1% per year [1]. Since basic life support is a vital skill in critical care medicine, plans must be in place for cardiopulmonary resuscitation in both microgravity and hypogravity (i.e. on the surface of the Moon or Mars).
Astrobiology, 2014
We report on the MARS2013 mission, a 4-week Mars analog field test in the northern Sahara. Ninete... more We report on the MARS2013 mission, a 4-week Mars analog field test in the northern Sahara. Nineteen experiments were conducted by a field crew in Morocco under simulated martian surface exploration conditions, supervised by a Mission Support Center in Innsbruck, Austria. A Remote Science Support team analyzed field data in near real time, providing planning input for the management of a complex system of field assets; two advanced space suit simulators, four robotic vehicles, an emergency shelter, and a stationary sensor platform in a realistic work flow were coordinated by a Flight Control Team. A dedicated flight planning group, external control centers for rover tele-operations, and a biomedical monitoring team supported the field operations. A 10 min satellite communication delay and other limitations pertinent to human planetary surface activities were introduced. The fields of research for the experiments were geology, human factors, astrobiology, robotics, tele-science, explo...
Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 2013
The European Space Agency conducted an astronaut selection campaign in 2008-09 which attracted ov... more The European Space Agency conducted an astronaut selection campaign in 2008-09 which attracted over 8000 applicants. Of those, 45 made the final assessment stage: the medical examination (MEX). This retrospective, observational study reports exercise and fitness data, lipid profiles and other results of interest from the blood and urine samples of this niche subpopulation. All the applicants that reached the MEX completed a Bruce protocol test and a standard blood draw (12 h of fasting, water intake was ad libitum) was collected together with a 24-h urine collection. All the results were compared to either a comparative population or reference range. The applicants had comparable fitness levels to the 90th percentile of their age group. The lipid profiles were observed to be within the 'optimal' or 'desirable' ranges. Bilirubin and creatinine clearance were measured at 1.2 (+/- 0.40) mg x dl(-1) and 131.0 (+/- 25.81) ml x min(-1), respectively, and both were shown to be significantly higher than their respective normative ranges, while urinary creatinine (0.65 (+/- 0.19) g x L(-1)) was significantly lower than the reference range. Overall, the results from the Bruce protocol and lipid profile show that the final round applicants were in good health and physically active. The most likely cause of the elevated bilirubin and creatinine levels was 'last-minute' exercise conducted by the final round applicants before the MEX and the low levels of urinary creatinine may be attributed to drinking high quantities of water with an associated hypovolemia, diluting the urine.
Annals of Intensive Care, 2014
Background: Earlobe arterialized capillary blood gas analysis can be used to estimate arterial ga... more Background: Earlobe arterialized capillary blood gas analysis can be used to estimate arterial gas content and may be suitable for diagnosis and management of critically ill patients. However, its utility and applicability in the ICU setting remains unexplored. Methods: A prospective observational validation study was designed to evaluate this technique in a cohort of mechanically ventilated adult critically ill patients admitted to a polyvalent ICU. Precision and agreement between capillary gas measures and arterial references was examined. Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) diagnosis capabilities with the proposed technique were also evaluated. Finally, factors associated with sampling failure were explored.
Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 2014
Long-duration exposure to the space environment causes physical adaptations that are deleterious ... more Long-duration exposure to the space environment causes physical adaptations that are deleterious to optimal functioning on Earth. Post-mission rehabilitation traditionally concentrates on regaining general muscle strength, neuromuscular control, and lumbo-pelvic stability. A particular problem is muscle imbalance caused by the hypertrophy of the flexor and atrophy of the extensor and local lumbo-pelvic muscles, increasing the risk of post-mission injury. A method currently used in European human spaceflight to aid post-mission recovery involves a motor control approach, focusing initially on teaching voluntary contraction of specific lumbo-pelvic muscles and optimizing spinal position, progressing to functional retraining in weight bearing positions. An alternative approach would be to use a Functional Readaptive Exercise Device to appropriately recruit this musculature, thus complementing current rehabilitation programs. Advances in post-mission recovery of this nature may both improve astronaut healthcare and aid terrestrial healthcare through more effective treatment of low back pain and accelerated post bed rest rehabilitation.
