Browsing by Subject "Veterans"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Economic Contribution of a Proposed Veterans Home in Fillmore County, Minnesota
    (University of Minnesota, 2017-10) Tuck, Brigid; Moeinian, Maryam
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    Emotion-modulated startle reactivity in OEF/OIF veterans with PTSD
    (2012-08) Goldman, Daniel Jacob
    In addition to an exaggerated startle reflex, the most commonly reported symptoms of post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are intense physiological reactivity and psychological distress, respectively, on exposure to cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event. While the presence of an objectively measured exaggerated startle reflex in PTSD is firmly established, questions regarding when it is exhibited and what it tells us about the disorder remain unanswered. Furthermore, the data on emotion-modulated startle reactivity in PTSD are especially unclear and need further exploration. This is in large part due to a surprising paucity of data in the literature, as well as the interrelated problems of within-category heterogeneity and diagnostic comorbidity. Given that emotion-modulated startle is such a well-validated measure of emotional processing and defensive system reactivity, the lack of knowledge on this startle blink parameter is striking. The current study explored emotion-modulated startle reactivity in PTSD by investigating startle responses to pleasant, neutral, unpleasant, and trauma-related picture stimuli. Additional information regarding emotional dysregulations in PTSD was obtained through analyses of facial EMG, skin conductance, and heart rate responses. Both categorical (i.e., PTSD vs no-PTSD) and dimensional (i.e., specific symptom cluster) analyses were conducted in order to develop psychophysiological models and measures of the emotional dysregulations in PTSD. Contrary to expectations, categorical comparisons of individuals with and without PTSD did not yield a clear pattern of fruitful differences on any psychophysiological measure other than heart rate. In categorical comparisons, there was no strong indication for a particular physiological model for emotional dysregulations in PTSD and present results provide very little support for the presence of an objectively-measured exaggerated startle response in PTSD. However, significant relationships between most specific symptom clusters and the startle blink response were observed. The same was true for subjective ratings of the affective valence and arousal of the picture stimuli. Unexpectedly, the most consistent effects were for diminished emotion modulation to pleasant stimuli rather than exaggerated responding to unpleasant or trauma-relevant stimuli. Current results suggest that PTSD is not defined by an abnormality in fear and that an underappreciated and central aspect of PTSD is a limited capacity for positive affect. Implications regarding the coherence of the construct of PTSD as defined in DSM-IV are discussed.
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    Extreme weather and mortality among a nationwide cohort of Veterans with COPD
    (2023) Rau, Austin
    Climate change is increasing the frequency, severity and duration of extreme weather events. Individuals with climate sensitive diseases such as chronic respiratory diseases are at an enhanced risk of health challenges due to climate change. However, there is a lack of individual level studies examining how extreme weather events such as heat and cold waves may increase the risk of mortality among individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a climate sensitive respiratory disease. Using nationwide individual level health data from the Veterans Health Administration, three studies were designed to estimate heat and cold wave associated mortality risk among this susceptible population.The first study evaluated heat and cold wave mortality risk among the entire population of patients with COPD and examined health disparities by individual characteristics including gender, age, race and ethnicity. Results indicated cisgender females had an increased heatwave associated mortality risk. While some racial disparities in mortality risk were detected, the evidence was weak. The second study further examined disparities in heat and cold wave associated mortality via less commonly studied effect measure modifiers including comorbidities, smoking status and urbanicity. Patients with concurrent COPD and asthma had a greater risk of heatwave related mortality whereas patients with COPD alone had the greatest cold wave associated mortality risk. Smokers and patients living in urban settings had enhanced risk of both heat and cold wave related mortality. The third study assessed the added mortality risk incurred during compound climate hazards (droughts and heatwaves) among this susceptible population. Results indicated heatwaves that occurred during droughts had larger mortality risks compared to heatwaves during non-drought conditions. These three studies provide evidence that individuals with COPD are at risk of adverse health events from heat and cold waves and identified heterogeneities in risk based on characteristics including social, biological and geographical constructs. There is an apparent need in climate and health epidemiology for more large-scale individual level assessments of people with climate sensitive diseases. As contemporary impacts of climate change are realized, it is imperative to devote resources and energy into elucidating health risks associated with extreme weather events to identify and protect at-risk segments of the population.
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    Warring opinions: an investigation into the sublime aesthetic narratives of contemporary warfare.
    (2010-08) Licht, Melissa Vera
    This project uses aesthetic concepts of the sublime as critical categories for exploring opinions and subjective responses to war as they are presented in selected soldiers' memoirs, literary theory, films, and public affairs-from World War I to the (ongoing) Gulf War. Representations of sublime force as well as sublime sacrifice and idealism permeate even "objective" journalistic accounts of warfare and inform the perspectives through which we engage with war in thought and feeling. The project argues that "opinion" is not merely a rationally measurable statistical phenomenon but an aesthetic problematic through which we experience ourselves in relation to the world. Soldiers' memoirs and public discourses narrate the trauma of war and express opinions that swing between and simultaneously uphold radically different positions: war as a sublime communal endeavor versus war as the destruction of social meaning. These opposing opinions reflect different aesthetic and narrative strategies: different ways of representing one's position in the world and of managing overpowering forces and emotions. Opinion itself is built and supported through our emotional narratives of sublime antagonism and/or sublime interest in the social world. The critical thought of Hannah Arendt, J. Glenn Gray, Paul de Man, Walter Benjamin, Sigmund Freud, and Immanuel Kant are central to the analysis of sources throughout the project.