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Research and technology Fiscal Year 1985 report

A quarter of a century is but a moment on the cosmic calendar. Now that Marshall Space Flight Center has reached its 25th Anniversity, it seems just moments ago that President Dwight D. Eisenhower stood on these grounds and formally dedicated the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The Fiscal Year 1985 Research and Technology Report reflects the wide spectrum of activities closely linked with the Center's mainstream spaceflight developments. Past accomplishments testify to the success of getting deeply involved in the science and technology of its projects - 32 Saturn launches, Pegasus, the Skylab missions, three High Energy Astronomy Observatory missions, the Apollo - Soyuz mission, and an accelerating schedule of successful Shuttle, Spacelab, and Shuttle payload missions. The Center continues to be involved in engineering development, scientific research, and technology. At the beginning of the second quarter century, the experience and dedication of the engineers and scientists, and the success of the collaboration with industry and academia will now be aimed at the next great endeavor, the Space Station.

Speer, F.↗

Estimating the Reliability of a Soyuz Spacecraft Mission

Once the US Space Shuttle retires in 2010, the Russian Soyuz Launcher and Soyuz Spacecraft will comprise the only means for crew transportation to and from the International Space Station (ISS). The U.S. Government and NASA have contracted for crew transportation services to the ISS with Russia. The resulting implications for the US space program including issues such as astronaut safety must be carefully considered. Are the astronauts and cosmonauts safer on the Soyuz than the Space Shuttle system? Is the Soyuz launch system more robust than the Space Shuttle? Is it safer to continue to fly the 30 year old Shuttle fleet for crew transportation and cargo resupply than the Soyuz? Should we extend the life of the Shuttle Program? How does the development of the Orion/Ares crew transportation system affect these decisions? The Soyuz launcher has been in operation for over 40 years. There have been only two loss of life incidents and two loss of mission incidents. Given that the most recent incident took place in 1983, how do we determine current reliability of the system? Do failures of unmanned Soyuz rockets impact the reliability of the currently operational man-rated launcher? Does the Soyuz exhibit characteristics that demonstrate reliability growth and how would that be reflected in future estimates of success? NASA s next manned rocket and spacecraft development project is currently underway. Though the projects ultimate goal is to return to the Moon and then to Mars, the launch vehicle and spacecraft s first mission will be for crew transportation to and from the ISS. The reliability targets are currently several times higher than the Shuttle and possibly even the Soyuz. Can these targets be compared to the reliability of the Soyuz to determine whether they are realistic and achievable? To help answer these questions this paper will explore how to estimate the reliability of the Soyuz Launcher/Spacecraft system, compare it to the Space Shuttle, and its potential impacts for the future of manned spaceflight. Specifically it will look at estimating the Loss of Mission (LOM) probability using historical data, reliability growth, and Probabilistic Risk Assessment techniques

Lutomski, Michael G.↗

Re-Engineering the ISS Payload Operations Control Center During Increased Utilization and Critical Onboard Events

With an increase in the utilization and hours of payload operations being executed onboard the International Space Station (ISS), upgrading the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) ISS Payload Control Area (PCA) was essential to gaining efficiencies and assurance of current and future payload health and science return. PCA houses the Payload Operations Integration Center (POIC) responsible for the execution of all NASA payloads onboard the ISS. POIC Flight Controllers are responsible for the operation of voice, stowage, command, telemetry, video, power, thermal, and environmental control in support of ISS science experiments. The methodologies and execution of the PCA refurbishment were planned and performed within a four month period in order to assure uninterrupted operation of ISS payloads and minimal impacts to payload operations teams. To vacate the PCA, three additional HOSC control rooms were reconfigured to handle ISS realtime operations, Backup Control Center (BCC) to Mission Control in Houston, simulations, and testing functions. This involved coordination and cooperation from teams of ISS operations controllers, multiple engineering and design disciplines, management, and construction companies performing an array of activities simultaneously and in sync delivering a final product with no issues that impacted the schedule. For each console operator discipline, studies of Information Technology (IT) tools and equipment layouts, ergonomics, and lines of sight were performed. Infusing some of the latest IT into the project was an essential goal in ensuring future growth and success of the ISS payload science returns. Engineering evaluations led to a state of the art media wall implementation and more efficient ethernet cabling distribution providing the latest products and the best solution for the POIC. These engineering innovations led to cost savings for the project. Constraints involved in the management of the project included executing over 450 crew-hours of ISS real-time payload operations including a major onboard communications upgrade, SpaceX un-berth, a Soyuz launch, roll-out of ISS live video and interviews from the POIC, annual BCC certification and hurricane season, and ISS simulations and testing. Continuous ISS payload operations were possible during the PCA facility modifications with the reconfiguration of four control rooms and standup of two temporary control areas. Another major restriction to the project was an ongoing facility upgrade that included a NASA Headquarters mandated replacement of all electrical and mechanical systems and replacement of an external generator. These upgrades required a facility power outage during the PCA upgrades. The project also encompassed console layout designs and ordering, amenities selections and ordering, excessing of old equipment, moves, disposal of old IT equipment, camera installations, facility tour re-schedules, and contract justifications. These were just some of the tasks needed for a successful project.

