Nano-Tech helps stop bleeding
May 12, 2008
A synthetic peptide as discovered by researchers at MIT in the early 90’s. A few years ago they realized this technology could assist with bleeding.. Awesome article, from Technology Review .
Nanohealing Material Heads to Market
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A startup is planning human trials for a nanostructured material that quickly stops bleeding.
By Kevin Bullis
A startup based in Cambridge, MA, says that it plans to soon begin clinical trials of a nanostructured material that stops bleeding almost instantly. A startup called Arch Therapeutics has licensed the technology from MIT and is developing manufacturing processes for making it in large amounts.
The new material can be poured over a site and will stop the bleeding almost at once.
The first application, pending Food and Drug Administration approval, will be for use during surgery to quickly stop bleeding and even prevent it in the first place. Floyd Loop, currently an advisor to Arch Therapeutics, and formerly a cardiovascular surgeon and the head of Cleveland Clinic, says that it could be useful in a wide variety of surgeries, including brain, heart, and prostate. For example, he says that when large tumors are removed, “there’s a lot of diffuse bleeding around the site, and you have to spend a lot of time with sponges and cautery stopping it.”
Loops says that in addition to saving time, which can improve the outcome of a surgery, the material could decrease the need for transfusions and reoperations to control bleeding. What’s more, it could reduce the risk of infection. It could be used, for instance, to prevent leakage after bowel-repair surgery. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Loop says.
Eventually, the material could be used by first responders to stop bleeding at accident sites and on the battlefield. It has a long shelf life, which makes it attractive for use in first-aid kits. It’s also easily broken down by the body, so it doesn’t have to be removed, unlike other agents for stopping blood flow. However, Loop cautions that further tests are needed to confirm that the material will work in nonsurgical applications.
The material, a synthetic peptide, was discovered at MIT in the early 1990s. But it wasn’t until a few years ago that its potential for stopping bleeding was discovered. Rutledge Ellis-Behnke, a researcher at MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, was exploring its potential use to promote the healing of brain injuries. When he applied a liquid containing the synthetic peptides to a wound site in animal experiments, bleeding in the area stopped within a few seconds. Arch Therapeutics was founded in mid-2006 to develop the material for commercial use. The company made its first public appearance late last month when it announced a finalized licensing agreement for the new technology.
Several other compounds have recently been developed to stop bleeding. Fibrin-based products are used in emergency rooms and dental applications, for example, but the new material is faster and more effective, says Steve Yerid, an emergency-room physician at St. Vincent Hospital, in Worcester, MA. Other approaches to stopping bleeding are too slow, can lead to tissue damage, or must be removed from the wound because they don’t readily break down. Conversely, the new material is easy to apply, doesn’t cause damage, and can be left on the wound, even if it’s a deep wound that’s eventually sewn up.
The material consists of naturally occurring amino acids that have been engineered to form peptides that spontaneously cluster together to create long fibers when exposed to salty, aqueous environments, such as those found in the body. The fibers form a mesh that serves as a physical barrier to blood and other fluids.
So far, Arch Therapeutics has been focused on developing new processes for making the materials in large amounts and on developing a better understanding of the mechanisms at work in stopping blood flow. It is preparing to do clinical trials, but is first doing further animal tests. Based on the fact that the material works as a physical barrier, the founders expect that it will qualify as a medical device rather than a drug, which could speed the approval process
MARINES having success in Afghanistan, but being spread thin
May 12, 2008
This is from MSNBC. The Marines have suffered no casualties since they took on the Taliban in Afghanistan. Unfortunately no one from NATO wants to setup to secure the areas the Marines take. What a mess. Would someone please tell me when Iraq struck the US??? Why are over 85% of our combat forces there rather in Afghanistan?
Anyways. here is the video.
Master Sergeant Brendon O’Connor receives Distinguished Service Cross
May 12, 2008
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Medic gets Distinguished Service Cross
Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor on Wednesday received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second-highest valor award, for his actions during a 17-hour battle in Afghanistan.
