28 research outputs found
Socioeconomic Risk Factors and Depressive Symptoms in Alcohol Use Disorders Among Male Suicides in South Tirol, Italy
No full textThe aim of the current study was to evaluate whether socioeconomics risk factors and depressive symptoms are associated with suicide in men with alcohol use disorders in South Tirol, Italy. The authors hypothesize that socioeconomics inequalities interact with greater psychopathology in men with alcohol use disorders who committed suicide. The authors found a positive association between unstable work positions and low educational attainment and alcohol use disorders in individuals who committed suicide. The results point to the need for careful assessment of subsyndromal depression in individuals with alcohol use disorders, especially when abuse is associated with socioeconomic risk factors such as lower educational attainment and unemployment or employment instability
Factors Associated with Suicide: Case-Control Study in South Tyrol
No full textBackground: As suicide is related to many factors in addition to psychiatric illness, broad and
comprehensive risk-assessment for risk of suicide is required. This study aimed to differentiate
nondiagnostic risk factors among suicides versus comparable psychiatric patients without suicidal behavior.
Methods: We carried out a pilot, case-control comparison of 131 cases of suicide in South Tyrol matched for
age and sex with 131 psychiatric controls, using psychological autopsy methods to evaluate differences in
clinically assessed demographic, social, and clinical factors, using bivariate conditional Odds Risk
comparisons followed by conditional regression modeling controlled for ethnicity.
Results: Based on multivariable conditional regression modeling, suicides were significantly more likely to
have experienced risk factors, ranking as: [a] family history of suicide or attempt ≥ [b] recent interpersonal
stressors ≥ [c] childhood traumatic events ≥ [d] lack of recent clinician contacts ≥ [e] previous suicide
attempt ≥ [f] non-Italian ethnicity, but did not differ in education, marital status, living situation, or
employment, nor by psychiatric or substance-abuse diagnoses.
Conclusions: Both recent and early factors were associated with suicide, including lack of recent clinical
care, non-Italian cultural subgroup-membership, familial suicidal behavior, and recent interpersonal
distress.Full Tex
Differences among South Tyrolean suicides. a psychological autopsy study
No full textObjective The aim of the present study was to study gender differences in the suicides in South Tyrol. Methods Between 2000 and 2009, the Department of
Psychiatry of Bolzano administered questionnaires to the Provincial Departments of Public Health requesting information about causes and methods of completed
suicides. Each suicide was then examined using a psychological autopsy methodology Results There were 448 suicides studied (339 men and 109 women). Compared with men, women were more likely to live alone, have attempted suicide in the past, and to have contacted their general practitioners in the last weeks before dying. They were also less likely to have an alcohol use disorder, have used violent methods of suicide, and be 35 years or younger. Conclusion The differences identified for South Tyrolean suicides confirmed previously reported gender differences in employment and marital status, history of a previous suicide attempt, and alcohol abuse. Appropriate gender-based preventive interventions are needed
[Patients with mood disorders admitted for a suicide attempt to an emergency ward]
No full textAIM: The aim of the study was to assess risk factors associated with suicidal behaviour in adult patients suffering from major mood disorders (MD) and admitted to a hospital emergency department (ED).
METHODS:
Participants were 283 adult patients with MDs admitted to an ED between 2006-2007. Comparisons were 675 adult patients with other DSM-IV-TR Axis I disorders. Patients undertook a complete psychiatric assessment including DSM-IV-TR diagnostic interview.
RESULTS:
MD patients were almost 2 times more likely to have been admitted for a suicide attempt (odds ratio [OR]=1,97 [95% confidence intervals [CI]: 1,29/3,03]; p< 0,01), to report suicidal ideation at the psychiatric interview (OR=1,75 [95%CI: 1,01/3,03]; p< 0,05), than their pairs without MDs. MD patients admitted for a suicide attempt were more than 3 times more likely to report suicidal ideation at the psychiatric interview (OR=3,26 [95%CI: 1,46/7,30]; p< 0,01), than nonattempter MD patients.
