Prevalence of Suicidal Behavior Among Students in South-East Asia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVES: Estimation of rates of suicidal behaviors (ideation, plan, and attempt) would help to understand the burden and prioritize prevention strategies. However, no attempt to assess suicidal behavior among students was identified in South-East Asia (SEA). We aimed to assess the prevalence of suicidal behavior (ideation, plan, and attempt) among students in SEA. METHODS: We followed PRISMA 2020 guidelines and registered the protocol in PROSPERO (CRD42022353438). We searched in Medline, Embase, and PsycINFO and performed meta-analyses to pool the lifetime, 1-year, and point prevalence rates for suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts. We considered the duration of a month for point prevalence. RESULTS: The search identified 40 separate populations from which 46 were included in the analyses, as some studies included samples from multiple countries. The pooled prevalence of suicidal ideation was 17.4% (confidence interval [95% CI], 12.4%-23.9%) for lifetime, 9.33% (95% CI, 7.2%-12%) for the past year, and 4.8% (95% CI, 3.6%-6.4%) for the present time. The pooled prevalence of suicide plans was 9% (95% CI, 6.2%-12.9%) for lifetime, 7.3% (95% CI, 5.1%-10.3%) for the past year, and 2.3% (95% CI, 0.8%-6.7%) for the present time. The pooled prevalence of suicide attempts was 5.2% (95% CI, 3.5%-7.8%) for lifetime and 4.5% (95% CI, 3.4%-5.8%) for the past year. Higher rates of suicide attempts in the lifetime were noted in Nepal (10%) and Bangladesh (9%), while lower rates were reported in India (4%) and Indonesia (5%). CONCLUSIONS: Suicidal behaviors are a common phenomenon among students in the SEA region. These findings call for integrated, multisectoral efforts to prevent suicidal behaviors in this group.

DFT Insights into MAX Phase Borides Hf2AB [A = S, Se, Te] in Comparison with MAX Phase Carbides Hf2AC [A = S, Se, Te].

In this work, density functional theory (DFT)-based calculations were performed to compute the physical properties (structural stability, mechanical behavior, and electronic, thermodynamic, and optical properties) of synthesized MAX phases Hf2SB, Hf2SC, Hf2SeB, Hf2SeC, and Hf2TeB and the as-yet-undiscovered MAX carbide phase Hf2TeC. Calculations of formation energy, phonon dispersion curves, and elastic constants confirmed the stability of the aforementioned compounds, including the predicted Hf2TeC. The obtained values of lattice parameters, elastic constants, and elastic moduli of Hf2SB, Hf2SC, Hf2SeB, Hf2SeC, and Hf2TeB showed fair agreement with earlier studies, whereas the values of the aforementioned parameters for the predicted Hf2TeC exhibit a good consequence of B replacement by C. The anisotropic mechanical properties are exhibited by the considered MAX phases. The metallic nature and its anisotropic behavior were revealed by the electronic band structure and density of states. The analysis of the thermal properties-Debye temperature, melting temperature, minimum thermal conductivity, and Grüneisen parameter-confirmed that the carbide phases were more suited than the boride phases considered herein. The MAX phase's response to incoming photons further demonstrated that they were metallic. Their suitability for use as coating materials to prevent solar heating was demonstrated by the reflectivity spectra. Additionally, this study demonstrated the impact of B replacing C in the MAX phases.

Depression and suicidal behavior in South Asia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Estimates of depression in suicidal behavior in South Asia would help to formulate suicide prevention strategies in the region that hasn't been assessed yet. Objectives: We aimed to systematically assess the prevalence of depression in fatal and non-fatal attempts of suicide in eight South Asian countries. Methods: We searched Medline, Embase, and PsychINFO by specific search terms to identify articles assessing depression in fatal and non-fatal attempts of suicide in South Asian countries published between 2001 and 2020. Two separate meta-analyses were conducted for fatal and non-fatal attempts. Due to the high heterogeneity of studies (96-98%), random-effects models were used to calculate pooled prevalence rates. Results: A total of 38 studies was identified from five south Asian countries (India [27], Pakistan [6], Sri Lanka [3], Nepal [1], and Bangladesh [1]). The majority of studies (n = 27) were published after 2010. Twenty-two studies reported non-fatal attempts, and sixteen reported suicide. The prevalence of depression among non-fatal attempts ranged from 14% to 78% where the pooled prevalence rate was 32.7% [95% CI 26-39.3%]. The prevalence of depression among suicides ranged from 8% to 79% where the pooled prevalence estimate was 37.3% [95% CI 26.9-47.6%]. Conclusions: This review revealed the pooled prevalence of depression among fatal and non-fatal suicidal attempts in South Asian countries, which seems to be lower when comparedto the Western countries. However, a cautious interpretation is warranted due to the heterogeneity of study methods, sample size, and measurement of depression.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic related lockdown on Suicide: Analysis of newspaper reports during pre-lockdown and lockdown period in Bangladesh and India.

