Today is: Monday Feb 06, 2012


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Veteran and Military Health News

Helping Dogs (and Humans) With Spinal Cord Injury Walk Again

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:00:00 PST
On Wednesday, US researchers announced they are testing a new drug in dogs that has already proven effective in mice. The drug is designed to substantially reduce the hind limb paralysis that follows certain spinal cord injuries. There are currently no therapies that can do this. The researchers suggest if the drug succeeds in dogs, it could also work in humans...

How Team Training Reduces Surgical Complications Risk

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:00:00 PST
A program enforced by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to enhance surgical outcomes and help structured interactive communication in surgical care results in fewer surgical complications, according to an article published in the December issue of the Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives ...

Diet For Retired Military Personnel Reduces Medical Costs

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:00:00 PST
According to a report published online in Preventive Medicine, a weight management intervention designed for military members who are inactive and retired, and their families, could improve their health in addition to lowering medical expenditures...

Brain Activity Similar In Maltreated Children And Combat Soldiers

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 03:00:00 PST
Children exposed to family violence show the same pattern of activity in their brains as soldiers exposed to combat, new research has shown...

Research Shows Rx With Hyperbaric Oxygen Improved TBI And PTSD In Vets

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 PST
Research led by Dr. Paul Harch, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has found that treatment with hyperbaric oxygen nearly three years after injury significantly improved function and quality of life for veterans with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. The findings are available online now in the Journal of Neurotrauma...

During REM Sleep Stress Chemicals Shut Down And The Brain Processes Emotional Experiences

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 00:00:00 PST
They say time heals all wounds, and new research from the University of California, Berkeley, indicates that time spent in dream sleep can help. UC Berkeley researchers have found that during the dream phase of sleep, also known as REM sleep, our stress chemistry shuts down and the brain processes emotional experiences and takes the painful edge off difficult memories...

Dream Sleep Eases Painful Memories

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 08:00:00 PST
Researchers at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, have discovered that during REM or the dream phase sleep, our body's stress chemistry shuts down while the brain processes emotional experiences and eases the pain in difficult memories...

Hope On The Horizon For Patients With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 00:00:00 PST
Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are teaming up for a research project aimed at advancing the treatment of military personnel suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). "PTSD and mild TBI are serious problems for our vets coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan," said Dwayne W...

U.S. Cutbacks Could Hurt Boomers And Veterans Impacted By Alzheimer's

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 04:00:00 PST
The American Health Assistance Foundation (AHAF), a nonprofit organization funding innovative research through its Alzheimer's Disease Research (ADR) program, has announced that the number of scientists seeking ADR research grants through its annual application process increased by 33% this year...

Recent Veterans In College Engage In Riskier Health Behaviors

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:00:00 PST
College students who have served in the U.S. conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely than their non-veteran peers to use tobacco, drink in excess and engage in other behaviors that endanger their health and safety, according to a study that appeared in the latest issue of American Journal of Health Promotion...

New Sleep Disorder Research Highlighted At CHEST 2011

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:00:00 PST
Left-Handed People More Likely to Have Sleep Disorder (#1119044, Wednesday, October 26, 3:00 PM Eastern) The presence of rhythmic limb movements when sleeping, which may vary in intensity, may be an indicator of periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD)...

Study Finds Care For Mentally Ill Veterans Is As Good Or Better Than In Other Health Systems

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:00:00 PST
Treating U.S. veterans with mental illness and substance use disorders is more expensive than caring for veterans with other medical conditions, costing more than $12 billion in 2007, according to a new RAND Corporation study...

Headaches Take Toll On Soldiers

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 01:00:00 PST
Headaches, a virtually universal human complaint at one time or another, are among the top reasons for medical evacuation of military personnel from Iraq and Afghanistan, and for ongoing depletion of active-duty ranks in those countries, according to research led by Johns Hopkins specialists...

Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy May Be Beneficial For Treating Traumatic Brain Injury, But Further Research Needed

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 PST
There is some evidence about the potential value of cognitive rehabilitation therapy (CRT) for treating traumatic brain injury (TBI), but overall it is not sufficient to develop definitive guidelines on how to apply these therapies and to determine which type of CRT will work best for a particular patient, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine...

Cortisone Injection Can Prevent PTSD In 60% Who Experience Traumatic Stress

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 01:00:00 PST
As soldiers return home from tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, America must cope with the toll that war takes on mental health. But the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is becoming increasingly expensive, and promises to escalate as yet another generation of veterans tries to heal its psychological wounds...

New Diagnosis Proposed For Iraq/Afghanistan War Veterans With Respiratory Symptoms

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 01:00:00 PST
Soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan have a high rate of breathing-related symptoms leading to lung function testing, reports a paper in the September Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health...

IED Research Aimed At Reducing Soldiers' Amputations, Leg Injuries

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:00:00 PST
A Mississippi State biomedical engineering researcher focused on decreasing amputations and other leg injuries to soldiers in IED-attacked vehicles will present her findings next week at a NATO conference in Canada. Lakiesha N. Williams, an assistant professor of biological engineering at the university, will address NATO's Research and Technology Organization during a Monday-Wednesday [Oct...

Marijuana Administration Could Prevent Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 02:00:00 PST
Cannabinoids (marijuana) administration after experiencing a traumatic event blocks the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-like symptoms in rats, according to a new study conducted at the University of Haifa and published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology...

Study Reveals Causes Of Gulf War Illness Are Complex And Vary By Deployment Area

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:00:00 PST
Gulf War Illness (GWI) - the chronic health condition that affects about one in four military veterans of the 1991 Gulf War - appears to be the result of several factors, which differed in importance depending upon the locations where veterans served during the war, according to a Baylor University study...

Chronic Abnormal Brain Blood Flow Found In Gulf War Veterans

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 02:00:00 PST
Blood flow abnormalities found in the brains of veterans with Gulf War illness have persisted 20 years after the war, and in some cases have gotten worse, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology...

Military Medicine Symposium To Address Full Spectrum Of Care Following Traumatic Brain Injury

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:00:00 PST
New Jersey Congressman and former Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Jon Runyan and Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli will deliver keynote addresses at the fourth USU-HJF Military Medicine Symposium, "The TBI Spectrum," Sept. 22, 2011...

Non-Epileptic Seizures May Be Misdiagnosed Longer In Veterans

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 01:00:00 PST
Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures may go undiagnosed for much longer in veterans compared to civilians, according to a new study published in the September 6, 2011, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. This type of seizure is different from seizures related to epilepsy and is thought to have a psychological origin...

Fewer Reports Of Ethical Misconduct By Troops In Iraq Due To US Army Battlefield Ethics Training

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 08:00:00 PST
An editorial in this weeks 9/11 Special Issue of The Lancet reveals that soldiers were positively influenced by leader-led battlefield ethics training in understanding ways to interact with and treat non-combatants, resulting in fewer reports of ethical misconduct during deployment in Iraq...

Study Offers Insight For Returning Troops And Their Relationships

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:00:00 PST
Troops overseas often want nothing more than to get back home to loved ones - but the reunion period often can be more emotionally taxing than the deployment. Returning service members are at a greater risk of both depressive symptoms and relationship distress, and research shows the two often go together, says University of Illinois researcher Leanne Knobloch (pronounced kuh-NO-block)...

Study Links Low DHA Levels To Suicide Risk Among U.S. Military Personnel

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:00:00 PST
A new study suggests that low levels of the highly unsaturated omega-3 essential fatty acids, in particular DHA, may be associated with increased risk of suicide...


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