Suicidal behavior is a leading cause of injury and death worldwide. Information about the epidemiology of such behavior is important for policy-making and prevention. The authors reviewed government data on suicide and suicidal behavior and conducted a systematic review of studies on the epidemiology of suicide published from 1997 to 2007. The authors' aims were to examine the prevalence of, trends in, and risk and protective factors for suicidal behavior in the United States and cross-nationally. The data revealed significant cross-national variability in the prevalence of suicidal behavior but consistency in age of onset, transition probabilities, and key risk factors. Suicide is more prevalent among men, whereas nonfatal suicidal behaviors are more prevalent among women and persons who are young, are unmarried, or have a psychiatric disorder. Despite an increase in the treatment of suicidal persons over the past decade, incidence rates of suicidal behavior have remained largely unchanged. Most epidemiologic research on suicidal behavior has focused on patterns and correlates of prevalence. The next generation of studies must examine synergistic effects among modifiable risk and protective factors. New studies must incorporate recent advances in survey methods and clinical assessment. Results should be used in ongoing efforts to decrease the significant loss of life caused by suicidal behavior.

/pdf/suicide-and-suicidal-behavior-41x9ufvkfm.pdf

Suicide and Suicidal Behavior

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) are major public health problems that have not declined appreciably in several decades. One of the first steps to improving the prevention and treatment of STBs is to establish risk factors (i.e., longitudinal predictors). To provide a summary of current knowledge about risk factors, we conducted a meta-analysis of studies that have attempted to longitudinally predict a specific STB-related outcome. This included 365 studies (3,428 total risk factor effect sizes) from the past 50 years. The present random-effects meta-analysis produced several unexpected findings: across odds ratio, hazard ratio, and diagnostic accuracy analyses, prediction was only slightly better than chance for all outcomes; no broad category or subcategory accurately predicted far above chance levels; predictive ability has not improved across 50 years of research; studies rarely examined the combined effect of multiple risk factors; risk factors have been homogenous over time, with 5 broad categories accounting for nearly 80% of all risk factor tests; and the average study was nearly 10 years long, but longer studies did not produce better prediction. The homogeneity of existing research means that the present meta-analysis could only speak to STB risk factor associations within very narrow methodological limits-limits that have not allowed for tests that approximate most STB theories. The present meta-analysis accordingly highlights several fundamental changes needed in future studies. In particular, these findings suggest the need for a shift in focus from risk factors to machine learning-based risk algorithms. (PsycINFO Database Record

Risk factors for suicidal thoughts and behaviors: A meta-analysis of 50 years of research.

Recursive partitioning methods have become popular and widely used tools for nonparametric regression and classification in many scientific fields. Especially random forests, which can deal with large numbers of predictor variables even in the presence of complex interactions, have been applied successfully in genetics, clinical medicine, and bioinformatics within the past few years. High-dimensional problems are common not only in genetics, but also in some areas of psychological research, where only a few subjects can be measured because of time or cost constraints, yet a large amount of data is generated for each subject. Random forests have been shown to achieve a high prediction accuracy in such applications and to provide descriptive variable importance measures reflecting the impact of each variable in both main effects and interactions. The aim of this work is to introduce the principles of the standard recursive partitioning methods as well as recent methodological improvements, to illustrate their usage for low and high-dimensional data exploration, but also to point out limitations of the methods and potential pitfalls in their practical application. Application of the methods is illustrated with freely available implementations in the R system for statistical computing.

https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/10589/1/partitioning.pdf

An Introduction to Recursive Partitioning: Rationale, Application and Characteristics of Classification and Regression Trees, Bagging and Random Forests

A rating scale for drug-induced akathisia has been derived that incorporates diagnostic criteria for pseudoakathisia, and mild, moderate, and severe akathisia. It comprises items for rating the observable, restless movements which characterise the condition, the subjective awareness of restlessness, and any distress associated with the akathisia. In addition, there is an item for rating global severity. A standard examination procedure is recommended. The inter-rater reliability for the scale items (Cohen's kappa) ranged from 0.738 to 0.955. Akathisia was found in eight of 42 schizophrenic in-patients, and nine had pseudoakathisia, where the typical sense of inner restlessness was not reported.