Marsh, Angela L.↗

Re-Engineering the ISS Payload Operations Control Center During Increased Utilization and Critical Onboard Events

With an increase in utilization and hours of payload operations being executed onboard the International Space Station (ISS), upgrading the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) ISS Payload Control Area (PCA) was essential to gaining efficiencies and assurance of current and future payload health and science return. PCA houses the Payload Operations Integration Center (POIC) responsible for the execution of all NASA payloads onboard the ISS. POIC Flight Controllers are responsible for the operation of voice, stowage, command, telemetry, video, power, thermal, and environmental control in support of ISS science experiments. The methodologies and execution of the PCA refurbishment were planned and performed within a four-month period in order to assure uninterrupted operation of ISS payloads and minimal impacts to payload operations teams. To vacate the PCA, three additional HOSC control rooms were reconfigured to handle ISS real-time operations, Backup Control Center (BCC) to Mission Control in Houston, simulations, and testing functions. This involved coordination and cooperation from teams of ISS operations controllers, multiple engineering and design disciplines, management, and construction companies performing an array of activities simultaneously and in sync delivering a final product with no issues that impacted the schedule. For each console operator discipline, studies of Information Technology (IT) tools and equipment layouts, ergonomics, and lines of sight were performed. Infusing some of the latest IT into the project was an essential goal in ensuring future growth and success of the ISS payload science returns. Engineering evaluations led to a state of the art Video Wall implementation and more efficient ethernet cabling distribution providing the latest products and the best solution for the POIC. These engineering innovations led to cost savings for the project. Constraints involved in the management of the project included executing over 450 crew-hours of ISS real-time payload operations including a major onboard communications upgrade, SpaceX un-berth, a Soyuz launch, roll-out of ISS live video and interviews from the POIC, annual BCC certification and hurricane season, and ISS simulations and testing. Continuous ISS payload operations were possible during the PCA facility modifications with the reconfiguration of four control rooms and standup of two temporary control areas. Another major restriction to the project was an ongoing facility upgrade that included a NASA Headquarters mandated replacement of all electrical and mechanical systems and replacement of an external generator. These upgrades required a facility power outage during the PCA upgrades. The project also encompassed console layout designs and ordering, amenities selections and ordering, excessing of old equipment, moves, disposal of old IT equipment, camera installations, facility tour re-schedules, and contract justifications. These were just some of the tasks needed for a successful project. This paper describes the logistics and lessons learned in upgrading a control center capability in the middle of complex real-time operations. Combining the efficiencies of controller interaction and new technology infusion were prime drivers for this upgrade to handle the increased utilization of science research on ISS. The success of this project could not jeopardize the current operations while these facility upgrades occurred.

Dudley, Stephanie R. B.↗

Six degree of freedom FORTRAN program, ASTP docking dynamics, users guide

The digital program ASTP Docking Dynamics as outlined is intended to aid the engineer using the program to determine the docking system loads and attendant vehicular motion resulting from docking two vehicles that have an androgynous, six-hydraulic-attenuator, guide ring, docking interface similar to that designed for the Apollo/Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). This program is set up to analyze two different vehicle combinations: the Apollo CSM docking to Soyuz and the shuttle orbiter docking to another orbiter. The subroutine modifies the vehicle control systems to describe one or the other vehicle combinations; the rest of the vehicle characteristics are changed by input data. To date, the program has been used to predict and correlate ASTP docking loads and performance with docking test program results from dynamic testing. The program modified for use on IBM 360 computers. Parts of the original docking system equations in the areas of hydraulic damping and capture latches are modified to better describe the detail design of the ASTP docking system.

