GCR access to the Moon as measured by the CRaTER instrument on LRO

[1] Recent modeling efforts have yielded varying and conflicting results regarding the possibility that Earth\u27s magnetosphere is able to shield energetic particles of \u3e10 MeV at lunar distances. This population of particles consists of galactic cosmic rays as well as energetic particles that are accelerated by solar flares and coronal mass ejections. The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is in orbit about the Moon and is thus able to directly test these modeling results. Over the course of a month, CRaTER samples the upstream solar wind as well as various regions of Earth\u27s magnetotail. CRaTER data from multiple lunations demonstrate that Earth\u27s magnetosphere at lunar distances produces no measurable influence on energetic particle flux, even at the lowest energies (\u3e14 MeV protons) where any effect should be maximized. For particles with energies of 14–30 MeV, we calculate an upper limit (determined by counting statistics) on the amount of shielding caused by the magnetosphere of 1.7%. The high energy channel (\u3e500 MeV) provides an upper limit of 3.2%

Prevalence and duration of breast milk feeding in very preterm infants: A 3-year follow-up study and a systematic literature review

Background: The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breast milk feeding until 6 months and continuing up to 2 years of age; little is known about whether very preterm infants are fed in accordance with these recommendations. We aimed to describe the prevalence and duration of breast milk feeding in very preterm children and to systematically review internationally published data. Methods: We evaluated breast milk feeding initiation and duration in very preterm children born in 2 Portuguese regions (2011‐2012) enrolled in the EPICE cohort and followed‐up to the age of 3 (n = 466). We searched PubMed® from inception to January 2017 to identify original studies reporting the prevalence and/or duration of breast milk feeding in very preterm children. Results: 91.0% of children received some breast milk feeding and 65.3% were exclusively breast fed with a median duration of 2 months for exclusive and 3 months for any breast milk; only 9.9% received exclusive breast milk for at least 6 months, 10.2% received any breast milk for 12 months or more, and 2.0% for up to 24 months. The literature review identified few studies on feeding after hospital discharge (n = 9); these also reported a low prevalence of exclusive breast milk feeding at 6 months (1.0% to 27.0%) and of any breast milk at 12 months (8.0% to 12.0%). Conclusions: The duration of breast milk feeding among Portuguese very preterm infants was shorter than recommended. However, this appears to be common globally. Research is needed to inform strategies to promote continued breast milk feeding.This study was funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007‐2013) under grant agreement no. 259882. This study was also funded by FEDER through the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Internationalization and national funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology—FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education), under the Unidade de Investigação em Epidemiologia—Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (EPIUnit) (POCI‐01‐0145‐FEDER‐006862; Ref.UID/DTP/04750/2013); the PhD Grant SFRH/BD/111794/2015 (Carina Rodrigues) and the individual grant SFRH/BSAB/113778/2015 (Henrique Barros), co‐funded by the FCT and the POCH/FSE Program

Record-setting Cosmic-ray Intensities in 2009 and 2010

We report measurements of record-setting intensities of cosmic-ray nuclei from C to Fe, made with the Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer carried on the Advanced Composition Explorer in orbit about the inner Sun-Earth Lagrangian point. In the energy interval from ~70 to ~450 MeV nucleon^(–1), near the peak in the near-Earth cosmic-ray spectrum, the measured intensities of major species from C to Fe were each 20%-26% greater in late 2009 than in the 1997-1998 minimum and previous solar minima of the space age (1957-1997). The elevated intensities reported here and also at neutron monitor energies were undoubtedly due to several unusual aspects of the solar cycle 23/24 minimum, including record-low interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) intensities, an extended period of reduced IMF turbulence, reduced solar-wind dynamic pressure, and extremely low solar activity during an extended solar minimum. The estimated parallel diffusion coefficient for cosmic-ray transport based on measured solar-wind properties was 44% greater in 2009 than in the 1997-1998 solar-minimum period. In addition, the weaker IMF should result in higher cosmic-ray drift velocities. Cosmic-ray intensity variations at 1 AU are found to lag IMF variations by 2-3 solar rotations, indicating that significant solar modulation occurs inside ~20 AU, consistent with earlier galactic cosmic-ray radial-gradient measurements. In 2010, the intensities suddenly decreased to 1997 levels following increases in solar activity and in the inclination of the heliospheric current sheet. We describe the conditions that gave cosmic rays greater access to the inner solar system and discuss some of their implications

