Increasing Hearing Readiness Using Boothless Audiometry.

Introduction: U.S. Army regulations require all soldiers to undergo annual audiometric testing to maintain hearing readiness.

Recommendations for a Military Health System Auditory Blast Injury Prevention Standard.

Introduction: Although existing auditory injury prevention standards benefit warfighters, the Department of Defense could do more to understand and address auditory injuries (e.g., hearing loss, tinnitus, and central processing deficits) among service members.

Training, Deployment Preparation, and Behavioral Health of New York National Guard Personnel Deployed to Assist with COVID-19 Decedent Work.

Introduction: A small body of research conducted mostly among civilians has shown that adequate training and preparation can prevent or reduce the development of behavioral health problems in first responders. Several civilian studies have shown that social support is protective against behavioral health problems. However, very few studies have examined the impact of these factors on the behavioral health of military first responders.

Rapid Assessment of Subjective Hearing Complaints With a Modified Version of the Tinnitus and Hearing Survey.

Hearing difficulties are frequently reported by patients in audiology clinics, including patients with normal audiometric thresholds. However, because all individuals experience some difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments, it can be difficult to assess hearing complaints objectively across patients. Normative values help address this issue by providing an objective cutoff score for determining what is or is not clinically significant.

Cross-Sectional Examination of Physical Abuse Victimization Differences Between Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Service Members in the U.S. Military, 2018.

The primary objective was to analyze the association between sexual orientation and physical abuse victimization using a representative sample from the U.S. active-duty military population.

Active Surveillance for Acute Respiratory Disease Detected No Outbreaks at Four U.S. Army Basic Training Installations in 2022.

Abstract: A total of 254 febrile acute respiratory disease (ARD) cases were identified among Army basic trainees in 2022. No Army basic training installations met the definition for an ARD or Group A Beta-Hemolytic Streptococcus outbreak in 2022. The inclusion of afebrile ARD data in the surveillance program identified an additional 1,696 cases in which a trainee met the criteria for a case of ARD, except for an oral temperature of 100.

A novel strategy to avoid sensitivity loss in pooled testing for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance: validation using nasopharyngeal swab and saliva samples.

At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, pooled surveillance strategies were employed to alleviate the overwhelming demand for clinical testing facilities. A major drawback of most pooled-testing methods is the dilution of positive samples, which leads to a loss of detection sensitivity and the potential for false negatives. We developed a novel pooling strategy that compensates for the initial dilution with an appropriate concentration during nucleic acid extraction and real-time PCR.

The Medical Burden of Obesity and Overweight in the US Military: Association of BMI with Clinically Diagnosed Medical Conditions in United States Military Service Members.

Background: A high BMI is associated with various medical conditions, notably type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and mental health disorders. In the US military, BMI increased linearly between 1975 and 2015.

Objective: This cross-sectional study investigated the associations between BMI and a comprehensive range of clinically diagnosed medical conditions (CDMCs) in US military service members (SMs).

Short-term retention of learning after rapid adaptation to native and non-native speecha).

Non-native, accented speech spoken by unfamiliar talkers can be challenging to recognize, but rapid improvements in perception are often observed after a short period of exposure. However, it is not clear whether these improvements are retained over multiple sessions. Stimulus variability facilitates learning for non-native speech, so it is possible it may also induce increased retention of learning for speech produced with an unfamiliar accent.

Reproductive and immune effects emerge at similar thresholds of PFHxS in deer mice.

Although perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) is structurally similar to perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and also widely detected in humans and the environment, comparatively fewer toxicity data exists on this 6-chain perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acid. In this study, repeated oral doses of PFHxS were administered to deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) to evaluate subchronic toxicity and potential effects on reproduction and development. Maternal oral exposure to PFHxS caused increased stillbirths, which is relevant for ecological risk assessment, and resulted in a benchmark dose lower limit (BMDL) of 5.

Toxicological effects assessment for wildlife in the 21st century: Review of current methods and recommendations for a path forward.

Model species (e.g., granivorous gamebirds, waterfowl, passerines, domesticated rodents) have been used for decades in guideline laboratory tests to generate survival, growth, and reproductive data for prospective ecological risk assessments (ERAs) for birds and mammals, while officially adopted risk assessment schemes for amphibians and reptiles do not exist.

Newer Surveillance Data Extends our Understanding of the Niche of (Rickettsiales: Rickettsiaceae) Infection of the American Dog Tick (Acari: Ixodidae) in the United States.

Understanding the geographic distribution of infections in is important for tick-borne disease management in the United States, as both a tick-borne agent of interest and a potential confounder in surveillance of other rickettsial diseases. Two previous studies modeled niche suitability for with and without , from 2002 to 2012, indicating that the niche overestimates the infected niche. This study updates these, adding data since 2012.

Spatial distribution of histamine in bed bug-infested homes.

Histamine is a component of the bed bug aggregation pheromone. It was recently identified as an environmental contaminant in homes with active bed bug infestations, posing a potential health risk to humans via skin contact or inhalation. It remains unclear how histamine is distributed in homes and if histamine can become airborne.

Integrating "One Health" Concepts in the Design of Sustainable Systems for Environmental Use.

Ensuring for the national defense requires the use of substances such as energetics, propellants, pyrotechnics, and other materials in environmental applications. Systems that use these materials do so in testing and training environments and must be used in an environmentally sustained manner to ensure success during actual kinetic defensive operations. Environmental and occupational health assessments require a weighted evaluation of toxicity, bioaccumulation, persistence, and environmental fate and transport considerations for each substance in the formulation to include potential combustion products.

Toxicology assessment for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS)-free aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) products.

There is an urgent need to understand the toxicity hazards of aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) replacement products to ensure the balance between performance and toxicity hazards and avoid regrettable substitutions during the rapid phasing out of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS)-containing AFFFs. To address this need, we assessed the toxicity of six candidate PFAS-free products via literature review, estimation techniques, and incorporation of testing data from whole products and compared them against one PFAS-containing product. Then, we combined the relative hazards across human occupational exposure (e.

Newer Surveillance Data Extends our Understanding of the Niche of (Rickettsiales: Rickettsiaceae) Infection of the American Dog Tick (Acari: Ixodidae) in the United States.

Background: Understanding the geographic distribution of infections in is important for tick-borne disease management in the United States, as both a tick-borne agent of interest and a potential confounder in surveillance of other rickettsial diseases. Two previous studies modeled niche suitability for with and without , from 2002-2012, indicating that the niche overestimates the infected niche. This study updates these, adding data since 2012.