The second Venus flyby of BepiColombo mission reveals stable atmosphere over decades.

Studies of the Venusian mesosphere provide important information about the current state of the entire Venusian atmosphere. This includes information about the dense cloud structure, its vertical thermal profile, temperature fields, and the resulting dynamical and meteorological processes that contribute to a deeper understanding of the climatologically different evolutionary paths of Earth and Venus. However, the last measurements were acquired in 1983 during Venera-15 mission.

Ammonium salts are a reservoir of nitrogen on a cometary nucleus and possibly on some asteroids.

The measured nitrogen-to-carbon ratio in comets is lower than for the Sun, a discrepancy which could be alleviated if there is an unknown reservoir of nitrogen in comets. The nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko exhibits an unidentified broad spectral reflectance feature around 3.2 micrometers, which is ubiquitous across its surface.

An orbital water-ice cycle on comet 67P from colour changes.

Solar heating of a cometary surface provides the energy necessary to sustain gaseous activity, through which dust is removed. In this dynamical environment, both the coma and the nucleus evolve during the orbit, changing their physical and compositional properties. The environment around an active nucleus is populated by dust grains with complex and variegated shapes, lifted and diffused by gases freed from the sublimation of surface ices.

Advances in ITP--therapy and quality of life--a patient survey.

Background: Current guidelines recommend glucocorticoids and splenectomy as standard 1(st) and 2(nd) line treatments for chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). We sought to find out how German ITP-patients are treated with respect to these guidelines.

Methods: Members of a patient support association ≥18 years with a self-reported history of chronic ITP>12 months were surveyed with a web-based questionnaire.

Treatment of chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura: the patients' perspective.

Background: The 1996 ASH guidelines recommend glucocorticoids and splenectomy as standard treatment of chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). We sought to find out how many German ITP-patients were treated according to these guidelines and whether high-cost treatments were offered to the patients.

Methods: We handed out a questionnaire at two self-help group meetings in 2004 and 2005 and to all patients who contacted the ITP self-help group until the end of 2005.