Military medicine
-
Military aircrews' health status is critical to their mission readiness, as they perform physically and cognitively demanding tasks in nontraditional work environments. Research Objectives: Our objective is to develop a broad operational risk assessment framework and demonstrate its applicability to health risks to aircrews because of airborne chemical exposure, considering stressors such as heat and exertion. ⋯ Efforts to develop operational exposure limits would benefit from guidance on how to make use of existing assessments and expanded databases of the impact of environmental stressors on adult human physiology.
-
Hooking up is an impersonal sexual interaction, differing from sexual activity that occurs in the context of a committed relationship. Hookup behavior has been widely studied among college populations; however, this type of sexual behavior has yet to be explored in a military population. ⋯ Findings suggest that perceptions of hookups among participants who were male soldiers are generally consistent with college populations, with some varying aspects.
-
We explore disparities in awarding post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) service-connected disability benefits (SCDB) to veterans based on gender, race/ethnicity, and misconduct separation. ⋯ Despite being diagnosed with PTSD at similar rates to their referent categories, females and Black veterans are less likely to receive PTSD disability awards. Other racial/ethnic minorities and those with misconduct separations were more likely to receive PTSD diagnoses and awards. Further study is merited to explore variation in awarding SCDB.
-
To demonstrate the broad utility of the remotely supervised transcranial direct current stimulation (RS-tDCS) protocol developed to deliver at-home rehabilitation for individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). ⋯ RS-tDCS is feasible and tolerable for MS participants. The RS-tDCS protocol can be used to reach those in locations without clinic access and be paired with training or rehabilitation in locations away from the clinic. This protocol could be used to deliver tDCS paired with training or rehabilitation activities remotely to service members and veterans.
-
Maintaining readiness among Army surgeons is increasingly challenging because of declining operative experience during certain deployments. Novel solutions should be considered. ⋯ Maintaining readiness among Army surgeons is a difficult task, but a combination of increased trauma care while in garrison, as well as increased humanitarian care during deployments, may be helpful. Additionally, rotating providers from facilities caring for few combat casualties to facilities caring for more combat casualties may also be feasible, safe, and helpful.