Low-level lithium in drinking water and subsequent risk of dementia: Cohort study.

Background: Lithium, a mood stabilizer, is known to exhibit neuroprotective effects in animal models and may have anti-dementia effects.

Aims: We used data from Scottish Mental Survey 1932, a population-based cohort study, to investigate the association between lithium in drinking water and dementia rate in humans.

Method: Lithium levels in drinking water from 285 sampling sites across Scotland dating from 2014 were obtained from the sole public water provider (Scottish Water).

Invited commentary on … Lithium treatment and risk for dementia in adults with bipolar disorder.

Alzheimer's disease clinical trials are failing at an alarming rate, highlighting the desperate need for novel thinking to combat this escalating health crisis. A recent large-scale population study indicates that lithium treatment reduces dementia development, supporting preclinical mechanistic evidence that this commonly used agent might be clinically valuable in dementia.

Anticonvulsant Mechanisms of Electroconvulsive Therapy and Relation to Therapeutic Efficacy.

Background: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is held to confer anticonvulsant effects, although the role of rise in seizure threshold upon clinical effect is uncertain. This study investigated the relationship in a large, consecutive, retrospective sample of patients receiving ECT in Aberdeen. We have tested the hypotheses of previous authors to further examine the relationship between seizure and therapeutic effect as well as discuss the potential underlying neurobiological mechanisms.

Homocysteine, antioxidant micronutrients and late onset dementia.

Purpose: To distinguish between contributions to dementia made by homocysteine, folate, B12 and antioxidant micronutrients.

Methods: This is a follow-up study of a sample reported in 2002. Homocysteine was measured at baseline in 201 individuals born in 1921 and without dementia at age 77 years and followed up to age 88 years.

Anticholinergic drugs in late life: adverse effects on cognition but not on progress to dementia.

Impaired cognitive function associated with use of anticholinergic drugs may be partly attributed to underlying physical illness and exposure to factors that increase the risk of some physical disorders such as low socioeconomic status (SES) and less education. To estimate the extent of cognitive impairment and risk of progress to dementia associated with anticholinergic drug use and to estimate confounding by gender, APOE, family history of dementia, lower SES, less education, and lower childhood mental ability, we recruited 281 volunteers at age 77-78 without overt dementia who had taken part in the Scottish Mental Survey of 1932. Clinical histories, use of medications, self reported frequency of emotional symptoms and standardized tests of cognitive function were obtained.

Experience of an Inter-regional Research Symposium for Higher Psychiatric Trainees in Scotland.

Objectives: We present our experience of an annual research symposium for psychiatric trainees in Scotland. This paper aimed to consider trainees' involvement in research by examining firstly rates of publication and secondly the views of trainees.

Methods: A list of all presentations to the Senior Trainees' Annual Research Symposium (STARS) meetings 2007-2009 was compiled and a detailed search made of major research databases.