We examined, first, differences in dispositional and situational coping, and psychological distress between political ex-prisoners and their matched controls, and second, coping effectiveness in protecting mental health from impacts of imprisonment and military trauma. Thirdly, we tested the hypothesis that compatibility ("goodness of fit") between dispositional and situational coping would pre...

BACKGROUND Ultrasound is of proven accuracy in abdominal and thoracic trauma and may be useful for diagnosing extremity injury in situations where radiography is not available such as military and space applications. We prospectively evaluated the utility of extremity ultrasound performed by trained, nonphysician personnel in patients with extremity trauma to simulate remote aerospace or milita...

Until recently, the study of psychological effects of military trauma has focused nearly exclusively on the consequences of combat-related stressors such as being in the line of fire, experiencing an explosion, or suffering a physical injury. Meanwhile, sexual trauma has primarily been recognized in the forms of childhood or adult civilian abuse. Combat-related distress has largely been investi...

Research investigating the effects of trauma exposure on brain structure and function in adults has mainly focused on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), whereas trauma-exposed individuals without a clinical diagnoses often serve as controls. However, this assumes a dichotomy between clinical and subclinical populations that may not be supported at the neural level. In the current study we i...

The use of existing possibilities of Telemedicine Center of Kaunas University of Medicine allows the live distant consultations from high-level medical specialised centers to rural areas. On July 2004 the Telemedicine Center took part in the RESCUER/MEDCEUR project exercise. A special objective was the use of telemedicine facilities for distant consultations and sorting of victims directly at t...

OBJECTIVE Evaluate the resource-constrained, evidence-based, and outcome-driven Sacco Triage method (STM) for military-age victims of blunt, penetrating, and blast overpressure-like trauma. METHODS STM is based on a mathematical model of resource-constrained triage. Its objective is to maximize expected survivors given constraints on transport and treatment resources. STM uses estimates of ti...

* The linkage between head trauma and neurodegeneration represents not only an important public and military health issue but also provides crucial clues for putative risk factors for numerous late-life chronic brain disorders. Today, there is now growing evidence that a single traumatic brain injury (TBI) sustained early in life might trigger a cascade of neurodegenerative processes. The outco...

INTRODUCTION Review of adverse outcomes is an essential element of healthcare governance. For each operational death, the post-mortem is attended by a member of Academic Department of Military Emergency Medicine and the case is assessed by a Mortality Peer Review Panel comprised of Defence Professors and other clinical and technical experts. METHODS A search was conducted of the Joint Theatre...

The combat veteran paradox proposes that most changes individuals experience resulting from combat exposure are normal, and not indicative of a mental health disorder. Yet, because of the number and complexities of these changes, the combat veteran paradox states that combat veterans who are healthy can benefit from counseling. Counseling should focus on helping the combat veteran understand ho...