The 47-year-old Special Forces medical sergeant spoke with humor and humility after the medal was pinned on his uniform in a ceremony at Bank Hall on Fort Bragg.
“My word!” O’Connor said, reacting to praise by a three-star Army general and a four-star Navy admiral. “My name is Brendan O’Connor, and I didn’t fully approve that message.”
In his self-effacing remarks, O’Connor apologized to his children for missing birthdays and thanked his wife, Margaret, for what she has done in raising their family in his absence.
Margaret O’Connor writes a Home Front column for The Fayetteville Observer.
Master Sgt. O’Connor, who resigned his commission as an officer and then took the rigorous training to become a Special Forces medical sergeant, said his “momentary courage” pales in comparison to people who cope courageously with difficult situations daily, such as Capt. Ivan Castro, who is blind, and Harry Hubbard, a friend who suffered a stroke in his mid-30s.
The audience included former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy, a friend of the O’Connor family, and former 7th Group commanders.
The heroism of O’Connor and his team in the face of an attack by 300 Taliban fighters received national attention April 20 in a segment on the CBS news show “60 Minutes.”
Adm. Eric Olson, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command at Tampa, Fla., pinned the award on O’Connor’s uniform.
Olson hailed the contributions of the Green Berets and said the demand for Special Forces may grow as conventional forces are reduced overseas.
“Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor exemplifies the spirit of these warriors,” Olson said.
The admiral wore his white Navy dress uniform. O’Connor was in his green Army dress uniform.
O’Connor led a quick reaction force June 24, 2006, in Kandahar province’s Panjwai District, described by Special Forces as one of the most hotly contested areas of southern Afghanistan.
He maneuvered his force through Taliban positions and crawled alone through enemy machine-gun fire to reach two wounded soldiers, the citation said. He tied a signal cloth to his back to identify himself to aircraft overhead. While under fire, he provided medical care and carried a wounded soldier more than 150 yards across open ground. He climbed over a wall three times under enemy fire to help wounded soldiers seek cover. Then he took over as the operations sergeant and rallied, motivated and led his team.
“Thank God for men like Master Sgt. O’Connor,” said Lt. Gen. Robert Wagner, commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg.
Maj. Sheffield Ford said after the ceremony that O’Connor picked up Sgt. Joseph Fuerst and carried him over his shoulder and ran while under fire.
“Knowing that bullets were coming in all around him, he didn’t hesitate,” Ford said. “He continued to get up and move because he knew he had to get Joe back if he was going to have a chance to try to save him.” Fuerst died, and Staff Sgt. Matthew Binney survived, Ford said.
Former Sgt. 1st Class Abram Hernandez received the Silver Star, the Army’s third-highest award for valor, on April 17 on Fort Bragg for his actions in the same battle. Master Sgt. Thomas Maholic was killed in the fighting and received the Silver Star posthumously Nov. 15.
During training, Special Forces medics, who have extensive training and upon whom the entire team depends, are told to wait for others to bring the wounded to them, but O’Connor realized the soldiers needed immediate help and the battle was not going to stop, Ford said.
Staff Sgt. Charles Lyles said O’Connor paused before going out on the mission to make sure he was taking everything he would need.
“The seconds he took to make sure he had everything ready, I believe, made the difference,” Lyles said.
Staff Sgt. Brandon Pechette remembers O’Connor being “calm and cool and very intelligently funny while we were there, keeping the morale high, which is very important because we were such a small force against overwhelming odds.”
The award came 40 years after O’Connor’s father was killed in Vietnam.
The last time soldiers of the 7th Special Forces Group received Distinguished Service Crosses was in July 1964, Wagner said. Capt. Roger Donlon received the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest valor award, for his actions in the same battle, he said. He was the first Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam War.
IRAQ: A girl, a soldier, a dream
May 12, 2008
IRAQ: A girl, a soldier, a dream
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For months, Staff Sgt. Luis Falcon patrolled the downtrodden neighborhoods of Baqubah, where Sunni Muslim extremists had tried to create an Islamic caliphate. One day, he came upon a young girl sitting in an old, oversize wheelchair, blood crusting on the stumps where her legs had been.
