FACEBOOK
TWITTER
Science Rules The Day For Gulf War Veterans In Their Battle With The VA
Healthy brain (top) shows response to pain from heat on the forearm. Different regions (bottom) respond to that heat in vets with Gulf War syndrome two. Photo: UT Southwestern Med. Ctr.
The veterans of the Gulf War 1990-91 have mighty support from scientific breakthroughs that have occurred with the backing of Ross Perot that started in the early years after they returned from the Gulf War in 1991. Mr Perot met with a group of Navy Seabees in the early 90′s that had returned sick and faced strong opposition from the government that was suppose to support their veterans.
Mr Perot being a Navy man believed his Navy veterans and stood up for them! Mr Perot knowing that scientific proof would be needed, turned to his hometown medical university, to get the help that would be needed in the long battle ahead. Dr Robert Haley, UTSWMED, was the researcher, doctor that was assigned to do the hard work. This week at the Annual Toxicological Association Meeting his work for the veterans finally is being spotlighted.
Janet Raloff’s article in Science News explains the significance of this breaking medical news to the public at large, to physicians and medical professionals, and to the veterans of the Gulf War 1990-91 that have waited almost two decades for vindication. The imaginery of the brain scans is evidence of the Real damage to the brains of our countless Gulf War 1990-91 veterans. This shows some of the REAL PHYSIOLOGIC DAMAGE that the veterans have stated was there all this time. If only, their doctors, researchers, government officials, and agencies had believed in them instead of employing delay and denial techniques of using stress and psychosomatic reasoning as the basis for their complaints.
Denise Nichols, a Gulf War Veteran, retired RN, MSN states this is why she stood up as a Nurse officer to be a fighter for herself and other gulf war veterans, her patients that she was assigned in the Gulf War to protect and care for in theater. She just didn’t know the War after the War would take 19 years and counting. She knew that the Gulf War Veterans, including herself, were not being diagnosed or provided the right medical care that would be needed to maintain their health, recover, and maintain a quality of life.
She states that the “best hope is for the leading scientist, doctors, and researchers in this country to now become fully engaged in this Medical War to find treatment and save the veterans lives and improve their quality of life without further delay.” The VA Research Advisory Committee is asking the Congress to provide 25 million dollars to the DOD Congressional Directed Medical Research Program for Gulf War Illness Research for FY2010 and she hopes the Congress meets that goal.
Anthony Hardie,a Gulf War Veteran, Bronze Star Medal Recipient, and member of the VA Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illness states “that this graphic imagery is a representation of the unremitting pain and suffering of tens of thousands of our Gulf War Veterans-Pain and suffering for which there is still no treatment.”
David Winnett, a Gulf War Veteran and a Mustang Marine Officer with gulf war illness, states that “We need a few more Marine Officers to step forward to help get medical answers and to help lead the way for getting the medical claims of these troops left ill on the battlefield handled throughly in an expedited manner. These troops and their families have been broken financially and left to battle on their own and that is a tragedy that needs utmost attention. SEMPER FI.
Jim Bunker, a Gulf War Veteran Artillery Officer, who experienced symptoms of a nerve agent on the battlefield, states that “the Gulf War Veterans are calling his office in large numbers for help on their claims everyday.” He states that “urgent retraining and supervision of the rating officers at the VA is imperative.”
These ill Gulf War Veterans and other Gulf War Veteran Advocates need the nation’s attention now.
Science indeed is ruling the day for the battle that the Gulf War Veterans have fought for 19 years since the Gulf War 1990-91. The article in Science News Daily by Janet Raloff clearly is showing the scientific and medical world the proof of the pain that this group of veterans and their families have experienced. This is the same research that the VA recently cut off funds at the beginning of the third of five years. The support in what the VA had touted in front page news as a VA COLLABORATIVE CENTER several years ago with funding of 15 million dollars for a 5 year effort.
The VA had promised the veterans after they stopped this program this past summer at a critical junction for the research timetable that they would take the remaining money(15 million for five years) and place it in comparable research. At the Recent VA Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illness on March 2, the VA Research headquarters announced that 11 million dollars would be spent on TESLA7 imaginary equipment in California. Where 5 miles down the road that equipment is already available! The VA has broken the promises made on Gulf War Research and made a public relations blunder or even out and out lied, Surprised?
IT is interesting that despite the veterans plea to the Capitol in Washington,DC to have joint Senate and House VA Committee Hearings to hear from all parties on this critical issue for the Gulf War 1990-91 Veterans that they have been met again with the Tin Ear, Stone Heart, and Blindfolded Eyes. The veterans of the gulf war 1990-91 are indeed fighting a war after the war against the old 3 Monkey Routine. The media who covered them in the nineties seem to also have gotten a virus of the Three Monkey Syndrome and have been sluggish in their response.
They, the Gulf War Veterans 1990-91, were promised since the first hearings on this issue of Gulf War Illnesses on the hill in 1993 that “NO STONE WOULD BE LEFT UNTURNED.” It seems we have a pile of stinking stones that have built up over 19 years and the Gulf War Veterans of 1990-91 will not allow this pile of stones to stop them or affect the country’s newest veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom from getting the best diagnostics, medical care, treatment, and/or fair compensation.
Backed up by the Vietnam Veterans who had pledged “Never Again” they are issuing a call to all of us in the US to demand action. The action being is for each citizen of the US to call, email, and fax the Senators, US Representatives and yes, the White House to tell them this is not what we represent as a country that Supports Our Veterans. Make them “WALK the WALK” with real action not words or promises or as the troops call it “Smoke and Mirrors” and hold their feet to the fire.
