Jeffrey A. Jones

Baylor College of Medicine | BCM · Department of Urology; Center for Space Medicine

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common cancer and constitutes about 14.7% of total cancer cases. PCa is highly prevalent and more aggressive in African American (AA) men when compared to European-American (EA) men. PCa tends to be a highly heterogeneous malignancy with a complex biology that is not fully understood. We use metabolomics as...

Humans operating in extreme environments often conduct their operations at the edges of the limits of human performance. Sometimes, they are required to push these limits to previously unattained levels. As a result, their margins for error in execution are much smaller than that found in the general public. These same small margins for error that...

Humans operating in extreme environments often conduct their operations at the edges of the limits of human performance. Sometimes, they are required to push these limits to previously unattained levels. As a result, their margins for error in execution are much smaller than that found in the general public. These same small margins for error that...

Humans operating in extreme environments often conduct their operations at the edges of the limits of human performance. Sometimes, they are required to push these limits to previously unattained levels. As a result, their margins for error in execution are much smaller than that found in the general public. These same small margins for error that...

Humans operating in extreme environments often conduct their operations at the edges of the limits of human performance. Sometimes, they are required to push these limits to previously unattained levels. As a result, their margins for error in execution are much smaller than that found in the general public. These same small margins for error that...

Humans operating in extreme environments often conduct their operations at the edges of the limits of human performance. Sometimes, they are required to push these limits to previously unattained levels. As a result, their margins for error in execution are much smaller than that found in the general public. These same small margins for error that...

Humans operating in extreme environments often conduct their operations at the edges of the limits of human performance. Sometimes, they are required to push these limits to previously unattained levels. As a result, their margins for error in execution are much smaller than that found in the general public. These same small margins for error that...

Humans operating in extreme environments often conduct their operations at the edges of the limits of human performance. Sometimes, they are required to push these limits to previously unattained levels. As a result, their margins for error in execution are much smaller than that found in the general public. These same small margins for error that...

Humans operating in extreme environments often conduct their operations at the edges of the limits of human performance. Sometimes, they are required to push these limits to previously unattained levels. As a result, their margins for error in execution are much smaller than that found in the general public. These same small margins for error that...

Humans operating in extreme environments often conduct their operations at the edges of the limits of human performance. Sometimes, they are required to push these limits to previously unattained levels. As a result, their margins for error in execution are much smaller than that found in the general public. These same small margins for error that...

Humans operating in extreme environments often conduct their operations at the edges of the limits of human performance. Sometimes, they are required to push these limits to previously unattained levels. As a result, their margins for error in execution are much smaller than that found in the general public. These same small margins for error that...

Exploring austere environments required a reimagining of resource acquisition and utilization. Cyanobacterial in situ resources utilization (ISRU) and biological life support system (BLSS) bioreactors have been proposed to allow crewed space missions to extend beyond the temporal boundaries that current vehicle mass capacities allow. Many cyanobact...

Purpose: The therapeutic benefit of intravesical instillation of hexaminolevulinate (HAL) at the time of transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) has been demonstrated in multiple studies. The purpose of this study was to prospectively assess the safety of repeated administration of HAL from a phase III pre-trial planned analysis. Materia...

African Americans (AA) are two times more likely to be diagnosed with and succumb to prostate cancer (PCa) compared to European Americans (EA). There is mounting evidence that biological differences in these tumors contribute to disparities in patient outcomes. Our goal was to examine the differences in DNA damage in AA and EA prostate tissues. Tis...

African-American (AA) men are more than twice as likely to die of prostate cancer (PCa) than European American (EA) men. Previous in silico analysis revealed enrichment of altered lipid metabolic pathways in pan-cancer AA tumors. Here, we performed global unbiased lipidomics profiling on 48 matched localized PCa and benign adjacent tissues (30 AA,...

African-American (AA) men are more than twice as likely to die of prostate cancer (PCa) than European American (EA) men. Previous in-silico analysis revealed enrichment of altered lipid metabolic pathways in pan-cancer AA tumors. Here, we performed global unbiased lipidomics profiling on 48 matched localized PCa and benign adjacent tissues (30 AA,...

Long‐duration spaceflight is associated with an increased risk of urolithiasis, and the pain caused by urinary calculi could result in loss of human performance and mission objectives. The present study investigated the risk of urolithiasis in astronauts during 6 months on the International Space Station, and evaluated whether the suppression of bo...

