Although the amount of interest and research on college student suicide has increased in recent years, there remains a paucity of knowledge focused on issues of suicide for college students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. This study aimed to expand the limited knowledge of Asian American college student suicide using archival data from a larger national study titled The Nature of Suicidal Crisis in College Students. The survey was administered collaboratively online by the National Research Consortium of Counseling Centers in Higher Education and included 70 U.S. colleges and universities. Guided by the interpersonal-psychological theory of attempted and completed suicide and a cultural frame salient to Asian Americans, this study employed qualitative research methods to capture the lived experience of fifty-eight Asian American suicidal college students. More specifically, the present investigation explored the factors that positively and negatively influenced Asian American college students with serious suicide ideation from progressing to behaviors with higher risk of lethality, such as suicide attempts and completions. Findings from a culturally grounded phenomenological analysis of participants’ narrative responses revealed protective factors including:(a) a desire not to hurt or burden others, (b) social support, (c) fear, (d) self reliance and assistance, and (e) insight and meaning. Factors that participants found least helpful in resolving their suicidal crisis were (a) academics (b) lack of social support and (c) experiences with mental health providers. The results of this study provides information that should be of interest to mental health practitioners working with Asian American college students as well as have the potential to contribute towards the formulation of a theory for this specific ethnic minority group. Additionally, it is the intention that these findings will enable design of both culturally appropriate prevention and intervention programs. / text

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen M. Featherstone / The number of farmer suicides has been high in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Punjab since 2000. Farmers‟ suicide in India is reported to be due to the burden of debt. While it makes some sense to attribute farmer suicides in Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh to indebtedness in view of the widespread poverty, it is more difficult to consider in the context of the Punjab which is known for its prosperity. Others have found that the prime cause for farmer suicides is indebtedness. The purpose of this research focuses on identifying and quantifying the reasons for farmers‟ indebtedness compared to non-indebted farmers in the same region. This was achieved by documenting the socio-economic profile of the farmers; studying the extent of indebtedness and pattern of capital use by farmers, and evaluating the farm business performance. Results obtained for the socio-economic profile of the farmer indicated that age, education, family size and landholding had a significant effect on the probability of a farmer being indebted. Family size had the largest effect on the probability of indebtness. A study on the extent of indebtedness and pattern of capital use showed that farmers depend on non-institutional loans for meeting their financial needs and some loans are used for non-agricultural purposes. Farm business performance of the sample respondents showed that they had a negative balance on farm business performance. Some of the methods to improve the situation would to improve and expand free and compulsory primary education, thereby reducing the debt incurred on education; diversifying towards high value/more remunerative crops, reviewing the system of subsidization of agricultural inputs, and expanding institutional sectors for providing loans at reasonable interest rates.

L’Inde est le deuxième producteur mondial de coton ; après la Chine, avec environ 12,1 millions d’hectares en 2011, soit le quart de la superficie cotonnière mondiale. Après l’avènement des biotechnologies agricoles, le gouvernement indien, sous l’égide du premier ministre Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a encouragé l’utilisation de coton génétiquement modifié, dénommé coton Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Les variétés de coton Bt permettent de lutter contre les pertes de rendement causées par les parasites lépidoptères. Toutefois, leur implantation n’a pas été sans difficulté (la résistance des insectes, la pollution des sols, l’utilisation massive d’eau et d’engrais, le déséquilibre de l’écosystème et l’appauvrissement des fermiers). Aujourd’hui, l’Inde connaît un débat majeur autour de son expérience en matière d’adoption de coton transgénique, débat où plusieurs arguments d’impacts sur le bien-être des petits agriculteurs sont avancés. Depuis sa commercialisation en 2002, le coton Bt a provoqué les mécontentements et les suicides des fermiers appauvris. En moyenne un paysan se donne la mort toutes les 30 minutes. Les victimes sont principalement les petits fermiers qui cultivaient les semences génétiquement modifiés dans les Etats indiens : Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh et Maharashtra. Ces agriculteurs étaient pour la plupart endettés auprès de la compagnie semencière Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech (MMB), qui leur fournissait à crédit les semences Bt ainsi que les pesticides. Faut-il y déceler une corrélation entre le coton génétiquement modifié et ces suicides atypiques ? Ainsi, l’objectif de cette thèse est d’explorer, tant sur le plan théorique qu’empirique, la relation entre l’utilisation du coton Bt et le suicide des agriculteurs en Inde... / India is the world’s second largest producer of cotton, after China. The total cotton area in India was 12.1 million hectares in 2011, accounting for approximately one fourth of the world’s total cotton area. After the advent of agricultural biotechnology, the Indian government, under the former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has encouraged the use of genetically modified cotton, called Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton. The Bt cotton varieties can provide control against crop loss caused by lepidopteran pests. However, the process of introduction of Bt cotton has not been without difficulty (insect resistance to Bt crop, soil pollution, the excessive use of water and fertilizer, an imbalance of the ecosystem and impoverishment of farmers). Since its first commercialization in India, Bt cotton has caused a considerable discontent and suicides of impoverished cotton farmers. On average, one farmer commits suicide every 30 minutes in India. The victims are mainly small farmer who grow genetically modified cotton seeds in certain states in India (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra). Most of these farmers are deeply indebted to the Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (MMB) Company, which provided them access to credits for buying Bt cotton seeds and pesticides. Is there a correlation between the genetically modified cotton and these suicides? Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to theoretically and empirically explore the causal relationship between Bt cotton and farmer suicides in India...