Mount, G. O., Jr.↗

Occupant Protection at NASA

This slide presentation reviews NASA's efforts to arrive at protection of occupants of the ORION space craft on landing. An Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) has been developed, it is an anatomically-based, consensus-derived, global severity scoring system that classifies each injury by body region according to its relative importance on a 6-point ordinal scale. It reviews an Operationmally Relevant Injury Scale (ORIS), a classification methodology, and shows charts that detail the results of applying this ORIS to the injury databases. One chart uses NASCAR injury classification. It discusses providing a context for the level of risk inherent in the Orion landings in terms that people understand and have a sense for. For example is the risk of injury during an Orion landing roughly the same, better or worse than: An aircraft carrier landing, a NASCAR crash, or a helicopter crash, etc? The data for NASCAR and Indy Racing league (IRL) racing crash and injury data was reviewed. The risk from the Air Force, Navy, and Army injury data was also reviewed. Past NASA and the Soyuz programs injury risks are also reviewed. The work is an attempt to formulate a recommendation to the Orion Project for an acceptable level of injury risk associated with Nominal and Off-Nominal landing cases. The presentation also discusses the data mining and use of the data to Validate NASA Operationally-Relevant Injury Scale (NORIS) / Military Operationally-Relevant Injury Scale (MORIS), developing injury risk criteria, the types of data that are required, NASCAR modeling techniques and crash data, and comparison with the Brinkley model. The development of injury risk curves for each biodynamic response parameter is discussed. One of the main outcomes of this work is to establish an accurate Automated Test Dummy (ATD) that can be used to measure human tolerances.

Somers, Jeffrey↗

Space research in the era of the space station

The historical development of U.S. space technology is examined as a basis for future programs planned in the field of astrophysics, meteorological and land sciences, and planetary exploration. The background of the NASA space station project is described, as well as other current programs: Voyager II for Uranus and Neptune exploration, Galileo mission for sending probes into the Jovian atmosphere, Venus Radar Mapper, Mars Geochemistry and Climatology Orbiter, and the International Solar Polar mission. Recent advances in in-orbit assembly, refurbishment and repairs are discussed through the example of the Solar Maximum mission spacecraft repair in 1984 and the use of the RMS tool. The U.S. space observatory project with a 20-meter reflector telescope, currently in the early definition stage, is also discussed. Finally, the Soviet Salyut and Soyuz missions, together with the Soviet Union's study of long term flight conditions are mentioned as possible comparison with the NASA work.

Frost, K. J.↗

Mission requirements CSM-111/DM-2 Apollo/Soyuz test project

Test systems are developed for rendezvous and docking of manned spacecraft and stations that are suitable for use as a standard international system. This includes the rendezvous and docking of Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft, and crew transfer. The conduct of the mission will include: (1) testing of compatible rendezvous systems in orbit; (2) testing of universal docking assemblies; (3) verifying the techniques for transfer of cosmonauts and astronauts; (4) performing certain activities by U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. crews in joint flight; and (5) gaining of experience in conducting joint flights by U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. spacecraft, including, in case of necessity, rendering aid in emergency situations.

Blackmer, S. M.↗

Practicality of Using a Tether for Electrodynamic Reboost of the International Space Station