BACKGROUND: Glaucoma and ocular hypertension (OHT) are prevalent diseases with baseline intraocular pressure (IOP) elevations that future astronauts and spaceflight participants may suffer from. Preflight, in-flight, and postflight IOP measurements were collected aboard two U.S. Space Shuttle Program missions in normotensive control, OHT, and glauc...

The future of long-duration spaceflight missions will place our vehicles and crew outside of the comfort of low-Earth orbit. Luxuries of quick resupply and frequent crew changes will not be available. Future missions will have to be adapted to low resource environments and be suited to use resources at their destinations to complete the latter part...

Background: Space radiation is one of the principal environmental factors limiting the human tolerance for space travel, and therefore a primary risk in need of mitigation strategies to enable crewed exploration of the solar system. Methods: We summarize the current state of knowledge regarding potential means to reduce the biological effects of...

The coming decades are poised to usher in an era of commercial spaceflight and extended duration missions beyond low-earth orbit. Urologic challenges and conditions have been central to the history of human spaceflight, and their effective management will continue to play a key role in future endeavors. Voiding equipment, such as the Universal Wast...

Immune modulation with vitamin D and blood irradiation with ultraviolet as an effective therapy against SARS Co V2 infection.

Immune-prophylaxis for SARS-CoV2 / COVID-19: Concepts. I) Concept for Vaccine based on inactivation of virus with irradiation II) Possible Reduction of Morbidity from CoVID 19 Immune Response III) Immune modulation with vitamin D and ultraviolet light as a possible therapy against SARS Co V infection.

Immune-prophylaxis for SARS-CoV2 / COVID-19: 2 Concepts

Radiation Toxicity, COVID-19 toxicity. Implications for Immunotherapy. Snakebite Anti-Venoms as a possible Effective Inhibitory Antitoxic Agent for Acute Radiation Syndromes, COVID-19 Toxicity.

Radiation Toxicology. Radiation immunotoxicology. Radiation Toxins. Phospholipases and their role in Neuroinflammation and Cancer. Radiation Neuro-Psycho Immunology. Radiation and Brain Cognitive Function Impairment and Pathophysiological sequelae. Gene Therapy.

Radiation Toxicology. Radiation immunotoxicology. Radiation Toxins. Phospholipases and their role in neuroinflammation. Radiation Neuro-Psycho Immunology. Radiation and Brain Cognitive Function Impairment and Pathophysiological sequelae

Review. Abstract. The development methods of immune-prophylaxis and immunotherapy could be very useful in reducing Brain injury and Cognitive Functions dysregulation after irradiation and development of Acute Cerebrovascular radiation syndrome. Existing principles for the treatment of acute radiation syndromes are based on the amelioration of progr...

Radiation Immuno-Toxicology. Brain Radiation Injury. Acute and Chronic Cerebrovascular Radiation Syndrome. Radiation Cell Dependent Cytotoxicity: Role of toxic factors of immune cells in impaired cognitive function of Brain, development of neuro-inflammation, autoimmune reactions, toxic reactions, regulation of immune reactions, cell apoptosis afte...

Radiation Cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) or cell-mediated cytotoxicity, is a molecular mechanisms of cell-mediated immune defense, actively lyses a target cells

ImmunoToxicology. Complement Cascade: Role of Factor H as a therapeutic factor in inhibition of inflammation, autoimmune reactions, toxic reactions, regulation of immune reactions, cell apoptosis after irradiation.

Aviation and space medicine face many common musculoskeletal challenges that manifest in crew of rotary-wing aircraft (RWA), high-performance jet aircraft (HPJA), and spacecraft. Furthermore, many astronauts are former pilots of RWA or HPJA. Flight crew are exposed to recurrent musculoskeletal risk relating to the extreme environments in which they...

Serotherapy, plasma therapy, specific antiradiation antibodies became a very important and effective technology and method for radiation protection and therapy of Acute Radiation Syndromes. The mechanisms of action of the antiradiation antibodies not well studied and poorly understood. Our previously experiments reported that activation of compleme...

Clinical symptoms and syndromes of irradiated mammals could be different and depend on many factors. However, vascular disorder is characteristics that can present at different forms of Acute Radiation Syndromes: Cerebro-vascular, Cardio-vascular, Hematopoietic, Gastro-Intestinal. We propose that vasodilatation, inflammation, cell necrosis or apopt...

