Office- and Bedside-based Screening for Cognitive Impairment and the Dementias: Which Tools to Use, Interpreting the Results, and What Are the Next Steps?

Elderly patients and their families are concerned about the patients' cognitive abilities, and cognitive screening is an efficient diagnostic tool, as long as clinicians administer the screens in a standardized manner and interpret the screen results accurately. The following brief summary reviews commonly used screening instruments and provides information about how to interpret screening test results. It concludes by showing how cognitive screening fits into a four-step process (Education, Screening, Follow-up, and Referral) of how to respond to patients with cognitive concerns.

Relationships between insomnia and alcohol and cocaine use frequency with aggression among veterans engaged in substance use treatment.

Background: Veterans with substance use problems have rates of partner and non-partner violence that typically exceed the general population. Sleep problems may exacerbate violence and maintain addictive behaviors in non-veterans, but requires study in veterans. Therefore, we examine the interrelationships between substance use, insomnia, and violence in veterans.

Validation and extension of personality disorder spectra scales from MMPI-2-RF items.

Objectives: Recent efforts have been made to develop 10 personality disorder spectra scales using items from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF). These scales, developed by Sellbom et al. (2018, J.

Influence of Cognition on Length of Stay and Rehospitalization in Older Veterans Admitted for Post-Acute Care.

Objectives: Evaluate the relative contribution of cognitive test performance to post-acute care (PAC) length of stay (LOS) and rehospitalization while controlling for key demographic, medical, and functional outcomes.

Methods: Retrospective medical record review of 160 older Veterans, including cognitive test performance (Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised [ACE-R]), on admission to a Veterans Administration Hospital Community Living Center (CLC) PAC.

Results: Individuals with impaired scores on the ACE-R had a longer LOS (10 median days longer; = 2,547.

Tolerability and blinding of 4x1 high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) at two and three milliamps.

Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an in-demand form of neuromodulation generally regarded as safe and well tolerated. However, few studies have examined the safety, tolerability, or blinding of High Definition (HD-) tDCS, especially in older adults and at stimulation intensities of 2 milliamps (mA) or greater.

Objective: We examined the rates of serious adverse events and common side effects to establish safety and tolerability, respectively, in HD-tDCS.

Incidental Learning: A Brief, Valid Measure of Memory Based on the WAIS-IV Vocabulary and Similarities Subtests.

Objective: We assessed the validity of a brief incidental learning measure based on the Similarities and Vocabulary subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV).

Background: Most neuropsychological assessments for memory require intentional learning, but incidental learning occurs without explicit instruction. Incidental memory tests such as the WAIS-III Symbol Digit Coding subtest have existed for many years, but few memory studies have used a semantically processed incidental learning model.