Marcus Munafo appraises a recent cross sectional study of tobacco smoking and its association with cognition in first episode psychosis patients.
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Ian Hamilton considers a recent literature review published in JAMA Psychiatry, which explores the effects of cannabis use on human behaviour, Including cognition, motivation and psychosis.
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Clarissa Giebel summarises a systematic review, which concludes that the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) has good sensitivity (77.2%) and specificity (85.9%) for diagnosing dementia in multicultural populations.
[read the full story...]Jake Crawshaw reports on a recent systematic review of cognitive and exercise interventions for older people with and without cognitive impairment.
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Andrés Fonseca summarises the findings of a recent systematic review of the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of sensory, psychological and behavioural interventions for managing agitation in dementia.
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This updated Cochrane review on statins for the treatment of dementia contains worrying adverse effects data, but Caroline Struthers has to do a significant amount of digging to root it all out.
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Does a mouse think like a human? Does a cat? Does a macaque monkey? These are fascinating questions to ask on a philosophical level, but they are also of immense practical importance. Current regulations on drug development mean that animal research plays a huge role in deciding what substances might be safe and beneficial to humans. [read the full story…]
Many of our older readers will remember tales of the Great Elf Mother running miles every day, o’er hills and vales, to bring the very latest evidence-based research to us younger elves at the breakfast table. It was she who inspired our National Elf Service, and I’m delighted to say that she’s still going strong [read the full story…]
It is now well accepted across the health and social care communities that the incidence of dementia is rising as people continue to live longer. The projected prevalence of dementia over the next ten to twenty years is causing widespread concern at all levels of policy making and care provision. There is a very real [read the full story…]
Studies have demonstrated that CBT works at least as well as antidepressants at reducing depression, perhaps even better (DeRubeis et al., 1999). However, it’s difficult for people with depression to access CBT due to lengthy waiting lists. The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) scheme has had a major influence on waiting times for people [read the full story…]