Mėginimai žudytis – vienas iš reikšmingiausių savižudybės rizikos veiksnių. Tyrimo metu buvo įvertinti išgyvenusių po mėginimo žudytis ir gydytų psichiatrijos stacionare pacientų mėginimo žudytis ypatumai, pobūdis, jų sąsajos su psichikos sutrikimais ir socialinėmis-demografinėmis charakteristikomis. Mėginimas žudytis apibrėžtas kaip sąmoningas, savo noru pasirinktas veiksmas, kurį, nebūdamas tikras dėl mirtinos baigties, atliko asmuo, siekdamas susižaloti arba pasitraukti iš gyvenimo, ir kuris nesibaigė mirtimi.Tyrimas atliktas Lietuvos sveikatos mokslų universiteto ligoninės (LSMUL) Kauno klinikų (KK) Psichiatrijos klinikoje ir Respublikinės Kauno ligoninės (RKL) padalinio Psichiatrijos ligoninėje (PL). Tyrime dalyvavo išgyvenę po mėginimo žudytis pacientai, kurie dėl tokio poelgio buvo hospitalizuoti į LSMUL Kauno klinikų Psichiatrijos kliniką arba į RKL padalinį PL. Apklausti 240 suaugusių pacientų. Moterys dažniau mėgino žudytis apsinuodydamos medikamentais negu vyrai. Mėginusių žudytis vyrų sveikatos būklė po mėginimo žudytis buvo sunkesnė negu moterų. Mėginimo žudytis metu alkoholį dažniau vartojo vyrai ir dirbantys asmenys, palyginti su moterimis ir bedarbiais. Gyvenantys poroje dažniau mėgino žudytis pavartoję alkoholio, palyginti su gyvenančiais vienumoje. Vyresnio amžiaus, taip pat ir aukštesnio išsilavinimo pacientai buvo linkę mėginti žudytis nuošalyje nuo kitų žmonių, palyginti su jaunesnio amžiaus ar žemesnio išsilavinimo pacientais. Žemesį išsilavinimą... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Failed suicide attempts comprise one of the most significant suicide risk factors.The goal of the studywas toanalyze the particularities and nature of failed suicide attempts and their links to mental disorders and socio-demographic characteristics of suicide attempt survivors treated at psychiatric hospitals. The respondents were comprised of patients who survived their suicide attempts and were thus hospitalized at the Psychiatric Clinic of Kaunas Clinics (KC) of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Hospital (LUHSH) or the Psychiatric Hospital of theNational Kaunas Hospital(NKH). A failed suicide attempt is defined as a conscious action chosen of one’s free will which was performed by a person who was unsure of the fatality of such action in an attempt to do self-harm or take his/her own life and which did not result in the said person’s death. 240 adult patients complying with the sampling criteria. The health status of the males who attempted to commit suicide after a failed suicide attempt was twice as poor as that of the females. Compared to the females and unemployed people, the males and employed respondents were under the influence of alcohol at the time of attempted suicide more often. Also, the respondents living with a partner attempted to commit suicide under the influence of alcohol more frequently than the single ones.Compared to the younger respondents and patients with lower level of education, the older and better educated ones were more inclined to... [to full text]