DISCUSSION:
Suicide behavior is one of the major reasons of use of EDs in MDs, and suicide risk is still high in the next hours after suicide attempt and admission in the ED. Therefore ED's interventions for mood disorders and suicidality must be carefully planned
Relationships of local lithium concentrations in drinking water to regional suicide rates in Italy
No full textOBJECTIVES:
Higher natural concentrations of lithium in drinking water may be associated with lower local rates of suicide.
METHODS:
Lithium concentrations in drinking water were assayed by mass spectrometry at 145 sites in Italy, and compared with reported local suicide rates for men and women between 1980 and 2011.
RESULTS:
Lithium concentrations in drinking water averaged 5.28 [CI: 4.08-6.48] μg/L (0.761 [0.588-0.934] μEq/L) and ranged from 0.110 to 60.8 μg/L (1.58 to 8.76 μEq/L). Lithium concentrations and local suicide rates were not significantly inversely related, except in 1980-1989, particularly among women.
CONCLUSIONS:
A proposed association between trace lithium concentrations in drinking water and risk of suicide was only partially supported, and mechanisms for potential clinical effects of trace levels of lithium are unknown
Neurophysiological and neuropsychiatric aspects of transcranial magnetic stimulation [Aspetti neurofisiologici e neuropsichiatrici della stimolazione magnetica transcranica]
No full textIntroduction: The authors review the literature in the field of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). Materials and methods: For this purpose a PubMed search was performed. Additional information was gained by cross-referencing from papers found in the data base. Results: Data from controlled studies as well as supplementary information from relevant review articles pertinent to the topic were used. History and the basics of TMS and repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) are presented. The ability of rTMS to non-invasively modulate higher cognitive functions such as learning and memory developed to a new exciting field. TMS, in fact, allows to transiently disrupt ongoing cortical processing, thus helping to enlighten the causal role of a specific brain area in a certain observable behaviour. Finally, rTMS clinical effectiveness in mood disorders, anxiety disorders, schizophrenic psychoses and Parkinson's disease, as well as in pain syndrome, is discussed. Conclusions: RTMS in concert with functional neuroimaging methods allows to analyse neuronal networks. Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) and Long-Term Depression (LTD) are phenomena seen in preclinical studies after rTMS, thus reflecting plastic modulation of the brain. In fact, changes in brain plasticity are supposed to be putative mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology of psychiatric diseases like major depression. © 2009 Elsevier Srl. All rights reserved
Arsenic: Association of Regional Concentrations in Drinking Water with Suicide and Natural Causes of death in Italy
No full textArsenic, as a toxin, may be associated with higher mortality rates, although its relationship to suicide is not
clear. Given this uncertainty, we evaluated associations between local arsenic concentrations in tapwater and
mortality in regions of Italy, to test the hypothesis that both natural-cause and suicide death rates would be
higher with greater trace concentrations of arsenic. Arsenic concentrations in drinking-water samples from 145
sites were assayed by mass spectrometry, and correlated with local rates of mortality due to suicide and natural
causes between 1980 and 2011, using weighted, least-squares univariate and multivariate regression modeling.
Arsenic concentrations averaged 0.969 (CI: 0.543–1.396) μg/L, well below an accepted safe maximum of 10 μg/
L. Arsenic levels were negatively associated with corresponding suicide rates, consistently among both men and
women in all three study-decades, whereas mortality from natural causes increased with arsenic levels. Contrary
to an hypothesized greater risk of suicide with higher concentrations of arsenic, we found a negative association,
suggesting a possible protective effect, whereas mortality from natural causes was increased, in accord with
known toxic effects of arsenic. The unexpected inverse association between arsenic and suicide requires further
stud
Dynamic Elasto-Visco-Plastic Material Model for Modelling of Light Weight Deflectometer Test:a uniaxial preliminary study
No full textA uniaxial material model comprising elastic (resilient), viscous (damping), plastic (permanent) and inertia forces is derived in this thesis. The behaviour of the model is studied and the capability of the model to replicate the behaviour of soils subjected to a Light Weight Deflectometer (LWD) test is investigated.Based on literature review, material equations originating in impact engineering are used as the governing equations of the proposed model instead of traditional road/railway geotechnic material equations, e.g. a stress dependent resilient modulus, because the impact engineering equations are suitable for dynamic phenomena with high velocities and are capable of modelling seating. Because of the novelty of the model, only uniaxial case is considered in this research. The predominantly uniaxial nature of an LWD test is conveniently used during the simplification. To have the numerical solution of the proposed model fully under control, the solution is obtained via