Measurements of galactic cosmic ray shielding with the CRaTER instrument

[1] The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) instrument aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been measuring energetic charged particles from the galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) and solar particle events in lunar orbit since 2009. CRaTER includes three pairs of silicon detectors, separated by pieces of tissue-equivalent plastic that shield two of the three pairs from particles incident at the zenith-facing end of the telescope. Heavy-ion beams studied in previous ground-based work have been shown to be reasonable proxies for the GCRs when their energies are sufficiently high. That work, which included GCR simulations, led to predictions for the amount of dose reduction that would be observed by CRaTER. Those predictions are compared to flight data obtained by CRaTER in 2010–2011

Never-breastfed children face a higher risk of suboptimal cognition at 2 years of corrected age: A multinational cohort of very preterm children

In a cohort of children born very preterm (VPT), we investigated the association between breast milk feeding (BMF) initiation and its duration on cognitive development at 2 years of corrected age. Data were obtained from the Effective Perinatal Intensive Care in Europe population-based prospective cohort of children born <32 weeks of gestation, in 11 European countries, in 2011–2012. The study sample included 4323 children. Nonverbal cognitive ability was measured applying the Parental Report of Children's Abilities, except for France where the problem-solving domain of the Ages & Stages Questionnaire was used. Verbal cognition was based on the number of words the child could say. To determine the association between BMF (mother's own milk) and nonverbal and verbal cognition (outcome categorized as optimal and suboptimal), adjusted risk ratios (aRRs) were estimated fitting Poisson regression models, with inverse probability weights to account for nonresponse bias. Overall, 16% and 11% of the children presented suboptimal nonverbal and verbal cognition, respectively. Never BMF was associated with a significantly increased risk for suboptimal nonverbal (aRR = 1.29, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.09–1.53) and verbal (aRR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.09–1.92) cognitive development compared with those ever breastfed, after adjustment for perinatal and sociodemographic characteristics. Compared with children breastfed 6 months or more, children with shorter BMF duration exhibited a statistically nonsignificant elevated aRR. VPT children fed with breast milk had both improved nonverbal and verbal cognitive development at 2 years in comparison with never breastfed, independently of perinatal and sociodemographic characteristics. This study encourages targeted interventions to promote BMF among these vulnerable children. © 2022 The Authors. Maternal & Child Nutrition published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.The authors are grateful to the parents and infants enrolled in the EPICE cohort and acknowledge all members of the staff in the Departments of Obstetrics and Neonatology from the hospitals in the EPICE regions. The research received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007‐2013) under grant agreement number 259882 and received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 633724. Additional funding is acknowledged from the following regions: France (French Institute of Public Health Research/Institute of Public Health and its partners the French Health Ministry, the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, the National Institute of Cancer and the National Solidarity Fund for Autonomy; grant ANR‐11‐EQPX‐0038 from the National Research Agency through the French Equipex Programme of Investments in the Future; and the PremUp Foundation); Germany (PRIMAL Consortium, German Ministry for Education and Research); Poland (2012–2015 allocation of funds for international projects from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education); Sweden (Stockholm County Council [ALF‐project and Clinical Research Appointment] and by the Department of Neonatal Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital), and UK (funding for The Neonatal Survey from Neonatal Networks for East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions). This study received additional funding from PESSOA Programme (2017–2018)—Hubert Curien Programme, under the Transnational cooperation between Portugal (FCT) and France (CAMPUS FRANCE). This study was also funded by national funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology—FCT, under the Unidade de Investigação em Epidemiologia–Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (EPIUnit) (UIDB/04750/2020); the PhD Grant SFRH/BD/111794/2015 (Carina Rodrigues) was cofunded by the FCT and the POCH/FSE Program