Over 200 railway suicides occur on the British Rail Network (BRN) every year. Research into the physical and psychological effects of this traumatic event on train drivers has been limited, and has focused very little on the mediating influence of personal factors. Kelly’s Personal Construct Psychology (PCP, 1955) was used in the current study to explore the relationship between train drivers’ views of themselves and others, and the psychological impact of witnessing a railway suicide. This was achieved through the use of repertory grid technique. Repertory grid measures of tightness of the overall construct system, level of elaboration of the self and others, construed distances between the self and others, conflict, extremity of ratings, and superordinacy were compared with participants’ scores on a measure of the psychological impact of the event (Impact of Event Scale Revised, IES-R, Weiss & Marmar, 1997). The fifteen participants in the study also completed a background information questionnaire. A content analysis of the constructs used in the repertory grids, and a thematic analysis of a follow up interview with two of the participants was also conducted. The findings indicated that most drivers experienced symptoms suggestive of a significant posttraumatic stress (PTS) reaction following the incident. For many this appeared to be short-lived, but for some the incident had longer lasting effects, and a third of the sample had been given an official diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Possibly due to the small sample size, many of the correlations did not achieve statistical significance. However, discrepancy between the self and ideal self, and the number of moral constructs employed by participants, were both positively associated with reported levels of psychological distress. The superordinacy of the traumatised construct, and the number of emotional constructs employed by participants, were both negatively associated with reported levels of psychological distress. These findings therefore gave some support to Sewell and Cromwell’s (1990) PCP model of trauma, and to the importance of emotional processing of traumatic events. The thematic analyses added information about the nature of the changes experienced by train drivers following these events, and the impact of contextual factors. The repertory grid technique proved useful in measuring the influence of personal meaning making on the impact of traumatic events. The findings suggest that drivers can best be supported clinically by reducing the discrepancy between their self after the event and their ideal self, increasing their ability to emotionally process their experience, and by giving consideration to issues such as anger and blame. Limitations of the research are presented, as well as suggestions for further research.

