Female Vets Much More Likely to Commit Suicide, Study Finds
Female Vets Much More Likely to Commit Suicide, Study Finds, Medline Plus, 2 Dec 2010
By: Robert Preidt
The suicide rate among young female U.S. military veterans is nearly three times higher than among civilian women, a new study has found.
Researchers analyzed data on 5,948 female suicides in 16 states between 2004 and 2007. In the 18-to-34 age group, there were 56 suicides among 418,132 veterans and 1,461 suicides among 33,257,362 nonveterans.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_106223.html
Civilian soldiers’ suicide rate alarming
Civilian soldiers’ suicide rate alarming, USA Today, 25 Nov 2010
By: Gregg Zoroya
National Guard soldiers who are not on active duty killed themselves this year at nearly twice the rate of 2009, marring a year when suicides among Army soldiers on active duty appear to be leveling off, new Army statistics show. 86 non-active-duty Guard soldiers have killed themselves in the first 10 months of 2010, compared with 48 such suicides in all of 2009.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-11-26-1Atroopsuicides26_ST_N.htm?POE=click-refer
At Hospitals, New Methods With a Focus on Diversity
At Hospitals, New Methods With a Focus on Diversity, NY Times, 07 SEP, 2010
By: Fernanda Santos
Female obstetricians are always on duty overnight at the hospital’s maternity ward in case a Muslim woman arrives in labor and does not want to be treated by a male doctor.
At the diabetes nutrition classes, where participants are mostly from Latin America, diet plans incorporate items like guava paste, plantains and chayote squash.
Ruth Rooney, a registered nurse who has been running the classes for 15 years, said she had struggled to figure out why blood sugar levels among her Latino patients remained so high. So one day she asked them to bring in samples of the foods they ate at home.
“I realized I had been telling them to avoid white bread,” Ms. Rooney said, “but I never mentioned tortillas, which is really a staple of their diet.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/nyregion/07hospital.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
Far more troops survive IEDs in Afghanistan
Far more troops survive IEDs in Afghanistan, USA Today, 20 NOV 2010
By Tom Vanden Brook
WASHINGTON — Better battlefield treatment and faster medevac flights have helped to cut nearly in half the number of troops killed by roadside bombs in Afghanistan, military officials say.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-10-20-1Abattlefielddeaths20_ST_N.htm?POE=click-refer
The Pentagon says 24 troops died from the 180 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that detonated in September. One year ago, 46 troops died from 131 IEDs in September.
One improvement: Rugged ventilators distributed since 2008 to help wounded troops breathe have saved the lives of eight U.S. troops, said Army Col. Richard Todd Dombroski, surgeon for the Pentagon’s Joint IED Defeat Organization. The ventilators are used aboard medevac helicopters.
“Time is life,” he said.
Medicine’s Suicide Problem, Part 2 of 2
Medicine’s Suicide Problem, Part 2 of 2, 30 Aug 2010, Forbes
By Robert Langreth and Rebecca Ruiz
(Part II of a series on why the medical system ignores suicidal patients. To read part I, GO HERE)
The multi-billion dollar mental health industry ignores suicidal patients. Nearly 35,000 Americans kill themselves each year, the vast majority with depression or other psychiatric ailments.
Yet drug companies won’t test their drugs on patients with suicidal thoughts; medical centers are skittish about studying them for fear of lawsuits; and the NIH puts little money into exploring treatments for the suicidal. As as result, doctors have little data on how best to treat the mental health patients most in need of help. (For more on extent of the problem, go here.)
http://blogs.forbes.com/robertlangreth/2010/08/31/medicines-suicide-problem-part-2/
Medicine’s Suicide Problem, Part 1 of 2
Medicine’s Suicide Problem, Part 1 of 2, 30 Aug 2010, Forbes
By Robert Langreth and Rebecca Ruiz
(Part I in a series by Robert Langreth and Rebecca Ruiz)
Alexsandra Wixom started experiencing uncontrollable bouts of sadness when she was 15. “I was emotionally off. I cried all the time,” recalls the Seattle-area resident, who is now 25. Her mood swings eventually became so wild the former honors student had to quit going to high school. Over the next eight years she saw a psychiatrist every other week. Her doctors tried everything from Zoloft to mood stabilizers to heavy-duty antipsychotics, but none of them helped for long.
http://blogs.forbes.com/robertlangreth/2010/08/30/medicines-suicide-problem-part-1/
Rep. Teague pledges deeper inquiry into treatment for brain-injured soldiers
Rep. Teague pledges deeper inquiry into treatment for brain-injured soldiers, 30 Aug 2010, The New Mexico Independent
By T. Christian Miller and Daniel Zwerdling
After conducting his own investigation into medical care at one of America’s largest Army bases, Rep. Harry Teague promised to dramatically expand an inquiry into the treatment of soldiers who have suffered mild traumatic brain injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a letter to medical commanders at Fort Bliss, the third-largest Army base in the country, Teague, D-N.M., wrote that he had turned up troubling evidence of systemic problems across the military in the treatment of soldiers suffering lingering cognitive difficulties as a result of roadside blasts.
Diabetes now tops Vietnam vets’ claims
Diabetes now tops Vietnam vets’ claims, 30 Aug 2010, Associated Press
By Mike Baker
RALEIGH, N.C. – By his own reckoning, a Navy electrician spent just eight hours in Vietnam, during a layover on his flight back to the U.S. in 1966. He bought some cigarettes and snapped a few photos.
The jaunt didn’t make for much of a war story, and there is no record it ever happened. But the man successfully argued that he may have been exposed to Agent Orange during his stopover and that it might have caused his diabetes — even though decades of research into the defoliant have failed to find more than a possibility that it causes the disease.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100830/ap_on_he_me/us_vietnam_agent_orange_claims
National Guard And Reserve Suicide Rates Climbing
National Guard And Reserve Suicide Rates Climbing, 23 July 2010, McClatchy Newspapers
By David Goldstein
Suicides among Army and Air National Guard and Reserve troops have spiked this year, and the military is at a loss to explain why.
Sixty-five members of the Guard and Reserve took their own lives during the first six months of 2010, compared with 42 for the same period in 2009. The grim tally is further evidence that suicides continue to plague the military even though it’s stepped up prevention efforts through counseling and mental health awareness programs.
“Suicides among military personnel and veterans are at an epidemic rate, and it’s getting worse,” said Tim Embree, a former Marine who served two tours in Iraq and is now a legislative associate for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an advocacy group.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/23/98060/national-guard-and-reserve-suicide.html
Growing up poor can affect brain development
Growing up poor can affect brain development, 1 August, 2010, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By: Mark Roth
Studies emerging from around the nation are showing that growing up in a low-income household can have a direct impact on the organization and function of the brain. Living in a poor home has been linked to people having trouble forming memories, difficulty focusing attention, hypersensitivity to stress, problems with delaying gratification and even being stifled in overall intelligence.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10213/1076801-115.stm
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10213/1076801-115.stm#ixzz0ytgFd6cW
