Risk factors for suicide among active-duty members of the United States Marine Corps were investigated. Three groups were suicide attempters (n = 172), completers (n = 22), and a nonpsychiatric comparison group (n = 384). A series of multiple regression and discriminant analyses were conducted to assess whether any of 137 selected risk-factors differentiated the suicidal group from the comparison group. The following factors differentiated suicide attempters and completers from the comparison group and were associated with increased suicide risk: History of Abuse, Neglect, or Rejection, Lower Performance Evaluation, Symptoms of Depression, No History of Gambling Behavior, Younger Age, History of Alcohol Abuse, and Hopelessness. A discriminant analysis using these seven variables resulted in a 77% accuracy rate. When evaluating variables that could be obtained by a review of military records alone, three variables differentiated the attempters and completers from the comparison group, Lower Performance Evaluation, Younger Age, and a History of Military or Legal Problems. These variables correctly classified 73% of the sample. Implications for suicide-risk assessment for individuals in the Marine Corps are provided.

US pathology centre units will live on We wish to point out that several elements of the US Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) have survived its closure and have been relocated within the Department of Defense (Nature 476, 270-272; 2011). These units include the Depleted Uranium and Imbedded Fragment Laboratory, the Molecular Laboratory, Telepathology, the Automated Central Tumor Registry, the Veterinary Pathology Program (including residency training), the Armed Forces Medical Examiner function, the Histotechnology Training Program, and the congressionally funded Combat Wound Initiative. The Department of Veterans' Affairs has assumed responsibility for the capabilities of the Biophysical Research Laboratory. The Department of Defense is working to make the vast collection of the former AFIP Tissue Repository (now part of the Joint Pathology Center) broadly available for research. At our request, the Institute of Medicine has convened a panel of national experts in biorepository management, medical informatics, medical ethics and pathology. The panel's task is to recommend the optimal and sustainable use of repository material; who should have access to it; technologies needed to utilize the repository; and ethical considerations over the use in research of material originally collected for clinical purposes. Several institutes are collaborating in pathology translational research and in supporting key clinical-research initiatives and education efforts. These include the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the Joint Task Force National Capital Region Medical (and its subordinate units, the Joint Pathology Center and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center), other organizations in the Department of Defense, and Veterans' Affairs. These collaborations will be part of a new era of intergovernmental and public-private partnerships that will create vital research and clinical interactions. The celebrated history of AFIP and its importance to the broader research, clinical and academic communities provide the perfect foundation.

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Thirty percent of all hospital admissions are smokers. Hospitals are quickly becoming smoke-free facilities. Individuals hospitalized for medical ailments associated with smoking might have increased motivation to quit in a smoke-free hospital. This article outlines a method to conduct a smoker's consult service. There are four treatment intervention phases: (1) consultation; (2) detoxification; (3) cessation; and (4) recovery-follow-up. The entire consultation and intervention will take approximately 2 hours. The organized smoker's consult service is a necessary component to a successful hospital-based intervention. Eliminating tobacco addiction with hospitalized patients is a movement toward the goal of a smoke-free society.