Identifying future 'unexpected' survivors: a retrospective cohort study of fatal injury patterns in victims of improvised explosive devices.

Objectives: To identify potentially fatal injury patterns in explosive blast fatalities in order to focus research and mitigation strategies, to further improve survival rates from blast trauma.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Participants: UK military personnel killed by improvised explosive device (IED) blasts in Afghanistan, November 2007-August 2010.

Computed tomography can improve the selection of fragment simulating projectiles from which to test future body armor materials.

Introduction: Ballistic protective materials used in body armor are tested with fragment simulating projectiles (FSPs). The type of FSP used has historically been made by choosing fragments representative of those produced by controlled explosions, which may not be representative of those fragments actually injuring soldiers.

Method: 75 cylindrical FSPs of three different sizes were fired into six euthanized pigs, imaged using computed tomography (CT) and the wound tracks dissected.

Mortality and morbidity from combat neck injury.

Background: Neck injury represents 11% of battle injuries in UK forces in comparison with 2% to 5% in US forces. The aim of this study was to determine the causes of death and long-term morbidity from combat neck injury in an attempt to recommend new methods of protecting the neck.

Method: Hospital and postmortem records for all UK servicemen sustaining battle injuries to the neck between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2010 were analyzed.

Polyomavirus nephropathy in native kidneys of non-renal transplant recipients.

Chronic renal dysfunction is common in non-renal solid organ (SOT) and hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients and is commonly attributed to calcineurin inhibitor toxicity, often without renal histopathologic evaluation. Polyomavirus nephropathy (PVN) is an important cause of allograft dysfunction in kidney transplant recipients but has rarely been reported in native kidneys of non-renal transplant recipients. We report the clinical, pathologic and virologic features of PVN in native kidneys of two allograft recipients.