Elsevier, Preventive Medicine, Volume 152, November 2021
We explore ethical premises and practical implications of using genetic testing to predict suicide risk. Twin studies indicate heritable components of suicide risk, intertwined with the heritability of mental disorders, and possibly other traits. Current genetics research has abandoned searching for single gene Mendelian determinants, in favour of complex probabilistic epigenetic models. Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) might identify thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), each contributing very little to the variance associated with behavioral phenotypes.
Elsevier, Preventive medicine, Volume 152, 1 November 2021
Since 1999, the Office of the United States Surgeon General has identified suicide prevention as a national public health priority. The National Strategy on Suicide Prevention, coordinated by the public-private Action Alliance, was most recently updated in 2012. In early 2021, the Surgeon General's office released a Call to Action to fully implement the national strategy.
Elsevier, Preventive medicine, Volume 152, 1 November 2021
This review summarizes recent research in four environmental areas affecting risk of deaths by suicide. Politically, the weight of the evidence suggests that laws increasing social welfare expenditures and other policies assisting persons with low incomes (e.g., minimum wage) tend to lower suicide rates. Other legal changes such as those restricting firearms and alcohol availability can also prevent suicides. The social institutions of marriage, as well as parenting, continue to serve as protective factors against suicide, although the degree of protection is often gendered.
Elsevier, Preventive Medicine, Volume 152, November 2021
Cyberbullying is associated with increased risk of suicidal and self-harm behaviors in children and adolescents. However, no review to date has explored factors that exacerbate and mitigate this relationship. This systematic review concerns research on factors that influence the impact of cyberbullying on suicidal and self-harm behaviors. Four bibliographic databases were explored and references in included articles were searched. We identified 727 articles and retained 66 that met inclusion criteria.
Elsevier, Public Health in Practice, Volume 2, November 2021
Objectives: A limitation in the design and monitoring of public health policies is the lack of conceptual models to explain their results. The objective of this study was to develop a predictive model of stunting in children under 5 years of age in the central Andean region of Peru, using socioeconomic and agro-productive predictors. Study design: Cross-sectional data of 380 families in 15 districts of the central region of Peru. WHO criteria were used to define stunting prediction model.
Elsevier, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, Volume 537, 1 November 2021
Fish experiencing abnormally high or prolonged elevations in temperature can exhibit impaired reproduction, even for species adapted to warm water environments. Such high temperature inhibition of reproduction has been linked to diminished gonadal steroidogenesis, but the mechanisms whereby hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis signaling is impacted by high temperature are not fully understood.
