Short-term and long-term effects of United Nations peace operations

Earlier studies have shown that United Nations peace operations make a positive contribution to peacebuilding efforts after civil wars. But do these effects carry over to the period after the peacekeepers leave? And how do the effects of UN peace operations interact with other determinants of peacebuilding in the long run? The author addresses these questions using a revised version of the Doyle and Sambanis dataset and applying different estimation methods to estimate the short-term and long-term effects of UN peace missions. He finds that UN missions have robust, positive effects on peacebuilding in the short term. UN missions can help parties implement peace agreements but the UN cannot fight wars, and UN operations contribute more to the quality of the peace where peace is based on participation, than to the longevity of the peace, where peace is simply the absence of war. The effects of UN missions are also felt in the long run, but they dissipate over time. What is missing in UN peacebuilding is a strategy to foster the self-sustaining economic growth that could connect increased participation with sustainable peace.Post Conflict Reintegration,Peace&Peacekeeping,International Affairs,Post Conflict Reconstruction,Politics and Government

On the role of corticotropin-releasing hormone receptors in anxiety and depression

On the basis of extensive basic and clinical studies, corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and its related family members are considered to play a pivotal role in stress-related disorders, such as anxiety and depression. CRH is regarded as the principal mediator in the brain of the stress response, as it mediates neuroendocrine, autonomic, and behavioral responses to stressful challenges. Recently, this neuropeptide family has expanded due to the discovery of two new members, urocortin II (also termed stresscopin-related peptide) and urocortin III (also termed stresscopin), which are selective agonists for the CRH receptor type 2. They show a discrete neuroanatomical localization and are involved in stress-coping responses, such as anxiolysis. Here, on the basis of recent developments, we suggest that CRH, the urocortins, and their receptors form a complex system in the brain, which is recruited during both the acute and the recovery phases of the stress response

REM sleep is related to the transfer of implicit procedural knowledge following metacognitive learning

Objective: The hypothesis that REM sleep is also related to the transfer of implicit procedural knowledge was tested. Methods: A total of 21female adults (mean age: 19.49years) took part in the study. After a baseline night, participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions to solve a cognitive procedural task (Tower of Hanoi problem; ToH); on the evening of the assessment night, one group solved the cognitive procedural task with and one group solved the task without metacognitive stimulation. The morning after the assessment night, participants solved three further transfer tasks (ToH with more disks; the Hobbits and Orcs problem; Katona's card problem). Results: Participants with metacognitive stimulation showed an increased performance in all three transfer tasks. Moreover, these participants had a significantly increased REM sleep. Conclusion: REM sleep seems to be related to metacognitively acquired implicit procedural knowledge. The transfer of the acquired implicit procedural knowledge does not seem to be limited to structurally similar task

Adolescents' self-reported sleep quantity and sleep-related personality traits—A pilot study

Summary: Question of the study: The aim of this pilot study was to assess adolescents' self-reported sleep quantity and personality traits in order to describe typical personality patterns related to sleep and characteristics that distinguish between good and poor sleepers. Participants and methods: A total of 134 adolescents (mean age: 18.60; 74 females and 60 males) completed a single sleep-related personality traits questionnaire (FEPS-I) and daily sleep logs for seven consecutive days. The daily logs data were used to cluster participants in three subgroups of poor, normal, and good sleep quality. Results: Up to 25 % of the adolescents could be considered ‘poor' sleepers and displayed personality traits such as decreased self-confidence, increased mental arousal, and self-perception of body sensations. Female adolescents were at high risk of being ‘poor' sleepers, yet up to 20 % of the adolescents could be described as ‘good' sleepers. Fifty-five per cent of the adolescents could be considered ‘normal' sleepers without appropriate sleep-related personality traits or sleeping habits. Conclusions: The pilot project, using exclusively self-reported sleep data, showed that about a quarter of adolescents were considered ‘poor' sleepers with specific sleep-related personality traits. Further investigations are needed to support these results and to allow possible preventive intervention

The relation between sleep and pain among a non-clinical sample of young adults

Poor sleep is linked to poorer daily functioning and increased risk of psychiatric symptoms. With respect to pain, the relation is bi-directional; poor sleep exacerbates pain, while greater pain adversely affects sleep. Moreover, perception of pain is subject to cognitive-emotional processes. Surprisingly, no data are available from non-clinical samples of young adults. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate the relation between sleep and pain as a function of quality of life and depressive symptoms in young adults. The direction of influence between sleep and pain was statistically tested with two different structural equation models (SEMs). A total of 862 participants (639 women, 223 men; mean age: 24.67; SD=5.91) completed a series of validated self-report questionnaires assessing sleep, quality of life, depressive symptoms and cognitive-emotional elaboration of pain. Sleep, pain, quality of life, and depressive symptoms were interrelated. The first SEM suggested both a direct and an indirect influence of pain on sleep, whereas the second SEM suggested that sleep had only an indirect influence on pain. Irrespective of the SEM, the relation between sleep and cognitive-emotional elaboration of pain was mediated by quality of life and depressive symptoms. For a non-clinical sample of young adults, findings did support the bi-directional relation between poor sleep and increased cognitive-emotional elaboration of pain, though other cognitive-emotional processes such as depressive symptoms and quality of life should be taken into accoun