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=20621
Posted by Denise Nichols on Mar 10 2010, With 0 Reads, Filed under Gulf War Illness (GWI), Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
COMMENTS
To post, we ask that you login using Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail in the box below.Don't have a social network account? Register and Login direct with VT and post.
Before you post, read our Comment Policy - Feedback
Hello Denise,
I want to first of all thank you and all who have diligently worked so hard at supporting all of us Gulf War Veterans. I am now going to ramble in support of the Seabees and all who served. And forgive me for my Grammar I failed English.. I served in the United States Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40 during the Gulf War. NMCB 40 was one of the first in country in support of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. Not only were we exposed to most all of the things that have been researched as possible causes of GWI as well as a few Scud missiles. Seabees were also exposed to extreme excessive vibrations, heat and noise from heavy equipment, Air compressed tools and high vibrating electrical tools. I have seen nothing in any gulf war research pertaining to vibration exposure. I am not saying that vibration is the end all be all, but definitely a factor in all this quantum soup of nastiness. According to Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology For four hours a day (the longest time a human can be exposed to workplace vibration according to U.S. and international standards). Symptoms typically do not appear until after 2000 hours of exposure to vibrations,2although the latency period can vary considerably from 0 – 20+ years. Well let me think about that. The Seabees worked 12 hours a day 6 – 7 days a week. So giving the Government the benefit of doubt and using the VA’s math logic. I will use 10 for the hours of the day and 5 for the days of the week. 10 hours x 5 days = 50 hours per week. 50 hours x 40 days = 2000 hours. Oh my! That is pretty close to the time that the majority of my unit was shiting there selves. So many of us could not control our bowels. They said it was the vegetables from Egypt. Well maybe so. Egypt happened to be where Monsanto was growing some of the first GM crops. Someone profits from feeding all the troops during a war.
What are the health effects of whole-body vibration?
Whole-body vibration can cause fatigue, insomnia, stomach problems, headache and “shakiness” shortly after or during exposure. The symptoms are similar to those that many people experience after a long car or boat trip. After daily exposure over a number of years, whole-body vibration can affect the entire body and result in a number of health disorders. Sea, air or land vehicles cause motion sickness when the vibration exposure occurs in the 0.1 to 0.6 Hz frequency range. Studies of bus and truck drivers found that occupational exposure to whole-body vibration could have contributed to a number of circulatory, bowel, respiratory, muscular and back disorders.
The equipment operators were building the roads for the front lines and clearing areas for airstrips. Operating heavy equipment, 12 hours a day on rough desert terrain. Would not that vibrate the shit out of a person?
The steel workers and builders were building structures and pouring concrete for airstrips, prison camps, water points, using all kinds of heavy construction tools that vibrate the shit out of a person.
Take note here. For NMCB 40 we deployed to Guam first and pulled all the moth balled equipment out of storage there. For the most part the equipment was from the 70’s. This equipment alone was sub par for anti-vibration safety.
As of today the U.S. Navy does not have any approved anti vibration safety gloves.
Even though there are numerous researches on Hand arm vibration syndrome. It really does not matter which part of your body is exposed to vibration. Be the hands, feet, buttocks. It just changes what part of the body is affected the first and the worst.
What about the heat in the gulf. It was hot 120 degrees or more at times. Then add welding steel wearing welding leathers under a black welding hood for many hours a day. Now that’s HOT! Almost Lethal. That’s what I did for many of weeks building tank traps, gun mounts for HUMVees and too many other things to list. Hmm let’s see what the experts say about HEAT + Vibrations.
H. Megel 1, H. Wozniak 1, L. Sun 1, E. Frazier 1, and H. C. Mason 1
1 Bioastronautics Section, Aero-Space Division, The Boeing Company, Seattle, Washington
Restrained adult male rats of the Sprague-Dawley strain were exposed for a 20-min duration to sublethal intensities of heat, vibration, and to the combination of heat and vibration. The incidence of mortality resulting from simultaneous exposure to both environmental stresses was significantly greater than would be predicted if these stresses were to act independently of each other. Hematocrit, hemoglobin, and serum glutamic-oxalacetic transaminase levels were significantly elevated immediately after vibration. Heat in combination with vibration increased these values although heat stress per se caused no change from control levels. Twenty-four hours after exposure to the combination of vibration and heat, hematocrit and hemoglobin levels returned to normal but the serum glutamic-oxalacetic transaminase levels were still significantly elevated. Significant increases in heart, kidney, and adrenal weights were observed immediately after exposure to the combination of environmental stresses. Possible modes of action are discusse.
Why are the Gulf War vets such neurological messes. Add it up. All the known factors and some of the not so known factors. I am sure there is more that has not been thought about or discussed. Noise – Isolation?
Sometimes I think we were the RATS!
Funded by:
NIOSH; Grant Number: R01-0H03493
ABSTRACT
Vibration syndrome, a clinical condition arising from chronic use of vibrating tools, is associated with a spectrum of neurovascular symptoms. To date, only its vascular pathology has been extensively studied; we sought to determine what direct neurologic injury, if any, is caused by vibration. Hindlimbs of anesthetized rats were affixed to a vibrating platform 4 h a day for 7 days. Study animals were vibrated with set parameters for frequency, acceleration, velocity, and amplitude; control animals were not vibrated. On day 7, nerves were studied by light and electron microscopy. While light microscopy showed minimal histologic differences between vibrated (n = 12) and control (n = 12) nerves, electron microscopic changes were dramatic. Splitting of the myelin sheath and axonal damage (e.g., myelin balls and finger ring) were consistently seen in both myelinated and nonmyelinated axons. Despite relatively short vibration, definite pathology was demonstrated, suggesting that vibration syndrome has a direct neurologic component. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Microsurgery 25:71-75, 2005.