ElectroDynamic (ED) Tethers can generate continuous low thrust in a low Earth orbit. An induced current running through the length of the tether reacts with the geomagnetic field to produce thrust. The amount of thrust scales with tether lens!th and current. The International Space Station (ISS) requires periodic reboost to maintain an approximately circular orbit t above the Earth. The baseline reboost method is a traditional bi-propellant rocket thruster and tankage system which must to be refueled via Soyuz / Progress or other launch vehicle. The estimated propellant costs associated with keeping ISS in the designated orbit over a 10-year life have been extremely high. The ED Tether would draw energy from the renewable ISS Solar Array electrical power system. Propulsion requirements for ISS vary depending on solar wind and other conditions. It is projected that a ED Tether could provide the majority of the required reboost thrust for ISS for a nominal solar year. For above nominal solar wind years the ISS would have to use the rocket reboost system, but at a greatly reduced level. Thus resulting in substantial cost savings, via the reduction in the number of Earth-to-orbit launch vehicle flights to the ISS that must bring reboost propellant. However, the purposes of this paper is to further Previous research on an ISS ED Tether and examine the operational and technical issues working against using a ED Tether on ISS. Issues such as Shuttle rendezvous and flight path concerns raise serious safety concerns and restrictions on tether use. Tether issues such as tether librations and off angle thrust raise concerns about impacts to microgravity payloads and the long-term effect on ISS orbital path and inclination. Operational issues such as peak power available to an ED Tether and allowable duty cycle may impose severe restrictions on tether design and ultimately limit the practicality of an ED Tether on ISS. Thus while at first glance the cost numbers appear to be strongly in favor of an ED Tether the limitations imposed by safety, operations and technical concerns may severely undermine the economic model. Possible Solutions to these problems have been investigated and proposed, however some items like off angle thrust are still being actively investigated for an adequate solution.

Blumer, J. H.↗

Review of NASA activities in materials sciences in space

In the year since the 18th Plenary Meeting of COSPAR, NASA has conducted eight materials processing experiments on the Apollo-Soyuz mission and 17 on two rocket flights. In addition, these three missions have implemented one Soviet and three German experiments. The Apollo-Soyuz results have confirmed and extended the findings of the Skylab experiments on solidification and crystal growth effects and have also established capabilities for separating living cells by electrophoresis and returning them still living to earth. The rocket missions provide repetitive flight opportunities much as the Space Shuttle will do, and they are being used to develop research approaches in which investigators will undertake projects calling for multiple space experiments rather than proposing experiments individually. During the year, NASA has also completed definition work on the major payload facilities planned for its initial materials processing experiment program on the Space Shuttle and Spacelab missions of 1980-81.

Bredt, J. H.↗

Opportunity for academic research in a low-gravity environment - Crystal growth

The history of basic and applied research on crystal growth (CG), especially of semiconductor materials, is reviewed, stressing the dominance (at least in the U.S.) of industrial R&D projects over academic programs and the need for more extensive fundamental investigations. The NASA microgravity research program and the recommendations of the University Space Research Association are examined as they affect the availability of space facilities for academic CG research. Also included is a report on ground experiments on the effectiveness of magnetic fields in controlling vertical Bridgman CG and melt stability, using the apparatus employed in the Apollo-Soyuz experiments (Witt et al., 1978); the results are presented in graphs and briefly characterized. The role of NASA's microgravity CG program in stimulating academic work on CG, the importance of convection effects, CG work on materials other than semiconductors, and NSF support of CG research are discussed in a comment by R. F. Sekerka.

Matthiesen, D. H.↗

Acute Modifications of Circulating Volume and Respiratory Maneuvers in the Cardiovascular Assessment of Long-Duration Crewmembers

This U.S. - Russian project is aimed at improved assessment of cardiac and vascular parameters associated with circulating volume and its distribution in long-duration space flight. Objective responses to modified Valsalva and Mueller maneuvers were measured by cardiac and vascular ultrasound before, during, and after temporary volume redistribution by means of Braslet-M thigh occlusion cuffs (Russia). Braslet-M cuffs are custom fitted to each crewmember prior to launch on the Soyuz as a Russian countermeasure for space adaptation fluid shifts

Bogomolov, V. V.↗

ENRE 655 Class Project. Development of the Initial Main Parachute Failure Probability for the Constellation Program (CxP) Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) Parachute Assembly System (CPAS)

Loss of Crew (LOC) and Loss of Mission (LOM) are two key requirements the Constellation Program (CxP) measure against. To date, one of the top risk drivers for both LOC and LOM has been Orion's Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) Parachute Assembly System (CPAS). Even though the Orion CPAS is one of the top risk drivers of CxP, it has been very difficult to obtain any relevant data to accurately quantify the risk. At first glance, it would seem that a parachute system would be very reliable given the track record of Apollo and Soyuz. Given the success of those two programs, the amount of data is considered to be statistically insignificant. However, due to CxP having LOC/LOM as key design requirements, it was necessary for Orion to generate a valid prior to begin the Risk Informed Design process. To do so, the Safety & Mission Assurance (S&MA) Space Shuttle & Exploration Analysis Section generated an initial failure probability for Orion to use in preparation for the Orion Systems Requirements Review (SRR).

