The rising use of cognitive enhancement drugs and predictors of use during COVID-19: findings from a cross-sectional survey of students and university staff in the UK.

Background: The use of psychoactive substances to increase cognitive performance while studying has been termed 'pharmacological cognitive enhancement' (PCE). In previous years, several large-scale national surveys have focused on their use by students at university, including drug types, prevalence rates, and predictive factors. The recent coronavirus pandemic brought about widespread structural changes for UK universities, as students were forced to adapt to home-based learning and in many cases reduced academic support.

Ketamine treatment for refractory anxiety: A systematic review.

There is a growing interest in the psychiatric properties of the dissociative anaesthetic ketamine, as single doses have been shown to have fast-acting mood-enhancing and anxiolytic effects, which persist for up to a week after the main psychoactive symptoms have diminished. Therefore, ketamine poses potential beneficial effects in patients with refractory anxiety disorders, where other conventional anxiolytics have been ineffective. Ketamine is a noncompetitive antagonist of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor, which underlies its induction of pain relief and anaesthesia.