Received: 29 March 2004; Accepted: 17 May 2004
Victoria A. Cassano, MD, MPH
Director, Radiation and Physical Exposures (Code 132)
Acting Director, Environmental Agents Service
What about the alteration in the DNA or RNA of Gulf War vets? I am sure many things can cause that. One is Vibrations. See. http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/indhealth/46/2/188/_pdf
Interesting Read Abstract: The purpose of this pilot study was to examine differences in gene expressions by
cDNA microarray analysis of hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) patients. Vein blood samples
were collected and total RNA was extracted. All blood samples were obtained in the morning
in one visit after a standard light breakfast. We performed microarray analysis with the
labeled cDNA prepared by reverse transcription from RNA samples, using the Human CHIP
version 1 (DNA Chip Research Inc, Yokohama, Japan). There are 2,976 genes on the chip, and
these genes were selected from a cDNA library prepared with human peripheral white blood cells
(WBC). Different gene levels between the HAVS patients and controls, and between groups of
HAVS with different levels of symptoms, were indicated by the randomized variance model. The
most up-regulated genes were analyzed for their possible functions and association with the occurrence
of HAVS. From the results of this pilot study, although the results were obtained a limited
number of subjects, it would appear that cDNA microarray analysis of HAVS patients has
potential as a new objective method of HAVS diagnosis. Further research is needed to examine
the gene expression with increased numbers of patients at different stages of HAVS.
1Measurement and Control of Work Environment Research Group, National Institute of Occupational Safety
and Health, Nagao 6–21–1, Tama-ku, Kawasaki 214-8585, Japan
2Institute of Risk Analysis and Risk Communication, Dept. Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences,
University of Washington, 4225 Roosevelt Way, NE Suite #100, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
3Mechanism of Health Effect Research Group, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Nagao
6–21–1, Tama-ku, Kawasaki 214-8585, Japan
4Nagoya University School of Health Sciences, 1–1–20, Daiko-minami, Higashi-ku, Nagoya 461-8673, Japan
Received May 29, 2006 and accepted November 22, 2007
Victoria A. Cassano Vetrans Affairs Director, Radiation and Physical Exposures
Says:
“Dear Mr… O’Connor,
Certainly there are several job categories in many of the services in which extreme whole body vibration or localized vibration to the hands and feet can cause medical problems.
Most of the time, these medical problems are manifested as injury to peripheral nerves and peripheral vasculature.
While there is no presumption of service connection, since there are many other things that people do that can cause this (motorcycle riding, jack hammers in construction trades etc:) if one can document the specific exposure to extreme vibration and develop a medical condition that is known to be associated with vibration, then you can be eligible to file for direct service connection for than condition.
If you have other concerns regarding this topic, please feel free to contact me directly.”
Dr Cassano
Victoria A. Cassano, MD, MPH
Director, Radiation and Physical Exposures (Code 132)
Acting Director, Environmental Agents Service (Code 131)
VHACO, Washington, DC
202-461- 1020
Feel free to call Dr Cassano if anyone has any concerns.
Who’s who in the U.S. on vibration research? Let’s See.
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2006-140/pdfs/2006-140.pdf
Symptoms typically do not appear until after 2000 hours of exposure to vibrations,2although the latency period can vary considerably from 0 – 20+ years.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC556035/
The U.S. Government must fund more research and provide Gulf War Veterans with the benefits they deserve. If not we the people must Fire them and place new guards for our security and the security of future generations.
The United States Government needs to take there shit colored glasses off and clean the shit out of there ears. They need to end this cognitive dissonance. If they can’t do it then We the People need to invoke the Declaration of Independence.
To all who have the Will and Power with in them,
The 43rd president of the United States of America said “”Your training has prepared you. Your honor will guide you. You believe in America, and America believes in you. All this country needs is resolve.”
The 44th President of the United States of America said Hope and Change is what we need. With out resolve there will be no hope with out hope there will be no change.
Please help, you have it in your power to end this Cognitive dissonance that has been created due to lack of collaboration between the fields of politics, science and medicine.
You have in your power to heal this great nation and bring truth and justice to all those who have fought and served. Sacrificing there lives in the pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness for all Humanity. It is time others that have it in there power to fulfill the dream we been working towards for the last 212 years.
“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the United States Government is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”
Sincerely,
William R. O’Connor
Did anyone catch who received and accepted the below journal. See below. Yours truly. Victoria A. Cassano Vetrans Affairs Director, Radiation and Physical Exposures. Would this not make one assume the VA is aware of these facts?
NIOSH; Grant Number: R01-0H03493
ABSTRACT
Vibration syndrome, a clinical condition arising from chronic use of vibrating tools, is associated with a spectrum of neurovascular symptoms. To date, only its vascular pathology has been extensively studied; we sought to determine what direct neurologic injury, if any, is caused by vibration. Hindlimbs of anesthetized rats were affixed to a vibrating platform 4 h a day for 7 days. Study animals were vibrated with set parameters for frequency, acceleration, velocity, and amplitude; control animals were not vibrated. On day 7, nerves were studied by light and electron microscopy. While light microscopy showed minimal histologic differences between vibrated (n = 12) and control (n = 12) nerves, electron microscopic changes were dramatic. Splitting of the myelin sheath and axonal damage (e.g., myelin balls and finger ring) were consistently seen in both myelinated and nonmyelinated axons. Despite relatively short vibration, definite pathology was demonstrated, suggesting that vibration syndrome has a direct neurologic component. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Microsurgery 25:71-75, 2005.
