Articles: ninos.
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With a deficit of effective military residency mentorships, a paucity of research on successful mentorship programs, and growing reports on innovative mentoring programs, we developed a "Speed Mentoring" event for the National Capital Consortium OBGYN Residency. ⋯ After demonstrating a need for improved mentorship opportunities, we implemented an efficient way to foster mentorship while expanding resident involvement in research, QI projects, and fellowship applications. This "Speed Mentorship" program can be easily adapted to all residency programs.
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Amassing evidence suggests that post-awakening salivary cortisol rhythms (changes in cortisol throughout the day) may indicate health status. We previously established summary parameters for salivary cortisol in U.S. Navy Sea, Air, and Land and reported excellent parameter stability across 2 days of repeated sampling. To confirm the generalizability of our original findings to other military populations, we replicated the procedures of our prior report in another specialized military group. The purpose of this study was to (1) establish summary parameters of daily salivary cortisol rhythms, (2) evaluate summary parameter stability, and (3) assess the impact of sampling compliance in U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technicians. ⋯ These findings demonstrate a thorough replication, with some additional refinement, of our prior study, implying generalizability across diverse military populations. Study limitations include unsupervised saliva collection in a free-living setting, which is counterbalanced by ecological validity. The noninvasive salivary sampling protocol used in this study yields stable estimations of daily cortisol rhythms in specialized military men and is recommended as an operational health surveillance tool by which to monitor chronically stressed military members.
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The prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in U.S. military veterans is higher than that of non-veterans. Smoking and physical activity behaviors of veterans with COPD have not been studied. Therefore, our objective was to determine whether smoking and physical activity behaviors of veterans with COPD differ from non-veterans with COPD. Our secondary objective was to describe lifestyle behaviors of veterans after being diagnosed with COPD. ⋯ Veterans were significantly more likely to have COPD compared with non-veterans. Additionally, female veterans were significantly more likely to be current smokers following a diagnosis of COPD, which was not significant in male veterans, and both sexes were less likely to have a quit attempt compared with non-veterans. Finally, both male and female veterans were less likely to meet aerobic physical activity recommendations compared with non-veterans. Our findings suggest that further efforts should be made to increase the frequency of quit attempts and improve smoking rates and physical activity in veterans with COPD.
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Individuals with substance use disorders and/or mental health (MH) conditions have higher rates of cigarette smoking than the general population. Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) while gaining popularity pose health risks. Herein we investigate risk perceptions and attitudes toward e-cigarettes in military Veterans with MH conditions. ⋯ Proportion of e-cigarette use in this Veteran sample is greater than the general population. We observed high risk perception about e-cigarettes among all respondents and differences in perceived helpfulness of e-cigarettes for quitting in ever-users versus never-users in this sample. More consistent assessment of tobacco use among Veterans, with inclusion of ENDS use, would help inform prevention and treatment priorities, especially as information on health impacts of ENDS surfaces.
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From 1946 to 1990, more than 400 000 people were employed by Wismut AG, a Soviet/Soviet-German corporation (German abbreviation: SAG/ SDAG), in the East German states of Saxony and Thuringia. In the early years in particular, employees were exposed to large amounts of radon and respirable crystalline silica. ⋯ Underground miners employed by Wismut AG displayed marked excess mortality due to silicosis/other pneumoconiosis and lung cancer. The contribution of individual occupational risk factors for these and other causes of death with increased SMR are being further investigated in analyses within the study cohort.