El adenocarcinoma de páncreas y el cáncer de colon son una de las causas de muerte, relacionadas con el cáncer, más comunes en los países desarrollados. Los tratamientos convencionales para este tipo de tumores son poco efectivos y es necesario el desarrollo de nuevas terapias. Entre las terapias experimentales destaca la terapia con genes suicidas, que consiste en la eliminación selectiva de las células tumorales que han sido modificadas con un gen suicida. La eficacia de dicha terapia depende de la transducción de una proporción elevada de células tumorales y de un potente efecto colateral in vivo. A pesar de las mejoras enfocadas a incrementar la llegada de los genes suicidas a las células tumorales con vectores más eficientes, los resultados obtenidos en los ensayos clínicos han sido muy reducidos.Con tal de aumentar el porcentaje de las células modificadas con genes suicidas en el tumor, proponemos utilizar los genes de resistencia a drogas en combinación con una droga de selección. En presencia de dicha droga, la población de células modificadas reemplazaría las células tumorales sensibles. Después de esta selección positiva, la terapia suicida induciría la muerte de las células modificadas. El efecto colateral permitiría eliminar todo el tumor aunque este reemplazamiento celular no fuese completo.La primera prueba de concepto se realizó en el modelo colorrectal HCT116 modificado con el marcador de selección dihidrofolato reductasa (DHFR) y el gen suicida timidina quinasa (TK). El gen DHFR otorga resistencia a metotrexato (MTX) y la TK confiere sensibilidad a la prodroga ganciclovir (GCV). En presencia del compuesto MTX, estas células se enriquecieron de un 0.1% a más de un 90% en cocultivos con HCT116 sin modificar. Después de esta selección positiva, la selección negativa con GCV eliminó las células modificadas. El tratamiento con MTX in vivo aumentó la proporción inicial de células modificadas. Este enriquecimiento mejoró la eficacia de la terapia suicida per se en tumores con un 1% o un 4% inicial de células modificadas.En una segunda aproximación, modificamos la línea de adenocarcinoma pancreático NP18 con el gen de resistencia a multidrogas MDR1 y con el gen suicida TK. Las células modificadas mostraron resistencia a docetaxel y sensibilidad a GCV, tanto in vitro como in vivo. La aplicación de la droga de selección en ratones aumentó la proporción de células modificadas de un 4% inicial a un 22%. La estrategia de selección positiva-negativa permitió inhibir completamente el crecimiento tumoral en un modelo murino a partir de tumores con un 10% inicial de células modificadas. Estas dos aproximaciones demuestran que la selección positiva-negativa de células modificadas con un marcador de selección y con el gen suicida TK representa una estrategia efectiva para aumentar la proporción de células que expresan el gen TK en el tumor y mejorar la eficacia de la terapia suicida.Por otro lado, las células madre mesenquimales (MSC) han mostrado su capacidad de dirigir genes suicidas de forma sistémica hacia el tumor. En este apartado, nos planteamos si estas células podían seleccionarse positiva y negativamente en presencia de células tumorales. En primer lugar, se determino el enriquecimiento de las MSC de ratón (mMSC) en cocultivos con NP18, mediante tratamiento con docetaxel. A pesar de observarse una cierta selección positiva de las mMSC en cultivo, este enriquecimiento no sucedió en tumores mixtos tratados con la droga de selección. La generación de MSC de hígado fetal de conejo (rFL-MSC) modificadas con el gen MDR1 y el gen suicida FCU mejoró la selección positiva in vitro y permitió eliminar estas células en presencia de la prodroga 5-FC. Aún así, estas células no se enriquecieron en tumores mixtos tratados con docetaxel. / Thymidine kinase (TK)-mediated suicide gene therapy has been considered for the treatment of cancer. However, despite a bystander effect, the proportion of transduced tumor cells has proven too low to result in efficacy. We propose the use of a drug-selectable marker (DHFR or MDR1) to enrich TK-expressing cells using chemotherapy. This enrichment or positive selection phase may increase the efficacy of suicide gene therapy. The prove of concept was performed in colon cancer cells modified with a fusion gene of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and thymidine kinase (TK). DHFR confers resistance to methotrexate (MTX) and TK confers sensitivity to ganciclovir (GCV). Under MTX treatment, tumor cells transfected with the DHFR-TK fusion gene efficiently replaced the parental cells (from 0.1 to 90% in 35 days). After this positive selection period, negative selection with GCV eliminated the transfected cells. In vivo, positive selection was also achieved and resulted in a statistically significant therapeutic effect.In other approximation we generated stable NP18MDR/TK-GFP transfectants and showed docetaxel resistance in vivo. Mixed tumors of MDR/TK-expressing cells and parental NP18 cells were established and docetaxel was used to increase the proportion of TK-expressing cells. Upon positive selection, the proportion of TK-expressing cells increased from 4% to 22%. Subsequent suicide gene therapy with GCV was more effective compared with a control group without positive selection. Starting with 10% of TK-expressing cells the positive-negative selection strategy completely inhibited tumor growth. Finally we tried to induce positive selection with Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC). We determined that mMSC could be enriched in cocultures with NP18 after docetaxel treatment. However, positive selection was not observed in vivo. The modification of rabbit fetal liver MSC (rFL-MSC) with the gene MDR1 and FCU improved positive selection in vivo and allowed negative selection in presence of the prodrog 5-FC. However, positive selection was not observed in mixed tumors. Taken together, these results suggest that a positive-negative selection strategy based on drug resistance genes represents an efficient way to increase the proportion of suicide expressing cells in the tumor and the efficacy of suicide gene therapy.

This study is conducted in order to obtain information on the causes and methods of killings grounded by honor, and through which processes and by whom these killings are realized. The rationale behind honor killings is based on a primitive understanding of justice. The relatives of the killed person assume the honor of their family, clan etc. is cleaned, and justice achieved. What may be the reasons of the persistence of such an understanding of justice in present day? In trying to answer this question, the meaning and perception of the concept of honor, the social and historical roots of the honor killings, how these killings come about, the role and impacts of these killings in society are examined.

No description available.