The economic and social devastation wrought by the COVID-19 crisiscoupled with the unavailability of traditional coping resources is a "perfect storm" for suicide. Evidence suggests that its impact may be disproportionately high in low-and-middle-income countries. The study aimed to assess and compare nature and correlates of suicidesfrom news reportsduring the immediate pre-lockdown and lockdown phase of COVID-19 in Bangladesh and India. We performed analysis of suicide reports from purposively selected online vernacular and English newspapers of Bangladesh and two states/union territory in India, between January to June 2020. We divided the time period of observation into two phases: pre-lockdown and lockdown phase. Country wise findings between the two phases were compared in terms of demographic and characteristics of the reported suicide. A total of 769 news reports wereanalysed; 141 from Bangladesh and 628 from India. When compared to the pre-lockdown period, the odds of suicide by hanging was significantly higher during lockdownin India (adjusted Odds Ratios [aOR] = 3.8, p = 0.018) and Bangladesh (aOR = 3.1, p = 0.048). Suicide demographics in India were different from Bangladesh during lockdown; more males died by suicide in India (aOR = 2.7, p = 0.023) and more people died by hanging (aOR = 2.6, p = 0.029). The pandemic restrictions impacted suicide demographics in the studied regions of India and Bangladesh. Further research using population-based time-series data are warranted to investigate the issue.

Quality of online news reporting of suicidal behavior in Bangladesh against World Health Organization guidelines.

BACKGROUND: Suicide is a major, however under attended public health problem in Bangladesh. There is dearth of research regarding how newspapers communicate it to the mass population. OBJECTIVES: We assessed the quality of online newspapers reporting of suicidal behaviors in Bangladesh against World Health Organization suicide reporting guidelines. METHODS: We searched and scrutinized published contents of 8 Bangla online news portals against the World Health Organization suicide reporting guidelines retrospectively. RESULTS: About 85% of the reports were connected to suicide, 93% reported single suicide, single person was involved in 82.50% of reports, and associated homicide was found in 7.50% of reports. About 96% of reports mentioned the name of the victims, 97% mentioned occupation, 96% mentioned method of suicide, 69% mentioned life events, and 64% reported certain mono-causality. Suicide in headline was found in about 94% of reports, 19% mentioned method in headline and 32% reported life events in headline. About 14% reports posted images of victims and no article provided any potentially helpful reporting practices. CONCLUSION: Media reports of suicidal behavior in Bangladesh in online portal were found to be poor quality when assessed against WHO suicide reporting guidelines. Details of victims, methods, life events and mono-causal explanations were being mentioned regularly. Substantial lacking has been noticed in approaches of educating the population and introducing preventive measures in the reports.

Demography and risk factors of suicidal behavior in Bangladesh: A retrospective online news content analysis.

BACKGROUND: Suicide is an under attended public health problem in Bangladesh as there is no central suicide database and no national suicide surveillance system in the country. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to look into the suicide metrics in Bangladesh by analyzing the online news portals, retrospectively. METHODS: Eight Bangla online news portals were selected purposively to include in the study and news of suicides were searched retrospectively. Search was conducted by the word "suicide news" (Attohottar Khabor). Initially news portal were searched with the searching word retrospectively. Then links of all news were collected. After removal of the repetitions data were inputted into software. RESULTS: Since 2009 to April 2018, three hundred fifty-eight reports were scrutinized. Mean age was 23.84 (±11.42) years, ranging from 10-85 years. Seventy percent of the reported cases were less than 30 years of age, 60.1% were female, 37.7% were student, 48.6% from rural background, and about 51% were unmarried. Hanging was found as the commonest method (60.9%) and affair related issues remained as a noticeable risk factor (14.25%). About 8% of the respondents were found to have suicide notes and suicides were found higher in night & spring. CONCLUSION: Early adult, female gender, unmarried, students were more vulnerable. Hanging was commonest method followed by poisoning. Affair related aspects, marital discord, familial disharmony drew attention as risk factors. Suicide happened higher in the night and spring season.