“Metformin decreased the BMI z score and improved inflammatory and cardiovascular-related obesity parameters only in prepubertal children, but a differential effect of metformin was not observed in prepubertal compared to pubertal children. Nevertheless, the doses per kilogram of weight administrated may have had an impact on the metformin effect. Further investigations are necessary.”

This article describes the rationale for using mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) to prevent suicidal behavior in high suicide-risk individuals. A narrative review of studies testing the feasibility of MBIs with individuals at risk for suicidal behavior and the effectiveness of MBIs for reducing suicidality was conducted. Studies testing the effectiveness of MBIs for reducing deficits specific to suicide attempters among depressed individuals were also reviewed as were studies examining moderators of MBI treatment adherence and effectiveness to the extent that these might suggest possible limitations to using MBIs with high suicide-risk individuals. Findings from the handful of available studies support targeting suicidal ideation with MBI. Additional studies show deficits associated with suicide attempt, namely attentional dyscontrol, problem solving deficits, and abnormal stress response, are improved by MBI and thus strengthen the rationale for using MBIs with high suicide-risk individuals.

Efforts to better understand and prevent suicide have increasingly pointed to the prospective assessment of suicidal behaviors in clinical trials. These assessments are aided by instruments such as the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), which have sought to improve the conceptual uniformity and ease by which suicidal behaviors are classified. At the same time, assessment and classification of suicidal behaviors has been a longtime challenge in the field. To aid users of the C-SSRS, this article illustrates the use of the C-SSRS in instances where classification complexities arise. Illustrations are presented based on cases encountered during a clinical trial for a suicide prevention intervention. Key decision points are summarized and classification issues that warrant consideration for future refinement of such decisions are discussed.

Diet is a key factor for obesity development; however, limited data are available on dietary cluster analysis in children with obesity. We aimed to assess the associations between dietary patterns and obesity and several cardiometabolic markers. Anthropometry, bioelectrical impedance, blood pressure and plasma biomarkers of oxidative stress, inflammation and endothelial damage were determined in 674 Caucasian children, aged 5–16, with normal or excess weight. Using a food frequency questionnaire and cluster analysis, two consistent dietary patterns were shown, labeled as health conscious (HC) and sweet and processed (SP). The HC pattern included a greater proportion of participants with overweight/obesity than the SP cluster (80.1% vs. 63.8%). However, children with obesity within the HC cluster, showed less abdominal fat, through waist to hip (0.93 vs. 0.94) and waist to height (0.61 vs. 0.63) indexes (p < 0.01). Univariate general models showed several additional differences in cardiometabolic risk biomarkers in the global and stratified analyses, with a healthier profile being observed mainly in the HC cluster. However, multivariate models questioned these findings and pointed out the need for further studies in this field. Anyhow, our findings support the benefits of a healthy diet and highlight the importance of dietary patterns in the cardiometabolic risk assessment of children with overweight/obesity, beyond weight control.

Neurocognitive detection of suicidal states has the potential to significantly advance objective risk assessment. This goal requires establishing that neurocognitive deficits fluctuate around the time of a suicide attempt. The current study therefore evaluated whether neurocognitive performance is temporally related to suicide attempt, in a sample at high-risk for suicide (n=141). Evaluations consisted of a clinician-administered interview, self-report questionnaires, and neurocognitive tasks assessing response inhibition, attentional control, and memory recognition. Analyses examined whether neurocognitive scores significantly differed according to the following temporal suicide attempt categories: a) past-week attempt; b) past-year attempt (not in past week); and c) no past-year attempt. Univariate results showed that response inhibition and memory recognition were significantly related to suicide attempt recency. Post-hoc pairwise tests showed that participants with a past-week suicide attempt showed greater impairments than those without a *

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The aim of this research was to determine to what extent a psychopath screening device (the APSD) is useful in forensic assessments to predict general and violent offending. For this purpose, a cross-sectional study was done and 238 young people serving a sentence were assessed. The gold standard instrument used to measure psychopathy was the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV; Forth, Kosson & Hare, 2003). The results indicate that the association found between the screening device scores and several indicators of risk is low if compared with those obtained with the PCL:YV, suggesting that it is less useful as a tool in order to predict offending or violent offences. However, an Area Under the Curve of .784 and a validity index of 62.5 support its use as a screening device or as a preliminary approach to assess psychopathy in this population. The usefulness of this instrument to make assessments with young people in the forensic setting is discussed.

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