Suicide in Ghana: Society expects men to be providers. A new study explores this pressure

by Johnny Andoh-Arthur, The Conversation

Credit: Nick Youngson/Alpha Stock Images, CC BY-SA

Suicide is a complex behavior that is widely regarded as a significant public health issue across the globe. It is influenced by psychiatric, psychological, biological, social, cultural, economic and existential factors. In most countries, the rate of male suicides is between 3 and 7.5 times higher than that of females even though suicide ideation (thoughts) and attempts are more frequent for females.

The World Health Organization reported in 2020 that approximately 1,993 suicides occurred in Ghana annually. A report in Ghana on suicide attempt trends over four years also revealed that 707 suicide attempts occurred in 2018, 880 in 2019, 777 in 2020 and 417 as of June 2021.

Studies continue to reveal a disproportionately high number of males in both suicide and attempted suicide in Ghana. Suicidal behavior in Ghana is a predominantly male problem—which is one reason it's of interest to me as a psychologist who studies men's mental health.

I undertook a study that focused on the way loss of job and income influenced relationships with close family members prior to suicide. This is not to suggest that loss of income or job is the only cause of men's suicide in Ghana. Other studies have highlighted chronic illness, substance use, interpersonal conflict and loss, marital challenges, economic difficulties, perceived shame, and mental illness as other contributing factors.

My study used a qualitative research approach, interviewing 21 close relatives and friends of nine men who had all suffered some economic challenges in ways that affected their relationships with family members. All nine had died by suicide.

Even though these men lived in social settings that valued mutual support and reciprocal obligations, some of them suffered abandonment during their economic difficulties. Even those who could depend on spouses in their situation appeared to find that dependency emasculating.

Men and suicide

The term gender paradox in relation to suicide describes the observation where females have higher rates of suicidal thoughts and behavior than males, yet mortality from suicide is typically lower for females compared to males.

Biologically, it is suggested that testosterone, which is linked to impulsivity and aggression, is about ten times higher in males than in females. Thus the likelihood for males to engage in risky behaviors including aggression towards themselves is linked to high testosterone levels.

The high male suicide rate is also connected to gender stereotypes and role socialization. Society expects certain things of men.

The patriarchal nature of most societies in Africa makes being economically independent a key social expectation of being a man. Men are expected to be employed, with a regular income, and to start a family.

Family support in Ghana

My study highlighted Ghana's extended family system. This system encourages support and care for one another, belonging and seeking help in times of adversity. The study found that the deceased men had perceived being a burden, loss of respect, social abandonment and anxiety when faced with crises like job losses and financial difficulties. The relative of one of the deceased stated:

"I even got angry the day this incident (suicide) happened. People even said we have been starving him, etc, etc. For Christ sake, he was 27 years. Must I keep on taking care of him? "

A friend of another deceased person said, "His relatives visited him a lot when he was doing well in business but they stopped visiting when his problems started. "

Thus a dysfunctional, transactional social system existed around them. The implicit rule appeared to be that the victims were as valuable as their ability to provide for others and be economically independent.

The finding aligns with an earlier study in Ghana that shows that the motivation for male suicides is not that men seek to reject their social responsibilities. Instead, "it is an intense sense of personal responsibility towards meeting prescribed social norms and roles associated with gender. "

My study also found that even though it was possible for some of the men to depend on their wealthier wives during economic difficulty, doing so created distress. Depending on their wives and seeing them assume hitherto "male" roles were seen as emasculating.

A spouse illustrated: "He felt that due to the problems he was going through, there were some responsibilities I was not supposed to do as a wife that I was doing and all of those thing got him worried. "

Where they were intent to live as benevolent patriachs in line with internalized masculine codes, their economic predicament constrained the men's social roles and created distress.

As another spouse explained: "Things were not going so well with his job, it got to the extent that he could not help people the way he wanted to, and he was worried."

Men as providers

The findings of this study highlight the patriachal system that defines men partly in terms of their capacity to provide materially for others. Men who strictly adhere to such male norms may struggle to adjust when they have to depend on others, including their spouses. The extended family system should support such men emotionally and materially, but some family members chose to abandon them.

