Psychiatry research
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Psychiatry research · Nov 2014
Rapid spread of suicide by charcoal burning from 2007 to 2011 in Korea.
Despite rapid increase of suicide by charcoal burning within 5 years, little is known about the characteristics of charcoal burning suicide in Korea. This study aimed to examine the trends and risk factors in the spread of suicide using this method. We identified an association between media reporting of suicide by charcoal burning and its incidence. ⋯ Internet reports of suicide via charcoal burning tended to precede the increased incidence of suicide using this method, but only during the early period of the suicide epidemic. Our findings suggest that one episode of heavy media coverage of a novel method, such as charcoal burning, is sufficient to increase the prevalence of suicide by that method even after media coverage decreases. These findings are expected to contribute to the prevention of increasing rates of suicide by charcoal burning.
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Apathy is both a symptom and syndrome prevalent in neurodegenerative disease, including motor system disorders, that affects motivation to display goal directed functions. Levy and Dubois (2006) suggested three apathetic subtypes, Cognitive, Emotional-affective and Auto-activation, all with discrete neural correlates and functional impairments. The aim of this study was to create a new apathy measure; the Dimensional Apathy Scale (DAS), which assesses apathetic subtypes and is suitable for use in patient groups with motor dysfunction. 311 healthy participants (mean=37.4, S. ⋯ The subscale items show good internal consistency reliability. A weak to moderate relationship was found with depression using Becks Depression Inventory II. The DAS is a well-constructed method for assessing multidimensional apathy suitable for application to investigate this syndrome in different disease pathologies.
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Psychiatry research · Nov 2014
Minocycline alleviates behavioral deficits and inhibits microglial activation in the offspring of pregnant mice after administration of polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidilic acid.
Epidemiological studies have indicated that maternal infection during pregnancy may lead to a higher incidence of schizophrenia in the offspring. Activation of microglia is a key event in the reaction of the cerebral immune system to pathological changes. It can be hypothesized that microglia contribute to the neuropathology of schizophrenia. ⋯ Moreover, minocycline attenuated the behavioral deficits and inhibited the activated microglia. These findings suggest that maternal infection may contribute to microglial activation in the offspring. In addition, the effect of minocycline in this immune model may be related to the inhibition of microglial activation.