Factors associated with dementia-related stigma in British adolescents.

Background: Dementia-related stigma is a prominent barrier for people living with dementia, leading to poor well-being and social isolation. Adolescents are an under-researched group in society that may already have experience of dementia and are more susceptible to attitudinal change which makes them ideal targets for anti-stigma initiatives outlined by public health policy. For the development of evidence-based anti-stigma initiatives in adolescents, it is important to understand which socio-demographic groups are most likely to develop stigmatising attitudes and why.

Measures Determining Dementia-Related Attitudes in Adolescents: A Scoping Review.

Reducing stigma is a key benefit to intergenerational programs. However, little is known about the availability and suitability of measures that capture dementia-related attitudes in adolescents, thus limiting interpretations of the efficacy of such programs. The aim of this scoping review was to provide an overview of outcome measures used to capture dementiarelated attitudes in adolescents.

Determinants of hospital readmissions in older people with dementia: a narrative review.

Introduction: Over 50% of hospitalised older people with dementia have multimorbidity, and are at an increased risk of hospital readmissions within 30 days of their discharge. Between 20-40% of these readmissions may be preventable. Current research focuses on the physical causes of hospital readmissions.

A pragmatic, multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled randomised trial to assess the safety, clinical and cost-effectiveness of mirtazapine and carbamazepine in people with Alzheimer's disease and agitated behaviours: the HTA-SYMBAD trial.

Background: Agitation is common and impacts negatively on people with dementia and carers. Non-drug patient-centred care is first-line treatment, but we need other treatment when this fails. Current evidence is sparse on safer and effective alternatives to antipsychotics.

The use of the integrated cognitive assessment to improve the efficiency of primary care referrals to memory services in the accelerating dementia pathway technologies study.

Background: Current primary care cognitive assessment tools are either crude or time-consuming instruments that can only detect cognitive impairment when it is well established. This leads to unnecessary or late referrals to memory services, by which time the disease may have already progressed into more severe stages. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some memory services have adapted to the new environment by shifting to remote assessments of patients to meet service user demand.

Evidence of emerging BBB changes in mid-age apolipoprotein E epsilon-4 carriers.

Introduction: Studies have recognized that the loss of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity is a major structural biomarker where neurodegenerative disease potentially begins. Using a combination of high-quality neuroimaging techniques, we investigated potential subtle differences in BBB permeability in mid-age healthy people, comparing carriers of the apolipoprotein E epsilon-4 (APOEε4) genotype, the biggest risk factor for late onset, non-familial AD (LOAD) with APOEε3 carriers, the population norm.

Methods: Forty-one cognitively healthy mid-age participants (42-59) were genotyped and pseudo-randomly selected to participate in the study by a third party.

Care home staff perceptions of implementing a quality of life instrument into routine care practice: A qualitative study.

Quality of life is an important outcome in older-adult care. Measuring resident quality of life may offer ways to improve it and to improve quality of care. However, in the UK quality of life is rarely measured as a part of routine care.

Cost-effectiveness of mirtazapine for agitated behaviors in dementia: findings from a randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: To examine the costs and cost-effectiveness of mirtazapine compared to placebo over 12-week follow-up.

Design: Economic evaluation in a double-blind randomized controlled trial of mirtazapine vs. placebo.

Night-to-night variation in sleep associates with day-to-day variation in vigilance, cognition, memory, and behavioral problems in Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: Sleep disturbances are commonly reported in people living with Alzheimer's disease (AD), but it is currently unknown whether night-to-night variation in sleep predicts day-to-day variation in vigilance, cognition, mood, and behavior (daytime measures).

Methods: Subjective and objective sleep and daytime measures were collected daily for 2 weeks in 15 participants with mild AD, eight participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 22 participants with no cognitive impairment (NCI). Associations between daytime measures and four principal components of sleep (duration, quality, continuity, and latency) were quantified using mixed-model regression.

What factors have influenced quality of life in people with dementia and their family carers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study.

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant disruption to health and social care services. For people with dementia and their family carers this is problematic, as a group who rely on timely and responsive services to live well with the condition. This study has sought to understand how COVID-19 has affected the quality of life of people diagnosed with dementia and their family carers.

Covid-19 and the quality of life of people with dementia and their carers-The TFD-C19 study.

Introduction: COVID-19 has placed unprecedented pressure on dementia health and social care systems worldwide. This has resulted in reduced services and support for people with dementia and their family carers. There are gaps in the evidence on the impact of the pandemic on Quality of Life (QoL).

The Use of a Computerized Cognitive Assessment to Improve the Efficiency of Primary Care Referrals to Memory Services: Protocol for the Accelerating Dementia Pathway Technologies (ADePT) Study.

Background: Existing primary care cognitive assessment tools are crude or time-consuming screening instruments which can only detect cognitive impairment when it is well established. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, memory services have adapted to the new environment by moving to remote patient assessments to continue meeting service user demand. However, the remote use of cognitive assessments has been variable while there has been scant evaluation of the outcome of such a change in clinical practice.