Her name was Shahad Abbas Aziz, and on Friday, she sat patiently in a clinic in Baghdad’s Green Zone while doctors measured what remains of her legs. Later, they would make prosthetic limbs to replace the ones blown off seven months ago by a bomb.
As she perched on the edge of the examination table, wearing a denim jumper and lime-green earrings, Falcon stood behind her and related the extraordinary events that brought them to this point and that have changed both of their lives.
It began seven months ago, when Shahad was on her way home from school with her 10-year-old brother, Ali Abbas Aziz. A roadside bomb meant for U.S. forces exploded beneath them. “The Iraqi doctors thought that she was going to die and he was going to live, but what happened was the opposite,” said Shahad’s mother, Waheda Jabbar Mohammed.
Shahad was left with both legs amputated below the knee.
A few weeks later, Falcon was on a routine patrol when he came upon Shahad. “All I want is legs to walk to school,” she told him.
Thus began a Herculean effort to bring Shahad to Baghdad to be fitted with proper prostheses, an effort hampered by everything from military bureaucracy to dust storms but finally achieved just three weeks before Falcon was to end his Iraq tour.
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Late Friday, doctors finished work on Shahad’s new legs and she was able to briefly walk on them using a set of parallel bars. She’ll be returning Sunday for physical therapy, but “she is doing really well,” said Lt. Col. Frederick Wellman.
Falcon’s biggest fear is that the unit that replaces his won’t follow up with the family, which has five children in addition to Shahad. The father earns money by using a donkey cart to haul goods.
“I can’t order them to do what I’ve done. It has to come out their heart,” Falcon said. “They might say I don’t want to waste time here.”
For months after first meeting Shahad, Falcon would make sure to visit her family at its humble home in Baqubah. Soldiers brought them food, water, a heater in the winter, and a new wheelchair for Shahad.
Each time he visited, Falcon, 38, of New York, found that while other children clamored for soccer balls, PlayStations or money, Shahad never asked for anything except legs. But time was running out for Falcon, who arrived in Iraq early last year and whose 15-month deployment was nearing its end.
He began pushing her case up the chain of command. He went to his platoon leader, who went to the battalion commander, who went to the brigade leader. As Falcon’s departure date neared, he lost hope, until one day a man named Jerry Gardner approached him and said, “I’m here to help you.”
Gardner is a public health advisor working in Iraq on one of the U.S. State Department’s Provincial Reconstruction Teams. He apparently provided the final push needed to get Shahad the treatment she needed.
Getting Shahad to Baghdad proved a challenge. Baqubah, the capital of Diyala province, is only 50 miles north of Baghdad, but Falcon worried about roadside bombs along the road. They arranged a military helicopter flight for Shahad and her mother on Thursday to ensure they could make it to the Green Zone on Friday morning, in time for the fitting.
The work was done by Iraqi doctors and specialists in the Ministry of Defense Prosthetics Clinic, which currently is attached to the U.S.-run Ibn Sina Hospital. One of those advising the Iraqi staff was Chris Cummings, a prosthetics expert who said the method used with Shahad was as advanced as it gets and is used at VA centers. It involved using a wand to scan her limbs into a computer so that perfectly fitted, comfortable sockets could be constructed. Shahad’s upper legs fit into the plastic sockets, and limbs and feet were attached below.
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Asked what she wanted to do most once the limbs were ready, Shahad said, “I just want to walk.”
“This was what I needed,” Falcon said of his encounter with Shahad. Until then, he had wondered about his mission in Iraq. “Doing this right now, I’ll do as many tours as I need,” he said.
—Tina Susman and Said Rifai in Baghdad
Photos, from top: Limbs wait to be paired with their owners at the Ministry of Defense Prosthetics Clinic in Baghdad’s Green Zone; A doctor measures Shahad Abbas Aziz’s legs for prosthetics (Tina Susman); U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Luis Falcon helps Shahad take her first steps. (Airman 1st Class Andrew Davis)
Happy Mothers Day 2008
May 11, 2008
Happy Mothers Day 2008 to all you Mom’s out there.
