The aim of this 4-year follow-up study was to examine the predictive effects of demographics, three types of sexual stigma, three types of self-identity confusion, anxiety, depression, family support and problematic Internet use before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on new-onset suicide risk and persistent suicide risk in young adult lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan.

Baseline data were collected from 1,000 lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals in 2018 and 2019. Outcome data on suicide risk were collected again in 2023. The suicide module of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview was used to assess suicide risk in terms of thoughts of death, desire to self-harm, thoughts of suicide, plans for suicide and suicide attempts in the preceding month at the initial and follow-up assessments. Baseline three types of sexual stigma, self-identity disturbance, depression, anxiety and problematic Internet use were used to examine their prediction of new-onset suicide risk and persistent suicide risk at follow-up.

In total, 673 individuals participated in the follow-up survey. Notably, 16.5% of the participants who had no suicide risk at baseline had new-onset suicide risk at follow-up; 46.4% of the participants who had suicide risk at baseline also had suicide risk at follow-up. Participants who were transgender (p = .003), who perceived greater levels of microaggression (p < .001), and who had greater levels of problematic Internet use at baseline (p = .024) were more likely to have new-onset suicide risk at follow-up. Participants who had greater levels of self-identity confusion were more likely to have persistent suicide risk at follow-up (p = .023).

Intervention strategies for reducing suicide risk in lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals should be developed with consideration of the predictors identified in this study.

The efficacy of probiotics as a therapeutic alternative for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) remain unclear.

To investigate the effectiveness of probiotics for symptoms of ADHD and identify possible factors affecting their efficacy.

Randomised placebo-controlled trials were identified through searching major databases from inception to April 2023, using the main keywords ‘probiotics’ and ‘ADHD’ without limitation on languages or geographic locations. The outcome of interest included improvement in total symptoms of ADHD, symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, and drop-out rate. Continuous and categorical data were expressed as effect sizes based on standardised mean differences (SMDs) and odds ratios, respectively, with 95% confidence intervals.

Meta-analysis of seven trials involving 379 participants (mean age 10.37 years, range 4–18 years) showed no significant improvement in total symptoms of ADHD (SMD = 0.25; P = 0.12), symptoms of inattention (SMD = 0.14; P = 0.3) or hyperactivity/impulsivity (SMD = 0.08; P = 0.54) between the probiotic and placebo groups. Despite non-significance on subgroup analyses, there was a large difference in effect size between studies using probiotics as an adjunct to methylphenidate and those using probiotics as supplementation (SMD = 0.84 v. 0.07; P = 0.16), and a moderate difference in effect size between studies using multiple strains of probiotics and those using single-strain regimens (SMD = 0.45 v. 0.03; P = 0.19).

Current evidence shows no significant difference in therapeutic efficacy between probiotics and placebos for treatment of ADHD symptoms. However, albeit statistically non-significant, higher therapeutic efficacies associated with multiple-strain probiotics or combining probiotics with methylphenidate may provide direction for further research.

With advancements in cancer treatments, the survival rates of patients with their first primary cancer (FPC) have increased, resulting in a rise in the number of patients with second primary cancer (SPC). However, there has been no assessment on the incidence of suicide among patients with SPC. This study assessed the occurrence of suicide among patients with SPC and compared them with that in patients with FPC.

This was a retrospective, population-based cohort study that followed patients with FPC and SPC diagnosed from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 17 registries database between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2019.

For patients with SPC, an age of 85+ years at diagnosis was associated with a higher incidence of suicide death (HR, 1.727; 95% CI, 1.075–2.774), while the suicide death was not considerably different in the chemotherapy group (P > 0.05). Female genital system cancers (HR, 3.042; 95% CI, 1.819–6.361) accounted for the highest suicide death among patients with SPC. The suicide death distribution of patients with SPC over time indicated that suicide events mainly occurred within 5 to 15 years of diagnosis. Compared with patients with FPC, patients with SPC in general had a lower risk of suicide, but increased year by year.

The risk of suicide was reduced in patients with SPC compared with patients with FPC, but increased year by year. Therefore, oncologists and related health professionals need to provide continuous psychological support to reduce the incidence of suicide. The highest suicide death was found among patients with female genital system cancer.

Although childhood maltreatment has been widely supported to be a robust predictor of suicide behaviours, the effects of different childhood maltreatment subtypes remain controversial and inconclusive. Moreover, whether the effects differ by sex in urban and rural adolescents is still unknown. This study aimed to quantify the associations between five subtypes of childhood maltreatment and different suicide behaviour involvement.

