Attitudes towards suicide following an undergraduate suicide prevention module: experience of medical students in Hong Kong.

OBJECTIVES: To explore qualitative and quantitative changes in attitudes and experiences of medical students following a special study suicide prevention module. DESIGN: Pilot study. SETTING: The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS: A 2-week intensive special studies module was delivered to third- and fourth-year medical students in June 2011. The module was elective and involved several modes of teaching. All students filled the Chinese Attitude toward Suicide Questionnaire before and after the course. They also provided written feedback about the module experience. Three students participated in in-depth interviews. RESULTS: In all, 22 students aged 20 to 23 years enrolled in the special studies module; 15 (68%) of whom were male and only one was married. Positive trends were noted in attitudes towards suicide following the participation in the special studies module, namely, reduced negative appraisal of suicide, reduced stigmatisation of the phenomena, and increased sensitivity to suicide-related facts. Feedback of the students suggested inclusion of this module into the main medical curriculum, increased confidence in dealing with issues related to suicide, and appreciation of skills focusing on interviewing in patients. Overall the module was well received by medical students. CONCLUSIONS: A suicide prevention training module seems to have been valued by students and lead to positive attitudes towards understanding suicide. Adopting this initiative as a suicide prevention strategy warrants further exploration.

The significance of LMO2 expression in the progression of prostate cancer.

LIM domain only 2 (LMO2) proteins are important regulators in determining cell fate and controlling cell growth and differentiation. This study has investigated LMO2 expression in human prostatic tissue specimens, prostate cancer cell lines, and xenografts; and has assessed the possible role and mechanism of LMO2 in prostate carcinogenesis. Immunohistochemical analysis on a tissue microarray consisting of 91 human prostate specimens, including normal, prostatic hyperplasia, high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, and invasive carcinoma, revealed that overexpression of LMO2 was significantly associated with advanced tumour stage, as measured by Gleason score (p = 0.012), as well as with the development of distant metastasis (p = 0.018). These data were supported by quantitative real-time PCR experiments, where LMO2 mRNA levels were found to be significantly higher in prostate tumour specimen than in normal epithelium (p = 0.037). The expression of LMO2 in cell lines and xenografts representing androgen-dependent (AD) and androgen-independent (AI) prostate cancer stages was further studied. Consistent with the in vivo data, LMO2 mRNA and protein were found to be overexpressed in the more aggressive AI cells (PC3, DU145, and AI CWR22 xenografts) compared with less aggressive AD cells (LNCaP and AD CWR22 xenografts). Furthermore, stable introduction of LMO2 into LNCaP cells conferred enhanced cell motility and invasiveness in vitro, accompanied by down-regulation of E-cadherin expression. Taken together, these findings provide the first evidence to support the hypothesis that LMO2 may play an important role in prostate cancer progression, possibly via repression of E-cadherin expression.