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A cohort consisting of 127 American repatriated prisoners of war (RPWs) was studied in order to ascertain whether there were statistically significant correlations between Leukocyte Telomere Length (LTL) obtained from a commercially available LTL test and 47 clinical indicators of health, environmental stress and aging. Methods: Data was obtained from an annual examination of the RPW cohort. LTLs were determined by a commercial laboratory and compared to the results from common blood and urine tests, historical data related to incarceration length and solitary confinement, and qualitative health assessment tools. Analysis of descriptive statistical data, the construction of stepwise linear and logistic regression models and Fisher exact calculations were performed. Results: There is no apparent difference between the demographically homogenous RPW cohort s mean LTL (6.48 1.18 Kb) and the commercial laboratory s mean LTL [6.49 Kb (no SD available)] for its sample population of undisclosed demographics. Statistical analysis did not yield any significant correlations between LTL and the clinical data studied. Discussion: The negative statistical results of this study, coupled with the questionable quality of the commercial LTL data utilized, does not support our program s use of the publicly available LTL test studied in this work for monitoring repatriate health., Prepared in collaboration with the United States Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, Ft. Rucker, AL.

This historical note outlines the development of the Robert E. Mitchell Center (REMC) for Prisoner of War (POW) Studies and summarizes the pivotal role CAPT Mitchell, MC, USN played in its establishment. His singular vision and sheer audacity enabled the center to provide an unbroken 41 years of dedicated service to those who suffered as a POW. CAPT Mitchell s dedication is the reason that today the REMC for POW studies stands as the only program which continued its care of U.S. repatriated prisoners of war (RPWs) well beyond the expiration of the original 1973-1978 charter. Without CAPT Mitchell s unwavering dedication the many lessons learned would not be possible. Today the REMC is recognized for its subject matter expertise.

To date there has been no direct measurement of the resilience of Vietnam era repatriated Prisoners of War (RPWs). Previous research conducted by the RE Mitchell Center for Prisoner of War Studies (REMC) used presence or absence of post-repatriation psychiatric illness as a proxy measure of resilience, but did not administer any specific scales to directly measure this construct. The purpose of this brief study was to directly measure psychological resilience in a group of Vietnam era RPWs and identify those RPWs who self-identify as resilient.

Resilience, exhibiting intact psychological functioning despite exposure to trauma, is one perspective as to why some people who are exposed to trauma do not develop symptoms. This study examines the prisoner of war experience to expand our understanding of this phenomenon in extreme cases of trauma such as prolonged captivity, malnourishment, and physical and psychological torture. The study examined the United States longest detained American prisoners of war, those held in Vietnam in the 1960s through early 1970s. A logistic regression analysis using resilience, defined as never receiving any psychiatric diagnosis over a 37-year follow-up period, as the outcome was performed (n = 224 with complete data). Six variables showing at least small effects emerged: officer/enlisted status, age at time of capture, length of solitary confinement, low antisocial/psychopathic personality traits, low posttraumatic stress symptoms following repatriation, and optimism. Odds ratios (ORs) and confidence intervals (CIs) confirmed the significance and relative strength of these variables, with a range from OR = 0.54, 95% CI [0.13, 2.29] to OR = 1.11, 95% CI [1.04, 1.17]. When all variables were examined continuously and categorically, dispositional optimism was the strongest variable, accounting for 17%, continuously, and 14%, categorically. We discuss optimism as a protective factor for confronting trauma and the possibility of training to increase it., Published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress, v25 p1-7, Jun 2012.

Background: In an earlier study, the Robert E. Mitchell Center for POW Studies identified in the 1973 medical/psychiatric database those former, Vietnam-era, repatriated prisoners of war who at the time of captivity viewed their experience as one to survive and overcome, to not ruin their entire life once freed (known as dispositional optimism), these repatriates did not suffer from any psychiatric illnesses 37 years after their POW experience. This follow-up study added new mental, physical, biological data collected in 2011 to 2012 to determine whether dispositional optimism was still linked to their overall state of health today. Results: Dispositional optimism identified in the 1973 time-frame was linked to physical and mental state of health Conclusions: Optimistic repatriates who bounced back from their captivity experience by reporting fewer sleep, post-traumatic stress, and captivity-related medical problems after repatriation have maintained good physical and psychological health 38 years after their prolonged captivity/torture experiences.

Thirteen asymptomatic HIV-infected (HIV+) and 13 healthy control (HIV-) subjects were instructed to detect 'oddball'; target tones from among a sequence of nontarget tones delivered rapidly (3 tones/sec) in one ear while ignoring a similar sequence delivered simultaneously in the opposite ear. Event-related potentials (ERPs) to all stimuli were recorded from midline scalp sites. Both groups produced ERP correlates, termed the mismatch negativity (MMN), to the oddball tones during delivery. However, the HIV+ group produced MMNs that were different in morphology to the HIV- group, suggesting that HIV may alter attentional perceptual processing. These results suggested that auditory ERPs elicited by rapid, dichotic stimulus presentations may be useful tools in monitoring subclinical effects of HIV-related neuropathology on perceptual processing.