A multistage cluster sampling method was adopted from April to December 2021 for adolescents aged 12 to 18 across five representative provinces of China. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form was used to measure childhood maltreatment subtypes. Suicide behaviour involvement was classified as none group, suicide ideator, suicide planner and suicide attempter. Confounding variables include demographic characteristics, smoking, drinking alcohol, depression and anxiety.

Among a total of 18,980 adolescents, 2021 (10.6%) were suicide ideator, 1595 (8.4%) were suicide planner and 1014 (5.3%) were suicide attempter. Rural females had the highest proportion of suicide ideator (13.8%) and suicide planner (11.5%). Multinomial logistic regression analysis indicated that five childhood maltreatment subtypes were independently associated with suicide behaviours, except for associations between sexual abuse and suicide ideator as well as suicide planner (p > 0.05). Moreover, these associations differ by sex and residence. After adjusted for interactions of different subtypes, structural equation model indicated that the direct effects of childhood maltreatment subtypes on suicide behaviours from high to low were emotional abuse (β = 0.363, p < 0.001), physical abuse (β = 0.100, p < 0.001) and sexual abuse (β = 0.033, p = 0.003), while the effects of physical neglect and emotional neglect were not significant (p > 0.05).

Five subtypes of childhood maltreatment have specific and non-equivalence associations with suicide behaviours. Emotional abuse may have the strongest effect, and sexual abuse have an acute effect on suicide behaviours. Suicide prevention programs for Chinese adolescents could focus on those who experienced emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Furthermore, strategies should be tailored by sex and residence, and rural females deserve more attention.

We explored long-term employment status and income before and after depression diagnosis among men and women and at different working ages in Taiwan.

Data from 2006 to 2019 were obtained from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). Individuals with newly diagnosed depressive disorder aged 15 to 64 years during the study period were identified. An equal number of individuals without depression were matched for their demographic and clinical characteristics. Employment outcomes included employment status, which was categorized into employed or unemployed, and annual income. Based on the occupation categories and monthly insurance salary recorded in the Registry for Beneficiaries of the NHIRD, a subject was defined as unemployed if he or she differed from the income earner or the occupation category was unemployed. Monthly income was defined as zero for unemployed subjects and proxied as monthly insurance salary for others. Annual income was the sum of monthly income in each observation year.

A total of 420,935 individuals with depressive disorder were included in the study, and an equal number of individuals with not diagnosed depression served as controls. Employment rate and income were lower in the depression group than in the control group before the year of diagnosis, with a difference of 5.7% in employment rate and USD 1,173 in annual income. This gap increased considerably after the year of diagnosis (7.3% in employment rate and USD 1,573 in annual incomes) and further widened in the subsequent years (8.1% in employment rate and USD 2,006 in annual incomes in the 5th following year). The drops in the employment rate and income caused by depression were more evident in men and older age groups than in women and younger age groups, respectively. However, the reduction in employment rate and income in the following years after the diagnosis was more considerable among younger age groups.

The effect of depression on employment status and income was significant during the year of diagnosis and continued afterwards. The effect on employment outcomes varied between genders and across all age groups.

There was no previous meta-analysis investigating the efficacy/tolerability of psychostimulants for symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in preschool children.

Databases including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, ScienceDirect, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched from inception to March 2022 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on therapeutic efficacy of psychostimulants against ADHD symptoms in preschool children (age ≤6 years) compared with placebos. Primary outcomes were (a) changes in ADHD symptoms evaluated by validated rating scales from parents’/teacher’s observation, or (b) post-intervention improvements in neuropsychological performance. Secondary outcomes were risks of adverse events.

Meta-analysis of nine eligible trials including 544 preschool children (mean age=4.86 years, female=11.98%, median treatment duration=4.33 weeks) supported the efficacy of psychostimulants against global symptoms from observations of parents (Hedges’ g=0.6152, p<0.0001) and teachers (Hedges’ g=0.6563, p=0.0039). Efficacy of psychostimulants was also noted against symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, especially the latter (i.e., main symptoms in preschool children). Moreover, male gender, older age, and longer treatment duration were associated with better efficacy. Regarding adverse events, only the risk of poor appetite was higher in the psychostimulant group (odds ratio [OR]=2.39). However, the qualities of evidence were low to very low, indicating potential discrepancy between the true and estimated effect.