Public education is vital to change unhealthy gender norms that affect men in social and economic adversity. It will enable men to learn effective ways of coping and alternative ways of being men. Education will also help change societal notions of who a man is and foster more support in times of adversity.

Provided by The Conversation 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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French thinker Albert Camus believed the myth of Sisyphus to be a brilliant metaphor for our everyday existence — and a perfect encapsulation of all ...

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Durkheim - Suicide - A study in sociology

“Suicide is used by Durkheim as a means of demonstrating the key impact of social factors on our personal lives and even our most intimate motives. The book ...

 

 

Q&A: Is hopelessness a US public health crisis?

by Maggie Haslam, University of Maryland

Credit: Princeton University Press

How can the world's wealthiest country be so poor in hope? It's a question that a University of Maryland economist is asking about the United States, where unprecedented levels of despair have manifested in a national mental health crisis, a surge in opioid abuse and suicide, and increased workforce dropout.

In College Park Professor of Economics Carol Graham's most recent book, "The Power of Hope: How the Science of Well-Being Can Save Us from Despair," Graham explores the scientific drivers behind well-being and reveals a compelling finding: People imbued with hope are not only happier and healthier, but are also more likely to pursue opportunity, hold jobs and work for a better future.

An authority on "well-being economics," Graham studies happiness and hope as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Her research has tracked markers of hope and despair and their implications on health, education and prosperity in Latin America and the United States, particularly among young people, for over two decades. It has spurred countries like England and New Zealand to factor well-being metrics into policymaking, but she says the United States lags behind.

"Hope is key to aspirations and future investment, but also life expectancy," she said. "And in the United States, we are in trouble. It's something we really need to be paying attention to."

Graham spoke to Maryland Today about the dangerous side of despair, the link between hope and longevity and the demographic most at risk:

What is hope?

I make a distinction between hope and optimism. They share some similarities—both are the belief that things will get better. The difference, though, is that the optimist just believes it's going to get better, but hope entails individual agency. It isn't just the belief that things will get better, it's the belief that you can do something to make it better, and that creates a big difference in terms of the outcomes.

Your research has linked levels of hope with early mortality. Can hopelessness kill you?

Of all the metrics our research team used to track trends in despair in different cohorts and how they linked to deaths of despair later, lack of hope was the most important one. People with hope have a higher life satisfaction—they are likely to be healthier, to live longer, to work longer and invest in themselves. And we see this across all age groups and demographics. One definition of despair is not caring if you live or die. If that's your emotional state, you're not going to take opportunities to invest in your future.

What's surprised you in your research about hope in the United States?

Our data has shown that African Americans are much more hopeful than whites—there is much more resiliency. We see an even bigger gap between low-income Blacks and whites. When we first observed this, I thought it was a coding error, but it's been confirmed over and over again, and I think part of it is the role of communities.

White Americans on average have historically had more secure and stable lives, but they don't typically have the big extended communities found among Black Americans. Given that minorities have a history of discrimination, there's a very different sense of falling behind and helping each other out, versus the individualistic viewpoint of the American dream largely adopted by blue-collar whites. The problem is, when they started falling behind, they didn't have another narrative.

How is despair bleeding into public discourse?

One of the things I've been working on recently is the link between despair and vulnerability to misinformation and conspiracy theories. White prime-age males who've left the labor force feel very displaced and tend to be isolated. Those are the people who are very easy to radicalize. And if you look at where they're concentrated, they tend to not have local newspapers, they don't have educational opportunities beyond high school—they tend to be in hollowed-out manufacturing places.

We have some preliminary data on the makeup of individuals who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6; the majority were isolated from their families and communities. If you're in that frame of mind, you don't have anything to lose.

How do we restore hope?

It's a hard question. Part of the solution is just having an accurate diagnosis: Why don't we measure well-being like other countries do so we can direct our efforts at the most vulnerable populations? Places that track well-being, like England, are now piloting interventions—programs as simple as access to volunteering, which get people out of their homes and gives them meaning and purpose. These are the things that people in despair lack.

They have a program introducing middle and high school students to soft skills and socio-emotional skills, like self-esteem and combatting loneliness. Then they evaluate the kids on their academic performance and level of well-being three years later, and it actually works on both fronts. In my interviews with adolescents who had just graduated high school in the States in low-income neighborhoods, they had no clue what was next.