Received: 29 March 2004; Accepted: 17 May 2004
Victoria A. Cassano, MD, MPH
Director, Radiation and Physical Exposures (Code 132)
Acting Director, Environmental Agents Service
Oh! I have a good idea! Why don’t the researchers get some rats and give them the same pills we ingested, shot the rats up with the same Anthrax vaccine as well as all the other vaccine’s, heat the lab up to 120 degrees, fill it full of oil smoke, Hell, why not through in a little Depleted uranium with big cats trying to eat the rats, this will help give it that war environment and then vibrate the shit out the rats for lets say 4 hours a day, we don’t the researchers to break the U.S. and international standards for vibration exposure). All while playing the Beach Boy’s song Good Good Vibrations really freaking loud. And if any one wants to add to the experiment. Please add Comments and Suggestions. Oh! Dear God! I would love to see the results this experiment. They probably could conduct the experiment in Death valley in a tent. Really I would not think it would cost that much. I am sure there are still some of those pills and vaccine’s laying around.
Oh! I have a suggestion
The researches should add to the rat experiment the following items.
Dear Researches,
Make sure to wake the rat’s up several times a night with loud sirens.
Make sure to add fleas and other sand creatures to the experiment.
Make sure to spay the rats with pesticide. To protect them from the sand creatures.
Make sure the rat’s eat there healthy GM vegetables. I’m sure some company will donate the food.
We sure wouldn’t wanted anything bad happening to the Rats. Or having them die before the experiment is over.
Sincerely,
William
Steve60 says:
March 11, 2010 at 7:17 pm
As a Gulfwar vet with respiratory problems, skin and a number of others, were you aware that the apples, bananas and peaches that came from Turkey, were sprayed with DDT. DDT, of course was banned to use in this country in 1969. I do not know if all were sprayed but the ones we had, an Army transp unit, a Navy MIUW also had those fruits.
So Dear Researchers,
Please also add to the Rats diet during the experiment. pples, bananas and peaches from Turkey, sprayed with DDT. We really need this experiment to simulate the reality of what Gulf war Veterans experienced.
Warm Wishes,
William
Jim Ellis says:
March 11, 2010 at 4:46 am
I am a disabled Gulf War Veteran with all signs of gulf war illness. Dont know if it was from climbing up on a contaminated armored vehicle in a C-140 transport plane, the shots I got ashore while the rest of the ship got them onboard, being on the weather deck when our chem weapons detector logged a “false alarm” or perhaps from them having us muster by the 04 level comms antenna ffo rthree years before a navosh said to avoid those areas because they were microwaving us. What I do know is that I have hypointense foci bilaterally in the basal ganglia of my brain that have showed up in brain scans past and present yet the Va doesnt want to give me the defined measurenments of them, says VA patients cant request that in the report, my doctor has to ask radiology to do so! What are they covering up, and when will they admit to it?
Dear Researchers,
Please also setup a microwave antenna and when the Rat have the breaks
from being vibrated they can hang out around the antenna. We want to be sure to get the full effect.
Thanks again,
William
Do not forget to make a statement to the rats that there is no information classified or unclassified that states they were subject to such conditions.
Good Point mortar man!
We will make sure the sign a waiver of the rights to good health.
Please visit http://www.usvaw.org/ in support of the Seabees.
the fresh vegetables were grown re using night soil as fertilizer
also they used very toxic bug sprays on military aircraft returning from theater —-this is a known toxic agent and labelled clearly hazardous and should not be breathed in….
so another toxin neurotoxin exposure
see my article on the C141 crews from Charleston AFB and their heavy death toll and illness toll in that unit
Dear Researchers,
I was thinking, it might be a good idea to prescribe the rats various prescription drugs after the experiment is over. That way you could possibly use the rats again in another experiment.
Thanks again,
William
William we need researh on the drugs they are prescribing re antidepressants, psychological drugs, ssri and the potential for reactions from gwv bodies…synergistic, untoward effects with people that have neurotoxin exposures!!!!!
Good Idea! Don’t you think the veterans came back with plenty of side effects as it is. What’s a few more going to hurt? The veterans of course!
Denise,
What questions should we be asking are Health care providers?
How do we prevent from be prescribed drugs that have not benefit for neurological injuries? Are than any out there. Procardia?
Dear Researchers,
Please pass this info on to the rats so they can get help after the experiment is over.
Info from the VA’s Website.
http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/physical/vibration.asp
Health Problems Associated with Vibration Exposure
■Continuous exposure to excessive vibration may cause irreversible damage to the body.
■Regular exposure to hand-arm vibration may cause Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome – Symptoms include tingling, numbness, and pain in the fingers and hands.
■Regular exposure to whole body vibration may cause low back pain.
If you are concerned about health problems associated with vibration exposure, contact the Environmental Health Coordinator or Patient Care Advocate at your nearest VA medical center.
well, quite alot from William sounds like the vibrstion has got you pumped up LOL
I do think you have to include all the shots not just the anthrax,ISG, hepatitis shots and the whole slew of shots including bot toxin, any that you were missing for world wide duty that had to be caught up on deployment,
the sand which is high in silica and then having that sand also with du and chem agents, organophoshate ,pesticides,the bios sold to saddam and sent to Iraq atomic energy from us re atcc(Senator Reigle 94 report),
pb tabs,carc paint,endemic diseases, what else; inhale and ingest …mix well and serve the whole cocktail to the rats….
do we have some nondeployed highup that want to volunteer to be subsitute rats????
Forget about saving the whales save the vets
You could say I am feeling a bit vibrant.