Side effects of adjunct light therapy in patients with major depression

Adjunct bright-light therapy has been suggested to augment antidepressant drug treatment in patients with non-seasonal major depression. Side effects of the combined therapy have not been investigated thus far. Therefore, somatic complaints and side effects of combined therapy were evaluated in 28 patients with major depression (DSM-III-R) randomly assigned to either trimipramine or trimipramine and serially applied adjunct bright-light therapy. Response rates were comparable in both treatment groups and rates of newly emergent side effects during treatment were generally low. The most prominent unfavourable side effects of adjunct bright-light therapy as compared with trimipramine monotherapy were aggravated sedation, persisting restlessness, emerging sleep disturbance and decreased appetite as well as the worsening of vertigo. Discriminant analysis revealed that the combination of trimipramine with bright light results in a different side effect profile compared with drug monotherap

Differences in maladaptive schemas between patients suffering from chronic and acute posttraumatic stress disorder and healthy controls

War, as a stressor event, has a variety of acute and chronic negative consequences, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this context, early maladaptive schema-based problems in PTSD have recently become an important research area. The aim of this study was to assess early maladaptive schemas in patients with acute and chronic PTSD.; Using available sampling methods and diagnostic criteria, 30 patients with chronic PTSD, 30 patients with acute PTSD, and 30 normal military personnel who were matched in terms of age and wartime experience were selected and assessed with the Young Schema Questionnaire-Long Form, Beck Depression Inventory second version (BDI-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Impact of Events Scale (IES).; Both acute and chronic PTSD patients, when compared with normal military personnel, had higher scores for all early maladaptive schemas. Additionally, veterans suffering from chronic PTSD, as compared with veterans suffering from acute PTSD and veterans without PTSD, reported more impaired schemas related, for instance, to Self-Control, Social Isolation, and Vulnerability to Harm and Illness.; The results of the present study have significant preventative, diagnostic, clinical, research, and educational implications with respect to PTSD

Impact of aerobic exercise on sleep and motor skills in children with autism spectrum disorders - a pilot study

Prevalence rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have increased dramatically in the last two decades. In addition to the core symptoms such as impaired communication, difficulties in social interaction, and restricted and stereotypical patterns of behavior and interests, poor sleep and motor skill (MS) deficits have also been observed in children with ASD. On the other hand, there is evidence that aerobic exercise training (AET) has a positive impact on sleep, and that specific training improves MSs. Accordingly, the aim of the present pilot study was to investigate to what extent a combination of AET and MS training (MST) would improve sleep and physical performance in a small sample of children with ASD.; Ten children with ASD (mean age: 10 years) took part in the study. After a thorough medical examination and psychiatric assessment, children participated in thrice-weekly 60-minute sessions of AET and MST lasting for 3 consecutive weeks. Sleep was assessed both objectively (sleep-encephalography [sleep-EEG]) and subjectively (parents' questionnaire). MSs were assessed via standardized test batteries. Parents completed sleep and mood logs, and ratings of mood.; Mild-to-moderate insomnia was reported in 70% of children. Compared to nights without previous AET and MS, on nights following AET and MS, sleep efficiency increased (d=1.07), sleep onset latency shortened (d=0.38), and wake time after sleep onset decreased for 63% of the sample (d=1.09), as assessed via sleep-EEG. Mood in the morning, as rated by parents, improved after three weeks (d=0.90), as did MSs (ball playing, balance exercise: ds>0.6).; The pattern of results of this pilot study suggests that regular AET and MST impact positively on sleep, MSs, and mood among children with ASD

Sleep duration and subjective psychological well-being in adolescence: a longitudinal study in Switzerland and Norway

Adolescents' sleep duration and subjective psychological well-being are related. However, few studies have examined the relationship between sleep duration and subjective psychological well-being longitudinally across adolescence - a time of profound biological and psychosocial change. The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate whether shorter sleep duration in adolescents is predictive of lower subjective psychological well-being 6 months and 12 months later or whether lower subjective psychological well-being is predictive of shorter sleep duration.; Adolescents (age range, 10.02-15.99 years; mean age, 13.05±1.49 years; 51.8%, female) from German-speaking Switzerland (n=886) and Norway (n=715) reported their sleep duration and subjective psychological well-being on school days using self-rating questionnaires at baseline (T1), 6 months (T2), and 12 months from baseline (T3).; Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses revealed that sleep duration decreased with age. Longer sleep duration was concurrently associated with better subjective psychological well-being. Crossed-lagged autoregressive longitudinal panel analysis showed that sleep duration prospectively predicted subjective psychological well-being while there was no evidence for the reverse relationship.; Sleep duration is predictive of subjective psychological well-being. The findings offer further support for the importance of healthy sleep patterns during adolescence

Letters to the Editor

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66389/1/j.1600-0447.1989.tb03017.x.pd