And it's exactly those soft skills, those socio-emotional skills that are most valued in the labor markets of tomorrow. That's the kind of stuff we really need to think about.

Provided by University of Maryland Ignoring Native American data perpetuates misleading white 'deaths of despair' narrative, says study

Albert Camus on the Meaning of Life: Faith, Suicide, and Absurdity (thecollector.com)

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https://bigthink.com/personal-growth/the-meaning-of-life-albert-camus-on-faith-suicide-and-absurdity

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Brain sensitivity to insulin may be modulated by menstrual cycle

by Bob Yirka , Medical Xpress

Hypothalamic response to insulin spray in both phases of the menstrual cycle. 

a, Hypothalamus region of interest in coronal (top), sagittal (middle) and axial

 section planes (bottom). b, Absolute changes in CBF in the hypothalamus from

 before treatment to 30 min after intranasal insulin administration in the follicular

 (left) and luteal (right) phases of the menstrual cycle. In the follicular phase, 

insulin induced a significant reduction in hypothalamic CBF, whereas this effect

was absent in the luteal phase. Bar graphs are shown with means and individual 

data points, and error bars represent s.e.m. Data were analyzed by two-sided

 paired t-tests; *P = 0.02; N = 15 participants in both cycle phases. 

Credit: Nature Metabolism (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s42255-023-00869-w

A combined team of diabetes specialists from Eberhard Karls University Tübingen and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, both in Germany, has found evidence that suggests brain sensitivity to insulin may be modulated by the menstrual cycle in women.

In their study, reported in the journal Nature Metabolism, the group conducted a clinical trial involving monitoring the insulin levels of female volunteers. Nils Kroemer, with the University of Bonn, has published a News & Views piece in the same journal issue outlining the work done by the group on this new effort.

Prior research has suggested that the presence of insulin in the brain can lead to changes in eating behavior, whole-body metabolism and fat storage. How this works is not well understood. Making things even murkier, as the researchers note, is that virtually all prior research in this area has involved testing the impact of insulin on the brains of men.

In this new effort, the research team sought to learn more about the impact of insulin on women's brains. To that end, they conducted a clinical trial that involved testing the impact of insulin on the brains of 11 female volunteers during two time periods; during their first day of ovulation, and just after they had ovulated.

To measure the impact of insulin on their brains, the volunteers underwent hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps—a procedure that can be used to measure insulin sensitivity. Some of the women were also given intranasal insulin doses during the procedure while others received a placebo. The researchers found that during the first day of ovulation, the brain was more sensitive to the insulin, but not during the days just after ovulation.

Next, the research team administered MRI scans to 15 different female volunteers to learn more about the impact of insulin on the hypothalamus during menstrual cycles. They found the same results—the women exhibited higher hypothalamus sensitivity to insulin just prior to the onset of ovulation but not afterward.

The researchers suggest their findings explain why so many women experience hunger just prior to getting their period, why their metabolism slows and why weight gain is so much more likely. Kroemer suggests that the female body reacts this way as a means of storing up energy to sustain a pregnancy, should it occur.

More information: Julia Hummel et al, Brain insulin action on peripheral insulin sensitivity in women depends on menstrual cycle phase, Nature Metabolism (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s42255-023-00869-w

Nils B. Kroemer, Metabolic tuning during the menstrual cycle, Nature Metabolism (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s42255-023-00867-y

Journal information: Nature Metabolism 

© 2023 Science X Network

Discovery in mosquitoes could lead to new strategy against dengue fever and other mosquito-borne vectors

by Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Generation of Ago2 knockout Ae. aegypti lines and the effect of Ago2 disruption on 

arbovirus infection and transmission. a flowchart of experiment design. b gene structure of 

Ago2, predicted functional domains, and guide RNA (gRNA) design for CRISPR/Cas9.

