Military medicine
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The purpose of this study was to describe functional outcomes of unilateral lower limb amputee soldiers, in comparison to nonamputee male subjects, and to identify factors affecting functional outcomes. Selected lower limb amputee soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (n = 461) and matched nonamputee male subjects (n = 461) were evaluated with the prevalidated self-administered version of Short-Form Health Survey-36. A majority were below-knee amputees (n = 413; 89.6%), and the mean age was 30.2 +/- 4.6 years. ⋯ Higher levels of amputation and problems with the stump and sound leg were significantly associated with poor physical and mental health scores. Amputee soldiers' assessment of changes in health over the past year was significantly worse than that of nonamputees (p < 0.001). The study concluded that amputees have comparatively poor functional outcomes, which could be improved by modifying some associated factors.
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Combat health support in the Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) environment represents a common challenge on today's battlefield. We identified seven key aspects of battalion level health support which required consideration before combat operations in this type of environment. We called these the "seven P's" of combat health support: prevention, proportion, preparation, portability, proximity, protection, and projection. We developed an easy to use framework for using these principles to quickly develop combat health support plans during periods of high operations tempo.
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The association of shock with trauma has long been recognized. There are three types of shock, i.e., (1) hypovolemic or hemorrhagic shock, (2) traumatic shock, and (3) septic shock. The conditions and their treatments are described.
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Multicenter Study
Knowledge and risks of human immunodeficiency virus transmission among veterans with severe mental illness.
This study is among the first to examine knowledge about human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and behavioral risks for HIV transmission among veterans with severe mental illness (SMI), a group at high risk for HIV infection. This study examined associations between accuracy of HIV knowledge, risk behaviors, and clinical and demographic characteristics in a sample of male veteran psychiatric inpatients diagnosed with SMI (N = 353). ⋯ Inaccurate HIV knowledge was associated with older age, minority status, education level, marital status, no homelessness within the previous 6 months, and no reported history of illicit intranasal drug use. There is a need for more effective HIV prevention interventions for persons with SMI.