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More than 44 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who have sought treatment at a Department of Veterans Affairs medical facility have been diagnosed with one or more possible mental disorders, according to the agency's most recent summary of veteran health care.

KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 15, 2008 - Hundreds of people in Afghanistan's Zabul province received the gifts of medical care and humanitarian assistance earlier this month. Members of the Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team, the Afghan National Army and coalition forces participated in a medical operation in a local village.

A group of researchers at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children have erased brain cells in mice that store fearful memories, holding out the hope that terrifying memories in humans may one day be erased before causing conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder. While the sights and sounds of a terrifying blast or crash would stay intact, the memory of the fear it caused could conceivably be erased, the researchers suggest. Their work appears today in the journal Science.

This week marks the sixth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, and there is a growing awareness of the stresses faced by Iraq veterans, families and the Army, which along with the Marine Corps, has borne the weight of the war.

A new study of US veterans suggests that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and metabolic syndrome, the group of symptoms that increases heart disease and diabetes risk, may be linked. Dr Pia S. Heppner of the Veterans Affairs San Diego Health System in La Jolla and her colleagues found that the more severe a person's PTSD symptoms, the more likely they were to also have the metabolic syndrome. Evidence is mounting that exposure to trauma can worsen physical health, including increasing heart disease risk, Heppner and her team note in the journal BMC Medicine.

A team of researchers led by Kerry Z. Donnelly, an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Counseling, has been studying the clinical profiles of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBI) to design treatments to better the return to civilian life.

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky., Feb. 21, 2009 - A tour of the Traumatic Brain Injury Warrior Resiliency and Recovery Center here yesterday made a favorable impression on the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The Hawaii State Chapter of the American Red Cross announced that a new course, Coping With Deployments: Psychological First Aid for Military Families, is now available. The course, offered free of charge, is open to military family members of active duty, Reserve and National Guard forces, as well as veterans and their families. It is not offered to the general public.

For veterans struggling financially due to a job loss or decreased income, Department of Veterans Affairs officials offer an assortment of programs that can relieve the costs of health care or provide care at no cost.

The Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs are making "great strides" in the ability to electronically share the medical records of troops and former troops under their care who are transitioning between the health care systems of the two departments.

Michael Kilpatrick, M.D. , Director of Strategic Communications for the Military Health System visits NNMC Bethesda "As we left Bethesda from a visit that was anticipated to be for "giving," I realized that once again I had "received." The fortitude and determination of a young Marine had rekindled my resolve to make certain the Military Health System always delivers on this obligation. The energy and enthusiasm of the hospital staff assured me the MHS has skills and compassion to do "the right thing."

DefenseLink.mil - The official website of the United States Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense, DoD, Defense, Military

Once upon a time doctors and lawyers were portrayed as the digital Luddites of society. Maybe there was a lag of early adoption especially when compared to the tech early-adopters. Not so much anymore. Now there seems to be a...

Too many veterans' disability claims take more than a year to process, the Veterans Affairs Department's inspector general said. An audit showed that a year ago, 11,000 veterans had claims pending more than a year. It said the agency awarded retroactive payments totaling about $43 million for about a third of them. Of that total, it says about $14 million was unnecessarily delayed. Among the worst cases, the inspector general said, was one involving a veteran who was owed nearly $65,000 for a delayed claim, and another in which a veteran waited more than two years for payment, the inspector general said. The report said the veterans agency had made progress in reducing handling claims, but that delays still created too much of a financial burden for veterans.

The offensive in southern Afghanistan hasn't come without its casualties for U.S. and NATO forces there. Stripes reporter Drew Brown tells us that over the last few weeks helicopter ambulance crews from the 2nd Platoon "Gypsies" of Company C, 3rd Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade have pulled dozens of wounded - and sometimes dead - U.S., British and Afghan troops from the battlefield. Brown's dispatch takes you to the battlefield and safely back out again with a group of dedicated medevac crewmembers.

A new study shows that while active-duty service members have lower rates of cancer overall than civilians, they have higher rates of breast cancer and double the rates of prostate cancer.

The Army has documented that the survival rate in ongoing conflicts is over 90%, the highest recorded in modern combat. This survival rate is the product of numerous innovations such as improvements in protective equipment, improvements in evacuation, improvements in the training of combat medics, and innovations in the medical equipment and techniques available at all levels of care from self/buddy aid, through field care given by medics and into hospital care delivered in theater and in the U.S.

Maj. (Dr) Vikhyat Bebarta, chief of medical toxicology and a staff emergency physician, is the recipient of the Best Basic Science Research Award, presented by the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), for his research on evaluating treatments for cyanide poisoning.

CHARLOTTE COUNTY -- A $200,000 grant will help provide medical care in Charlotte County for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Charlotte Behavioral Health Care received the grant from the Florida BRAIVE Fund at Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice. The grant will be used over the next 18 months to address mental health, substance abuse and related psychological needs of 75 to 100 veterans and family members.

Although fewer than half of military veterans achieve recommended amounts of physical activity, they are still more active than their counterparts who did not serve in the military, according to a study published by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).