 The table shows data from generating Ago2 knockout lines. c Ago2 amplification in Ago2 

knockout lines. P, parental line Cas9; HE, heterozygous mutants; HO, homozygous 

mutants. d virus titer in Ago2 knockout (Ago2−/− and ArgoN−/−) and Cas9 mosquitoes on 

various days post-infection (dpi) with DENV2, ZIKV, or MAYV. IFA detection of MAYV (e)

 and DENV2 (f) antigen in midguts of Cas9 and Ago2−/− mosquitoes at different days post

 virus infection. MAYV and DENV2 were detected with the corresponding monoclonal 

antibody (green). Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). g virus titer and infection prevalence

 in the feeding solution collected from a feeder exposed to a group of females at 14 dpi with

 DENV2 or 5 dpi with MAYV. The Liverpool strain was used as a control (WT). For DENV2

 infection, n = 16 for WT and n = 15 for Ago2−/−; for MAYV infection, n = 19 for both WT

 and Ago2−/−. h percentage of the fed mosquitoes in each group of females at 14 dpi with 

DENV2 or 5 dpi with MAYV. Data were presented as box and whiskers (Min to Max). i virus

 titer plotted against the number of the fed mosquitoes in each cup. j virus titer and

 infection prevalence of individual saliva samples collected from Ago2−/− and WT at 14 dpi 

with DENV2 or 5 dpi with MAYV. For DENV2 infection, n = 62 for WT and n = 61 for 

Ago2−/−; for MAYV infection, n = 56 for both WT and Ago2−/−. Each experiment comprised

at least two biological replicates, and the data were pooled for generating the graphs. Virus

 titers were determined by plaque assay, and horizontal lines indicate the medians of the

 virus titer (d, g and j). P values were determined by an unpaired two-sided Mann-Whitney

 test for virus titer, an unpaired two-sided Fisher’s exact test for infection prevalence, or an 

unpaired two-sided t-test for (h). Source data are provided as a Source Data file. 

Credit: Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41370-y

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have made an important finding about Aedes aegypti mosquitoes—one that could one day lead to better methods for reducing the mosquito-to-human transmission of dengue, yellow fever, Zika, and other harmful and sometimes deadly viruses

Ae. aegypti mosquitoes do not succumb to these viruses when infected and continue to move and feed normally. As such, the infected mosquitoes can pass their viral cargoes on to humans. The researchers discovered that an Ae. aegypti protein, Argonaute 2, has a key role—via several biological mechanisms—in keeping mosquitoes healthy and active despite these infections.

The discovery represents a significant advance in understanding mosquito biology. It also hints at a strategy that would aim to shut down Ae. aegypti mosquitoes' defenses whenever they become infected by certain viruses—killing the mosquitoes and thereby reducing the transmission of those viruses by Ae. aegypti to humans.

Instead of making mosquitoes more resistant to the viruses, the discovery opens a possible path for making mosquitoes more susceptible and less tolerant to virus infection, which would impair their ability to transmit disease.

The research was published online September 18 in Nature Communications.

"Researchers have long wondered why Ae. aegypti mosquitoes don't get sick when they are infected by these viruses—our findings effectively solve this mystery and suggest a potential new mosquito-based disease control strategy that merits further study," says study senior author George Dimopoulos, Ph.D., a professor in the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute and in the Bloomberg School's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology.

The study's lead author was Shengzhang Dong, Ph.D., a senior research associate in the Bloomberg School's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology.

Ae. aegypti mosquitoes transmit "arthropod-borne" or "arbo-" viruses including dengue virus, yellow fever virus, Zika virus, chikungunya virus, and Mayaro virus. Each year these pathogens sicken millions of people around the world each year, killing tens of thousands. There are no antiviral therapies for any of these viruses.

Currently, a vaccine is available for yellow fever virus. One dengue vaccine is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for individuals between six and 16 who have had prior dengue infection. Disease control methods for Ae. aegyptiemphasize the use of insecticides, which have had limited success and have led to insecticide resistance.

Ae. aegypti mosquitoes are effective vectors of arborviruses because they can sustain significant infections with these viruses without suffering costs to their overall ability to reproduce—what biologists call "fitness." If the mosquitoes' fitness was impaired, they would likely have evolved strong defenses against these pathogens. Instead, they somehow ended up with a live-and-let-live balance that allows them to carry at least moderate viral loads without apparent adverse effects.

