A new study suggests that “fresh” whole blood may have a shelf life considerably longer than the 48 hours or so now considered standard. That could have significant implications in situations such as the treatment of combat casualties where whole blood may be preferred for transfusion, according to the researchers.

WASHINGTON, DC—The White House recently introduced a government-wide effort to support military families outlined in its report, Strengthening Our Military Families.

WASHINGTON, DC—At the top of the agenda for the 112th Congress’s House Veterans Affairs Committee (HVAC ) is stricter oversight of VA, something that the new Republican leader of the committee believes has been allowed to lapse.

WASHINGTON, DC—The president proposed a $672 billion budget for DoD for FY2012 that includes a base budget of $553 billion and $117.8 billion to support overseas contingency operations, primarily in Afghanistan and Iraq.

WASHINGTON, DC—Building resilience in servicemembers must start when they enter basic training and must include their families, said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm Michael Mullen.

WASHINGTON, DC—Although an increase in the prevalence of asthma has slowed since the mid-1990s, it still remains at historically high levels, a CDC report released this year found.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN—The difficulty with treating COPD—as with any chronic disease—is that much of the care must be placed in the hands of the patient. The patient needs to be properly educated about their illness, not just about the pathophysiology, but about the importance of proper disease management and how to manage their own symptoms.

BETHESDA, MD—This past October saw the 20th anniversary of the start of the Human Genome Project; and this year marks the 10th anniversary of the publishing of the draft human genome sequence.

WASHINGTON, DC—Air Force Capt Julie Petsche’s interest in medicine was first piqued when as a sick child she went to the hospital. That experience, coupled with her fondness for science, eventually took her on a trajectory from Army National Guard medic to Air Force clinical nurse.

WASHINGTON, DC—Today’s physicians need greater accountability and more guidelines concerning their use of Twitter®, according to a study by the Washington DC VA Medical Center.