Acta Astronautica, 2014
Low back pain Preferential recruitment of spinal extensors over flexors a b s t r a c t
Extreme physiology & medicine, 2015
The new Earlobe Arterialized Blood Collector (EABC®) is a minimally invasive prototype system abl... more The new Earlobe Arterialized Blood Collector (EABC®) is a minimally invasive prototype system able to perform capillary blood collection from the earlobe (EL) with minimal training and risk. This system could improve medical emergency management in extreme environments. Consequently, a prospective validation study was designed to evaluate operational performance of the EABC® in a cohort of critically ill patients. Arterialized capillary blood was sampled from the EL of 55 invasively ventilated patients using the EABC® following a validated procedure. Operational characteristics such as the number of cuts and cartridges required, sampling failure/success ratio, bleeding complications, storage requirements and other auxiliary aspects were recorded. Result turnaround laboratory times (TAT) were compared with published references. Blood collection was as easily performed on one earlobe as the other. Twenty-six minutes (mean 25.8; SD = 3.8) were required to obtain results, 15 min for pat...
The purpose of the DYNASUIT project is to design a new intravehicular body suit for countermeasur... more The purpose of the DYNASUIT project is to design a new intravehicular body suit for countermeasure purposes, including state of the art technologies in artificial muscles, body monitoring and biofeedback. This paper presents the outputs of the first phase of this on-going activity. First, the weightlessness effects of microgravity on the body and the current countermeasure solutions are described. The main potential scenarios for DYNASUIT are then described, followed by details of the preliminary concepts and associated technologies for bio-monitoring and artificial muscles.
Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology - Proceedings, 2006
Preservation of astronaut crew health during an exploration mission to the Moon or Mars will be c... more Preservation of astronaut crew health during an exploration mission to the Moon or Mars will be crucial to mission success. The likelyhood of a life threatening medical condition occuring during a mission to Mars has been estimated by NASA to be 1% per year [1]. Since basic life support is a vital skill in critical care medicine, plans must be in place for cardiopulmonary resuscitation in both microgravity and hypogravity (i.e. on the surface of the Moon or Mars).
Astrobiology, 2014
We report on the MARS2013 mission, a 4-week Mars analog field test in the northern Sahara. Ninete... more We report on the MARS2013 mission, a 4-week Mars analog field test in the northern Sahara. Nineteen experiments were conducted by a field crew in Morocco under simulated martian surface exploration conditions, supervised by a Mission Support Center in Innsbruck, Austria. A Remote Science Support team analyzed field data in near real time, providing planning input for the management of a complex system of field assets; two advanced space suit simulators, four robotic vehicles, an emergency shelter, and a stationary sensor platform in a realistic work flow were coordinated by a Flight Control Team. A dedicated flight planning group, external control centers for rover tele-operations, and a biomedical monitoring team supported the field operations. A 10 min satellite communication delay and other limitations pertinent to human planetary surface activities were introduced. The fields of research for the experiments were geology, human factors, astrobiology, robotics, tele-science, explo...
Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 2013
The European Space Agency conducted an astronaut selection campaign in 2008-09 which attracted ov... more The European Space Agency conducted an astronaut selection campaign in 2008-09 which attracted over 8000 applicants. Of those, 45 made the final assessment stage: the medical examination (MEX). This retrospective, observational study reports exercise and fitness data, lipid profiles and other results of interest from the blood and urine samples of this niche subpopulation. All the applicants that reached the MEX completed a Bruce protocol test and a standard blood draw (12 h of fasting, water intake was ad libitum) was collected together with a 24-h urine collection. All the results were compared to either a comparative population or reference range. The applicants had comparable fitness levels to the 90th percentile of their age group. The lipid profiles were observed to be within the 'optimal' or 'desirable' ranges. Bilirubin and creatinine clearance were measured at 1.2 (+/- 0.40) mg x dl(-1) and 131.0 (+/- 25.81) ml x min(-1), respectively, and both were shown to be significantly higher than their respective normative ranges, while urinary creatinine (0.65 (+/- 0.19) g x L(-1)) was significantly lower than the reference range. Overall, the results from the Bruce protocol and lipid profile show that the final round applicants were in good health and physically active. The most likely cause of the elevated bilirubin and creatinine levels was 'last-minute' exercise conducted by the final round applicants before the MEX and the low levels of urinary creatinine may be attributed to drinking high quantities of water with an associated hypovolemia, diluting the urine.
Annals of Intensive Care, 2014
Background: Earlobe arterialized capillary blood gas analysis can be used to estimate arterial ga... more Background: Earlobe arterialized capillary blood gas analysis can be used to estimate arterial gas content and may be suitable for diagnosis and management of critically ill patients. However, its utility and applicability in the ICU setting remains unexplored. Methods: A prospective observational validation study was designed to evaluate this technique in a cohort of mechanically ventilated adult critically ill patients admitted to a polyvalent ICU. Precision and agreement between capillary gas measures and arterial references was examined. Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) diagnosis capabilities with the proposed technique were also evaluated. Finally, factors associated with sampling failure were explored.