own-built \MATLAB code. Central difference numerical method is used during the solution for the linearization of the problem in the time domain and a uniaxial case of closest point projection method is used to drive the evolution of plastic state variables. No experiment was performed during this research. Instead, the model is calibrated using published and digitized LWD deflection data.The thesis shows that it is possible to create and solve a model comprising dynamic elasto-visco-plastic behaviour. It also shows that the model is capable of producing results of promising quality. The investigation of the behaviour of the model shows that all its parts, i.e. stiffness, inertia, damping and permanent forces, significantly contribute to the response of the model, which finding is in contradiction with the contemporary accepted assumptions about the LWD behaviour. Main findings are: (i) the model is very load sensitive, thus, to utilize the full potential of the model, the time-load data measured for the whole time interval of an LWD test needs to be uploaded into the model; (ii) for the same reason, the model need to be calibrated on the whole time-deflection data; (iii) the power stiffness governing equation is more suitable for modelling of LWD testing than the more widely used stress dependent resilient modulus approach, because it enables to model the phenomenon of seating and (iv) Armstrong-Frederic hardening rule, used in this thesis, is the simplest non-linear plastic governing rule, which is capable to deliver a non-zero increment of permanent deflection under cyclic loading. However, the rule is not entirely suitable for stress/force driven tests and some problems with the uniqueness of plastic material constant identification are encountered during the investigation.The findings of this thesis support the notion that the dynamic nature of LWD test should be acknowledged and that the current LWD testing procedure should be used with caution. Main recommendations are: (i) time-deflection and time-load data should be measured for a minimum of \mbox{30 ms} but recommended \mbox{50-60 ms} and the data should be recorded as inextricable part of an LWD test; (ii) the deflection of a soil surface under an LWD plate should be measured preferably to the deflection of an LWD plate itself; (iii) further research should be aimed on improving the governing equations of the permanent part of the model, with Armstrong-Frederic hardening rule possibly being replaced by multiple plasticity surface models and (iv) special attention should be paid if the results of LWD testing are directly compared to the results of a different Quality Assurance/Quality Control method.The author of this thesis acknowledges that to follow the aforementioned recommendations will require additional research aimed at the construction of LWD devices, especially at: (i) eliminating the systematic error between LWD surface and LWD plate measurements; (ii) minimizing the error of internal numerical integration, which decreases the reliability of measured data after approximately 15 ms of measurement and (iii) including load measurements into more than just few types of LWD devices.In summary, this thesis presents a dynamic elasto-visco-plastic model, which, for as far as the author of the thesis was able to review, is first of its kind in the context of LWD modelling. Only uniaxial representation of the problem is studied in this thesis in order to avoid the usage of a commercial final element method software, thus to have the numerical solution of the novel model fully under control. Though only uniaxial, results of this study provide useful insight into LWD mechanics and points out possible problems for future research
The association between suicide and the utilization of mental health services in South Tirol, Italy: a psychological autopsy study.
No full textAims: The aim of the present study was to investigate potential differences between suicide decedents who had contact with a psychologist or psychiatrist before committing suicide and those individuals who had not had previous contact with a mental health professional prior to ending their lives. Methods: Psychological autopsy interviews (N = 396) were conducted for individuals who died by suicide between 1997 and 2007 in South Tirol, Italy. Results: The study found that suicide decedents known to mental health professionals were more frequently women and more frequently unemployed or with unstable employment. These decedents were significantly more likely than those unknown to mental health professionals to have a family history of mental illness, one or more past suicide attempts, and more frequent substance abuse, and likely to have frequent alcohol abuse. They more often had visited a physician in the last four weeks before dying and more frequently complained about psychological symptoms. In the prediction of group membership, individuals whom were known to mental health professionals prior to their suicidal act were 3 times more likely to have a family history of mental illness, 5.8 times more likely to have one past suicide attempt, 9.7 times more likely to have two or more past suicide attempts and 3.5 times more likely to have visited a physician in the four weeks prior to their death. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that suicide decedents who had contact with mental health services can be distinguished from those who were not known to mental health professionals
