BACKGROUND In cases of non-fatal self-harm, suicide notes are a major risk factor for repeated self-harm and suicide. Suicide notes can now be left on new media services, emails or text messages, as well as on paper. AIMS In a group of people who had harmed themselves, we aimed to compare new media note-leavers with paper note-leavers and characterise these groups demographically and by risk ...

BACKGROUND Suicide is a leading cause of death among individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN). In this paper, we examined competing explanations of the high rate of death by suicide among individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN). METHODS Nine case reports of individuals with AN who died by suicide were evaluated to determine whether death by suicide occurred a) because physical health was so comp...

BACKGROUND Risk of self-harm and suicide is greatly increased in the period after discharge from psychiatric in-patient care. AIMS To investigate the impact on suicide of a series of policy initiatives to enhance care in the immediate post-discharge period. METHOD A time series analysis was based on 1997-2007 data from the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and from Hospital Episode...

A 1-year study of fatal injuries was carried out in 10 provinces of the Islamic Republic of Iran based on a population of 16 740 637 in 2000-01. All reported deaths were compared and validated with other sources of death registration. Out of 66 846 deaths, 9733 (58/100 000) resulted from injuries. Overall, 14.9% of all deaths with 26.9% of years of lost life were from injuries. Most fatal injur...

The ever increasing demand for more food production has been met by adoption of better crop protection measures. Since world war II synthetic chemicals/poisons have been extensively used for the control of agricultural as well as household and medical insect pests. These poisons which otherwise are employed for human benefit can also be called as economic poisons. Pesticides used for the contro...

Suicide by hanging and self-strangulation ('hanging') has become more common. We studied people who presented to hospital during a 28-year study period after using these methods for non-fatal self-harm. Hanging increased greatly in frequency during this time. The male:female ratio was nearly 3:1. Females were distinguished from males by far higher rates of psychiatric care, personality disorder...

Given the uncontested role of psychiatric illnesses in both fatal and non-fatal suicidal behaviours, efforts are continuously made in improving mental health care provision. In cases of severe mental disorder, when intensified treatment protocols and continuous supervision are required due to individual's impaired emotional, cognitive and social functioning (including danger to self and others)...

A major hindrance to determining the underlying biology of suicide is the heterogeneity of the phenotype. Not only are there various forms of self-harm and suicidal behaviors but even the finite act of dying by suicide can occur in multiple psychosocial contexts. Of all the different forms of fatal and non-fatal suicidal behaviors, the one that received the most attention is the aggressive impu...

The major issues of medico-legal relevance in fatal falls from a height are the manner of death and the reconstruction of the event. We present a peculiar case of a fatal fall from a height of about 9 m, involving a 27-year-old woman. At the death scene investigation, no suicide notes, housebreaking marks, or signs of fight were found, thus weakening both the suicide and homicide hypotheses. Co...

BACKGROUND There have been few studies of the most serious cases of deliberate self-harm (DSH). These cases represent an important clinical problem. They may also be suitable as a "proxy" for suicide in research studies. METHODS We developed a definition of "near-fatal" deliberate self-harm (NFDSH) and identified all cases attending accident and emergency departments in an urban area during a...