Our results showed that psychostimulants might be beneficial for preschool children with ADHD, especially hyperactivity/impulsivity from teachers’ observation, with tolerable side effects. Nevertheless, the true magnitude of the effect needs to be confirmed with more research due to low to very low certainty of the evidence.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common neuropsychiatry disorder with high prevalence and recurrence rate, but the misdiagnosis rate is inevitable due to the shortage of objective laboratory-based diagnostic criteria. This study is focused on the disturbance of lipid metabolism, providing potential biomarkers for diagnosing.

Lipid metabolism-related molecules in plasma of 42 drug-naïve MDD patients and 49 healthy people were measured by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Further to evaluate the diagnostic values of changed metabolites, these molecules were evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic curve. Based on the significant role of phosphatidylcholine (PC) disturbance in depression, oxidization of PCs, oxidation of 1-palmitoyl-2-arachidonoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (OxPAPC), IL-8 and caspase-3 in hippocampus, and serum of chronic lipopolysaccharide (cLPS) depression mice were detected by ELISA.

Compared with healthy control, MDD patients expressed higher 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (16:0-16:0 PC, DPPC), 1-palmitoyl-2-arachidonoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (16:0-20:4 PC, PAPC), 1-palmitoyl-2-stearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (16:0-18:0 PC), glycocholic acid, taurocholic acid, glycoursodeoxycholic acid, and chenodeoxycholic acid glycine conjugate, and lower 1-heptadecanoyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (LPC 20:0). The 16:0-20:4 PC showed the great diagnostic value for MDD with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.9519, and combination of 16:0 PC, 16:0-18:0 PC, and 16:0-20:4 PC exhibited the highest diagnostic value with AUC of 0.9602. OxPAPC was certified increase in hippocampus and serum of cLPS depression mice, which further supported PCs disorder participated in depression.

This research offers 16:0-20:4 PC as the latent diagnostic indicator for MDD and hints the important role of PCs in depression.

Glutamatergic dysfunction has been implicated in sensory integration deficits in schizophrenia, yet how glutamatergic function contributes to behavioural impairments and neural activities of sensory integration remains unknown.

Fifty schizophrenia patients and 43 healthy controls completed behavioural assessments for sensory integration and underwent magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) for measuring the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) glutamate levels. The correlation between glutamate levels and behavioural sensory integration deficits was examined in each group. A subsample of 20 pairs of patients and controls further completed an audiovisual sensory integration functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task. Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) activation and task-dependent functional connectivity (FC) were assessed based on fMRI data. Full factorial analyses were performed to examine the Group-by-Glutamate Level interaction effects on fMRI measurements (group differences in correlation between glutamate levels and fMRI measurements) and the correlation between glutamate levels and fMRI measurements within each group.

We found that schizophrenia patients exhibited impaired sensory integration which was positively correlated with ACC glutamate levels. Multimodal analyses showed significantly Group-by-Glutamate Level interaction effects on BOLD activation as well as task-dependent FC in a ‘cortico-subcortical-cortical’ network (including medial frontal gyrus, precuneus, ACC, middle cingulate gyrus, thalamus and caudate) with positive correlations in patients and negative in controls.

Our findings indicate that ACC glutamate influences neural activities in a large-scale network during sensory integration, but the effects have opposite directionality between schizophrenia patients and healthy people. This implicates the crucial role of glutamatergic system in sensory integration processing in schizophrenia.

This study examines the individual and combined association of BMI and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) with CVD risk using genetic scores of the obesity measurements as proxies.

A 2 × 2 factorial analysis approach was applied, with participants divided into four groups of lifetime exposure to low BMI and WHR, high BMI, high WHR, and high BMI and WHR based on weighted genetic risk scores. The difference in CVD risk across groups was evaluated using multivariable logistic regression.

Cohort study.

A total of 408 003 participants were included from the prospective observational UK Biobank study.

A total of 58 429 CVD events were recorded. Compared to the low BMI and WHR genetic scores group, higher BMI or higher WHR genetic scores were associated with an increase in CVD risk (high WHR: OR, 1·07; 95 % CI (1·04, 1·10)); high BMI: OR, 1·12; 95 % CI (1·09, 1·16). A weak additive effect on CVD risk was found between BMI and WHR (high BMI and WHR: OR, 1·16; 95 % CI (1·12, 1·19)). Subgroup analysis showed similar patterns between different sex, age (<65, ≥65 years old), smoking status, Townsend deprivation index, fasting glucose level and medication uses, but lower systolic blood pressure was associated with higher CVD risk in obese participants.

High BMI and WHR were associated with increased CVD risk, and their effects are weakly additive. Even though there were overlapping of effect, both BMI and WHR are important in assessing the CVD risk in the general population.