The development of an anti-radiation protection included anti-radiation vaccine and anti-radiation hyperimmune serum, anti-radiation antidote opened novel methods for immune-prophylaxis and immune-therapy of acute radiation syndromes.

394 Background: It is essential to study real-world evidence of novel molecular diagnostic tests to measure their impact on clinical decision-making and health outcomes. Studying test utilization within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) informs about clinical validity in a racially diverse population. This study analyzed the impact of DNA pro...

With current technologies, radiation doses associated with exploration and habitation missions to the Moon and Mars may well exceed the limits currently defined for LEO operations. Assessment of the radiation protection needed during interplanetary and remote planetary missions should include consideration of several key technologies, such as integ...

Bone loss in astronauts during spaceflight may be a risk factor for osteoporosis, fractures and renal stone formation. We previously reported that the bisphosphonate alendronate, combined with exercise that included an Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED), can prevent or attenuate group mean declines in areal bone mineral density (aBMD) measur...

Radiation Protection for Human Missions to the Moon and Mars.

Background Expression of p16 is increased in a number of malignancies, including prostate cancer (PCa). Recent studies in a European cohort showed that expression of p16 is correlated with expression of the TMPRSS2/ERG (T/E) fusion protein. The T/E fusion is significantly less common in PCas in African American (AA) men. Thus, it would be predicted...

African American (AA) men have a 60% higher incidence and two times greater risk of dying of prostate cancer (PCa) than European American men, yet there is limited insight into the molecular mechanisms driving this difference. To our knowledge, metabolic alterations, a cancer-associated hallmark, have not been reported in AA PCa, despite their impo...

Blue light cystoscopy (BLC) with hexaminolevulinate (HAL) during transurethral resection of bladder cancer improves detection of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and reduces recurrence rates. Flexible BLC was approved by the FDA in 2018 for use in the surveillance setting and was demonstrated to improve detection. Results of a phase III p...

Background: African American (AA) patients have higher cancer mortality rates and shorter survival times compared to European American (EA) patients. Despite a significant focus on socioeconomic factors, recent findings strongly argue the existence of biological factors driving this disparity. Most of these factors have been described in a cancer-...

Genitourinary (GU) disorders are pervasive in the adult population and broadly include the diagnoses of 15–20% of patients who are discharged from hospitals in the United States, with even higher percentages for ambulatory visits. Along with susceptibility to the common disorders of the general population, the GU system of astronauts is additionall...

Purpose of the Review To provide a comprehensive review of musculoskeletal injuries in astronauts during pre-flight, in-flight (including extravehicular activity), and post-flight periods. The discussion is inclusive of etiology and nature of the injury, preventative measures, and future considerations. Recent Findings The most common injuries wer...

Purpose This prospective, multi‐center, phase III study evaluated blue light flexible cystoscopy (BLFC) with Hexaminolevulinate (HAL) in office surveillance of patients with non‐muscle invasive bladder cancer at high risk of recurrence. We evaluated the impact on pain, anxiety, subjective value of the test, and willingness to pay. Materials and me...

This chapter will focus on the relative importance of SPEs and GCR as they relate to space travel in the modern era, with a principal focus on a potential mission to Mars, during which astronauts will be exposed to radiation outside of the protective environment of the Earth's electromagnetic field. This chapter includes review of the important dat...

Ionizing radiation is now recognized to be a significant risk factor for carcinogenic events. By its nature,Exposure of living systems to radiation exposure to living system of sufficient energy sufficient to produce atomic ionization, can result in damage to key cellular molecules and organelles, especially nuclear and mitochondrial nucleic acids....

Purpose: To compare blue light flexible cystoscopy (BLFC) with white light flexible cystoscopy (WLFC) in the detection of bladder cancer during surveillance. Materials and methods: Patients at high risk of recurrence received intravesical HAL before WLFC and randomization to BLFC. All suspicious lesions were documented. Patients with suspicious...

Background: In the space environment, the traditional radioprotective principles of time, distance, and shielding become difficult to implement. Additionally, the complex radiation environment inherent in space, the chronic exposure timeframe, and the presence of numerous confounding variables complicate the process of creating appropriate risk mo...

A renewed global interest in manned space-exploration has emerged, propelled by the challenge of reaching a new frontier: travel to the Red Planet, Mars. As the physiologic changes induced by microgravity bear direct relevance to the safety and viability of these goals, we provide a historical narrative of the urological investigations in space. We...