I realized quite a long time ago that the hardest job in the military was not the person who was serving in in the service, but the person at home keeping the home fires burning.
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Mothers!
They bear our children, wipe runny noses, clean dirty diapers, help the boo-boo’s, smile and nod..
Then they take care of the children.
You see, most dads think that mom has the easy job, I used to hear it all the time, heck I even thought the same thing until my wife started to go to school, then the roles were reversed.
It was a blessing for me, as it prepared me for the day when I got out of the military. I am quite lucky in that I am a stay at home dad. Karen works at a local hospital as a ICU RN. She works 12 hours shifts, but when she gets home she puts her other hat of “MOM” on as well.
I know I am a strong part of the family unit and do quite well, but darn if the kids when they get their boo-boo’s or have something go wrong at school, They don’t tell me.. They wait for….
MOM.
I love my wife with all my heart, I love my Mother’s (Both mine and my in-law) as well and want to wish you all a Happy Mothers Day for 2008.
Have a great day!
Da-Dad
Week in Review 4-10 May 2008
May 10, 2008
What a week it has been.
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Happy Mothers day to all your Mothers out there!
Will the person who applied the Vice to my head kindly come and remove it and take it home! I have had a sinus headache for over a week now. It started out as a Cold then went full force through my noggin.
Those of you who are on Active Duty, you don’t know how good you have it if you get sick. It takes almost a month now to get seen at the hospital/Clinic due to staffing a rotations of folks to IRAQ etc.
Anyhoo. Here is what has been going on this week.
- Our ships and supplies are waiting off the coast of Burma, (Myanmar) hopefully the Military Govt will let the Aid in for those ravaged by the storm.
- Most of Congress, fighting with the administration for the new GI BILL. Folks, please, if you wish to have the Sen Jim Webb GI BILL, (Info can be read Here ) Please contact your Congressman, or Senator, let them know what you think.
- The Iraqi Govt announced to the world that they had caught the “#1 Al-Qaeda opperative in IRAQ on Thursday. Problem was, wrong guy, but he had a name that sounded like him. Yeah this is our Govt Money in action folks.. they can’t even get the names right.
- The Hornets are going to take it to the finals, San Antonio is going down. Do They look old to you? I know the Spurs won a game finally but it’s not looking good for Duncan and company.
- Pittsburgh is looking tough in the NHL Playoff’s. I think Crosby and his bunch are going to win it all. This is amazing considering the Penguins were “This Close” to folding or moving just a few years ago.
- Darlington race is tonight, Will Jr. finally get a win? or will Edwards and his sideways driving car win again on a 1.5 mile track.
- The Election, Nuff said.. WOW!
We have lost 8 heroes for the month of May so far. I will be posting this weekly by month so we never loose site of my brothers and sisters over doing the nations bidding.
May 01, 2008
 Army Spc. Jeffrey F. Nichols, 21, of Granite Shoals, Texas; assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Polk, La.; died May 1 in Baghdad from wounds sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device.May 02, 2008 Army Pvt. Corey L. Hicks, 22, of Glendale, Ariz.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 2 in Baghdad of wounds sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device.May 07, 2008 |
I will finish with this each week. I won’t forget and I hope you never forget those who are fighting for us and have volunteered to do so. They are our Nations truest heroes. There are names not listed as well and they are the wounded. If you see a vet, Thank them.
Stay Safe.
D/C
Looking for a “FOIL”
May 7, 2008
Spring Colds, I hate em. I am been stricken with one for the last 4 days.
Yeah I was a Vet of 24 Years. I have served as a Doc with the Marines, 2 Navy Squadrons and many other billets..
But a cold makes me a boob…
Anyways, heres to hoping I feel better tomorrow.
On to business. I am looking for a co-host for a weekly show with me for Corpsman.com. The Details:
Show will be produced weekly.
You must have a “SKYPE” account
You must be a Vet/ Doc of the Navy, Army, Coast Guard, or Air Force.
