Does trauma exposure predict prescription drug problems beyond the contribution of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression? An analysis of the Mind Your Heart cohort study

It is not clear from prior studies whether trauma exposure predicts substance use problems independent of psychiatric comorbidities. Most prior studies were cross-sectional in nature, and none focused on prescription drug problems. To address this gap in the literature, the current article is a secondary analysis of veterans from the Mind Your Heart prospective cohort study. The primary research question is whether trauma exposure predicts prescription drug problems even after controlling for major psychiatric symptoms, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess whether the 10-item lifetime Brief Trauma Questionnaire (e.g., serious car accidents, war traumas, life-threatening illness, natural disasters, physical, or sexual abuse) predicts prescription drug problems as determined by a self-report categorical question (three answer choices) over a 4-year follow-up time period (n = 661 [100%] at year 1; 83.4% at year 2; 85.9% at year 3; and 78.2% at year 4). Trauma exposure was positively associated with prescription drug problems in unadjusted and age-, sex-, and race-adjusted analyses at follow-up. After accounting for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD Checklist-17 Civilian Version) and depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9) symptoms, trauma exposure was no longer associated with prescription drug problems at all time points (relative risk ratios range 0.91-1.47). These results were robust to different missing data strategies. Trauma exposure was not associated with prescription drug problems over a 4-year follow-up in a prospective cohort study of veterans. Future directions include detailed measures of prescription drug problems and recruitment from community sites

Industriekernkraftwerk mit Hochtemperaturreaktor PR 500 - „OTTO-Prinzip" - zur Erzeugung von Prozeßdampf: Abschlußbericht über eine Gemeinschaftsstudie

In Zusammenarbeit zwischen der STEAG AG, Essen, und der KFA Jülich wurde diese Studie durchgeführt, um die Eignung des HTR-Systems für die Erzeugung von Prozeßdampf zu untersuchen. Als Wärmequelle wurde ein Kugelhaufenreaktorcore mit Einweg-(OTTO)Beschickung und Loopbauweise der Wärmetauschersysteme gewählt. In diesem Bericht sind eine möglichst detaillierte technische Beschreibung der gesamten Anlage, eine Analyse der sicherheitstechnjschen Eigenschaften sowie Kostenkalkulationen enthalten. Die Studie kommt zu dem Ergebnis, daß aufbauend auf dem heutigen* Kenntnisstand eine solche Anlage selbst bei einer relativ kleinen Leistung von 500 MWth schon fast mit konventionellen Anlagen wirtschaftlich konkurrieren könnte

The Use of Unarmed Drones in UN Peacekeeping Operations: Issues of Attribution

The use of drones is typically associated with targeting strikes. Hence, it comes as no surprise that the debate on the opportunity for the United Nations to make use of this technology is still dominated by concerns on the \u201ckiller drones\u201d. This Chapter emphasizes, instead, the magnitude and the crucial importance of the use of unarmed drones by the United Nations in missions conducted under their aegis. In peacekeeping operations in particular, unarmed drones are essential for fulfilling the UN mandate, as they can perform several non-lethal functions (i.e. monitoring, information gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance). However, drones\u2014although unarmed and employed for peaceful purposes\u2014pose a number of legal issues, particularly from the perspective of the protection of human rights and the liability of their operators. An often overlooked question relates to the (mis)use of drones by private actors who have been contracted by the United Nations to remotely operate the vehicles from ground stations and to collect, store and analyse the data thus captured. This issue will be tackled from the perspective of the Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations with the aim to assess whether private actors operating the drones can be considered as \u201cagents\u201d of the United Nations, thereby directly imputing their potential wrongdoings to the Organization for whom they have been contracted