Characteristics of Older Defendants Referred for Forensic Evaluations.

This study aimed to provide a descriptive analysis of the geriatric forensic population referred to a Regional Forensic Psychiatric Service by the court for evaluation (as inpatient, outpatient, or while incarcerated) in New Zealand, over a 7-year period. Data were collected retrospectively from forensic hospital records, including court-ordered reports for those aged 60 and older. Two-fifths (42%) of the 97 referred study subjects were diagnosed with some form of cognitive impairment such as dementia.

Plasma and cerebrospinal fluid ABeta42 for the differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease dementia in participants diagnosed with any dementia subtype in a specialist care setting.

Background: Dementia is a syndrome that comprises many differing pathologies, including Alzheimer's disease dementia (ADD), vascular dementia (VaD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). People may benefit from knowing the type of dementia they live with, as this could inform prognosis and may allow for tailored treatment. Beta-amyloid (1-42) (ABeta42) is a protein which decreases in both the plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of people living with ADD, when compared to people with no dementia.

Evaluation of the uptake and delivery of the NHS Health Check programme in England, using primary care data from 9.5 million people: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: To describe the uptake and outputs of the National Health Service Health Check (NHSHC) programme in England.

Design: Observational study.

Setting: National primary care data extracted directly by NHS Digital from 90% of general practices (GP) in England.

Building collaborative capability between law enforcement and civil society leaders to prevent urban violence.

Objectives: This research paper analyses how applying a Place-Based Leadership Development (P-BLD) programme adds value to an ongoing intersectoral Urban Violence Prevention Programme (IUVP) in Kenya building trust within collaboratives in the intersection between the historically adversarial law enforcement and civil society sectors.

Methods: Data on participants' experience of the P-BLD programme were systematically collected through detailed pre- and post-session questionnaires which included a series of challenging but open questions. A framework analysis was undertaken to draw out the common themes.

Survey of Attitudes to Self-Harm Patients Within a Burns and Plastic Surgery Department.

This study aims to build on the small body of evidence in previously published study exploring professional attitudes toward deliberate self-harm (DSH) patients from a predominantly burns and plastic surgery perspective. The authors distributed a short paper-based questionnaire within the burns and plastics department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, where the authors gathered a mixture of qualitative and quantitative data surrounding this issue. Professionals generally agree that DSH patients require input from multiple services and that surgery is not always the best option.

Reactions to driving cessation: a qualitative study of people with dementia and their families.

Objectives: A proportion of older people with mild dementia are safe to drive. However, driving cessation is recommended at some point as the disease progresses. Driving cessation can have significant psychological and social consequences on people with dementia and their carers.

Additive toxicity of β-amyloid by a novel bioactive peptide in vitro: possible implications for Alzheimer's disease.

Background: β-amyloid is regarded as a significant factor in Alzheimer's disease: but inefficient therapies based on this rationale suggests that additional signalling molecules or intermediary mechanisms must be involved in the actual initiation of the characteristic degeneration of neurons. One clue could be that acetylcholinesterase, also present in amyloid plaques, is aberrant in peripheral tissues such as blood and adrenal medulla that can be implicated in Alzheimer's disease. The aim of this study was to assess the bioactivity of a fragment of acetylcholinesterase responsible for its non-enzymatic functions, a thirty amino acid peptide ("T30") which has homologies with β-amyloid.

Treatment practices in Tourette syndrome: the European perspective.

Aims: National differences in licensing laws suggest that the use of medications for the treatment of Tourette syndrome differs between European countries. However, variability in prescribing practices has never been investigated. This study aims to systematically examine European prescribing practices in Tourette syndrome.

Improving light-trap efficiency for Culicoides spp. with light-emitting diodes.

The robustness of light traps used to monitor Culicoides spp. throughout Australia was improved with stainless steel and heavy duty plastic fittings. Printed circuit boards and light-dependent resistors were modified to be compatible with recent advances in electronics.

Detecting health fraud in the field of learning disabilities.

Quackery is currently a widespread problem that pervades all aspects of healthcare, including the treatment of learning disorders. A discussion of the nature of modern health fraud in special education is presented. The psychopathology of health fraud, the standards by which pseudoscience and health quackery are defined, and the complexities of learning disorders are discussed.

Reading disability: a discussion of visual, auditory, and linguistic factors.

A case is presented in which the chief complaint of letter reversals and poor reading achievement suggests a visual or visual-perceptual problem. Analysis of the history, refraction, visual skills, and visual-perceptual test results indicates that a visual system dysfunction is not a significant factor in this case. Rather, a linguistic skills deficit is suggested by the pattern of errors exhibited on the tests.

Cyclovergence: the motor response to cyclodisparity.

Static photographic evidence of the occurrence of cyclovergence is presented that supports and extends the result of Crone and Everhard-Halm (1975). Wide-angle complex targets were a necessary condition; simple horizontal line targets were insufficient. Our asymmetrical disparity targets supported in part the conformance of cyclovergence to Hering's Law but raised questions relating to the computational process that also acts to remove cyclodisparity and permits cyclofusion.