The fourth Canadian Institute for Military and Veterans Health Research (CIMVHR) Forum in Edmonton was a veritable knowledge buffet. More than 125 researchers talked about their work. Topics were as diverse as how to better deliver whole blood to battlefield trauma victims; how joints in the spine react to various pack weights; advances in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis and treatment; what Canada is doing to protect against health effects of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks; and treatment and new gizmos to improve the health or life of veterans and members of the military. And much else besides.

Here are some of the tantalizing tidbits

Sometime this year a team headed by Dr. Jacqueline Hebert of the Adult Amputee Program at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton will fit an amputee, possibly a Canadian veteran, with a “feeling” robotic arm. Research has come a long way since we last wrote about Hebert’s work.

Then, the breakthrough was sending a signal from brain to prosthesis, so an amputee could manoeuvre an arm simply by thinking. Now the cutting edge is prosthetics able to replicate the sense of touch. Sensors in myoelectric prosthetics send signals to stimulate certain nerve endings on the wearer’s body, signals the brain interprets as sensations of touch. The new prosthetics will help amputees feel whether something is hard or squishy—a difference in sensation that makes it possible to pick up an egg without breaking it. The dream of artificial limbs that act and feel like the ones they’ve replaced is coming closer to reality daily.

Learning From Avatars

Virtual reality is being explored for military rehabilitation. A person is fitted with reflective markers that capture the body’s motion on multiple cameras and projects the movement on screen in a life-like avatar. By moving their own bodies, people direct the avatar through a 3D virtual environment. This environment can be manipulated to test a person’s reactions in different situations.

Variations in how quickly and accurately a person reacts to changes in the virtual environment can indicate health problems, for instance, subtle signs that recovery from mild traumatic brain injury is not yet complete, according to studies by Bradford McFadyen and Major Luc Hébert of Laval University. This technology could help with the decision to whether a soldier is ready to return to duty or needs more rehabilitation.

Researchers are studying how PTSD affects the brain using magnetoencephalopathy (MEG), which uses magnetic fields generated by neurons to track brain functions. It works so quickly it can catch thoughts as they form and fade, tracing networks in the brain.

Researchers studied the results of tasks measuring response, accuracy and impulsivity in brains of military personnel with PTSD, without PTSD and civilians. Brains affected by PTSD performed differently than the other two groups, in some tests less accurately. In one test “the PTSD group used an entirely different part of the brain for the task,” reported psychiatrist Major Paul Sedge, Canadian Armed Forces Health Services Group. This could indicate the brain affected by PTSD tries to compensate for deficits in one area by tapping into another.

Dr. Ruth Lanius, a psychiatry professor at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, reported success in using neurofeedback to alter brain wave activity of those with PTSD to lessen anxiety and increase calmness.

Researchers tested both PTSD subjects and controls, capturing brain activity by functional MRI before and after one neurofeedback session. During neurofeedback, a computer reads the electrical signals produced by neurons in the brain, producing the wave patterns of an electroencephalogram (EEG), familiar to many of us in movies and television medical dramas. These patterns vary according to our mental state. We produce beta waves when we’re thinking or solving problems, for instance, and alpha waves when we’re relaxed and calm. Altering the rhythm of alpha waves, a feat easily learned, can reduce anxiety and increase attention.

After just one session of neurofeedback “17 of 21 PTSD patients felt an increased sense of control and reported feeling more relaxed and clam and clear minded,” reported Lanius. In addition, some who voluntarily brought up traumatic memories during sessions found those memories weren’t as obtrusive.

Neurofeedback also appears to change connectivity among networks in the brain affected by the disorder, indicating an increase in flexibility, she said.  Further research will show whether more sessions improve brain flexibility and if the beneficial effects are long-lasting.

Veterans Organizations Help

Veterans advocacy organizations continue to support researchers in the Canadian Institute for Military and Veterans Health Research.

In May, Wounded Warriors Canada announced a donation of $400,000 over 10 years to support a doctoral scholarship in military and veterans mental health research. The first recipient, Duncan Shields from the University of British Columbia, will focus on culturally appropriate mental health practices for veterans and military members.

The Royal Canadian Legion announced $30,000 in annual support for a master’s level scholarship, which will help “develop a new generation of researchers focused on the needs of our veterans and their families,” said Dominion President Gordon Moore.

The winner of the CAF Surgeon General’s Major Sir Frederick Banting Award, sponsored by True Patriot Love Foundation, is Dr. Mark Zamorski, head of deployment health for the Canadian Armed Forces. He is also principal investigator of the 2013 Canadian Forces mental health survey of 9,000 CAF personnel, to explore how the Afghanistan mission and systemic changes have influenced the need for mental health care.

In just four years the CIMVHR network has expanded to include hundreds of researchers at more than 30 universities, the Department of National Defence, Defence Research and Development Canada, Veterans Affairs Canada, private industry and veterans organizations. It’s a good guarantee that research into health concerns of Canada’s more than 700,000 veterans and serving military members, research that also applies to the country’s first responders, won’t wither on the vine between conflicts.