A rating scale for drug-induced akathisia

At the moment, there is no single conceptual theoretical model of gambling that adequately accounts for the multiple biological, psychological and ecological variables contributing to the development of pathological gambling Advances in this area are hampered by imprecise definitions of pathological gambling, failure to distinguish between gambling problems and problem gamblers and a tendency to assume that pathological gamblers form one, homogeneous population with similar psychological principles applying equally to all members of the class The purpose of this paper is to advance a pathways model that integrates the complex array of biological, personality, developmental, cognitive, learning theory and ecological determinants of problem and pathological gambling It is proposed that three distinct subgroups of gamblers manifesting impaired control over their behaviour can be identified These groups include (a) behaviourally conditioned problem gamblers, (b) emotionally vulnerable problem gamblers and (c) antisocial, impulsivist problem gamblers The implications for clinical management are discussed

https://www.uv.es/~choliz/ModeloJuego.pdf

A pathways model of problem and pathological gambling

Several reports have been published describing the newly recognised autosomal recessive limb/pelvis-hypoplasia/aplasia syndrome (LPHAS).'-5 Raas-Rothschild et al3 have speculated that the rare LPHAS gene has its origin in the Middle East, on the basis of both their report on three sibs of Iranian Jewish background and the report by AlAwadi et al' on two sibs of Arabic origin with the LPHAS phenotype. Farag et al' and Camera et al,5 however, have disputed this hypothesis on the grounds that two of the identified families have their origin outside the Middle East, one being Brazilian and the other Italian. I still think there is a strong basis for the original suggestion by Raas-Rothschild et al.3 The very long coexistence of both Arabs and Jews in what is now known as the Middle East has been certified, if not by history, then by the holy scriptures. Also the historical Arabic interaction with peoples of both Italy and Spain (the presumed origin of the Latin American ancestors of the Brazilian family) in the Middle Ages suggests a possible Arabic genetic influence in these parts of the world. I discussed this idea with senior members of the Kuwait Medical Genetics Centre who

https://jmg.bmj.com/content/jmedgenet/31/11/897.2.full.pdf

No association between dopamine D4 receptor polymorphism and manic depressive illness.

Asignación de relevancia (salience) y desregulación del sistema dopaminérgico

En mayo de 2013 aparecio la quinta edicion de la clasificacion de los trastornos mentales (DSM-5) de la American Psychiatric Association (APA, 2013), en la cual se incluye el trastorno de juego dentro de la categoria de trastornos adictivos, que es algo que era demandado desde hace decadas desde los ambitos clinicos, sociales y cientificos. El juego de azar, que segun la propia APA tiene la misma consideracion que las drogas o el alcohol en cuanto a la activacion de los circuitos cerebrales de recompensa y a las consecuencias clinicas del trastorno del juego, no tiene, sin embargo, esa consideracion desde el principal ambito desde donde se debe llevar a cabo la prevencion de la adiccion, que es en los poderes publicos. El trabajo que presentamos es una propuesta de regulacion del juego para llevar a cabo desde la Administracion mediante acciones de gobierno que competen a diferentes niveles de la misma (estatal, autonomico e incluso local), con el objetivo final de  prevenir la adiccion al juego. Dicha propuesta ha sido presentada tanto a la Direccion General de Ordenacion del Juego como a la Camara del Congreso de los Diputados, esta ultima en el marco de la Comision Mixta Congreso-Senado para el Estudio del Problema de las Drogas. En este trabajo se defiende la propuesta de regulacion desde la evidencia que proporcionan los estudios cientificos en materia de prevencion de las adicciones.

/pdf/regular-el-juego-para-prevenir-la-adiccion-hoy-mas-necesario-376g1itmrt.pdf

Regular el juego para prevenir la adicción: hoy más necesario que nunca

Auditory P300 event-related potential (ERP) and performance on Sustained Attention were evaluated in 24 euthymic bipolar patients and 38 healthy volunteers. There were no significant differences between groups, and performance in sustained attention had no significant influence in the P300 responses. P300 response might be driven by the presence of mood symptoms.

Jerónimo Saiz-Ruiz

Papers

No association between dopamine D4 receptor polymorphism and manic depressive illness.

Asignación de relevancia (salience) y desregulación del sistema dopaminérgico

Regular el juego para prevenir la adicción: hoy más necesario que nunca

P300 event-related potential in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder

Sleep disorders in bipolar depression: Hypnotics vs sedative antidepressants