The immune system of irradiated mammals has the ability to recognize and specifically reject and kill of irradiated and transformed cells. The immune system of irradiated mammals induce immune destruction of transformed cells by creating cytotoxic reactions.

The future of human spaceflight is expected to consist of long duration missions to the Moon, Mars, or a near Earth asteroids....

Overexposure of ultraviolet radiation a major cause of skin cancer including basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) – collectively referred to as “non-melanoma” skin cancer (NMSC) and melanoma is the most common cancer in North America. [Armstrong et al. 1993, Gallagher et al. 2005]

Etiology of Aplastic Anemia include idiopathic cases and secondary Aplastic Anemia after exposure to drugs, toxins, chemicals, Viral Infections, Lympho-prolipherative Diseases, Radiation, Genetic Causes, Myelodisplastic Syndromes and Hypoplastic Anemias, Thymomas, Lymphomas.

A novel approach has been developed to define acceptable risk guidelines for human spaceflight injuries occurring during dynamic phases of flight (launch, abort, and landing). These risk guidelines are a driver for both vehicle and mission design, which in turn drive cost and schedule. The approach outlined in this document was based on three speci...

We report the results of alendronate ingestion plus exercise in preventing the declines in bone mass and strength and elevated levels of urinary calcium and bone resorption in astronauts during 5.5 months of spaceflight. Introduction This investigation was an international collaboration between NASA and the JAXA space agencies to investigate the po...

This article explores the potential benefits and defined risks associated with prophylactic surgical procedures for astronauts before extended-duration space flight. This includes, but is not limited to, appendectomy and cholecystesctomy. Furthermore, discussion of treatment during space flight, potential impact of an acute illness on a defined mis...

Abstract Many acute and chronic effects of ionizing radiation are mediated by reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species, which deplete antioxidant stores, leading to cellular apoptosis, stem cell depletion and accelerated aging. C57BL/6NHsd mice receiving intravenous MnSOD-PL prior to 9.5 Gy total-body irradiation (TBI) show increased s...

Ionizing radiation is now recognized to be a significant risk for carcinogenic events. By its nature, radiation exposure to living system of energy sufficient to produce atomic ionization, can damage key cellular molecules and organelles, especially nuclear and mitochondrial nucleic acids. Significant exposure or high energy radiation produces sing...

A significant number of astronauts sustain hand injuries during extravehicular activity training and operations. These hand injuries have been known to cause fingernail delamination (onycholysis) that requires medical intervention. This study investigated correlations between the anthropometrics of the hand and susceptibility to injury. The analysi...

Exposure to microgravity affects human physiology and results in changes in urinary chemical composition during and after spaceflight, favoring an increased risk of renal stones. We assessed the efficacy of potassium citrate to decrease the stone risk during and after spaceflight. The study was done in 30 long duration spaceflight crew members to t...

The aim of this study was to explore if fingernail delamination injury following EMU glove use may be caused by compression-induced blood flow occlusion in the finger. During compression tests, finger blood flow decreased more than 60%, however this occurred more rapidly for finger pad compression (4 N) than for fingertips (10 N). A pressure bulb c...

An operationally available diagnostic imaging capability augments spaceflight medical support by facilitating the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of medical or surgical conditions, by improving medical outcomes and, thereby, by lowering medical mission impacts and the probability of crew evacuation due to medical causes. Microgravity-related ph...

Astronauts have sustained musculoskeletal injuries and minor trauma in space, but our knowledge of these injuries is based mainly on anecdotal reports. The purpose of our study was to catalog and analyze all in-flight musculoskeletal injuries occurring throughout the U.S. space program to date. A database on in-flight musculoskeletal injuries among...

During extra-vehicular activities (EVAs) or space walks astronauts over use their fingertips under pressure inside the confined spaces of gloves/space-suite. The repetitive hand motion is a probable cause for discomfort and injuries to the finger-tips. We describe a new wireless fiber-optic probe that can be integrated inside the astronaut glove fo...

Perspectives: The most critical conclusion is that a semi-closed life support system tied to an ISRU biofacility might be more efficient for support of an extraterrestrial outpost than closed environmental systems. Such a synthesis of technological capability could decrease the demand for energy, transfer mass and cost of future exploration.