Clipmarks | rmowery's Medical collection

Hearing loss is silent epidemic in U.S. troops

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 04:55:54 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Hearing loss is silent epidemic in U.S. troops

Soldiers coming home with permanent hearing damage and ringing in ears

SAN DIEGO - Large numbers of soldiers and Marines caught in roadside bombings and firefights in Iraq and Afghanistan are coming home with permanent hearing loss and ringing in their ears, prompting the military to redouble its efforts to protect the troops from noise.

Hearing damage is the No. 1 disability in the war on terror, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and some experts say the true toll could take decades to become clear. Nearly 70,000 of the more than 1.3 million troops who have served in the two war zones are collecting disability for tinnitus, a potentially debilitating ringing in the ears, and more than 58,000 are on disability for hearing loss, the VA said.

Tags: hearing, troops

Scientists Find Key to What Could Make Bird Flu a Human Pandemic

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:19:11 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Scientists Find Key to What Could Make Bird Flu a Human Pandemic

Scientists have identified a key mechanism necessary for bird flu to morph from a rare but deadly infection into a pandemic that could kill millions of people.

MIT scientists reported in Sunday's issue of Nature Biotechnology that the shape of certain structures in the virus could be key to allowing it to easily pass from human to human. In birds, the shape of the structures match the shape of sugars in the animals' respiratory tracts, allowing the infection to easily latch onto the animals. In humans, those shapes don't match up -- but if the virus morphed so they did, it could lead to a pandemic.

"We’re like a sitting duck, waiting for an H5N1 virus that can attach to us," said Richard Cummings, an Emory University biochemist and influenza cell specialist who did not participate in the study. "This research moves us to the point where we can start anticipating what might happen."

Tags: bird flu, pandemic, shape shifting, structures, viriology, medical

Wives United by Husbands’ Post-N.F.L. Trauma

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 15:44:16 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Wow! I never realized the long-term effects on these players. This is really sad, but at least teh NFL and such set up these funds. It is certainly better care then our Veterans are getting from our government.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Wives United by Husbands’ Post-N.F.L. Trauma

ANNAPOLIS, Md., March 9 — The night that Sylvia Mackey and Eleanor Perfetto first met, back in October at a Baltimore Ravens reception for former National Football League players and their families, their connection was immediate. As she sat on a couch with her husband, Mrs. Mackey watched Dr. Perfetto cradle the hand of her husband as he blankly shuffled across the floor toward the Mackeys.

“Your husband has dementia,” Mrs. Mackey said.

“Yours does, too,” Dr. Perfetto replied.

“We both just knew,” Dr. Perfetto recalled on Friday, when the two visited the assisted-living facility where Dr. Perfetto’s husband, Ralph Wenzel, resides. Mrs. Mackey quickly added, “You can see it in the wives’ faces just like the husbands’.”

Tags: football, dementia, nfl, head injury