In This Issue
From the Acting Chief Research and Development Officer
Welcome to the first issue of VA Research Quarterly Update (VARQU) !
As part of our effort to communicate the accomplishments and ongoing work of VA researchers, we have created this quarterly electronic newsletter specifically with VA leaders and other key stakeholders in mind...
New Initiatives
VA and the departments of Defense (DoD), Health and Human Services, and Education recently made public a wide-reaching plan to improve access to mental health services for Veterans, service members, and military families
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VA's Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D;) funded 19 new Centers of Innovation (COINs), effective Oct. 1, 2013. The mission of the COIN program is to engage clinical and operations partners within the agency from the outset of VA health services research, and to thereby increase the work's impact on Veterans' health...
A Chat with Our Experts
VA, through its Cooperative Studies Program, and the Department of Defense (DoD) are developing a joint multisite trial under an interagency agreement to
evaluate the drug trazodone hydrochloride as an adjunct to antidepressants for the treatment of combat-related PTSD in Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans
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Noteworthy Publications
Researchers led by Melissa A. Polusny, PhD, of the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and the University of Minnesota questioned 712 male and 89 female National Guard members both before and after combat tours in Iraq or Afghanistan. They found 22.5 percent of the women, compared to 12.2 percent of the men, met screening criteria for probable PTSD following deployment. This is consistent with previous studies
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How Boston-area Veterans with PTSD were affected by the Boston Marathon bombing
Many Veterans living in the Boston area who have been diagnosed with PTSD experienced flashbacks, unwanted memories, and other psychological effects as a result of the bombing that took place near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in April 2013, according to VA's National Center for PTSD
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A series of riboneucleic acid (RNA) biomarkers in blood may help identify people at risk for committing suicide, according to researchers at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis, Ind., and Indiana University. The biomarkers were found at significantly higher levels in the blood of both bipolar disorder patients with thoughts of suicide as well as in a group of Veterans and other people who had committed suicide
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Twenty-two percent of new military amputees have upper limb amputations. To meet their needs, the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) worked with DEKA Research and Development Corporation to develop the DEKA arm
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Editorial asserts need for more pain education among clinicians
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) believes that screening, assessing, and routinely documenting pain is an important first step in assuring that unrelieved pain is assessed and treated promptly. The term "Pain as the Fifth Vital Sign," was initially promoted by the American Pain Society in 1996 to elevate awareness of pain treatment among healthcare professionals, and VHA quickly adapted the slogan as its own philosophy
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See also
Other Recent Publications of Interest In the News
A VA cooperative study on Vitamin E for Alzheimer's disease ... VA research instrumental in development of new guidelines for cholesterol-lowering medicines ...Ann McKee, MD, co-director of the VA Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy in Bedford, Mass. was cited in an article ...The West Haven (Conn.) VA Medical Center held an all-day conference on Oct. 30, 2013, to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research ...Rachel Yehuda, PhD, director of the PTSD Clinical Research Program and the Neurochemistry and Neuroendocrinology Laboratory at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx, New York, was featured in an article on PTSD ...Hardeep Singh, MD, MPH, and Mark Graber, MD, were featured in a Nov. 17 Wall Street Journal article on innovative strategies to avoid misdiagnosis ....
Honorable Mentions
