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US Military (us + military)
Selected AbstractsPerceptions of Effectiveness of Responses to Sexual Harassment in the US Military, 1988 and 1995GENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 1 2003Juanita M. Firestone This analysis compares patterns of response to the harassment experiences that had the greatest effect on the respondents to the ,1988 Department of Defense (DoD) Survey of Sex Roles in the Active-Duty Military' and Form A of the ,1995 Armed Forces Sexual Harassment Survey'. We analyse the respondents' perceptions about effectiveness of their responses, and respondents' opinions about the efforts of senior military leadership, and their own immediate supervisors' efforts to ,make honest and reasonable efforts to stop sexual harassment in the active-duty military' (DoD, 1988; Bastian et al., 1996). Results indicate that while the military has been somewhat successful in attempts to lower actual incidence of sexual harassment, the percentage of those experiencing such uninvited and unwanted behaviours remains high. Similar patterns of responses in both years, with most employing personal solutions and few filing complaints with officials, may reflect the fact that official DoD policy focuses on individual behaviour and does not address the masculine environmental context that promotes such behaviours (see also Harrell and Miller, 1997). Findings also suggest that the ,no tolerance' policies adopted by the military may concentrate on the military image but ignore the wishes of the complainants who fear reprisals. If the rights and wishes of all parties involved are not taken into account, policies are unlikely to be successful (see, for example, Rowe, 1996). [source] Headache Triggers in the US MilitaryHEADACHE, Issue 5 2010Brett J. Theeler MD (Headache 2010;50:790-794) Background., Headaches can be triggered by a variety of factors. Military service members have a high prevalence of headache but the factors triggering headaches in military troops have not been identified. Objective., The objective of this study is to determine headache triggers in soldiers and military beneficiaries seeking specialty care for headaches. Methods., A total of 172 consecutive US Army soldiers and military dependents (civilians) evaluated at the headache clinics of 2 US Army Medical Centers completed a standardized questionnaire about their headache triggers. Results., A total of 150 (87%) patients were active-duty military members and 22 (13%) patients were civilians. In total, 77% of subjects had migraine; 89% of patients reported at least one headache trigger with a mean of 8.3 triggers per patient. A wide variety of headache triggers was seen with the most common categories being environmental factors (74%), stress (67%), consumption-related factors (60%), and fatigue-related factors (57%). The types of headache triggers identified in active-duty service members were similar to those seen in civilians. Stress-related triggers were significantly more common in soldiers. There were no significant differences in trigger types between soldiers with and without a history of head trauma. Conclusion., Headaches in military service members are triggered mostly by the same factors as in civilians with stress being the most common trigger. Knowledge of headache triggers may be useful for developing strategies that reduce headache occurrence in the military. [source] Report from the Field: Skin-in-Solutions: Militarizing Medicine and Militarizing Culture in the United States MilitaryNORTH AMERICAN DIALOGUE (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2008Andrew Bickford Abstract: The US military's creation and deployment of "Human Terrain Teams" and the use of anthropology as a weapon in counterinsurgency operations bears a disturbing similarity to militarized forms of medicine and biotechnology currently in development for US military personnel. Through the mobilization and instrumentalization of health, the US military intends to manipulate the bodies of soldiers while claiming that this manipulation is to protect the well-being of the soldier. This sort of deployment of health has little to do with the health of the individual, and is directly linked to "improving" the combat abilities of the individual, and of creating better and more encompassing means of control of the individual. As I see it, the Human Terrain System, and attempts to deploy a militarized anthropology to aid in counterinsurgency operations utilize a similar rationale, a rationale directly at odds with the AAA code of ethics and what I think it means to be an anthropologist. [source] Mefloquine prescriptions in the presence of contraindications: prevalence among US military personnel deployed to Afghanistan, 2007,,PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, Issue 2 2010Remington L. Nevin MD Abstract Purpose Contraindications to mefloquine use include a history of certain prevalent neuropsychiatric disorders, which are thought to increase the risk of severe adverse events including anxiety, paranoia, depression, hallucinations, psychosis, and possibly suicide. Within the US military, the continued availability and use of mefloquine is subject to administrative policies dating to 2002 that require clinicians to exercise added caution during prescribing. This analysis was performed to quantify the effectiveness of these policies in ensuring health care provider compliance with package insert prescribing guidance. Methods A previously identified cohort consisting of 11,725 active duty US military personnel, among whom 1127 (9.6%) had contraindications to mefloquine use identified through medical surveillance and pharmaceutical databases, was examined to identify individuals receiving prescriptions for mefloquine in the 45 days prior to a combat deployment in 2007. Results Among the 11,725 cohort members, 4505 (38.4% of the cohort) received a prescription for mefloquine. Among the 1127 cohort members with contraindications, 155 (1.3% of the cohort) were prescribed mefloquine, comprising 13.8% of those with contraindications. Conclusions Despite the longstanding administrative policies meant to reduce such events, approximately one in seven individuals with neuropsychiatric contraindications received a prescription for mefloquine prior to a recent combat deployment, significantly increasing the risk of subsequent adverse events. Given the prevalence of neuropsychiatric disorders among US military personnel and the continued availability of mefloquine, additional study is recommended to describe and quantify the nature and extent of mefloquine-associated adverse events experienced among this group. Published in 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Current shortcomings of global mapping and the creation of a new geographical framework for the worldTHE GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL, Issue 4 2000DAVID RHIND The vast bulk of topographic mapping - the geographical framework used to underpin many activities of the state and of business - has been created and is maintained to national standards. As a consequence, what is available differs greatly from country to country. Yet there is a range of needs for globally-consistent map information. Such needs have long been recognized: the International Map of the World was an attempt to meet them. A multiplicity of factors has constrained the National Mapping Organizations from meeting this aim. However, new technologies have enhanced our capacity to create a geographical framework almost anywhere in the world. Using such technologies, commercial and other non-commercial bodies (e.g. the US military and its counterparts within NATO) have begun to produce wide-area geographical information. This paper describes the nature of the need for global mapping, the players involved and the drivers and obstacles to progress. It proposes a rapid way to enhance the current situation through public/private sector partnerships based on a combination of skills, information assets and resources. If implemented, this could lead to global coverage of a framework derived from 1:25000 scale mapping within about two years. [source] |