News

Current Issue

Oncology

Editor-In-Chief, Chester “Trip” Buckenmaier III, MD, COL (ret.), MC, USA

To Care for Him Who Shall Have Borne the Battle and for His Widow, and His Orphan.

During my many career visits to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) building on 810 Vermont Ave. NW, Washington, DC, I have been greeted in the main lobby by Lincoln’s mission statement for the VA. Few governmental agency taskings have been stated more eloquently and succinctly. It would take another 65 years before the modern VA was created, on July 21, 1930, when Hoover signed Executive Order 5398. Lincoln’s call for the American people to pay their debt to those who defend the Constitution remains a primary responsibility of our democracy

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VARA Registry Seeks to Improve the Lives of Veterans With Rheumatoid Arthritis

New findings concerning the risk of interstitial lung disease in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and how body composition and metabolic dysregulation are tied to RA and inflammation were among the highlights of research presented at the 20th Annual Fall Meeting of the VA Rheumatoid Arthritis (VARA) Registry held in September.

Prescribing of Antihypertensives Not Always Guideline Concordant at VHA

While more than half of U.S. veterans diagnosed with hypertension with a pretreatment systolic BP ≥160 mm Hg were started on antihypertensive monotherapy, disparities existed between guideline-recommended first-line treatments and the actual regimens initiated, according to a new study.

New Research Finds Service Dogs Beneficial for Veterans With PTSD

New Research Finds Service Dogs Beneficial for Veterans With PTSD

The VA covers the veterinary care and the equipment costs of service dogs for veterans with physical disabilities such as blindness or vision impairment, but the use of service dogs for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health issues has remained controversial.

To Care for Him Who Shall Have Borne the Battle and for His Widow, and His Orphan.

During my many career visits to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) building on 810 Vermont Ave. NW, Washington, DC, I have been greeted in the main lobby by Lincoln’s mission statement for the VA. Few governmental agency taskings have been stated more eloquently and succinctly. It would take another 65 years before the modern VA was created, on July 21, 1930, when Hoover signed Executive Order 5398. Lincoln’s call for the American people to pay their debt to those who defend the Constitution remains a primary responsibility of our democracy

read more

Mary Jo Pugh Spearheads Research Into TBI Link to Heart Issues

As an investigator at the Informatics, Decision-Enhancement and Analytic Sciences Center of Innovation (IDEAS COIN) at the Salt Lake City VA, the longitudinal studies that Mary Jo Pugh, PhD, RN, has helped build during her 25-year career have demonstrated that traumatic brain injury (TBI) greatly increases a patient’s risk for a host of comorbidities, most notably chronic cardiovascular disease.

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Stimulating a Target Brain Circuit Holds Promise for Treating PTSD

Scientists studying post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been puzzled by several mysteries surrounding the condition, such as why military personnel with severe brain injuries are less likely to develop PTSD compared to those without any brain injury or why a neurostimulation therapy that has proven helpful for other mental health disorders actually worsened PTSD in some studies.

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