“This is pretty serious stuff. I wish I could say I can’t believe that this problem has been put on the back burner for several years but I have seen VA doctors purposefully tell soldiers there is nothing wrong with them, give them Ibuprofren, and send them on their way only to have them end up in the hospital with serious complications. With the fMRI available now, though, iit seems they cant possibly ignore this problem. They dismissed it before because of the wide array of symptoms vets were having but every single one of the reported symptoms make sense now that we know the part of the brain that is being affected. Also, I thought it was intersting you brought up the negative health effects of vibrations and that doctor tried to downplay it as people who do everyday things like riding a motorcycle….can have these same side effects” but youre right, Im pretty sure riding a motorcycle for a couple hours is very different than being exposed to crazy vibrations for at LEAST 10 hours a day 5 days a week. Cover up does sound possible. Thanks for the article. “
Read the whole thing. What a disgusting lack of care for you guys. We always support our troops. My DH served in the Air Force in his day. In fact it was 50 years ago today that he enlisted. Last year he had surgery on a big toe that he had injured when he was in the service . He had gone to the air fore Dr. then and was told there was nothing wrong with it. It was shattered and he lived with it all these years. He did get it taken care of at the VA hospital.
We will communicate with our representatives that we want this taken care of .
I love the experiment…we should sign up our congressional people to be the rats.
To commenter, William O’Connor,
Your info on Vibration injury has been multiple(numerous), Can you kindly send the info to me at DSNurse1@yahoo.com. And with all concern, I ask that you leave room for others to make comments on what is said in the article itself.
WE can do an article later on Vibration injuries and include what you have and cover that area.
I just feel we have saturated the comments to this article and other articles with vibration research. Not that it is not important it is but please can we stay focused on what is covered in the article originally posted? WE have alot going on right now with push for funding at DOD CDMRP thru the Congress and other information. So would appreciate your assistance.
Sincerely
DSNurse
staff writer of the article
Not a problem at all. I will limit my post to the article itself. I sincerely apologize. I have setup a website that you can use for reference. See the research section as I will be updating frequently.
http://usvaw.org/
Sincerely,
William O’Connor
One last point. I have no regrets of serving my country for life liberty and happiness of future generations. I only have regrets of my country not serving the Veterans. With out pain and sacrifice humanity can not evolve. With out resolve Humanity can not evolve.
W
Note to self.
I should have used progress instead of evolve.
Another note to self, I should have used Government in place of Country.
finally someone found the evidence
I guess you could say Veterans have been Hoodwinked. Talk about shock and awe.
W
Comparison of continuous and intermittent vibration effects on rat-tail artery and nerve.
Govindaraju SR, Curry BD, Bain JL, Riley DA.
Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226, USA.
Hand-transmitted vibration from powered-tools can cause peripheral vasospasm and neuropathy. A rat-tail model was used to investigate whether the pattern of vibration influenced the type and severity of tissue damage. The tails of awake rats were vibrated continuously or intermittently for a total of 4 hours at 60 HZ, 49 m/s(2). Nerves and arteries were harvested immediately or 24 hours after treatment. Tails subjected to intermittent vibration showed transiently increased sensitivity to thermal stimuli. Intermittent vibration caused the most nerve injury immediately and 24 hours after vibration. Continuous vibration invoked a persistent reduction in vascular lumen size. Compared to epinephrine-induced transient vacuolation in vascular smooth muscle cells, both continuous and intermittent vibration caused greater persistence of vacuoles, indicating a vibration-induced pathological process. All vibration groups exhibited elevated nitrotyrosine immunoreactivity indicative of free-radical damage. Pattern of vibration exposure may exert a major influence on the type of vibration injury.
PMID: 16691604 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Vibration causes acute vascular injury in a two-step process: vasoconstriction and vacuole disruption.
Govindaraju SR, Bain JL, Eddinger TJ, Riley DA.
Department of Cell Biology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226, USA.
Hand-arm vibration syndrome is a vasospastic and neurodegenerative occupational disease. In the current study, the mechanism of vibration-induced vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) injury was examined in a rat-tail vibration model. Tails of male Sprague Dawley rats were vibrated continuously for 4 hr at 60 Hz, 49 m/s(2) with or without general anesthesia. Ventral tail arteries were aldehyde fixed and embedded in epoxy resin to enable morphological analysis. Vibration without anesthesia caused vasoconstriction and vacuoles in the SMC. Anesthetizing rats during vibration prevented vasoconstriction and vacuole formation. Exposing tail arteries in situ to 1 mM norepinephrine (NE) for 15 min induced the greatest vasoconstriction and vacuolation. NE induced vacuoles were twice as large as those formed during vibration. When vibrated 4 hr under anesthesia after pretreatment with NE for 15 min, the SMC lacked vacuoles and exhibited a longitudinal banding pattern of dark and light staining. The extracellular matrix was filled with particulates, which were confirmed by electron microscopy to be cellular debris. The present findings demonstrate that vibration-induced vasoconstriction (SMC contraction) requires functioning central nervous system reflexes, and the physical stress of vibration damages the contracted SMC by dislodging and fragmenting SMC vacuoles.
This one is for the Equipment operators of the Seabees. They ran scrappers all day long.
Exposure to whole-body vibration and seat transmissibility in a large sample of earth scrapers.
Salmoni A, Cann A, Gillin K.