If your a Vet, you must have had a Honorable Discharge.
Must have done at least 2 operational deployments
Have a strong desire to help your fellow Doc’s.
If your interested, please do the following, you have to follow the instructions to the “T”.
Send me a Email to include:
Name, Age, When you served, What Service, Discharge Status, A 60 second Digital recording (.mp3 or .wav) telling me about yourself and why you want to be a part of this project.
Why am I asking / Looking for someone? While I have done 18 shows now by myself, the show would flow a lot better with a partner online.
There is no money in this. You would be doing this just for knowing your putting out info to your fellow Doc’s.
Send all submissions to admin1@corpsman.com
Thanks!
D/C
Docs keep Marines in fight
May 6, 2008
HIT, Iraq — Corpsmen know they are responsible for keeping Marines in the fight. The corpsmen in 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, relish the idea of being depended on.
The battalion corpsmen are spread throughout the area of operations in Hit and Haditha, Iraq. Having such a large area to cover has increased the responsibility of each corpsmen and added pressure to provide the same level of service to the Marines with a decreased staff.
“It’s a big billet to fill,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher J. Cook, 23, from Oakland, Calif., a corpsman with 3rd Bn., 4th Marines “It’s a lot to ask of from a small group of people, but the training we got prepared us.”
The battalion aid station handles on average 12 patients a day. This high level of service requires everyone to do more than their part.
“The experienced corpsmen really take the young guys under their wing,” said Navy Lt. j.g. David M. Viayra, 36, physician assistant, 3rd Bn., 4th Marines, from Norwalk, Calif.
The junior sailors have really benefited from the experience of the senior, more knowledgeable corpsmen.
“We have two objectives,” Viayra said. “One, we’re a force in readiness. We’re open (all the time) for the Marines. Our second is to support the command; however they see fit to use us as an asset.”
Corpsmen have treated civilian contractors, Iraqi Army and Police, Marines and in some situations Iraqi civilians. They have worked on everything from sprained ankles to a gunshot wound, Cook said.
“IPs and some Marines have had (staphylococcus) infections,” Viayra said. “For those, you have to cut them open, dig (the infection) out and start them on antibiotics. That seems to be the biggest problem out here right now.”
Despite having to see some nasty infections and bad symptoms, these corpsmen don’t mind. It’s all in a day’s work.
“I love what I do,” Cook said. “I changed jobs to become a corpsman.”
With the battalion’s corpsmen dedicated to their work and ready for anything Marines are reassured that they will be taken care of if anything goes wrong.
“We take care of Marines and they take care of us,” Cook said. “That way everyone’s happy and we all make it home.”
Article from “THE GLOBE“
Well the Army Gets it.. Navy Medicine “Nahhh”..
May 5, 2008
How do you lead people unless you have been in their shoes? When did a “NAVAL NURSE” go out on a combat patrol? Now I know Doctors Sneak out every now and again.. At least some do to see what is going on.. but most.. NOPE.. Back behind..
Senior Enlisted Medical?
Once they become CMD Leadership.. Nope.. (Well I should not say that becuase I know quite a few senior Enlisted Master and Senior Chiefs who are out there touting the line for their juniors while a few folks @ BUMED don’t listen I watched it happen.. Several times..) Also how do you put a different “RATE” Senior Enlisted member in charge of a Hospital or a school or a clinic for Corpsmen? They don’t have a “CLUE” as to what FMF is all about or Surgical forward teams etc.. Gads… But hey..
The Army Learned.. I never ever, EVER thought I would say the ARMY is smarter then our leaders..
TODAY I SALUTE THEM!
Rant Machine off..
Recent combat experience marks Army leaders
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday May 4, 2008 11:01:08 EDT
After nearly seven years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Army’s top leadership is being shaped by deep combat experience at the strategic and operational levels.
The unexpected departure of Navy Adm. William Fallon as commander of U.S. Central Command means a quick return of Army influence over a strategically sensitive region of the world. And the two uniformed officers who head the Army at home will have a combined recent deployment history of more than four years.
