Identification of Nearly Fatal Suicide Attempts: Self-Inflicted Injury Severity Form

The Self-inflicted Injury Severity Form (SIISF) was developed as an epidemiological research tool for identifying individuals in hospital emergency departments who have life-threatening self-inflicted injuries. Data were collected from 715 patients with self-inflicted injuries in two large hospitals. In 295 of these cases, a second set of data was independently collected for assessment of interrater reliability. Validity was assessed by comparing the SIISF results with simultaneously collected Risk—Rescue Ratings. Assessment of interrater reliability found that only 2.4% of physicians disagreed on the suicide method used. The kappa statistic for method used was .94, indicating excellent agreement. The SIISF was found to distinguish between severe and less severe injuries. Thus, it appears to provide a simple method to distinguish patients who have life-threatening self-inflicted injuries.     

Stimulus-response compatibility and the motor system

Three experiments examined stimulus-response (S--R) compatibility relationships with the stimulus array perpendicular to the response array. In Experiments I and II, stimuli indicated right and left positions, while the responses were movements up and down. The mapping right/up and left/down was preferable for the right hand, but the reverse mapping was preferable for the left hand. In Experiment III, the stimuli indicated up and down positions, while the responses were movements to the right and left. In this case, the mapping up/left and down/right was preferable for the right hand, and the reverse mapping was preferable for the left hand. The results are most easily explained by assuming that counterclockwise rotational movements are preferable for the right hand, while clockwise is preferable for the left. These preferences are manifest through combinations of implicit movements towards the stimulus and explicit movements towards the response key. This principle is shown to provide a simpler explanation for some previously reported S-R compatibility effects.     

Suicide Ideations,Suicide Attempts,and Completed Suicide in Persons with Pathological Gambling and Their First‐Degree Relatives

We examined the relationship between suicidal ideations and attempts in 95 probands with pathological gambling (PG), 91 controls, and 1075 first‐degree relatives. The results were analyzed using logistic regression with generalized estimating equations. Thirty‐four PG probands (35.8%) and 4 controls (4.4%) had attempted suicide (OR = 12.12, p < .001); in 13 probands, the attempt occurred before PG onset. Lifetime suicidal ideations occurred in 60 PG probands (63.2%) and 12 controls (13.2%) (OR = 11.29, p < .001). Suicidality in PG probands is a marker of PG severity and is associated with greater psychiatric comorbidity. Offspring of PG probands had significantly higher rates of suicide attempts than control offspring.     

Improvement of a figure copying deficit during subsensory galvanic vestibular stimulation

We describe the effects of galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) on an individual who, following right hemisphere stroke, is unable to copy figures accurately. His copies contain most of the constituent elements, but are poorly integrated and drawn in a seemingly haphazard manner. To test whether GVS could help overcome these difficulties, we administered the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure copy task while manipulating both the presence and laterality of the galvanic signal. The signal was applied at a level that was too low to elicit sensation which ensured that the individual was unaware of either when or on what side he was being stimulated. Relative to a sham condition, two consecutive blocks of GVS increased both the accuracy with which the main configural elements of the figure were reconstructed, and there was some, albeit less consistent evidence, that these were drawn in a more wholistic as opposed to piecemeal manner. Improvement was not reliant on the polarity of the stimulating electrodes. These results suggest that GVS can help overcome difficulties in the perception and/or reconstruction of hierarchical visual form, and thereby uncover a new link between vestibular information processing and visual task performance.