Promoting Activity, Independence, and Stability in Early Dementia and mild cognitive impairment (PrAISED): randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of an exercise and functional activity therapy intervention in adults with early dementia or mild cognitive impairment compared with usual care.

Design: Randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Participants' homes and communities at five sites in the United Kingdom.

Relationship between autonomic arousal and attention orienting in children and adolescents with ADHD, autism and co-occurring ADHD and autism.

Introduction: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may be characterized by different profiles of visual attention orienting. However, there are also many inconsistent findings emerging from the literature, probably due to the fact that the potential effect of autonomic arousal (which has been proposed to be dysregulated in these conditions) on oculomotor performance has not been investigated before. Moreover, it is not known how visual attention orienting is affected by the co-occurrence of ADHD and autism in people with a double diagnosis.

Comparing behavioural outcomes in children born extremely preterm between 2006 and 1995: the EPICure studies.

Background: Children born extremely preterm (EP) are at increased risk of neurocognitive and behavioural morbidity. Here, we investigate whether behavioural outcomes have changed over time concomitant with increasing survival following EP birth.

Methods: Comparison of outcomes at 11 years of age for two prospective national cohorts of children born EP in 1995 (EPICure) and 2006 (EPICure2), assessed alongside term-born children.

Exploring the Experiences of Parents Whose Child has Received a Diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder in Adulthood.

There is a growing trend of adult diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Research has found that diagnosis can prompt a process of sense-making which may be disrupted by lack of post-diagnostic support. Given the continued involvement of many parents in supporting their adult son or daughter with ASD, it is vital to understand their experiences to meet their needs in adapting to the diagnosis.

Look after your foundation doctors.

Background/aims: This article reports on the career choice of foundation doctors going through a local foundation programme and whether they planned to take an F3 year. The authors also prospectively gathered views relating to their career choice and the need for an F3 year.

Method: Data were gathered from 193 foundation doctors training in Nottinghamshire between 2015 and 2020 through an unstructured interview process.

A randomised controlled trial of an exercise intervention promoting activity, independence and stability in older adults with mild cognitive impairment and early dementia (PrAISED) - A Protocol.

Background: People with dementia progressively lose cognitive and functional abilities. Interventions promoting exercise and activity may slow decline. We developed a novel intervention to promote activity and independence and prevent falls in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or early dementia.

Multimodal coding and strategic approach in young and older adults' visual working memory performance.

Visual working memory (WM) was investigated in young (18-35 yrs) and older (63-88 yrs) adults by assessing use of visual and verbal processing, and strategic approach. Experiment 1 comprised a visual interference paradigm, to investigate visual rehearsal during an abstract visual WM task. Results suggested both groups used a visual strategy, but older adults struggled more when visual interference was administered first, perhaps due to difficulty developing non-visual strategies.

Autistic Traits in Treatment-Seeking Transgender Adults.

The present study aimed to compare prevalence of autistic traits measured by the self-reported autism spectrum quotient-short (AQ-short) in a transgender clinical population (n = 656) matched by age and sex assigned at birth to a cisgender community sample. Results showed that transgender and cisgender people reported similar levels of possible autistic caseness. Transgender people assigned female were more likely to have clinically significant autistic traits compared to any other group.

A development study and randomised feasibility trial of a tailored intervention to improve activity and reduce falls in older adults with mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia.

Background: People with dementia progressively lose abilities and are prone to falling. Exercise- and activity-based interventions hold the prospect of increasing abilities, reducing falls, and slowing decline in cognition. Current falls prevention approaches are poorly suited to people with dementia, however, and are of uncertain effectiveness.

Intensive case management for severe mental illness.

Background: Intensive Case Management (ICM) is a community-based package of care aiming to provide long-term care for severely mentally ill people who do not require immediate admission. Intensive Case Management evolved from two original community models of care, Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and Case Management (CM), where ICM emphasises the importance of small caseload (fewer than 20) and high-intensity input.

Objectives: To assess the effects of ICM as a means of caring for severely mentally ill people in the community in comparison with non-ICM (caseload greater than 20) and with standard community care.

Substance use disorder in Asperger syndrome: An investigation into the development and maintenance of substance use disorder by individuals with a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome.

Background: Recent research has suggested that the prevalence of problematic substance use within the Asperger syndrome population has previously been underestimated. Furthermore, there is some indication that problematic substance use might take place to manage the traits of Asperger syndrome; however this possibility has yet to be examined in detail. This study aimed to address this omission by exploring individuals' perceptions of their substance use in relation to their diagnosis of Asperger syndrome.

Can theory of mind deficits be measured reliably in people with mild and moderate Alzheimer's dementia?

Background: Patients suffering from Alzheimer's dementia develop difficulties in social functioning. This has led to an interest in the study of "theory of mind" in this population. However, difficulty has arisen because the associated cognitive demands of traditional short story theory of mind assessments result in failure per se in this population, making it challenging to test pure theory of mind ability.

Levels of anxiety and sources of stress in adults with autism.

Clinical reports suggest that anxiety is a pertinent issue for adults with autism. We compared 34 adults with autism with 20 adults with intellectual disabilities, utilizing informant-based measures of anxiety and stress. Groups were matched by age, gender and intellectual ability.

Ethics and intellectual disability.

A shift in accepted practice regarding sharing research led one editor to discuss adopting a legal rather than a moral stance to enforce ethical standards. Familiar ethical concerns regarding consent and balancing individual rights against those of others are considered, alongside lacunae in the field, by drawing on virtue ethics. Reappraisals of quality of life, person-centered planning and normalization are discussed, concluding that developing ethical relationships with people who have intellectual disability takes precedence over client competency.

Smoking prevalence and knowledge of associated risks in adult attenders at day centres for people with learning disabilities.

Background: Increased longevity among people with learning disabilities is accompanied by an increase in morbidity. A possible explanation is that living in the community and a move to greater independence may bring higher health risks through obesity and smoking. The study aimed to see if rates of smoking have increased from earlier published rates and to ascertain the awareness of the risks of smoking among people with learning disabilities.

Anxiety in high-functioning children with autism.

High-functioning children with autism were compared with two control groups on measures of anxiety and social worries. Comparison control groups consisted of children with specific language impairment (SLI) and normally developing children. Each group consisted of 15 children between the ages of 8 and 12 years and were matched for age and gender.