Bedreigingen, persterijen en suicidaliteit in detentie

achtergrond Onderzoek van Blaauw en Kerkhof onderscheidde 16 indicatoren voor verhoogd suïciderisico in een gedetineerdenpopulatie. Deze indicatoren suggereren dat het hoge suïcidecijfer in penitentiaire inrichtingen het gevolg is van blootstelling van kwetsbare personen aan een stressvolle situatie. Hierdoor is een verband te verwachten tussen pesterijen, bedreigingen en suïcidaliteit. Deze verwachting wordt door onderzoeken indirect ondersteund. doel Nagaan of pesterijen en bedreigingen samenhangen met verhoogd suïciderisico en of de door Blaauw en Kerkhof onderscheiden persoonsgebonden risicofactoren samenhangen met het ervaren van pesterijen of bedreigingen. methode Meldingen van bedreigingen en pesterijen werden nagegaan in dossiers van 95 gedetineerden die suïcide hadden gepleegd, en interviews werden afgenomen van 221 gedetineerden met laag suïciderisico en 53 gedetineerden met hoog suïciderisico. resultaten In 34% van de dossiers stond weergegeven dat de suïcidepleger zich gepest en/of bedreigd had gevoeld. Pesterijen en bedreigingen kwamen vaker voor onder suïcidale gedetineerden dan onder niet-suïcidale gedetineerden. Verbanden werden gevonden tussen pesterijen en bedreigingen enerzijds en indicatoren voor kwetsbaarheid anderzijds. conclusie Pesterijen en bedreigingen hebben een relatie met suïcidaliteit onder gedetineerden

Detection of abundant solid methanol toward young low mass stars

We present detections of the absorption band at 3.53 micron due to solid methanol toward three low-mass young stellar objects located in the Serpens and Chameleon molecular cloud complexes. The sources were observed as part of a large spectroscopic survey of ~40 protostars. This is the first detection of solid methanol in the vicinity of low mass (M <1 Msol) young stars and shows that the formation of methanol does not depend on the proximity of massive young stars. The abundances of solid methanol compared to water ice for the three sources are in the range 15-25% which is comparable to those for the most methanol-rich massive sources known. The presence of abundant methanol in the circumstellar environment of some low mass young stars has important consequences for the formation scenarios of methanol and more complex organic species near young solar-type stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A letter

Suicide death and hospital-treated suicidal behaviour in asylum seekers in the Netherlands: a national registry-based study

Several suicide and suicidal behaviour risk factors are highly prevalent in asylum seekers, but there is little insight into the suicide death rate and the suicidal behaviour incidence in this population. The main objective of this study is to assess the burden of suicide and hospital-treated non-fatal suicidal behaviour in asylum seekers in the Netherlands and to identify factors that could guide prevention. We obtained data on cases of suicide and suicidal behaviour from all asylum seeker reception centres in the Netherlands (period 2002-2007, age 15+). The suicide death rates in this population and in subgroups by sex, age and region of origin were compared with the rate in the Dutch population; the rates of hospital-treated suicidal behaviour were compared with that in the population of The Hague using indirect age group standardization. The study included 35 suicide deaths and 290 cases of hospital-treated suicidal behaviour. The suicide death rate and the incidence of hospital-treated suicidal behaviour differed between subgroups by sex and region of origin. For male asylum seekers, the suicide death rate was higher than that of the Dutch population (N = 32; RR = 2.0, 95%CI 1.37-2.83). No difference was found between suicide mortality in female asylum seekers and in the female general population of the Netherlands (N = 3; RR = 0.73; 95%CI 0.15-2.07). The incidence of hospital-treated suicidal behaviour was high in comparison with the population of The Hague for males and females from Europe and the Middle East/South West Asia, and low for males and females from Africa. Health professionals knew about mental health problems prior to the suicidal behaviour for 80% of the hospital-treated suicidal behaviour cases in asylum seekers. In this study the suicide death rate was higher in male asylum seekers than in males in the reference population. The incidence of hospital-treated suicidal behaviour was higher in several subgroups of asylum seekers than that in the reference population. We conclude that measures to prevent suicide and suicidal behaviour among asylum seekers in the Netherlands are indicate

Effects of Light-at-Night on the Rat Liver - A Role for the Autonomic Nervous System

Exposure to light at night (LAN) has been associated with serious pathologies, including obesity, diabetes and cancer. Recently we showed that 2 h of LAN impaired glucose tolerance in rats. Several studies have suggested that the autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays an important role in communicating these acute effects of LAN to the periphery. Here, we investigated the acute effects of LAN on the liver transcriptome of male Wistar rats. Expression levels of individual genes were not markedly affected by LAN, nevertheless pathway analysis revealed clustered changes in a number of endocrine pathways. Subsequently, we used selective hepatic denervations [sympathetic (Sx), parasympathetic (Px), total (Tx, i.e., Sx plus Px), sham] to investigate the involvement of the ANS in the effects observed. Surgical removal of the sympathetic or parasympathetic hepatic branches of the ANS resulted in many, but small changes in the liver transcriptome, including a pathway involved with circadian clock regulation, but it clearly separated the four denervation groups. On the other hand, analysis of the liver metabolome was not able to separate the denervation groups, and only 6 out of 78 metabolites were significantly up- or downregulated after denervations. Finally, removal of the sympathetic and parasympathetic hepatic nerves combined with LAN exposure clearly modulated the effects of LAN on the liver transcriptome, but left most endocrine pathways unaffected. Conclusion: One-hour light-at-night acutely affects the liver transcriptome. Part of this effect is mediated via the nervous innervation, as a hepatectomy modulated and reduced the effect of LAN on liver transcripts

Resident Gut Microbiota Mediates Exercise Capacity and Tissue Metabolomes in Mice

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Empirical validation of a rat in vitro organ slice model as a tool for in vivo clearance prediction

Tissue slices have been shown to be a valuable tool to predict metabolism of novel drugs. However, besides the numerous advantages of their use for this purpose, some potential drawbacks also exist, including reported poor penetration of drugs into the inner cell layers of slices and loss of metabolic capacity during prolonged incubation, leading to underprediction of metabolic clearance. In the present study, we empirically identified ( and quantified) sources of underprediction using rat tissue slices of lung, intestine, kidney, and liver and found that thin liver slices ( +/- 100 mu m) metabolized model substrates ( 7- hydroxycoumarin, testosterone, warfarin, 7- ethoxycoumarin, midazolam, haloperidol, and quinidine) as rapidly as isolated hepatocytes. Furthermore, it was found that organ slices remain metabolically active for sufficient periods of incubation, enabling study of the kinetics of low clearance compounds. In addition, we determined the influence of albumin on the clearance prediction of six model substrates. For three of these substrates, the intrinsic clearance in the presence of albumin was approximately 3 times higher than that obtained from incubations without albumin, but corrected for unbound fraction. This resulted in a much more accurate prediction of in vivo whole body metabolic clearance for these compounds. Collectively, these results show that drawbacks of the use of slices for clearance prediction are largely surmountable. Provided that thin liver slices and physiological albumin concentration are used, whole body metabolic clearance is predicted with acceptable ( 2- fold) accuracy with organ slices. These results emphasize the applicability of organ slices in this field of research