School of Kinesiology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. asalmoni@uwo.ca
BACKGROUND: It is often difficult to access a large sample of vehicles in various work environments to evaluate worker exposure to vibration such as in construction and mining. Thus the main purpose of the present research was to test vibration exposure in a relatively large number of earth scrapers. The second aim was to assess vibration exposure values on seat transmissibility. STUDY DESIGN: 33earth scrapers were assessed for both exposure to whole-body vibration and seat transmissibility. METHOD: Two triaxial accelerometers, one placed on the seat and one on the floor directly below the seat, were used to gather whole-body vibration values (a(w)). Each machine was tested for a minimum of three complete work cycles: idling, scraping, travelling full, dumping, travelling empty back to the scrape site. RESULTS: Results showed that idling and scraping produced low levels of vibration when compared to travelling and dumping. Second, when the a(w) values were compared to the EU safety standards for an eight hour work day, the data (z axis) exceeded the exposure action value (0.5 m/s2) in all machines, and the exposure limit value (1.15 m/s2) in some. Implications; Operators of the scrapers were being exposed to unsafe levels of whole-body vibration. When the seats were assessed to see whether they were attenuating operator exposure to vibration, many of the seat effective amplitude transmissibility (SEAT) values exceeded 1.0. This meant that some of the seats were actually amplifying the vibration present at the floor, particularly in the y axis. CONCLUSION: Travelways should be kept smooth, operating speeds reduced, and new seats, effective in all three axes, designed.
PMID: 20164626 [PubMed - in process]
I am on a role now.
Arh Hig Rada Toksikol. 1993 Sep;44(3):269-79.
[The effect of whole-body vibration: an unrecognized medical problem]
[Article in Croatian]
Bogadi-Sare A.
Institut za medicinska istrazivanja i medicinu rada Sveucilista u Zagrebu, Hrvatska.
Exposure to whole-body vibration is a growing concern in industry, traffic and in other branches of the economy. This harmful physical factor endangers work efficiency and human health not only at work but also in everyday life, in public transportation and even at home. In spite of increasing exposure to vibrations, our medical practice does not pay adequate attention to the health effects of whole-body vibration. The paper deals with the basic characteristics of vibration (frequency, amplitude, velocity and acceleration), its adequate evaluation (effective or weighted average value, peak values, rating and weighting procedure of vibration measurement) and exposure (vibration direction, exposure time, transmission and dissipation). In industry and traffic, vibrations present complex oscillatory motions, characterized by a wide frequency spectrum, variable amplitude and acceleration, and different directions. To assess the harmful effects of vibration, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has proposed three standards for acceptable human exposure to whole-body vibration: fatigue-decreased proficiency boundary, exposure limit and reduced comfort boundary. Quantitative parameters of vibration for some vehicles, and for constructional, industrial and agricultural machinery are also given. The most pronounced long-term effect of whole-body vibration is damage to the spine. The spinal region most frequently affected is the lumbar part, where spinal deformation, lumbago and sciatica can develop. The possible cause of spinal damage could be mechanical overload and metabolic changes of the intervertebral disc. Other organ systems, such as peripheral and autonomic nervous, vestibular, vascular, digestive and female reproductive systems are also liable to become affected. Risk assessment of chronic health effects is based on the appropriate evaluation of whole-body vibration exposure and individual response. Health risk increases with the intensity and duration of vibration exposure. The concomitant factors are forced sitting posture and heavy physical work. Human response to whole-body vibration depends on factors promoting the development of degenerative changes such as constitution, previous spine disease and young age. The main problems in diagnosing whole-body vibration syndrome are differentiation of vibration induced disorders from age dependent changes of the spine and lack of a specific diagnostic method for assessing those changes. Therefore, only permanent medical surveillance can guarantee proper assessment of the damage induced by whole-body vibration. For vibration exposed workers preplacement and periodic examinations are recommended. Those should include a basic medical examination and an X-ray of the spine, or at least of its lumbar part.
PMID: 8311700 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
This ones is for our Seabee Equipment Opertaors who built the front lines.
” We build We fight.”
” Safety First.”
Work. 2010 Jan;35(1):63-75.
Exposure to whole-body vibration and seat transmissibility in a large sample of earth scrapers.
Salmoni A, Cann A, Gillin K.
School of Kinesiology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. asalmoni@uwo.ca
BACKGROUND: It is often difficult to access a large sample of vehicles in various work environments to evaluate worker exposure to vibration such as in construction and mining. Thus the main purpose of the present research was to test vibration exposure in a relatively large number of earth scrapers. The second aim was to assess vibration exposure values on seat transmissibility. STUDY DESIGN: 33earth scrapers were assessed for both exposure to whole-body vibration and seat transmissibility. METHOD: Two triaxial accelerometers, one placed on the seat and one on the floor directly below the seat, were used to gather whole-body vibration values (a(w)). Each machine was tested for a minimum of three complete work cycles: idling, scraping, travelling full, dumping, travelling empty back to the scrape site. RESULTS: Results showed that idling and scraping produced low levels of vibration when compared to travelling and dumping. Second, when the a(w) values were compared to the EU safety standards for an eight hour work day, the data (z axis) exceeded the exposure action value (0.5 m/s2) in all machines, and the exposure limit value (1.15 m/s2) in some. Implications; Operators of the scrapers were being exposed to unsafe levels of whole-body vibration. When the seats were assessed to see whether they were attenuating operator exposure to vibration, many of the seat effective amplitude transmissibility (SEAT) values exceeded 1.0. This meant that some of the seats were actually amplifying the vibration present at the floor, particularly in the y axis. CONCLUSION: Travelways should be kept smooth, operating speeds reduced, and new seats, effective in all three axes, designed.
PMID: 20164626 [PubMed - in process]
I guess we had an overdose and are all hung over. How does anyone expect to be healthy when your hung over all the time and hurt like hell? Just kinda feel like the piece of dog shit laying out in the yard.
And yet another.
Health effects of mechanical vibration.
Bovenzi M.