In the new study, Dimopoulos and Dong examined the role of Argonaute 2 (Ago2), a protein that in mosquitoes serves as part of an important antiviral mechanism known as the small interfering RNA (siRNA) pathway, which works by recognizing and destroying viral RNAs.

The researchers found that in Ae. aegypti mosquitoes lacking the Ago2 gene, the siRNA pathway is impaired, arborvirus infection becomes more severe, and the mosquitoes' ability to transmit these viruses drops sharply—as they sicken, feed less, and often die within days.

The scientists showed that this increased mortality is caused not only by the impairment of the siRNA antiviral pathway, but also by defects in two other processes that happen to depend on Ago2: DNA repair, and a basic waste-removal process called autophagy. Ago2-deficient mosquitoes exposed to arborviruses were left with hyperinfections, extensive DNA damage, and the accumulation of molecular waste in their dying cells.

Apart from illuminating an important aspect of Ae. aegypti biology, the findings point to a possible new arboviral disease control strategy. This would be to engineer the mosquitoes so that arbovirus infections trigger the loss of their tolerance mechanisms, perhaps via the inhibition of Ago2. Arborvirus-carrying Ae. aegypti mosquitoes would thus die quickly, whereas the much greater number of non-arborvirus carrying Ae. aegypti should be unaffected.

"The biology of mosquito susceptibility and tolerance to infection is an interesting area of exploration for other pathogens as well," says Dimopoulos. "For instance, mosquitoes that transmit malaria parasites could perhaps also be engineered to become sick and succumb to infection."

Dimopoulos and his research group are now exploring possible ways of engineering Ae. aegypti to test this possible new disease-control strategy.

More information: Shengzhang Dong et al, Aedes aegypti Argonaute 2 controls arbovirus infection and host mortality, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41370-y

Journal information: Nature Communications 

Provided by Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health 

Sugar feeding may inhibit mosquitos' ability to get infected, transmit arboviruses

 

A non-invasive way to turn a cockroach into a cyborg

by Bob Yirka , Tech Xplore

Non-invasive electrodes with resilient and conductive membrane for cyborg 

insects. 

Credit: npj Flexible Electronics (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41528-023-00274-z

A team of mechanical engineers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has found a way to electronically control cockroaches without injuring them. In their paper published in the journal npj Flexible Electronics, the group describes the new technology they used to remotely control the cockroaches and the benefits of doing so.

Prior research teams have created a variety of cyborg cockroaches, but they all had one feature in common—they all involved attaching probes to the insect's nervous system—procedures that led to damage to the insect, and likely some degree of pain.

In this new effort, the researchers noted that damaging cockroaches during attempts to control them results in a very short life expectancy, which then results in very little payoff for a lot of work. They also suggest such research is unethical because of the pain inflicted on the cockroaches. In this new effort, they have found a way to control cockroaches that does not involve cutting into them, resulting in a much longer lifespan

Credit: npj Flexible Electronics (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41528-023-00274-z

Noting that prior research had suggested that cockroaches could be coaxed into turning by stimulating one or the other of their antennae, the research team found a way to attach cuffs to each of them that do not cause damage. They created a sleeve that fits individually over each antenna. The sleeve is made of gold and plastic printed in layers. Fixed in place by a blast of ultraviolet light, the sleeves shrink like plastic shrink-wrap.

Both sleeves were connected by a short wire to a tiny backpack that was glued to the back of the cockroach. Signals were sent wirelessly to the backpack from a hand controller, which sent very gentle electric jolts to one antenna or the other, resulting in the cockroach turning in a desired direction. The research team also glued an electrode to the cockroach's belly, that when stimulated in just the right way, made the cockroach run faster or slower.

The researchers tested their cockroach cyborg by having it run around a tiny S-shaped track and also by having it navigate an obstacle course created by placing stones on a flat base in random places. In so doing, they found they could get their cyborg to go where they wanted, when they wanted.

More information: Qifeng Lin et al, Resilient conductive membrane synthesized by in-situ polymerisation for wearable non-invasive electronics on moving appendages of cyborg insect, npj Flexible Electronics (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41528-023-00274-z

Journal information: npj Flexible Electronic

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