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      Crop-damaging temperatures increase suicide rates in India

      Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
      Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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          Abstract

          <p id="d4157577e144">Suicide is a stark indicator of human hardship, yet the causes of these deaths remain understudied, particularly in developing countries. This analysis of India, where one fifth of the world’s suicides occur, demonstrates that the climate, particularly temperature, has strong influence over a growing suicide epidemic. With 47 y of suicide records and climate data, I show that high temperatures increase suicide rates, but only during India’s growing season, when heat also reduces crop yields. My results are consistent with widely cited theories of economic suicide in India. Moreover, these findings have important implications for future climate change; I estimate that warming temperature trends over the last three decades have already been responsible for over 59,000 suicides throughout India. </p><p class="first" id="d4157577e147">More than three quarters of the world’s suicides occur in developing countries, yet little is known about the drivers of suicidal behavior in poor populations. I study India, where one fifth of global suicides occur and suicide rates have doubled since 1980. Using nationally comprehensive panel data over 47 y, I demonstrate that fluctuations in climate, particularly temperature, significantly influence suicide rates. For temperatures above 20 °C, a 1 °C increase in a single day’s temperature causes ∼70 suicides, on average. This effect occurs only during India’s agricultural growing season, when heat also lowers crop yields. I find no evidence that acclimatization, rising incomes, or other unobserved drivers of adaptation are occurring. I estimate that warming over the last 30 y is responsible for 59,300 suicides in India, accounting for 6.8% of the total upward trend. These results deliver large-scale quantitative evidence linking climate and agricultural income to self-harm in a developing country. </p>

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              Impaired respiratory and body temperature control upon acute serotonergic neuron inhibition.

              Physiological homeostasis is essential for organism survival. Highly responsive neuronal networks are involved, but their constituent neurons are just beginning to be resolved. To query brain serotonergic neurons in homeostasis, we used a neuronal silencing tool, mouse RC::FPDi (based on the synthetic G protein-coupled receptor Di), designed for cell type-specific, ligand-inducible, and reversible suppression of action potential firing. In mice harboring Di-expressing serotonergic neurons, administration of the ligand clozapine-N-oxide (CNO) by systemic injection attenuated the chemoreflex that normally increases respiration in response to tissue carbon dioxide (CO(2)) elevation and acidosis. At the cellular level, CNO suppressed firing rate increases evoked by CO(2) acidosis. Body thermoregulation at room temperature was also disrupted after CNO triggering of Di; core temperatures plummeted, then recovered. This work establishes that serotonergic neurons regulate life-sustaining respiratory and thermoregulatory networks, and demonstrates a noninvasive tool for mapping neuron function.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
                Proc Natl Acad Sci USA
                Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
                0027-8424
                1091-6490
                August 15 2017
                August 15 2017
                August 15 2017
                July 31 2017
                : 114
                : 33
                : 8746-8751
                Article
                10.1073/pnas.1701354114
                5565417
                28760983
                9ffad6ad-70db-4534-bdf4-86e08e4bf39c
                © 2017

                Free to read

                http://www.pnas.org/site/misc/userlicense.xhtml

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