Bilingualism: A Global Public Health Strategy for Healthy Cognitive Aging.

Dementia is a global public health priority which cost global societies $818 billion in 2015 and is disproportionately impacting low and middle-income countries (LMICs). With limited availability of disease modifying drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD), researchers have increasingly focused on preventative strategies which may promote healthy cognitive aging and mitigate the risk of cognitive impairment in aging. Lifelong bilingualism has been presented as both a highly debated and promising cognitive reserve factor which has been associated with better cognitive outcomes in aging.

Mid age APOE ε4 carriers show memory-related functional differences and disrupted structure-function relationships in hippocampal regions.

Carriers of the APOE e4 allele are at higher risk of age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease (AD). The underlying neural mechanisms are uncertain, but genotype differences in medial temporal lobe (MTL) functional activity and structure at mid-age might contribute. We tested 16 non-e4 and 16 e4 carriers (aged 45-55) on a subsequent memory task in conjunction with MRI to assess how hippocampal volume (from T1 structural) and microstructure (neurite orientation-dispersion, from NODDI) differs by genotype and in relation to memory encoding.

Are symptoms of insomnia in primary care associated with subsequent onset of dementia? A matched retrospective case-control study.

There is evidence from neuroimaging studies of an association between insomnia and early dementia biomarkers, but observational studies have so far failed to show a clear association between insomnia and the later development of dementia. We investigated the association between dementia diagnosis and recording of insomnia symptoms 5-10 years earlier in primary care. A case-control study using data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink.

Cambridge Cognitive Examination and Hachinski Ischemic Score as predictors of MRI confirmed pathology in dementia: A cross-sectional study.

Aims And Background: Dementia is diagnosed through a combination of clinical assessment, cognitive assessment tools and neuroimaging. The aim of this retrospective, naturalistic study was to explore the association between the clinical assessment tools used in a memory clinic and the findings of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans in patients with dementia.

Methods: Data were collected through routine clinical practice for all patients assessed at a memory assessment clinic in East Sussex, UK.

Minocycline at 2 Different Dosages vs Placebo for Patients With Mild Alzheimer Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: There are no disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia. Minocycline is anti-inflammatory, protects against the toxic effects of β-amyloid in vitro and in animal models of AD, and is a credible repurposed treatment candidate.

Objective: To determine whether 24 months of minocycline treatment can modify cognitive and functional decline in patients with mild AD.

Prospective Memory: Age related change is influenced by APOE genotype.

Non-focal prospective memory (PM) is sensitive to age-related decline; an additional impairment in focal PM is characteristic of mild stage Alzheimer's disease. This research explored whether, by mid-adulthood, the distinct demands of focal and non-focal PM expose differences in carriers of an ε4 allele, a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Thirty-three young and 55 mid-age adults, differentiated by genotype, completed a category-decision task with a concurrent focal or non-focal PM demand.

Adaptation of the DEMQOL-Proxy for routine use in care homes: a cross-sectional study of the reliability and validity of DEMQOL-CH.

Objective: To investigate the routine use of a measure of quality of life (QoL) in care homes and assess its psychometric properties when used by care staff.

Design: A cross-sectional two-phase study.

Setting And Participants: Data were collected from care staff in seven care homes in East Sussex, England.

Social networks and loneliness in people with Alzheimer's dementia.

Objectives: Modifiable lifestyle risk factors are of great interest in the prevention and management of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Loneliness and social networks may influence onset of AD, but little is known about this relationship in people with AD. The current study aimed to explore the relationship between loneliness and social networks (social measures) and cognitive and psychopathology decline (AD outcomes) in people with AD.

Psychometric properties and feasibility of use of dementia specific quality of life instruments for use in care settings: a systematic review.

Background: Over 400,000 people live in care home settings in the UK. One way of understanding and improving the quality of care provided is by measuring and understanding the quality of life (QoL) of those living in care homes. This review aimed to identify and examine the psychometric properties including feasibility of use of dementia-specific QoL measures developed or validated for use in care settings.

Vitamin and mineral supplementation for maintaining cognitive function in cognitively healthy people in mid and late life.

Background: Vitamins and minerals play multiple functions within the central nervous system which may help to maintain brain health and optimal cognitive functioning. Supplementation of the diet with various vitamins and minerals has been suggested as a means of maintaining cognitive function, or even of preventing dementia, in later life.

Objectives: To evaluate the effects of vitamin and mineral supplementation on cognitive function in cognitively healthy people aged 40 years or more.

Vitamin and mineral supplementation for preventing dementia or delaying cognitive decline in people with mild cognitive impairment.

Background: Vitamins and minerals have many functions in the nervous system which are important for brain health. It has been suggested that various different vitamin and mineral supplements might be useful in maintaining cognitive function and delaying the onset of dementia. In this review, we sought to examine the evidence for this in people who already had mild cognitive impairment (MCI).