Fuqua, Bryan C.↗

International Space Station Medical Project

The goals and objectives of the ISS Medical Project (ISSMP) are to: 1) Maximize the utilization the ISS and other spaceflight platforms to assess the effects of longduration spaceflight on human systems; 2) Devise and verify strategies to ensure optimal crew performance; 3) Enable development and validation of a suite of integrated physical (e.g., exercise), pharmacologic and/or nutritional countermeasures against deleterious effects of space flight that may impact mission success or crew health. The ISSMP provides planning, integration, and implementation services for Human Research Program research tasks and evaluation activities requiring access to space or related flight resources on the ISS, Shuttle, Soyuz, Progress, or other spaceflight vehicles and platforms. This includes pre- and postflight activities; 2) ISSMP services include operations and sustaining engineering for HRP flight hardware; experiment integration and operation, including individual research tasks and on-orbit validation of next generation on-orbit equipment; medical operations; procedures development and validation; and crew training tools and processes, as well as operation and sustaining engineering for the Telescience Support Center; and 3) The ISSMP integrates the HRP approved flight activity complement and interfaces with external implementing organizations, such as the ISS Payloads Office and International Partners, to accomplish the HRP's objectives. This effort is led by JSC with Baseline Data Collection support from KSC.

Starkey, Blythe A.↗

Microbial Characteristics of ISS Environmental Surfaces

The microbiome of environmental surfaces from the International Space Station were characterized in order to examine the relationship to crew and hardware maintenance. The Microbial Observatory (ISS-MO) experiment generated a microbial census of ISS environments using advanced molecular microbial community analyses along with traditional culture-based methods. Since the “omics” methodologies generated an extensive microbial census, significant insights into spaceflight-induced changes in the populations of beneficial and/or potentially harmful microbes were gained. Surface samples were collected from several ISS surface locations from three flight opportunities, and were returned to Earth via the Soyuz TMA-14M or the Space X Dragon capsule. In addition to cultivation methods, viable microbial burden, iTag-based sequencing, and metagenome analyses were carried out. The cultivable microbial bioburden differed by location and sampling event. Exploring the ISS environmental microbiome revealed presence of opportunistic pathogens and antibiotic resistant microbes. Genes involved in ATP binding cassette transporters, two component systems, and beta-lactam resistance were among a diverse set of metabolic and genetic information processing pathways. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) of 50 ISS strains exhibiting resistance to various antibiotics was carried out. The antibiotic resistant genes deduced from the WGS were compared with the resistomes generated directly from the gene pool of the environmental samples. Two unique Aspergillus fumigatus strains isolated from the ISS were characterized and compared to the experimentally established clinical isolates Af293 and CEA10. A virulence assessment in a neutrophil-deficient larval zebrafish model of invasive aspergillosis indicated that both ISSFT-021 and IF1SW-F4 were significantly more lethal compared to Af293 and CEA10. The findings from this Environmental “Omics” project should be exploited to enhance human health and well-being of a closed system. In other words, the ISS-MO research aims to "translate" findings in fundamental research into medical practice (pathogen detection) and meaningful health outcomes (countermeasure development).

Perry, Jay↗

Analysis of water from the Space Shuttle and Mir Space Station by ion chromatography and capillary electrophoresis

Drinking water and condensate samples collected from the US Space Shuttle and the Russian Mir Space Station are analyzed routinely at the NASA-Johnson Space Center as part of an ongoing effort to verify water quality and monitor the environment of the spacecraft. Water quality monitoring is particularly important for the Mir water supply because approximately half of the water consumed is recovered from humidity condensate. Drinking water on Shuttle is derived from the fuel cells. Because there is little equipment on board the spacecraft for monitoring the water quality, samples collected by the crew are transported to Earth on Shuttle or Soyuz vehicles, and analyzed exhaustively. As part of the test battery, anions and cations are measured by ion chromatography, and carboxylates and amines by capillary electrophoresis. Analytical data from Shuttle water samples collected before and after several missions, and Mir condensate and potable recovered water samples representing several recent missions are presented and discussed. Results show that Shuttle water is of distilled quality, and Mir recovered water contains various levels of minerals imparted during the recovery processes as designed. Organic ions are rarely detected in potable water samples, but were present in humidity condensate samples.

