VA Begins Next Phase of Combat Vet Outreach

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced May 30th it has completed making calls to veterans potentially identified as being ill or injured from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF-OIF), and will immediately begin targeting over 500,000 OEF-OIF veterans who have been discharged from active duty but have not contacted VA for health care.

"We promised to reach out to every OEF and OIF veteran to let them know we are here for them -- and we are making real progress in doing so," said Dr. James B. Peake, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Read news release

Minneapolis VA Obesity Research

When scientists at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis tested a nerve-stimulation device for depression, they discovered that many of the subjects unexpectedly lost weight, too. It's a new frontier in obesity research: focusing on the parts of the brain that control the urge to eat.

An article on these findings, "New Direction In Weight Loss: Trick Brain And Turn Appetite Off" was published in the July 6 edition of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.