Gen. David Petraeus, former commander of the 101st Airborne Division and head of Multi-National Force-Iraq, will be nominated as the next commander of CentCom to oversee U.S. and coalition military operations in Southwest Asia, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, including managing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, who commanded the 4th Infantry Division at the beginning of operations in Iraq in 2003 and just finished 15 months commanding Multi-National Corps-Iraq, is nominated to succeed Petraeus as the top U.S. commander by the end of summer.
Adding to the experience level that reflects the deployment history of more than 60 percent of the active Army is the nomination of former 1st Cavalry Division and MNC-I commander Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli to become the next vice chief of staff, a position Odierno had been nominated for until he was selected to return to Baghdad.
one influential Army general called the Petraeus-Odierno team, “absolutely the right thing.”
“Petraeus could not have been as effective as he was had he not had this absolute master of his trade Odierno running the day-to-day war,” Barry McCaffrey said of Petraeus’ last 14 months as commander of MNF-I and Odierno’s role as his deputy at the head of MNC-I. “I think putting Odierno back in Iraq with the portfolio of contacts he has and the continuity will get us through the first two years or year of the next administration.”
McCaffrey, who commanded the 24th Infantry Division and later was commander of U.S. Southern Command, is an adjunct professor of international affairs at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
He has visited the war zones numerous times, generating reports on the status of the troops, their equipment and the direction of operations in the region for Senate testimony, West Point and his own consulting firm.
He predicts that within a year of the Nov. 4 presidential election, the new president will take troop levels in Iraq to 60,000, down from an expected level of about 140,000 this fall.
“What Odierno can do now is get us through a period of immense peril,” McCaffrey said.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who announced the nominations April 23, acknowledged the value of war-zone experience in the selections.
“There is no question that there are a handful of generals, like a lot of our captains and enlisted soldiers and the [noncommissioned officers], who have had repeated tours in Iraq. Partly it is their experience. Partly it is the fact that they know Iraq,” Gates said.
It was the unexpected resignation of Fallon, he said, that led to the new command moves.
Coming up behind those four-star generals, McCaffrey noted, are several commanders at the division and brigade levels who are capable of higher responsibility sooner than would be traditional.
“I believe that, almost without exception, you could pin two stars on these brigade commanders and ask them to command a division. They’re the most remarkable people we’ve had in command in a long time,” he said.
McCaffrey also singled out Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, a former 82nd Airborne Division commander who is at the head of XXVIII Airborne Corps and MNC-I, as “one of the best war fighters we’ve had in uniform in 20 years.”
Another commander with war-zone experience, albeit slightly less time on the ground than his fellow four-stars, is Gen. David McKiernan, who awaits final approval of his nomination for command of International Security Assistance Force at NATO headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved his nomination, which most likely will be approved on the Senate floor.
McKiernan commanded the 1st Cavalry Division until just after the Sept. 11 attacks and headed Third U.S. Army/Army Forces Central Command and Coalition Forces Land Component Command at the start of operations in Iraq.
The job in Afghanistan, McCaffrey said, is one for which McKiernan is well suited, as it is one in which the U.S. must take the lead in keeping allied forces in the fight, rather than a forward combat role.
“He’ll bring with him extremely good contacts throughout NATO. I hate to say this, but Afghanistan is a 25-year mission. We’ve got to keep the international community engaged,” McCaffrey said, pointing out that the combat aspect of the Afghanistan mission is “the easiest piece, so we’ve got a two-star commander that runs the operations.”
The current ISAF commander is Gen. Daniel McNeil.
The nominations of Petraeus, Odierno and Chiarelli will be considered by the Senate Armed Services Committee “as soon as possible,” Gates said.
“We expect to move the paperwork on these nominations to the White House and to the Senate very quickly,” he added.
From ArmyTimes:
Tribute video to US Army medics. IMEF CASEVAC
May 4, 2008
This is posted on the Front page as well. Video author: rayethon
Tribute video to US Army medics. IMEF CASEVAC
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