RESEARCH SHOWS MEDIA EXPOSURE TO TERROR MAY INCREASE STRESS RELATED SYMPTOMS

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Responding to terror (again): A study of the Boston Marathon bombing
Media exposure to prior tragedies may sensitize people to new disasters

The city of Boston endured one of the worst terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in April 2013, when two pressure-cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. While emergency workers responded to the chaos and law enforcement agencies began a manhunt for the perpetrators, Americans fixed their attention to television screens, Internet news sites and forums, and Twitter, Facebook and other social media.

In doing so, some of those people may have been raising their acute stress levels, with a corresponding increase in symptoms such as difficulty sleeping, a sense of emotional numbness, or re-experiencing their trauma. Such responses, exhibited shortly after exposure to a trauma, have been linked with long-term negative health effects.

A trio of researchers in psychology and social behavior and nursing science at the University of California (UC), Irvine--supported by the Social Psychology Program in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate--released a paper last year finding that for some individuals, intense exposure to the Boston marathon bombing through media coverage could be associated with more stress symptoms than those who had direct exposure to the attack. Their latest research article, published this month, finds that the likelihood of those symptoms developing also increases with multiple exposures to prior trauma.

In other words, the more hours you spend following disasters and tragedies in the media, the more sensitized you may become.

"Media-based exposure to these large, collective traumas--these community disasters--can have cumulative effects on people," said Dana Rose Garfin, one of the paper's authors. "More prior indirect exposures are associated with higher stress responses following subsequent traumatic events."

Garfin, E. Alison Holman and Roxane Cohen Silver used survey results from residents of metropolitan Boston and New York City collected within weeks of the Marathon bombing to examine the relationship between how they responded to the attack and their media-based exposure to three previous traumatic events: the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Superstorm Sandy and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

"We were able to specifically explore the accumulation of exposure to collective disasters," Silver said. "We looked at three different, collective events to which people on the East Coast--and in particular New York and Boston--have been exposed."

The researchers looked at levels of acute stress in Boston and New York residents within a month after the marathon bombing. The Boston residents were much closer to that act of terrorism, but the researchers did not find that proximity necessarily correlated with higher stress levels. According to their report, New Yorkers already had somewhat heightened stress levels, due to their exposure to Superstorm Sandy, 9/11 and the Sandy Hook shooting, making their responses to the Marathon bombing comparable to those of Bostonians.

These findings do not imply that merely reading one article or watching a single program about a community trauma will necessarily increase stress. The research team's first paper found that acute stress symptoms increased as the number of hours per day of bombing-related media exposure in the week following the bombing increased. People who reported three or more hours per day of media exposure reported higher stress symptoms than those who reported less than one hour per day, and individuals who reported six or more hours a day reported the highest levels of symptoms.

Their latest paper also notes that the effects of cumulative indirect trauma exposure aren't universal.

"There's variability in how this happens," Holman said. "And that's another research question that has to be addressed--to understand what leads to those differences, why some people have sensitivities and others don't."

There are other limits on the findings. The data were correlational--they showed a relationship between increased media exposure to traumatic events and the development of stress symptoms, but they don't provide a direct causal link. Still, based on the evidence the researchers have reviewed thus far, coupled with the findings from a similar study they conducted about exposure to media after the 9/11 attacks, the team members have recommendations for news consumers.

"My recommendation is to turn off the TV and not expose yourself too much through social media or other media sources," Holman said. "Find out what you need to know from the news, but don't overexpose yourself."

Garfin emphasized that overexposure is the key factor.

"I wouldn't say don't stay informed or tune out the news," she said. "It's the repeated exposure to things, which probably isn't giving you new information. We're not saying turn off the TV totally. Stay informed, then go on with your daily life."

The researchers are likely to yield much more in the way of results on the topic. The latest paper represents the first wave of data collection they performed. There are four more following. Their next article, they said, will examine how specific types of media--such as television or social media--are associated with acute stress levels.

-- Robert J. Margetta,
Investigators
Dana Rose Garfin
Ellen Holman
Roxane Silver

NAVY ME WORKS TO IDENTIFY HUMAN REMAINS

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Medical Examiner Explains Identification Process
By Amaani Lyle
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii, May 29, 2015 – A glass-walled lab offers a brightly lit view of tables displaying hundreds of meticulously placed bone fragments and other human remains, aligned much like military formations.

