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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.

From now on, military health workers will shove that needle a little deeper when administering anthrax vaccinations - but that extra pinch should prevent more pain later.A study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association in October found that injecting the vaccine into a muscle rather than into the fat just under the skin greatly reduced side effects, including warmth, itching, redness, inflammation or nodules. Itching went from 23 percent of male volunteers to 5 percent when they were injected intramuscularly. Redness and inflammation went from 74 percent of male patients to 29 percent of male patients. Pain, however, went up about one percent.

A team sponsored by the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force released a report Thursday stating that mental and traumatic brain injury health issues should be handled by the secretary of defense so they can be more quickly addressed, and recommended that Congress appropriate $350 million to fund a list of other proposals that the team laid out.

A survey of soldiers returning from Iraq found that as many as 1 in 4 had some level of hearing damage. A study in the American Journal of Audiology found that soldiers deployed to Iraq from April 2003 to March 2004 were 50 times more likely to suffer acoustic trauma than those who were not deployed. Such statistics have prompted the military to rethink how it handles hearing cases, and Ft. Carson, Colo., is on the front lines of that change.

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.

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.

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."

Photos New PTSD Clinic uses virtual reality Dr. Alan Maiers (left), the assistant chief of the Warrior Resiliancy Program at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, simulates a virtual reality city patrol Aug. 26 for Maj. Monty Baker, the Warrior Resiliancy Program director of research. The virtual reality program is designed to treat servicemembers who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder after returning from combat operations. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Amber Bressler) Download HiRes Wilford Hall opens new PTSD Clinic Posted 9/17/2009 Email story Print story by Linda Frost 59th Medical Wing Public Affairs 9/17/2009 - LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Wilford Hall Medical Center has a new clinic to treat patients who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. The PTSD Clinic offers evidence-based treatments and a virtual reality program to help Airmen returning from combat operations. PTSD is an anxiety disorder which can occur after a person has been through a traumatic event, according to the National Center for PTSD. "We want to provide the highest quality care possible for patients experiencing PTSD," said Col. (Dr.) Gerald Talcott, 59th Medical Wing Mental Health Squadron commander. As part of the Outpatient Mental Health Clinic, the PTSD Clinic was created in response to the increasing number of service and family members with PTSD. It is timely in that it coincides with the establishment of the Air Force's new Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy, a pilot program initiated at eight Air Force bases. The Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy, using a computer-simulated Virtual Iraq and Virtual Afghanistan, allows Airmen to interact and recreate a traumatic scene and recall sights, sounds, smells, thoughts and feelings. Still in its preliminary stages, the clinic staff started seeing patients Aug. 3, and is led by Dr. Kellie Crowe, staff psychologist. "We are very excited about providing evidence-based treat

Keesler Medical Center is the only emergency department in the Air Force that is using electronic medical records.

Casscells introduced a new communications strategy for the Military Health System that uses Web 2.0 technologies to improve patient outcomes, family conn

After discovering that water pumps for colonoscopies were not properly cleaned, the VA said there is a slight risk of HIV or hepatitis infection.

Innovative therapies that have assisted previously comatose patients regain consciousness may be incorporated on a greater scale to treat troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries, a brain injury expert said here today.

The U.S. Army is using a mobile application and SMS to make sure that soldiers returning home from duty get the healthcare services they need.

The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments today announced a new, faster means for handling troops with "catastrophic" injuries who seek the veterans' status that allows them access to VA medical and other entitlements.

TMA is offering a pilot program that delivers post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury (PTSD/TBI) education to civilian behavioral health providers in a convenient, online setting. The new civilian provider portal can be accessed at http://www.health.mil/civilianprovidereducation.

The Army's top civilian leader visited Fort Bragg's wounded soldiers Monday, days after a news report that they are being punished three times as often as healthy soldiers on post.

WASHINGTON, March 11, 2009 - President Barack Obama's fiscal 2010 budget proposal is necessary to transform the Department of Veterans Affairs into the 21st century organization he envisions, VA's top official said here yesterday. VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki told the House Armed Services Committee's subcommittee on veterans affairs that the proposed budget is "critical to realizing the president's mission" for future veteran care.

Civilian hospitals that provide outpatient services to Tricare beneficiaries got a temporary, 11th-hour reprieve from the Pentagon's proposed plan to have Tricare switch to using Medicare's payment system for those services.

The Defense Department believes that talking about why and how servicemembers seek help for combat stress will help eliminate the stigma associated with psychological injuries. So it is launching "Real Warriors" - a program in which servicemembers can talk about and listen to the stories of those who sought help for psychological injuries or traumatic brain injuries.

A mental health clinic has opened at Bagram Air Base that is modeled after a program successfully used in Iraq, officials say. Called the Bagram Freedom Restoration Center, the clinic houses servicemembers for several days during a structured program. Servicemembers come from across Afghanistan, according to Capt. Don Hawkins, officer in charge of the clinic.