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Table of Contents

March 2009

Cover

Media Portrayals of Suicide.
Issue Image

This mosaic of photographs of reporting and the media was created by Darcy Gill using the collage tools on flickr.com. The attribution of the original photographs is below.

The subject of this month's editorial is media reporting of suicide, prompted by a study (Kapur et al., e1000026) published earlier this month finding that young men who left the UK Armed Forces were at a higher risk of suicide than those in the general population or in active service. An expert commentary published alongside the research highlighted an intervention to prevent suicide in a military population and considered more general public health approaches to suicide prevention; it also stressed the media's responsibility to report suicides in a non-sensationalized way (Sareen and Belik, e1000035).

The editorial discusses what types of media reports have an effect on suicidal behavior, what constitutes safe reporting of suicides, and what PLoS Medicine did to promote the responsible reporting of this study. Quoting Australia's Media Monitoring Project, the editorial argues that the responsible media reporting of suicide can help "destigmatise mental illness in our community."

Image Credit: March Mosaic 3, created by Darcy Gill. Original images (left to right, from top row to bottom) by Solar ikon, Hamed Saber, [Zenat El3ain]TM, rutlo, Alex Barth, booleansplit, Coffee Lover, flequi, notelse, renatotarga, sskennel, EliYokley[photography], BRAYDAWG, Rosa y Dani, Duchamp, and krossbow.

Editorial

Media Portrayals of Suicide

The PLoS Medicine Editors

PLOS Medicine: published March 17, 2009 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000051

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  1. Suicide after Leaving the UK Armed Forces —A Cohort Study
  2. The Need for Outreach in Preventing Suicide among Young Veterans

Perspectives

The Need for Outreach in Preventing Suicide among Young Veterans

Jitender Sareen, Shay-Lee Belik

PLOS Medicine: published March 3, 2009 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000035

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  1. Media Portrayals of Suicide
  2. Suicide after Leaving the UK Armed Forces —A Cohort Study

Contrasting Effects of Maternal and Paternal Age on Offspring Intelligence

Mary Cannon

PLOS Medicine: published March 10, 2009 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000042

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  1. Advanced Paternal Age Is Associated with Impaired Neurocognitive Outcomes during Infancy and Childhood

Guidelines and Guidance

Systematic Reviews of Genetic Association Studies

Gurdeep S Sagoo, Julian Little, Julian P. T Higgins

PLOS Medicine: published March 3, 2009 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000028

Setting Research Priorities To Reduce Global Mortality from Childhood Diarrhoea by 2015

Olivier Fontaine, Margaret Kosek, Shinjini Bhatnagar, Cynthia Boschi-Pinto, Kit Yee Chan, Christopher Duggan, Homero Martinez, Hugo Ribeiro, Nigel C Rollins, Mohammed A Salam, Mathuram Santosham, John D Snyder, Alexander C Tsai, Beth Vargas, Igor Rudan

PLOS Medicine: published March 10, 2009 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000041

Guidelines for Field Surveys of the Quality of Medicines: A Proposal

Paul N Newton, Sue J Lee, Catherine Goodman, Facundo M Fernández, Shunmay Yeung, Souly Phanouvong, Harparkash Kaur, Abdinasir A Amin, Christopher J. M Whitty, Gilbert O Kokwaro, Niklas Lindegårdh, Patrick Lukulay, Lisa J White, Nicholas P. J Day, Michael D Green, Nicholas J White

PLOS Medicine: published March 24, 2009 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000052

Research in Translation

The Alcohol Flushing Response: An Unrecognized Risk Factor for Esophageal Cancer from Alcohol Consumption

Philip J Brooks, Mary-Anne Enoch, David Goldman, Ting-Kai Li, Akira Yokoyama

PLOS Medicine: published March 24, 2009 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000050

Learning Forum

Furious Rabies after an Atypical Exposure

Heiman F. L Wertheim, Thai Q Nguyen, Kieu Anh T Nguyen, Menno D de Jong, Walter R. J Taylor, Tan V Le, Ha H Nguyen, Hanh T. H Nguyen, Jeremy Farrar, Peter Horby, Hien D Nguyen

PLOS Medicine: published March 17, 2009 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000044

Research Articles

Suicide after Leaving the UK Armed Forces —A Cohort Study

Navneet Kapur, David While, Nick Blatchley, Isabelle Bray, Kate Harrison

PLOS Medicine: published March 3, 2009 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000026

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Prognostic Accuracy of WHO Growth Standards to Predict Mortality in a Large-Scale Nutritional Program in Niger

Nathanael Lapidus, Francisco J Luquero, Valérie Gaboulaud, Susan Shepherd, Rebecca F Grais

PLOS Medicine: published March 3, 2009 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000039

A World Malaria Map: Plasmodium falciparum Endemicity in 2007

Simon I Hay, Carlos A Guerra, Peter W Gething, Anand P Patil, Andrew J Tatem, Abdisalan M Noor, Caroline W Kabaria, Bui H Manh, Iqbal R. F Elyazar, Simon Brooker, David L Smith, Rana A Moyeed, Robert W Snow

PLOS Medicine: published March 24, 2009 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000048

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  1. Correction: A World Malaria Map: Plasmodium falciparum Endemicity in 2007

Advanced Paternal Age Is Associated with Impaired Neurocognitive Outcomes during Infancy and Childhood

Sukanta Saha, Adrian G Barnett, Claire Foldi, Thomas H Burne, Darryl W Eyles, Stephen L Buka, John J McGrath

PLOS Medicine: published March 10, 2009 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000040

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Upper-Room Ultraviolet Light and Negative Air Ionization to Prevent Tuberculosis Transmission

A. Roderick Escombe, David A. J Moore, Robert H Gilman, Marcos Navincopa, Eduardo Ticona, Bailey Mitchell, Catherine Noakes, Carlos Martínez, Patricia Sheen, Rocio Ramirez, Willi Quino, Armando Gonzalez, Jon S Friedland, Carlton A Evans

PLOS Medicine: published March 17, 2009 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000043