Darbo tikslas: Nustatyti kompensuojamųjų antidepresantų skyrimo pokyčius bei ypatumus ir savižudybių kitimo dinamiką Lietuvoje 2003 – 2005 metais bei įvertinti bendras antidepresantų suvartojimo ir savižudybių tendencijas. Metodas: Kompensuojamųjų antidepresantų suvartojimo 2003 – 2005 metais duomenys buvo gauti iš Valstybinės ligonių kasos. Vaistai suklasifikuoti pagal ATC sistemą, o jų suvartojimo standartizavimui ir kiekybiniam įvertinimui taikyta DDD metodika ir suvartojimas išreikštas DDD vienetais 1000 gyventojų. Savižudybių statistiniai duomenys gauti iš Statistikos departamento prie Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybės, suskaičiuotos kiekinės savižudybių išraiškos išreikštos savižudybėmis/1000 gyventojų. Rezultatai: Kompensuojamųjų antidepresantų suvartojimas Lietuvoje 2003 – 2005 metais padidėjo 35,42 %. Labiausiai šį augimą lėmė kitų antidepresantų suvartojimo augimas (išaugo 284,75 %) ir SSRI suvartojimo augimas (išaugo 20,66 %). TCA suvartojimas sumažėjo 4,6 %, o amitriptilino suvartojimo procentinė dalis nuo kitų antidepresantų suvartojimo sumažėjo nuo 14,44 % iki 11,8 %. Savižudybių skaičius, tenkantis tūkstančiui gyventojų, Lietuvoje 2003 – 2005 metais sumažėjo 13,51 %. Sumažėjo tiek vyrų, tiek moterų savižudybių dažnis. Tose pačiose vyrų ir moterų amžiaus grupėse, moterų kompensuojamųjų antidepresantų suvartojimas yra 3,5 ir daugiau karto didesnis, negu vyrų, o vyrų savižudybių dažnis yra 5 ir daugiau kartų didesnis, negu moterų. Išvados: Didėjantis... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Objective: To evaluate trends in the use of compensatory antidepressants and suicide rates in Lithuania in 2003 – 2005 period and to evaluate tendencies between consumption of compensatory antidepressants and suicide rates. Methods: Data about consumption of compensatory antidepressants in 2003 – 2005 years was obtained from the State patient fund under the Ministry of Health. All drugs were classified according to ATC system and DDD methodology was used for standardization of their consumption and quantitative evaluation. The results were expressed as DDDs/1000 inhabitants. Statistical data about suicide rates was obtained from Department of Statistics to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, and quantity of suicides was expressed as suicides/1000 inhabitants. Results: The consumption of compensatory antidepressants in 2003 – 2005 period increased by 35,42 %. This growth of total consumption was determined by rapid increase in consumption of other antidepressants (ATC N06AX) (increased by 284,75 %) and SSRIs (increased by 20,66 %). The consumption of compensatory TCA decreased by 4,6 % and the proportion of consumption of amitryptiline with consumption of all antidepressants decreased from 14,44 % to 11,8 %. Suicide rate per 1000 inhabitants decreased by 13,51 % in Lithuania in 2003 – 2005. Decrease was in both male and female suicide rates. In the same groups of ages of males and females consumption of compensatory antidepressants within the females is 3,5 and more... [to full text]

Objectives – To ascertain the annual number of users who were discharged home after visits to the emergency department, grouped by age, gender and number of visits during the calendar year, and to assess whether an increasing number of visits to the department predicted a higher mortality. Methods – This is a retrospective cohort study, at the emergency department of Landspitali University Hospital, Reykjavik capital city area, Iceland. During the years of 1995 to 2001 19259 users visited the emergency department, and were discharged home and they were follow-up for cause specific mortality through a national registry. Standardised mortality ratio, with expected number based on national mortality rates was calculated and hazard ratios according to number of visits per calendar year using time dependent multivariate regression analysis were computed. Results – The annual increase of visits to the emergency department among the patients discharged home was seven to 14 per cent per age group during the period 1995 to 2001, with a highest increase among older men. The most common discharge diagnosis was the category Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings not elsewhere classified. When emergency department users were compared with the general population, the standardised mortality ratio was 1.81 for men and 1.93 for women. Among those attending the emergency department two times, and three or more times in a calendar year, the mortality rate was higher than among those coming only once in a year. The causes of death which led to the highest mortality among frequent users of the emergency department were neoplasm, ischemic heart diseases, and the category external causes, particularly drug intoxication, suicides and probable suicides. Conclusions – The mortality of users of the emergency department who had been discharged home turned out to be higher than that of the general population. Frequent users of the emergency department had a higher mortality than those visiting the department no more than once in a year. Since the emergency department serves general medicine and surgery patients, not injuries, the high mortality due to drug intoxication, suicide and probable suicide is notable. Further studies are needed into the diagnosis at discharge of those frequently using emergency departments, in an attempt to understand and possibly prevent this mortality / <p>ISBN 91-7997-128-8</p>