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Summary: Air forces have developed several methods for reducing fatigue‐related accidents. In the Israeli Air Force, the "Dead Tired" workshop was developed with the purpose of presenting aircrew with their objective performance under sleep deprivation conditions. The aim of this study was to examine the cognitive abilities of both aircrew and unmanned aerial vehicle operators, both objectively and subjectively. All Israeli aircrew and unmanned aerial vehicle operators participated in a "Dead Tired" workshop. During the workshop, the participants performed the Psychomotor Vigilance Task, a task that tests their attention abilities, while gathering information on their subjective sleepiness in the form of a Karolinska Sleepiness Scale. Data of 366 participants (25 females), of whom 187 were unmanned aerial vehicle operators and 179 were aircrew, were obtained; and the mean age was 21.8 ± 1.2 years (range 19–26 years). A significant decline in task performance was seen following 20 hr of wakefulness in both unmanned aerial vehicle operators and aircrew (p < 0.001). Unmanned aerial vehicle operators' performance was significantly better throughout the majority of the workshop (p < 0.001). Recovery after the full‐night's sleep was seen for unmanned aerial vehicle operators, but not for aircrew (p = 0.008). A high correlation was seen between Psychomotor Vigilance Task performance and Karolinska Sleepiness Scale responses (correlation coefficient = 0.93). Sleep deprivation negatively impacted the performance of both groups of participants. Unmanned aerial vehicle operators were found to be more resilient to the effects of sleep deprivation and were quicker to recover in comparison to aircrew. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flight simulators have an essential role in aircrew training. Occasionally, symptoms of motion sickness, defined as simulator sickness, develop during training sessions. The reported incidence of simulator sickness ranged widely in different studies.The aims of this study were to calculate the incidence of and to define a threshold value for simulator sickness among rotary-wing pilots using the validated Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ).CH-53 and UH-60 helicopter pilots, who trained in helicopter simulators in the Israeli Air Force, were asked to fulfill SSQ. A score of 20 in the SSQ was defined as the threshold for simulator sickness. Simulator sickness incidence and average SSQ were calculated. Correlations between age and simulator training hours to SSQ scores were analyzed.A total of 207 rotary-wing aircrew participated in the study. Simulator sickness was experienced by 51.7% of trainees. The average SSQ score was 32.7. A significant negative correlation was found between age and SSQ score.Simulator sickness was experienced by more than half of helicopter pilots. A score of 20 in the SSQ was found to be suitable as the threshold for this condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Traumatic long-bone fractures (TLFs) among children and adolescents are relatively common, with morbidity and economic consequences. Obesity has become a significant global concern. Studies have found an association between TLFs and BMI in the past but not in a large cross-sectional population study. Our study objective was to measure the incidence of TLFs in the 17-year-old general population and evaluate its association with BMI, body height, and gender. Methods: Data from a medical database containing all 17-year-old candidates' records before recruitment into mandatory military service were retrieved as BMI, height, gender, and history of TLFs. Logistic regression models assessed the association between BMI and height to TLFs. Results: The records of 911,206 subjects (515,339 males) were reviewed. In total, 9.65% had a history of TLFs (12.25% and 6.25% for males/females, respectively). Higher BMI was associated with TLF, with a linear trend in the odds ratio (OR) for having TLFs. The strongest association was found between obese females and TLFs (OR = 1.364, p < 0.0001). Height was an independent factor positively associated with TLFs. The OR for a TLF in the highest height quintile was 1.238 (p < 0.001) for males and 1.411 (p < 0.001) for females compared to the lowest quintile. Although TLFs were more common in males, the OR for TLFs was more prominent in females. Conclusions: There is an association between BMI, body height, and TLFs in healthy adolescents. TLFs are more common in males, but the strongest association between overweight and obesity is evident in females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]