VA's Open Data

Open data is VA data that is freely available to the public. It is a by-product of the work the VA does for Veterans, and is not personal data (names, addresses, birthplace, etc…).The idea of open data is that public data should be easily accessible and usable by anyone to create products like web or mobile apps, infographics, or stories - the sky is really the limit.For years, government data has made it possible for innovators and entrepreneurs to create products of value for the American people (if you have ever used a GPS you have benefited from one of these products).

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Long-silenced songs of Holocaust survivors are rediscovered

When the death camps and ghettos of Europe were liberated at the end of World War II, a psychologist from Chicago visited former prisoners and recorded their interviews. Unheard for decades, a long-missing reel of songs has been rediscovered, offering a haunting document of the horrors of the Holocaust. David C. Barnett of PBS member station WVIZ reports.

David Boder’s recordings are among the earliest testimonies from Holocaust survivors. And long-missing reels of songs from this collection were recently discovered at the University of Akron, Ohio.

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Grief following homicidal loss

Homicidally bereaved individuals have to deal with the notion that their loved one

is deliberately taken from them: the death is caused by the premeditated action of

another individual, most often unexpected. While the psychological consequences

for the people left behind are assumed to be great, few studies systematically

examined psychopathology following homicidal bereavement. The aim of this

dissertation was threefold. First of all, adaptation to homicidal loss was examined,

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Lives on hold : A qualitative study of young refugees' resilience strategies.

Although the literature on positive adjustment following traumatic events is growing, only a few studies have examined this phenomenon in young refugees. Using the social-ecological framework, the aim of this study was to identify factors and processes that according to young refugees promote their resilience. A total of 16 treatment-seeking refugees aged 13-21years, living in the Netherlands, were interviewed.

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Epigenome-wide association of PTSD from heterogeneous cohorts with a common multi-site analysis pipeline

Compelling evidence suggests that epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation play a role in stress regulation and in the etiologic basis of stress related disorders such as Post traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Here we describe the purpose and methods of an international consortium that was developed to study the role of epigenetics in PTSD.

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Neuroendocrine and neuroimmune markers in PTSD : pre-, peri- and post-trauma glucocorticoid and inflammatory dysregulation

We review current knowledge on how posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with dysregulation of the most commonly studied markers of the endocrine and immune systems pre-, peri- and post-trauma. Lower basal cortisol output, enhanced glucocorticoid receptor function, and a proinflammatory state have been most consistently found in PTSD, with considerable variability among studies and participants. Longitudinal research is scarce, but there is converging evidence that biological dysregulation is present before PTSD onset.

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Decreased uncinate fasciculus tract integrity in male and female patients with PTSD : a diffusion tensor imaging study.

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disabling psychiatric disorder that has been associated with lower white matter

integrity of tracts connecting the prefrontal cortex with limbic regions. However, previous diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) findings have

been inconsistent, showing high variability in the exact location and direction of effects. Methods: We performed probabilistic tractography

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Mental health stigma and barriers to mental health care for first responders : A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective

It is unclear how many first responders experience barriers to care and stigma regarding mental health care, and how this influences their help-seeking. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted on barriers to care and mental health stigma in first responders and their empirical relationship with psychosocial and psychiatric variables.

Methods

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DHEA and DHEA-S levels in posttraumatic stress disorder : A meta-analytic review

Differences in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) functioning between patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and controls are among the most consistent neurobiological findings in PTSD. HPA-axis activation results in the output of various steroid hormones including dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), which is then converted into dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), with anti-glucocorticoid actions among its pleiotropic effects.

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Individual variation in plasma oxytocin and vasopressin levels in relation to the development of combat-related PTSD in a large military cohort

In an attempt to decrease the risk of developing mental health problems after military deployment, it is important to find biological markers to identify those at risk. Oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) are potential biomarkers for the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because they are involved in the regulation of stress and anxiety. Therefore, the aim was to examine whether plasma OT (pOT) and AVP (pAVP) levels before and after deployment are biomarkers for the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms over time in addition to other known risk factors.

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