https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(12)61729-2.pdf

Years lived with disability (YLDs) for 1160 sequelae of 289 diseases and injuries 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010

Suicidal behavior is a major problem worldwide and, at the same time, has received relatively little empirical attention. This relative lack of empirical attention may be due in part to a relative absence of theory development regarding suicidal behavior. The current article presents the interpersonal theory of suicidal behavior. We propose that the most dangerous form of suicidal desire is caused by the simultaneous presence of two interpersonal constructs—thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness (and hopelessness about these states)—and further that the capability to engage in suicidal behavior is separate from the desire to engage in suicidal behavior. According to the theory, the capability for suicidal behavior emerges, via habituation and opponent processes, in response to repeated exposure to physically painful and/or fear-inducing experiences. In the current article, the theory’s hypotheses are more precisely delineated than in previous presentations (Joiner, 2005), with the aim of inviting scientific inquiry and potential falsification of the theory’s hypotheses.

/pdf/the-interpersonal-theory-of-suicide-38t99pb95m.pdf

The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide

Objective: To briefly review the current understanding of the aetiology and prevention of chronic diseases using a life course approach, demonstrating the lifelong influences on the development of disease. Design: A computer search of the relevant literature was done using Medline-‘life cycle’ and ‘nutrition’ and reviewing the articles for relevance in addressing the above objective. Articles from references dated before 1990 were followed up separately. A subsequent search using Clio updated the search and extended it by using ‘life cycle’, ‘nutrition’ and ‘noncommunicable disease’ (NCD), and ‘life course’. Several published and unpublished WHO reports were key in developing the background and arguments. Setting: International and national public health and nutrition policy development in light of the global epidemic in chronic diseases, and the continuing nutrition, demographic and epidemiological transitions happening in an increasingly globalized world. Results of review: There is a global epidemic of increasing obesity, diabetes and other chronic NCDs, especially in developing and transitional economies, and in the less affluent within these, and in the developed countries. At the same time, there has been an increase in communities and households that have coincident under- and over-nutrition. Conclusions: The epidemic will continue to increase and is due to a lifetime of exposures and influences. Genetic predisposition plays an unspecified role, and with programming during fetal life for adult disease contributing to an unknown degree. A global rise in obesity levels is contributing to a particular epidemic of type 2 diabetes as well as other NCDs. Prevention will be the most cost-effective and feasible approach for many countries and should involve three mutually reinforcing strategies throughout life, starting in the antenatal period.

/pdf/a-life-course-approach-to-diet-nutrition-and-the-prevention-1smoo3dz1o.pdf

A life course approach to diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases.

The thrifty phenotype hypothesis proposes that the epidemiological associations between poor fetal and infant growth and the subsequent development of type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome result from the effects of poor nutrition in early life, which produces permanent changes in glucose-insulin metabolism. These changes include reduced capacity for insulin secretion and insulin resistance which, combined with effects of obesity, ageing and physical inactivity, are the most important factors in determining type 2 diabetes. Since the hypothesis was proposed, many studies world-wide have confirmed the initial epidemiological evidence, although the strength of the relationships has varied from one study to another. The relationship with insulin resistance is clear at all ages studied. Less clear is the relationship with insulin secretion. The relative contribution of genes and environment to these relationships remains a matter of debate. The contributions of maternal hyperglycaemia and the trajectory of postnatal growth need to be clarified.

/pdf/the-thrifty-phenotype-hypothesis-40kgfmvkvb.pdf

The thrifty phenotype hypothesis.

This brief summarizes worms: identifying impacts on education and health in the presence of treatment externalities in Kenya for the period 1998-99. Intestinal helminthes includes hookworm, roundworm, whipworm, and schistoso-miasis-infect more than one-quarter of the world's population. Studies in which medical treatment is randomized at the individual level potentially doubly underestimate the benefits of treatment, missing externality benefits to the comparison group from reduced disease transmission, and therefore also underestimating benefits for the treatment group. The author evaluate a Kenyan project in which school-based mass treatment with deworming drugs was randomly phased into schools, rather than to individuals, allowing estimation of overall program effects. The program reduced school absenteeism in treatment schools by one-quarter, and was far cheaper than alternative ways of boosting school participation. Deworming substantially improved health and school participation among untreated children in both treatment schools and neighboring schools and these externalities are large enough to justify fully subsidizing treatment.

/pdf/worms-identifying-impacts-on-education-and-health-in-the-306zsjnlpg.pdf

Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities

Effects of missing breakfast on the cognitive functions of school children of differing nutritional status.

Objective: To determine relation between schoolchildren9s blood pressure, glycated haemoglobin level, and cholesterol concentration and their anthropometry, socioeconomic status, and birth measurements. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: 27 schools closest to University Hospital of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. Subjects: 2337 children aged 6-16 years who were born at university hospital were recruited, and their birth records were recovered: 1610 had suitable records, 659 had records including birth length, and 610 of these were prepubertal. Main outcome measures: Blood pressure, glycated haemoglobin level, serum cholesterol concentration, anthropometry at birth, current anthropometry, and socioeconomic status. Results: Multiple regression analysis showed that children9s systolic blood pressure was inversely related to their birth weight (P Conclusions: Blood pressure in childhood was inversely related to birth weight and directly to current weight. Glycaemic control and serum cholesterol were related to short length at birth, height deficit in childhood, and childhood obesity.

Fetal growth and cardiovascular risk factors in Jamaican schoolchildren.

The aim of this study was to investigate sources of stress and psychological disturbance in dental students across the five years of undergraduate study at a dental school in Trinidad. Eighty-three percent of students completed a modified version of the Dental Environment Stress questionnaire (DES) and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). On a scale ranging from 0 (not stressful) to 5 (highly stressful), overall mean DES scores for each of the five years of study were 1.58, 1.83, 2.65, 2.39, and 2.61 respectively, suggesting that levels of stress increase over the five years with a noticeable spike at the transition between the preclinical and clinical phases. Significant differences were found between specific stressors across the five years of study. Seven specific stressors and the stressor domains of Academic work and Clinical factors were more stressful for female students (t-test p

Sources of stress and psychological disturbance among dental students in the West Indies.

The effects of treating Trichuris trichiura infections were investigated in 407 Jamaican children age 6 to 12 y. The children were randomly assigned to receive treatment (albendazole) or a placebo. The outcome variables included growth, tests of reading, spelling and arithmetic, and school attendance. After 6 mo of treatment, there was no significant main effect on any of the outcomes. However, there were significant treatment-by-infection intensity interactions with spelling (P < 0.05) and body mass index (P < 0.01), and a significant treatment-by-stunting interaction with school attendance (P < 0.01). In spelling, the children with heavy infections showed improvements with treatment that approached significance (P = 0.06), whereas those with lower intensities did not. However, the children with lower infection intensities had increased body mass index with treatment (P = 0.02), although there was no difference in children with heavy infections. In school attendance, the stunted children improved with treatment (P < 0.04), whereas there was no difference in the nonstunted children. These findings suggest that in the sample of Jamaican children examined, the treatment of T. trichiura was more likely to benefit school performance in children of poor nutritional status and those with heavy infections, and to improve weight gain in children with lighter infection intensities.

Donald T. Simeon

Papers

Effects of missing breakfast on the cognitive functions of school children of differing nutritional status.

Fetal growth and cardiovascular risk factors in Jamaican schoolchildren.

Sources of stress and psychological disturbance among dental students in the West Indies.

Treatment of Trichuris trichiura infections improves growth, spelling scores and school attendance in some children.

Intravaginal misoprostol as a cervical ripening agent