Clinical Unit of Occupational Medicine, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Trieste, Italy. bovenzi@units.it
In this study, the health disorders caused by occupational exposure to whole-body vibration (WBV) and hand-transmitted vibration (HTV) are reviewed. Long-term occupational exposure to intense WBV is associated with an increased risk for disorders of the lumbar spine and the connected nervous system. With a lower probability, the neck-shoulder, the gastrointestinal system, the female reproductive organs, the peripheral veins, and the cochleo-vestibular system are also assumed to be affected by WBV. However, there is a weak epidemiologic support for WBV-induced disorders of organ systems other than the lower back. Prolonged exposure to HTV from powered processes or tools is associated with an increased occurrence of symptoms and signs of disorders in the vascular, neurological and osteoarticular systems of the upper limbs. The complex of these disorders is called hand-arm vibration syndrome. This paper provides qualitative and quantitative information on occupational exposure to mechanical vibration in the European Union based on a report by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (2000). Protection and health surveillance of vibration-exposed workers are discussed in the context of the European Directive 2002/44/EC on mechanical vibration and the guidelines prepared by the Italian Society of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene.
PMID: 15915675 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
[...] here to see the original: Science Rules The Day For Gulf War Veterans In Their Battle With … Share and [...]
I am a disabled Gulf War Veteran with all signs of gulf war illness. Dont know if it was from climbing up on a contaminated armored vehicle in a C-140 transport plane, the shots I got ashore while the rest of the ship got them onboard, being on the weather deck when our chem weapons detector logged a “false alarm” or perhaps from them having us muster by the 04 level comms antenna ffo rthree years before a navosh said to avoid those areas because they were microwaving us. What I do know is that I have hypointense foci bilaterally in the basal ganglia of my brain that have showed up in brain scans past and present yet the Va doesnt want to give me the defined measurenments of them, says VA patients cant request that in the report, my doctor has to ask radiology to do so! What are they covering up, and when will they admit to it?
I would say you may got nuked. Microwave is bad stuff. I once blew up a microwave trying to hard boil an egg. Wont ever do that again.
Jim I wish you the best.
As a Gulfwar vet with respiratory problems, skin and a number of others, were you aware that the apples, bananas and peaches that came from Turkey, were sprayed with DDT. DDT, of course was banned to use in this country in 1969. I do not know if all were sprayed but the ones we had, an Army transp unit, a Navy MIUW also had those fruits.
ABRACADABRA.
By _Abracadabra_ we signify
An infinite number of things.
‘Tis the answer to What? and How? and Why?
And Whence? and Whither?–a word whereby
The Truth (with the comfort it brings)
Is open to all who grope in night,
Crying for Wisdom’s holy light.
Whether the word is a verb or a noun
Is knowledge beyond my reach.
I only know that ’tis handed down.
From sage to sage,
From age to age–
An immortal part of speech!
Of an ancient man the tale is told
That he lived to be ten centuries old,
In a cave on a mountain side.
(True, he finally died.)
The fame of his wisdom filled the land,
For his head was bald, and you’ll understand
His beard was long and white
And his eyes uncommonly bright.
Philosophers gathered from far and near
To sit at his feet and hear and hear,
Though he never was heard
To utter a word
But “_Abracadabra, abracadab_,
_Abracada, abracad_,
_Abraca, abrac, abra, ab!_”
‘Twas all he had,
‘Twas all they wanted to hear, and each
Made copious notes of the mystical speech,
Which they published next–
A trickle of text
In the meadow of commentary.
Mighty big books were these,
In a number, as leaves of trees;
In learning, remarkably–very!
He’s dead,
As I said,
And the books of the sages have perished,
But his wisdom is sacredly cherished.
In _Abracadabra_ it solemnly rings,
Like an ancient bell that forever swings.
O, I love to hear
That word make clear
Humanity’s General Sense of Things.
Jamrach Holobom
It is highly probable that the Greek initiates gained their knowledge of the philosophic and therapeutic aspects of music from the Egyptians, who, in turn, considered Hermes the founder of the art. According to one legend, this god constructed the first lyre by stretching strings across the concavity of a turtle shell. Both Isis and Osiris were patrons of music and poetry. Plato, in describing the antiquity of these arts among the Egyptians, declared that songs and poetry had existed in Egypt for at least ten thousand years, and that these were of such an exalted and inspiring nature that only gods or godlike men could have composed them. In the Mysteries the lyre was regarded as the secret symbol of the human constitution, the body of the instrument representing the physical form, the strings the nerves, and the musician the spirit. Playing upon the nerves, the spirit thus created the harmonies of normal functioning, which, however, became discords if the nature of man were defiled.
Every element in Nature has its individual keynote. If these elements are combined in a composite structure the result is a chord that, if sounded, will disintegrate the compound into its integral parts. Likewise each individual has a keynote that, if sounded, will destroy him. The allegory of the walls of Jericho falling when the trumpets of Israel were sounded is undoubtedly intended to set forth the arcane significance of individual keynote or vibration.
Pythagoras evinced such a marked preference for stringed instruments that he even went so far as to warn his disciples against allowing their ears to be defiled by the sounds of flutes or cymbals. He further declared that the soul could be purified from its irrational influences by solemn songs sung to the accompaniment of the lyre. In his investigation of the therapeutic value of harmonics, Pythagoras discovered that the seven modes–or keys–of the Greek system of music had the power to incite or allay the various emotions. It is related that while observing the stars one night he encountered a young man befuddled with strong drink and mad with jealousy who was piling faggots about his mistress’ door with the intention of burning the house. The frenzy of the youth was accentuated by a flutist a short distance away who was playing a tune in the stirring Phrygian mode. Pythagoras induced the musician to change his air to the slow, and rhythmic Spondaic mode, whereupon the intoxicated youth immediately became composed and, gathering up his bundles of wood, returned quietly to his own home.
