Prevention for Human Spaceflight
Living and operating in an extreme environment characterized by microgravity, lower Oxigen concentration, disruption of day-light circadian pattern, isolation and confinment, represents a challenge for both the human body and mind. As such, new wearable technologies (also embedding inertial sensors for seismocardiograph), decision-support systems, predictive methods, as well as novel coutermeasures, need to be developed and studied, to support the crew of future manned exploratory missions to the Moon and Mars.
We have gained extensive experience throughout the last 20 years in designing and conducting experiments in Earth-based platforms, such as parabolic flight, head-down bed rest, Concordia station, and other isolation and confinment studies. Besides focusing on cardiovascular physiology in extreme environments, our aim is to translate obtained results and solution to everyday life on Earth, for better prevention and care.
2025-2027: “Cardiac activity and keystroke dynamics to study circadian rhythms and cognition in isolation studies”, ESA AO-2024-ISOLATION (admitted to implementation phase)
2024-2026: “ Cardiovascular deconditioning in Reduced gravity Studies (CARDS)”, call ESA AO-2023-BedrestCoreData
2023-2025: “Cardiovascular magnetic resonance: assessment of impact of spaceflight duration on cardiac deconditioning”, calls ESA AO-2019-ISS-SDM and AO-2019-ISS-PP, ASI funding
2022-2024: “Long-term exposure to hypobaric hypoxia: Kino-cardiograph based sleep monitoring of cardiac mechanics changes caused by periodic breathing (KINOSOMNO)”, call ESA AO-2017-CONCORDIA, ASI funding
- Relevant publications
Solbiati S, Balali P, Hagson H, Rabineau J, Caiani EG. Effects of long-term exposure to hypobaric hypoxia on cardio-mechanical activity: preliminary results from Concordia station. Proc. IAC 2024, IAC-24,A1,2,13,x84986
Balali P, Abdessatar E, Hossein A, Batonon C, Solbiati S, Hagson H, Dupin C, Faoro V, Debeir O, Caiani E, van de Borne P, Rabineau J. Cardiac parameter extracted during deep breathing as a potential sleep apnea indicator in Concordia station. Proc. IAC 2024, IAC-24,A1,2,11,x84292
Mozzini F, Solbiati S, Locati MT, Caiani EG. Feasibility of 24-hour Monitoring and Circadian Analysis of the Cardiac Electro-Mechanical Activity Using Wearable Inertial Sensors. Proc. Computing in Cardiology 2024;51:1-4 https://cinc.org/archives/2024/pdf/CinC2024-350.pdf
Di Tursi G, Solbiati S, Pivetta Caiani EG. Monitoring Cardiac Electromechanical Activity Underwater Using MEMS. Proc. IEEE International Conference on Metrology for eXtended Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Neural Engineering (MetroXRAINE), St Albans, United Kingdom, 2024, pp. 219-224
Craighero M, Solbiati S, Caiani EG, Boracchi G. Deep Learning for Identifying Systolic Complexes in SCG traces: a cross-Dataset Analysis. Proc. 46th Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, Orlando, Florida, USA, July 15-19, 2024
Solbiati S, Fiorentino MC, Bendandi R, Moccia S, Caiani EG. Predicting Orthostatic Tolerance Using Tilt Test-Agnostic ECG Data. Proc. 13th Conference of the European Study Group on Cardiovascular Oscillations (ESGCO), ZARAGOZA, Spain, 2024
Solbiati S, Mozzini F, Pighini C, Kołodziejczyk A, Harasymczuk M, Locati E, Caiani EG. Long-term analysis of electro-mechanical activity during the two analog lunar missions EMMPOL 10 and EMMPOL 11. Proc. IAC 2023 Paper #79530
Solbiati S, Caiani EG, Landreani F, Rabineau J, van de Borne P, Migeotte P-F. Microgravity-induced alterations of cardiac mechanical activity assessed through the analysis of seismocardiographic signal morphology. Proc. IAC 2022 Paper ID: 70942
Rabineau J, Issertine M, Hoffmann F, Gerlach D, Caiani EG, Haut B, van de Borne P, Tank J, Migeotte P-F. Cardiovascular deconditioning and impact of artificial gravity during 60-day head-down bed rest -Insights from 4D flow cardiac MRI. Frontiers in Physiology, section Environmental, Aviation and Space Physiology, 07 October 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.944587
Solbiati S, Paglialonga A, Costantini L, Šimunič B, Pišot R, Narici MV, Caiani EG. Assessing cardiac electro-mechanical deconditioning during bed rest using smartphone’s inertial sensors. Proc. Computing in Cardiology 2021; 48:1-4
Solbiati S, Vaida P, Costantini L, Caiani EG Alteration of the relationship between ventricular repolarization and heart rate induced by 60-day head-down bed rest. Proc. 72st International Astronautical Congress (IAC), 2021:IAC-21-A1.2.5
Solbiati S, Martin-Yebra A, Vaida P, Caiani EG. Evaluation of cardiac circadian rhythm deconditioning induced by 5-to-60 days of head-down bed rest. Frontiers in Physiology 2021;11:1780 https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.612188
Hoffmann F, Rabineau J, Mehrkens D, Gerlach D, Johannes BW, Caiani EG, Migeotte P-F, Jordan J, Tank J. Cardiac Adaptation to 60 Days Head-Down-Tilt Bedrest Deconditioning. ESC Heart Failure 2021;8(1):729-744 https://doi.org/10.1002/ehf2.13103
Solbiati S, Paglialonga A, Costantini L, Caiani EG. Comparison of the short-term acute cardiovascular response in between Head-Down (-6°) and Horizontal Bed Rest. Proc .71st International Astronautical Congress (IAC) – The CyberSpace Edition, 2020:IAC-20-A1.2.10
Solbiati S, Paglialonga A, Costantini L, Caiani EG. Evaluation of the Changes in RR and QT Circadian Rhythms in Bedridden Subjects. Proc. CinC 2020;47:1-4
