(1) To delineate whether cognitive flexibility and inhibitory ability are neurocognitive markers of passive suicidal ideation (PSI), an early stage of suicide risk in depression and (2) to determine whether PSI is associated with volumetric differences in regions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in middle-aged and older adults with depression.

Cross-sectional study.

University medical school.

Forty community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults with depression from a larger study of depression and anxiety (NIMH R01 MH091342-05 PI: O’Hara).

Psychiatric measures were assessed for the presence of a DSM-5 depressive disorder and PSI. A neurocognitive battery assessed cognitive flexibility, inhibitory ability, as well as other neurocognitive domains.

The PSI group (n = 18) performed significantly worse on cognitive flexibility and inhibitory ability, but not on other neurocognitive tasks, compared to the group without PSI (n = 22). The group with PSI had larger left mid-frontal gyri (MFG) than the no-PSI group. There was no association between cognitive flexibility/inhibitory ability and left MFG volume.

Findings implicate a neurocognitive signature of PSI: poorer cognitive flexibility and poor inhibitory ability not better accounted for by other domains of cognitive dysfunction and not associated with volumetric differences in the left MFG. This suggests that there are two specific but independent risk factors of PSI in middle- and older-aged adults.

The current study aimed to evaluate the association of major dietary patterns with anxiety in middle-aged adults in eastern China.

Dietary intake was assessed using a semi-quantitative FFQ. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to estimate OR and 95 % CI for anxiety according to quartiles of each dietary pattern score.

Evidence regarding the relationship between dietary patterns and anxiety in the Chinese population is scarce.

The study participants were 1360 Chinese adults aged 45–59 years, who participated in a health survey at the time of periodic check-up in the city of Linyi, Shandong Province, China.

Four major dietary patterns were identified by factor analysis: traditional Chinese, western, grains–vegetables and high-salt diets. After adjusting for potential confounders, participants in the highest quartile of the western pattern had greater odds for anxiety, compared with those in the lowest quartile (OR 1·35, 95 % CI 1·000, 3·086, P < 0·05). In contrast, participants in the highest quartile of the grains–vegetables pattern had lower odds for anxiety than did those in the lowest quartile (OR 0·78, 95 % CI 0·574, 1·000, P < 0·05). Moreover, no significant associations were observed between the traditional Chinese and high-salt patterns and the risk of anxiety.

Our findings indicate that the western pattern is associated with an increased risk, and the grains–vegetables pattern is associated with a decreased risk of anxiety.

It has been suggested that screening interventions may be effective for suicide prevention. Few studies, however, have reported their effects on outcome measures, including death by suicide among middle-aged adults.

We used a quasi-experimental parallel cluster design with matched community-based intervention and control municipalities (total eligible population: 90 000) in Japan. At-risk residents within the intervention area were invited for universal depression screening and subsequent care/support. We compared changes in suicide incidence of adults aged 40–64 years for the 4-year pre- and post-implementation periods in the intervention group with the control group and the whole country. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of the outcomes were adjusted for age group, gender and interaction terms, using mixed-effects negative binomial regression models. Suicide rates among intervention and control subgroups were compared.

The screening procedure was offered to 52% of the intervention group, and 61% of those contacted responded over the implementation period. Suicide rates decreased more in the intervention group [IRR 0.57, 95% (CI) 0.41–0.78; F1,36 = 12.52, p = 0.001] than the control group (IRR proportion 1.63, 95% CI 1.06–2.48; F1,82 = 5.20, p = 0.025) or the whole country (IRR proportion 1.64, 95% CI 1.16–2.34; F1,42 = 8.21, p = 0.006). Sensitivity analyses confirmed the results from the primary analysis. There were lower suicide rates among both respondents and non-respondents to the screening than in the control group during the implementation period.

Prevention efforts involved in the depression screening intervention were probably successful in reducing suicide rates.

To evaluate FFQ estimates of dietary intake of individual antioxidants, fruit and vegetables in comparison to plasma concentrations of each antioxidant, and to determine which individual foods are associated with plasma antioxidant concentrations.

Dietary (α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lutein/zeaxanthin, lycopene, retinol, and vitamin E) intakes over 12 months were estimated from a 121-item FFQ. Correlation coefficients, corrected for within-person variability in diet and plasma antioxidants, were used to examine associations between antioxidant concentrations in diet and plasma.

Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (MCCS).

Men and women (n 3110) who were randomly selected from the MCCS. Participants were aged 36–72 years and were born in Australia, Greece, Italy or the UK.

Correlation coefficients for the carotenoids ranged from 0·28 for lycopene to 0·46 for β-cryptoxanthin. There was no association between dietary and plasma retinol or dietary vitamin E with plasma α- and γ-tocopherol. Individual plasma carotenoid concentrations were associated with intakes of fruit and vegetables.

Our data suggest that the FFQ provides useful information on intakes of each of the carotenoids: α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lycopene and lutein/zeaxanthin. There was no association between diet and plasma markers of retinol or vitamin E; this may reflect the importance of factors other than intake in modifying circulating levels of these nutrients.