The Evolution of a Spacecraft-Generated Lunar Exosphere.

Unlabelled: Understanding how spacecraft alter planetary environments can offer important insights into key physical processes, as well as being critical to planning mission operations and observations. In this context, it is important to recognize that almost any powered lunar landing will be an active volatile release experiment, due to the release of exhaust gases during descent. This presents both an opportunity to study the interaction of volatiles with the lunar surface, and a need to predict how non-indigenous gases are dispersed, and how long they persist in the lunar environment.

Widespread hematite at high latitudes of the Moon.

Hematite (FeO) is a common oxidization product on Earth, Mars, and some asteroids. Although oxidizing processes have been speculated to operate on the lunar surface and form ferric iron-bearing minerals, unambiguous detections of ferric minerals forming under highly reducing conditions on the Moon have remained elusive. Our analyses of the Moon Mineralogy Mapper data show that hematite, a ferric mineral, is present at high latitudes on the Moon, mostly associated with east- and equator-facing sides of topographic highs, and is more prevalent on the nearside than the farside.

Does Emergency Medical Services Transportation Mitigate Post-stroke Discharge Disability? A Prospective Observational Study.

Background: Whether emergency medical services (EMS) transport improves disability outcomes compared with other transport among acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients is unknown.

Objective: To study severity-adjusted associations of hospital arrival mode (EMS vs. other transport) with in-hospital and discharge disability outcomes.

Why acute ischemic stroke patients in the United States use or do not use emergency medical services transport? Findings of an inpatient survey.

Background: Patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) who use emergency medical services (EMS) receive quicker reperfusion treatment which, in turn, mitigates post-stroke disability. However, nationally only 59% use EMS. We examined why AIS patients use or do not use EMS.

Direct evidence of surface exposed water ice in the lunar polar regions.

Water ice may be allowed to accumulate in permanently shaded regions on airless bodies in the inner solar system such as Mercury, the Moon, and Ceres [Watson K, et al. (1961) 66:3033-3045]. Unlike Mercury and Ceres, direct evidence for water ice exposed at the lunar surface has remained elusive.

To Treat or Not to Treat?

Background and Purpose- The 2015 updated US Food and Drug Administration alteplase package insert altered several contraindications. We thus explored clinical factors influencing alteplase treatment decisions for patients with minor stroke. Methods- An expert panel selected 7 factors to build a series of survey vignettes: National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), NIHSS area of primary deficit, baseline functional status, previous ischemic stroke, previous intracerebral hemorrhage, recent anticoagulation, and temporal pattern of symptoms in first hour of care.

Real-World Outcomes of Acute Ischemic Stroke Treatment with Intravenous Recombinant Tissue Plasminogen Activator.

Background And Purpose: In clinical trials, intravenous (IV) recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (rt-PA) reduces the likelihood of disability if given within 3 hours of acute ischemic stroke. This study compared real-world outcomes between patients treated and patients not treated with IV rt-PA.

Methods: In this retrospective study, United States-based neurologists randomly selected eligible acute ischemic stroke patients from their charts who were and were not treated with IV rt-PA.

A Retrospective, Longitudinal, Claims-Based Comparison of Concomitant Diagnoses Between Individuals with and Without Down Syndrome.

Background: Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) experience various comorbidities in excess of the prevalence seen among the non-DS population. However, the extent of the excess burden of comorbidities specifically within commercially and publicly insured DS populations aged < 21 years is not currently known.

Objectives: To (a) describe the most common diagnoses among individuals with DS who have either commercial or Medicaid insurance and (b) compare the prevalence of those diagnoses between DS cases and non-DS controls.

The impact of persistence with therapy on inpatient admissions and emergency room visits in the US among patients with multiple sclerosis.

Objective: Disease-modifying therapy (DMT) for multiple sclerosis (MS) can reduce relapses and delay progression; however, poor adherence and persistence with DMT can result in sub-optimal outcomes. The associations between DMT adherence and persistence and inpatient admissions and emergency room (ER) visits were investigated.

Methods: Patients with MS who initiated a DMT in a US administrative claims database were followed for 1 year.

Comparative effectiveness of colony-stimulating factors for febrile neutropenia: a retrospective study.

Background: Granulocyte colony stimulating factors (G-CSFs) decrease the incidence of febrile neutropenia (FN) in cancer patients receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy. There are two G-CSFs (pegfilgrastim and filgrastim) that differ in dosing schedules from which oncologists may prescribe.

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of prophylactic pegfilgrastim and filgrastim on the risk of hospitalizations.

LRO-LAMP observations of the LCROSS impact plume.

On 9 October 2009, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) sent a kinetic impactor to strike Cabeus crater, on a mission to search for water ice and other volatiles expected to be trapped in lunar polar soils. The Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) ultraviolet spectrograph onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) observed the plume generated by the LCROSS impact as far-ultraviolet emissions from the fluorescence of sunlight by molecular hydrogen and carbon monoxide, plus resonantly scattered sunlight from atomic mercury, with contributions from calcium and magnesium. The observed light curve is well simulated by the expansion of a vapor cloud at a temperature of ~1000 kelvin, containing ~570 kilograms (kg) of carbon monoxide, ~140 kg of molecular hydrogen, ~160 kg of calcium, ~120 kg of mercury, and ~40 kg of magnesium.

Impact of primary prophylaxis on febrile neutropenia within community practices in the US.

Objective: To determine if granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) primary prophylaxis is associated with a lower risk of febrile neutropenia (FN) than non-primary prophylaxis.

Methods: This was a retrospective, cohort study of medical records from a random sample of patients with solid tumours and lymphomas treated in 99 community oncology practices in 2003 (n=5319). Consecutively-sampled patients treated with chemotherapy and either filgrastim (Neupogen), pegfilgrastim (Neulasta) or no G-CSF were included (n=3123).

Impact of neutropenic complications on short-term disability in patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy.

Objectives: The study examined the impact of chemotherapy-induced neutropenic complications (CINC), defined as neutropenia with fever or infection, on short-term disability (STD) among cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.

Methods: The key outcome metrics were average monthly STD days and associated indirect costs. Patients with and without CINC were propensity score (PS) matched.

Use and cost of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents in patients with cancer.

Objective: To compare the baseline characteristics, episodes of care, and cost of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents among cancer patients in a US managed-care population.

Research Design And Methods: Retrospective analysis of administrative claims data. Episodes of care for patients with cancer receiving erythropoiesis-stimulating agents between January 1, 2004 and January 17, 2006 included all claims for erythropoiesis-stimulating agents with < or = 42 days' gap between claims, plus the duration of therapeutic benefit based on median days between consecutive doses.