The lab has a sterile, silent feel, yet the scientists and lab technicians studying and handling the remains don’t seem detached as much as they seem focused.

Navy Capt. (Dr.) Edward Reedy, the first medical examiner for the newly reorganized Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, said he and his team use multiple lines of evidence -- circumstances, forensic anthropology, odontology and more -- to effectively identify service members.

Their Reason for Working

“This is not just a job,” he said. “It’s not some place just to come to work for eight hours and then go home. This is literally their reason for working.”

The captain noted that lab technicians and scientists understand deeply the importance of providing answers to next of kin, if only through trace evidence, decades later. He likened walking into the lab to walking into a church.

“It’s sacred ground to people,” he said.

With World War II alone having left more than 73,000 unaccounted for, many of them in the Asia-Pacific region, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency seeks to further enhance DNA testing techniques at the largest forensic anthropology facility and one of the largest pool of anthropologists in the world.

“We take a tremendous amount of pride in the scientific product and the ability to return missing American service people to their loved ones,” Reedy said. “We will periodically go back into our evidence and see if there’s any other material that has previously been unable to be identified because of its small size to be resubmitted for DNA.”

This process, the captain said, helps scientists try to identify even especially small bone fragments.

Less is More Through Technology

In the early 1990s, scientists had a minimum sample submission requirement of about 3 to 5 grams, with each gram about the size of a raisin.

“We’ve reduced that requirement now to less than 1 gram,” Reedy said. “So now 0.8 grams is the minimum sample size required for DNA extraction.”

The recovery process time frame can be daunting. It ranges from as few as six to nine months to decades, depending on the quality of the remains, which can vary depending on climate changes and the soil type where they were found. “For example, in Southeast Asia, the soil there is extremely acidic and will degrade the bone to the point where very little DNA is able to be extracted,” Reedy said.

Some remains, however, come with built-in protective covering, Reedy explained.

“Tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the human body, and it will literally survive decades,” Reedy said. The enamel protects the tooth material, which can significantly aid the identification process, he added.

It’s important to give a family answers about their missing relative, no matter how much time has passed, Reedy said.

Different Incarnations

Previously known as the Central Identification Laboratory, the facility has existed under several different incarnations since the end of World War II, but the science in earlier days was largely absent, Reedy explained.

“Back in the late ’40s and up until the early ’90s, there was no such thing as DNA technology,” he said. Scientists relied instead on anthropological techniques to identify recovered remains through race, stature or identifying marks or fractures, particularly on the bones, Reedy said.

But by about 1992, he added, advances in DNA technology occurred, allowing scientists to extract mitochondrial DNA from “ancient remains,” or skeletal material in which the decomposition process has already taken place.

Exponential Advances

“Mitochondrial DNA was the first technology method that was used to help in the identification process,” Reedy said.

Science overall has advanced exponentially, which has inherently yielded important partnerships with organizations such as the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, Reedy noted.

“AFDIL has really been a pioneer in advancing DNA technology -- not just for this laboratory, but the entire world,” the captain said.

While AFDIL scientists developed the extraction technique of DNA from bone, DPAA pushed for the evolution, Reedy said. “We were the driving force to make those advancements, to progress the science to the point where we could reliably identify individuals,” he added.

AFDIL developed demineralization protocol that completely removed all the calcium from submitted material, which releases the DNA in a sample during testing. “So not only is mitochondrial DNA released, but autosomal, nuclear DNA,” Reedy said.

Efforts Benefit Diplomacy

Reedy described DPAA’s worldwide, humanitarian mission as one that, in exchange for access to a country, can bring first-class medical care to a remote area, sometimes to villages that may have been deprived of treatment for years.

“It’s another extension of the Department of Defense’s mission to provide the best care to the world,” Reedy said. “That’s an advantage the country’s government can provide to their people.”

Reedy, also a forensic pathologist, said taking care of someone who is deceased is a task he values and treats reverentially.

“This mission really dovetails well into my training,” he said. “It’s very personal for me.”