BRAIN, n. An apparatus with which we think what we think. That which
distinguishes the man who is content to _be_ something from the man
who wishes to _do_ something. A man of great wealth, or one who has
been pitchforked into high station, has commonly such a headful of
brain that his neighbors cannot keep their hats on. In our
civilization, and under our republican form of government, brain is so
highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of
office.
JUSTICE, n. A commodity which is a more or less adulterated condition
the State sells to the citizen as a reward for his allegiance, taxes
and personal service.
ok ALL VIBRATED OUT! LETS TALK RE RADIATION FALLOUT FROM TARGET LIST GW1.
RESEARCH SITES WE HIT!
AND YES TO MICROWAVE WHICH WAS INCLUDED RE REIGLE REPORT OF 94
EMF IS LIKE FUEL TO FIRE ACCELERATOR SYNERGISTIC EFFECT LOTS OF EMF IN DESERT SAND ENVIRONMENT WITH NO SHIELDING THAT IS NORMALLY PRESENT IN COMMAND POST….
CHEW ON THOSE FACTORS FOR A WHILE
EMF RADAR GUNS LAID ON LAP OF MALE POLICEMAN THUS MORE CANCERS TO THOSE VITAL MALE PARTS.
DU IS ALSO USED IN OIL FIELD WORK WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU THEN HAVE THOSE OIL WELLS ON FIRE AERIATION?
WHAT WAS THE LIQUID MELTED SAND TELLING YOU
PAIN, n. An uncomfortable frame of mind that may have a physical
basis in something that is being done to the body, or may be purely
mental, caused by the good fortune of another
PROOF, n. Evidence having a shade more of plausibility than of
unlikelihood. The testimony of two credible witnesses as opposed to
that of only one.
REFLECTION, n. An action of the mind whereby we obtain a clearer view
of our relation to the things of yesterday and are able to avoid the
perils that we shall not again encounter.
UN-AMERICAN, adj. Wicked, intolerable, heathenish
The Government received an F on the preschool ditto of connecting the dots. The picture was supposed to be of a monkey. Theres came out a Jackass. They will need to repeat preschool.
William,idea for you set up a website on
Vibration injuries with all this research on one site….
include risk groups ie seabees etc….
after we have website
we can then add that as a reference source and link.
and then next set up a facebook group for the seabees where you can share this info in discussion on a facebook page.
so a two step process for you
website development
facebook page for groups exposed ie seabees
what do you think can you do those two things?
You read my mind. I have the website registered. USVAW.org
I will begin developing the site over the next few weeks.
I will work on the other suggestions.
I think I can, I think I can.
Thank you Denise,
William
Just one more to add to the list… Saddening:(
Occup Environ Med 1995;52:116-123 doi:10.1136/oem.52.2.116
Research Article
Neuropathy in female dental personnel exposed to high frequency vibrations.
I Akesson, G Lundborg, V Horstmann, S Skerfving
+ Author Affiliations
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE–To evaluate early neuropathy in dental personnel exposed to high frequency vibrations. METHODS–30 dentists and 30 dental hygienists who used low and high speed hand pieces and ultrasonic scalers were studied, and 30 dental assistants and 30 medical nurses not exposed to vibration (all women). Vibrotactile sensibility, strength, motor performance, sensorineural symptoms and signs, and vascular symptoms in the hands, as well as mercury concentrations in biological samples and cervicobrachial symptoms, were studied. RESULTS–The two groups exposed to vibration had significant impairments of vibrotactile sensibility, strength, and motor performance, as well as more frequent sensorineural symptoms. In the dentists there were significant associations between the vibrotactile sensibility and strength, motor performance, superficial sensibility, and sensorineural symptoms. There were no associations between these findings and cervicobrachial symptoms, mercury concentrations, or smoking. There was no increase of vascular symptoms of the hands in the groups exposed to vibration. CONCLUSION–Dental hygienists and dentists had a slight neuropathy, which may be associated with their exposure to high frequency vibrations, and which may be detrimental to their work performance. Thus, development of safer equipment is urgent.
The web site is up! http://www.usvaw.org or http://www.usvaw.com
The Facebook site is up. And will be adding Gulf war pic’s soon as I get a scanner.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?profile=1&id=100000862222803
Thanks Denise,
William
Hello.
I was one of the few members of my unit who got a “funny” shot in Desert Storm. They basically told me, “Take the vaccine or we’ll shoot you…” I never took the pills. I do not have depleted uranium in my system. Since then, I have had a wide variety of weird symptoms and diseases over the years, including Sarcoidosis of the lungs, Graves’ Disease, joint pain, weird rashes, including these raised black things that were the size leeches, lipomas, cysts and other big problems. They started me on the Doxycycline in 2005; I finished that treatment in 2007. The granulomas are now gone from my lungs and so is my joint pain. Also, I don’t get weird rashes anymore. My higher cognitive functions are returning. I have had weird MRIs of my brain and a lousy emg where they shocked the hell out of me to make it appear that I was neurologically normal, but I am surviving.
I hope you can get a portable far infrared hothouse sauna to help you sweat out any toxins that may still be in your system. It helps. Make them give you a PCR test for all of the new bacteria that are presumed to be agents in Gulf War Illness, as well as the mycoplasma. http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/gulfwar/
And, “No,” they will not compensate me for my disabilities. Needless to say, it has been rough on my mother, who has been taking care of me these past years. I hope to re-enter the workforce soon.
Good luck to you.
Lori