Researchers wanted to know whether service members become more susceptible to PTSD due to the emotional trauma of combat, or because a concussion physically alters the brain in a way that intensifies anxiety and fear. Potentially thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans may have developed PTSD after sustaining a concussion from a bomb blast on the battlefield.
Researchers assessed more than 1,600 Iraq and Afghanistan troops both prior to deployment and three months after their return. Service members who sustained brain trauma while deployed were twice as likely to develop PTSD in comparison to uninjured veterans.
According to the findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, concussions and other brain injuries can change the way the brain reacts to a frightening situation. The injury disturbs the electrical activity in parts of the brain that normally regulate emotional reactions such as tempering responses to fear.
“The result is like a car with no brake,” said biomedical physicist Mingxiong Huang, of the University of California, San Diego. Researchers plan to continue investigating the brain circuitry involved in both TBI and PTSD in order to gain a better understanding of their connection.
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CHICAGO — A proposal by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to change the way Medicare pays for drugs under the Part B program would hurt physician practices, the American Medical Association said at its annual meeting here.
“This is a patient care issue and an access issue,” said Heather Smith, MD, an ob/gyn in Bronx, N.Y., who spoke on behalf of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “This will impact care of our patients, especially those with ovarian cancer.”
The AMA House of Delegates passed a resolution Wednesday asking that CMS withdraw its proposal and, if that doesn’t happen, that the AMA lobby Congress block the proposal’s implementation. The proposal, if put into place, “would significantly undermine the ability of physician practices to meet the significant administrative and financial burdens associated with the rapidly evolving healthcare environment,” according to the resolution.
The CMS plan would replace the current Medicare reimbursement — the average sales price of the drug plus a 6% add-on fee to cover costs — with a rate of the average sales price plus 2.5%, plus a flat fee of $16.80 per drug per day. The flat fee would be adjusted at the beginning of each year.
For full story go to: http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AMA/58630
The post AMA Blasts Medicare Part B Drug Price Plan first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>The study was carried out at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where researchers randomly assigned 116 veterans with PTSD to receive one of two types of therapy. One group participated in eight weekly 2.5-hour sessions and a daylong retreat that focused on stress reduction though mindfulness and meditation. The other group underwent nine weekly 1.5-hour sessions of present-centered group therapy that emphasized coping mechanisms for PTSD symptoms in daily life.
According to the findings reported on Aug. 4, 49 percent of veterans who received mindfulness-based therapy reported a significant reduction in their PTSD symptoms, compared with 28 percent of those who received standard group therapy. Veterans from the first group also reported a greater improvement in quality of life after two months.
An estimated 23 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are affected by PTSD. Mindfulness training is part of a growing wave of alternative therapies in mainstream medicine. It involves teaching veterans take-home techniques for confronting memories from war that they would otherwise try to avoid. The breathing and calming exercises of meditation help veterans focus on the present and cultivate awareness during everyday activities.
Mindfulness training could work as an alternative or addition to standard PTSD treatments such as prolonged exposure and cognitive processing therapy, said researchers. However, follow-up research into the long-term benefits of the therapy and its future applications in VA PTSD programs is still needed. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact an attorney about your Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Mental Health, Sexual Assault, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability, Medical Malpractice, or Aid and Attendance claim, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
The post Mindfulness-based therapy eases PTSD symptoms of veterans first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>The study was carried out at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where researchers randomly assigned 116 veterans with PTSD to receive one of two types of therapy. One group participated in eight weekly 2.5-hour sessions and a daylong retreat that focused on stress reduction though mindfulness and meditation. The other group underwent nine weekly 1.5-hour sessions of present-centered group therapy that emphasized coping mechanisms for PTSD symptoms in daily life.
According to the findings reported on Aug. 4, 49 percent of veterans who received mindfulness-based therapy reported a significant reduction in their PTSD symptoms, compared with 28 percent of those who received standard group therapy. Veterans from the first group also reported a greater improvement in quality of life after two months.
An estimated 23 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are affected by PTSD. Mindfulness training is part of a growing wave of alternative therapies in mainstream medicine. It involves teaching veterans take-home techniques for confronting memories from war that they would otherwise try to avoid. The breathing and calming exercises of meditation help veterans focus on the present and cultivate awareness during everyday activities.
Mindfulness training could work as an alternative or addition to standard PTSD treatments such as prolonged exposure and cognitive processing therapy, said researchers. However, follow-up research into the long-term benefits of the therapy and its future applications in VA PTSD programs is still needed. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact an attorney about your Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Mental Health, Sexual Assault, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability, Medical Malpractice, or Aid and Attendance claim, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
The post Mindfulness-based therapy eases PTSD symptoms of veterans first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Over the past decade, workers’ compensation benefits have deteriorated across the country as states initiate cost-cutting measures. A comprehensive new investigation by ProPublica and NPR reveals that these workers’ comp “reforms” have had a brutal effect: injured workers denied the help they need and taxpayers forced to bear the cost of workplace accidents.
The ProPublica report, titled The Demolition of Workers’ Comp, states that cutbacks in many states have been so drastic, they “virtually guarantee” that injured workers will descend into poverty. According to the nonprofit news organization, workers’ comp reform has been pushed by insurance companies and big corporations based on the “false premise” that costs are too high — when in fact employers are currently paying the lowest premiums for workers’ compensation insurance since the 1970s.
Meanwhile, 2013 (the most recently studied year) was the most profitable year for insurers in more than 10 years.
The changes are different in each state, but ProPublica documents that since 2003, the legislatures of 33 states have passed laws either reducing worker’s comp benefits or making it more difficult for injured workers to qualify for them. According to the report, workers in 37 states are not able to choose their own doctor or must choose from a list of doctors pre-approved by their employers. In 22 states, there are now arbitrary time limits on temporary wage benefits for injured workers, even if they have not recovered yet.
In California, insurers may now reopen old cases and take away workers’ benefits based on the opinions of doctors. Those doctors are not required to have ever examined the patient, and they do not have to be licensed in the state.
In Illinois, as in other states, workers’ compensation reforms were passed with the promise that they would reduce costs for employers, making the state more attractive to businesses. In 2011, Illinois:
As Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has proposed further “reforms” to the workers’ compensation system, we should be wary of allowing our state to participate in a “race to the bottom,” sacrificing workers’ rights for business profits.
Paul Greenberg is a Chicago work accidents and wrongful death lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.
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