Rabineau J, Hossein A, Landreani F, Haut B, Mulder E, Luchitskaya E, Tank J, Caiani EG, van de Borne P, MigeotteP-F. Cardiovascular adaptation and countermeasure efficiency assessed by ballistocardiography and seismocardiography during 60 days of simulated microgravity in head-down bed rest. Scientific Reports 2020;10:17694 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74150-5
Solbiati S, Landreani F, Turcato M, Martin-Yebra A, Costantini L, Vaida P Caiani EG. Changes in cardiac circadian rhythm induced by 60-day Head-Down Bed Rest. Eur J Appl Physiol 2020; 120:1699-1710 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-020-04404-7
Landreani F, Faini A, Martin-Yebra A, Morri M, Parati G, Caiani EG. Assessment of ultra-short heart variability indices derived by smartphone accelerometers for stress detection. Sensors 2019; 19: 3729 https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/17/3729
Palacios S, Caiani EG, Landreani F, Martinez JP, Pueyo E. Long-term microgravity exposure increases ECG repolarization instability manifested by low-frequency oscillations of T-wave vector. Frontiers Physiology 2019 https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.01510
Martín-Yebra A, Monasterio V, Landreani F, Laguna P, Pablo Martínez JP Caiani EG. Assessment of cardiac electrical instability in terms of T-wave alternans induced by head-down bed-rest immobilization. Phys Measurement 2019 Oct 30;40(10):104001 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6579/ab4c18
Greaves D, Arbeille P, Guillon L, Zuj K, Caiani EG. Effects of exercise countermeasure on myocardial contractility measured by 4D speckle tracking during a 21-day head-down bed rest. Eur J Appl Physiol 2019 Dec;119(11-12):2477-2486 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-019-04228-0
Caiani EG, Landreani F, Costantini L, Mulder E, Gerlach D, Vaida P, Migeotte P-F. Effectiveness of high-intensity jump training countermeasure on mitral and aortic flow after 58-days head-down bed-rest assessed by phase-contrast MRI. Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC Volume 2018-October:135-141
Caiani EG, Martin-Yebra A, Landreani F, Bolea J, Laguna P, Vaïda P. Weightlessness and cardiac rhythm disorders: current knowledge from space flight and bed-rest studies. Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Science, 23 August 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2016.00027
Martín-Yebra A, Caiani EG, Monasterio V, Pellegrini A, Laguna P, Martínez JP. Evaluation of T-wave alternans activity under stress conditions after 5-days and 21-days of sedentary head-down bed-rest. Phis Measurements 2015;36:2041-2055 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0967-3334/36/10/2041
Caiani EG, Massabuau P, Weinert L, Vaïda P, Lang RM. Effects of 5 days of head-down bed rest, with and without short-arm centrifugation as countermeasure, on cardiac function in males (BR-AG1 study). J Appl Physiol 2014;117(6):624-632 https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00122.2014
Caiani EG, Pellegrini A, Bolea J, Sotaquira M, Almeida R, Vaïda P. Impaired T-wave amplitude adaptation to heart-rate induced by cardiac deconditioning after 5-days of head-down bed-rest. Acta Astronautica 2013;91:166-172
Caiani EG, Lang RM, Weinert L, Vaida P. The role of echocardiography in the assessment of cardiac function in weightlessness – our experience during parabolic flights. Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology 2009: 169 (S1):S6-S9
Caiani EG, Weinert L, Takeuchi M, Veronesi F, Sugeng L, Corsi C, Capderou A, Cerutti S, Vaïda P, Lang RM. Evaluation of alterations on mitral annulus velocities, strain and strain rates due to abrupt changes in preload elicited by parabolic flight. Journal of Applied Physiology 2007 Jul;103(1):80-87 https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00625.2006
Caiani EG, Takeuchi M, Weinert L, Capderou A, Vaïda P, Lang RM. Evaluation of changes in left ventricular early diastolic mitral annular velocity during parabolic flight using tissue Doppler echocardiography. Journal of Gravitational Physiology 2006;13(1): 165-166
Caiani EG, Sugeng L, Weinert L, Capderou A, Lang RM, Vaida P. Objective evaluation of changes in left ventricular and atrial volumes during parabolic flight using real-time three-dimensional echocardiography. Journal of Applied Physiology 2006 Aug;101(2):460-8 https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00014.2006
Caiani EG, Asquer G, Turiel M, Bailliart O, Cholley B, Capderou A, Vaida P. Changes in Doppler mitral inflow patterns during parabolic flight. Journal of Gravitational Physiology 2004;11(2):93-94
Caiani EG, Sugeng L, Weinert L, Husson S, Bailliart O, Capderou A, Lang RM, Vaida P. Feasibility of real-time 3D echocardiography in weightlessness during parabolic flight. Journal of Gravitational Physiology 2004;11(2):235-236
Corsi C, Lamberti C, Cerutti S, Laulom JP, Bailliart O, Cholley B, Capderou A, Vaida P, Caiani EG. Quantification of left ventricular modification in weightlessness conditions from the spatio-temporal analysis of 2D echocardiographic images. Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing 2004 Sept; 42(5):610-617 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02347542
Caiani EG, Mainardi LT, Bailliart O, Cholley B, Cerutti S, Capderou A, Vaida P. Time-variant spectral analysis of heart rate variability during parabolic flight with and without LBNP. Journal of Gravitational Physiology 2002 July;9(1):113-14