Obesity and sleep disorders: A nationwide study of 1.3 million Israeli adolescents.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the association between sleep disorders prevalence and obesity in Israeli adolescents. METHODS: A nationwide, population-based, cross-sectional study of 1,348,817 Israeli adolescents (57% males) who were medically examined prior to military service between 1997 and 2015; height and weight were measured along with assessment of medical status at age 17.3⬰±â¬°0.4 years. The diagnosis of a sleep disorder was made based on objective diagnostic criteria. The prevalence and odds ratio (OR) for a sleep disorder were computed across BMI subgroups and were adjusted for socio-demographic confounders. RESULTS: Overall sleep disorders prevalence was 1.8:1000 (males) and 0.45:1000 (females), with a total of 1601 cases. There was a gradual increase in the odds ratio for sleep disorders with increasing BMI. Multivariable-adjusted ORs for sleep disorders were 1.29 (95% CI 1.10⬜1.52), 1.44 (1.18⬜1.75), 3.03 (2.32⬜3.96) and 3.38 (1.98⬜5.75) for overweight, obese class I, II and III, respectively (5th⬜49th BMI percentile was the reference). Results persisted in extensive sensitivity analyses including limiting the study sample to participants with unimpaired health. CONCLUSIONS: We found a higher prevalence of sleep disorders in males and a dose-dependent association between sleep disorders and adolescent BMI in both sexes. Our findings warrant clinical awareness among healthcare providers, given the rise in obesity in teenagers, and particularly in light of the obesity epidemic that we are experiencing in this era. Sleep related complaints should be actively screened in adolescents who suffer obesity.

The promising future of drones in prehospital medical care and its application to battlefield medicine.

Unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as drones, have been made widely available in recent years leading to an exponential growth in their roles and applications. The rapidly developing field of medical drones is on the verge of revolutionizing prehospital medicine enabling advanced health care delivery to once-inaccessible patients. The aim of this review is to clarify the basic technical properties of currently available medical drones and review recent advances and their usefulness in military and civilian health care missions. A thorough search was conducted using conventional medical literature databases and nonmedical popular search engines. The results indicate increasingly rapid incorporation of unmanned aerial vehicles into search and rescue missions, telemedicine assignments, medical supply routes, public health surveillance, and disaster management. Medical drones appear to be of great benefit for improving survivability of deployed forces on and off the battlefield. The emerging aerial medical delivery systems appear to provide particularly promising solutions for bridging some of the many serious gaps between third world health care systems and their western counterparts and between major metropolitan centers and distant rural communities. The global nature of drone-based health care delivery needs points to a need for an international effort between collaborating civilian and military medical forces to harness the currently available resources and novel emerging technologies for broader lifesaving capabilities. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level V.

International medical leadership, collaboration and communication.

BACKGROUND: International social networking is eminent in medical practice, mainly in sharing knowledge and mutual inspiring and in social and professional bonding. Since 2006, the International Medical Course is taking place in Commander Branch at the Military Medicine Academy of the Medical Corps, Israeli Defense Forces; in which medical officers from other military forces are participating along with Israeli officers. One of the course's objectives is international networking. The purpose of this study was to assess the level of networking in the International Medical Course compared to others means of networking, and to examine which components in the course are the most important in networking formation. METHODS: Questionnaires were e-mailed to the course participants. Demographic data and data regarding the networking possibilities in the international medical course was collected. RESULTS: The answers of 35 participants (17 Majors, 12 Lieutenant-Colonels, and 6 Colonels; mean age of 44.1 years) were included in this study. Response rate was 42%. Of the participants, 24 were Israelis and 11 from other military forces. Most of the responders (88.6%) reported the course is a major networking tool, with no influence of age, sex, rank, education profession or origin. Networking potential among participants from the same origin country was significantly higher in Israeli officers in comparison to officers from other countries (p = 0.001). Clinical practice and research purposes were the reason for communication in one fifth of the participants. CONCLUSIONS: The International Medical Course fulfils its purpose in forming international military medical networking.