Should soldiers take oral tranexamic acid before going into battle?

ABSTRACT: Tranexamic acid is an inexpensive antifibrinolytic treatment that reduces morbidity and mortality in civilian and military trauma patients. It must be administered within 3 hours of the injury, and its efficacy is greater the earlier it is given. It is already used preventively in the civilian environment in a number of indications to reduce bleeding and bleeding-related mortality. We wondered about the potential benefits of preventive oral administration of tranexamic acid prior to an assault for military personnel with a potential risk of injury.

Position: A study protocol for the prevention of fall injuries in french special forces selection courses using a body-centered intervention.

INTRODUCTION: The Military Physical and Sports Training program was developed by the French Army in order to train, optimize, and maintain individual readiness. Although the health benefits of sport practice do not need to be demonstrated, such activities can cause acute musculoskeletal injuries that need to be addressed. The prevalence of lower limb injury is rather high in the French military population and, in particular, ranges from 15 to 45% during Special Forces selection courses. Thus, this project aims to investigate the efficiency of a body-centered program designed to enhance body awareness. The program seeks to train the mind to actively pay attention to body information, while the latter is viewed as a protective factor against fall injuries. We assume: (i) that postural control can be improved by enhancing the level of body awareness; and (ii) that greater postural awareness could be beneficial in reducing the risk of fall injuries. The body-centered prevention program is based on the Optimization of the Resources of the Armed Forces (ORAF) intervention, which focuses on mental preparation and recovery, and has been deployed in the French Army for many years. METHOD AND ANALYSES: The study focuses on five French Special Forces selection courses (400 soldiers/ participants). It is divided into two stages (year 1, year 2). The first year is dedicated to data collection from the control group (200 participants), while in the second year the ORAF intervention will be deployed. In both year, participants will be subjected to the same enrollment schedule (Fig 3). The main objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of the ORAF intervention in reducing the rate of fall injuries during military selection, based on a multidisciplinary method that captures demographic, biological, biometric, clinical, and para-clinical measures. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Registration number: IDRCB number 2021-A02108-33, Clinical Trial: NCT05451394.

Burnt by His Cellphone During a Parachute Jump.

BACKGROUND: Many current cell phone (mobile phone, smartphone) batteries are lithium-ion. These batteries can overheat and catch fire under certain conditions. If it happens during a flight or air activity, this might compromise aviation safety. We report a case of a man whose phone caught fire during a parachute jump.CASE REPORT: The individual, a member of Police Special Forces, is required to regularly perform parachute jumps. During the incident flight, the man had a cell phone in a pocket that ignited during the jump. He was able to land and then extract the phone with burns requiring acute medical care and later a skin graft.DISCUSSION: This is a cautionary tale of lithium-ion batteries in flight. Many other situations could also occur with these batteries. There is little medical documentation of the risk of fire with lithium-ion batteries causing injuries during flight operations. To reduce the risk of fire, the devices should be powered down and phones should not be worn directly touching the skin. Damaged devices are more prone to overheating.des Robert V, Saint-Jean L, Corcostegui S-P, Romary E, and Derkenne C. Burnt by his cellphone during a parachute jump. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2023; 94(10):792-795.