NASA Discipline Environmental Health↗

Post-Flight Back Pain Following International Space Station Missions: Evaluation of Spaceflight Risk Factors

INTRODUCTION Back pain during spaceflight has often been attributed to the lengthening of the spinal column due to the absence of gravity during both short and long-duration missions. Upon landing and re-adaptation to gravity, the spinal column reverts back to its original length thereby causing some individuals to experience pain and muscular spasms, while others experience no ill effects. With International Space Station (ISS) missions, cases of back pain and injury are more common post-flight, but little is known about the potential risk factors. Thus, the purpose of this project was to perform an initial evaluation of reported post-flight back pain and injury cases to relevant spaceflight risk factors in United States astronauts that have completed an ISS mission. METHODS All US astronauts who completed an ISS mission between Expeditions (EXP) 1 and 41 (2000-2015) were included in this evaluation. Forty-five astronauts (36 males and 9 females) completed 50 ISS missions during the study time period, as 5 astronauts completed 2 ISS missions. Researchers queried medical records of the 45 astronauts for occurrences of back pain and injury. A case was defined as any reported event of back pain or injury to the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral, or coccyx spine regions. Data sources for the cases included the Flight Medicine Clinic's electronic medical record; Astronaut Strength, Conditioning and Rehabilitation electronic documentation; the Private Medical Conference tool; and the Space Medicine Operations Team records. Post-flight cases were classified as an early case if reported within 45 days of landing (R + 45) or a late case if reported from R + 46 to R + 365 days after landing (R + 1y). Risk factors in the astronaut population for back pain include age, sex, prior military service, and prior history of back pain. Additionally, spaceflight specific risk factors such as type of landing vehicle and onboard exercise countermeasures were included to evaluate their contribution to post-flight cases. Prior history of back pain included back pain recorded in the medical record within 3 years prior to launch. Landing vehicle was included in the model to discern if more astronauts experienced back pain or injury following a Shuttle or Soyuz landing. Onboard exercise countermeasures were noted for those astronauts who had a mission following 2009 deployment of the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (aRED) (EXP 19 to 41). T-test and chi-squared tests were performed to evaluate the association between each individual risk factor and post-flight case. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the combined contribution of all the risk factors on post-flight cases. Separate models were calculated for cases reported by R + 45 and R + 1y. RESULTS During the study time period, there were 13 post-flight cases reported by R + 45 and an additional 5 reported by R + 1y. Most of these cases have been reported since EXP 19 with 10 cases by R + 45 and 4 by R + 1y. Individual risk factors of age, sex, landing vehicle, and prior military service were not significantly associated with post-flight cases identified at R + 45 or R + 1y (p greater than 0.05). Having back pain or injury within 3 years prior to launch significantly increased the likelihood of becoming a case by R + 1y (p = 0.041), but not at R+45 (p=0.204). Additionally, astronauts who experienced onboard exercise countermeasures that included aRED had a significantly increased risk of becoming a case at R + 45 (p = 0.024) and R + 1y (p=0.003). Multiple logistic regression evaluating all the risk factors for cases identified no significant risk factors at either the R + 45 or R + 1y time period (p greater than 0.05). Overall model fit was poor for both the R + 45 (R(exp 2) = 0.132) and R + 1y (R(exp 2) = 0.186) cases showing that there are risk factors not represented in our model. CONCLUSIONS Regardless of cause, post-flight cases are reported more often since aRED was deployed in 2009. This may reflect improved documentation or unidentified risk factors. No spaceflight risk factor explains the data fully. Post-flight cases are probably due to multi-faceted factors that are not easily elucidated in the medical data.

Laughlin, M. S.↗