Assessing clinical progression measures in Alzheimer's disease trials: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Assessing treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD) relies on reliable tools for measuring AD progression. In this analysis, we evaluate the sensitivity of clinical progression measures in AD within randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with confirmed positive amyloid (Aβ+) status prior to trial enrollment.

Methods: Excluding trials targeting non-cognitive symptoms, we conducted meta-analyses on progression measures from 25 selected RCTs using R version 4.

Physical restraint in older people: an opinion from the Early Career Network of the International Psychogeriatric Association.

The International Psychogeriatric Association (IPA) has expressed significant concerns over the use of physical restraints in older people across diverse aged care settings. Following an extensive analysis of the available literature, the IPA's Early Career Network (ECN) has formulated a collection of evidence-based recommendations aimed at guiding the use of physical restraints within various care contexts and demographic groups. Physical restraints not only infringe upon human rights but also raise significant safety concerns that adversely impact the physical, psychological, social, and functional well-being of older adults.

'It's not going to be a one size fits all': a qualitative exploration of the potential utility of three drug checking service models in Scotland.

Background: Scotland currently has the highest rates of drug-related deaths in Europe, so drug checking services are being explored due to their potential role in reducing these deaths and related harms. Drug checking services allow individuals to submit presumed psychoactive drug samples for analysis, and then receive individualised feedback and counselling. This paper explores participants' views on the advantages and challenges of three hypothetical service models, to inform future service delivery in Scotland.

Stakeholder views on the design of National Health Service perinatal mental health services: 360-degree survey.

Aims And Method: At the start of a new community perinatal mental health service in Scotland we sought the opinions and aspirations of professional and lay stakeholders. A student elective project supported the creation of an anonymous 360-degree online survey of a variety of staff and people with lived experience of suffering from or managing perinatal mental health problems. The survey was designed and piloted with trainees and volunteer patients.

Eye Movement Patterns Can Distinguish Schizophrenia From the Major Affective Disorders and Healthy Control Subjects.

Background And Hypothesis: No objective tests are currently available to help diagnosis of major psychiatric disorders. This study evaluates the potential of eye movement behavior patterns to predict schizophrenia subjects compared to those with major affective disorders and control groups.

Study Design: Eye movements were recorded from a training set of UK subjects with schizophrenia (SCZ;  = 120), bipolar affective disorder (BPAD;  = 141), major depressive disorder (MDD;  = 136), and healthy controls (CON;  = 142), and from a hold-out set of 133 individuals with proportional group sizes.

Cognitive Test Scores and Progressive Cognitive Decline in the Aberdeen 1921 and 1936 Birth Cohorts.

The Aberdeen birth cohorts of 1921 and 1936 (ABC21 and ABC36) were subjected to IQ tests in 1932 or 1947 when they were aged about 11y. They were recruited between 1997-2001 among cognitively healthy community residents and comprehensively phenotyped in a long-term study of brain aging and health up to 2017. Here, we report associations between baseline cognitive test scores and long-term cognitive outcomes.

To fuse or not to fuse: The elderly patient with lumbar stenosis and low-grade spondylolisthesis. Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Background: The optimum surgical intervention for elderly patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) and low-grade degenerative-spondylolisthesis (LGDS) has been extensively debated. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised-controlled-trials (RCTs) comparing the effectiveness of decompression-alone against the gold-standard approach of decompression-with-fusion (D + F) in elderly patients with LSS and LGDS.

Methods: A systematic literature search was performed on published databases from inception to October-2021.

Examining the impact of the first wave of COVID-19 and associated control measures on interventions to prevent blood-borne viruses among people who inject drugs in Scotland: an interrupted time series study.

Background: COVID-19 has likely affected the delivery of interventions to prevent blood-borne viruses (BBVs) among people who inject drugs (PWID). We examined the impact of the first wave of COVID-19 in Scotland on: 1) needle and syringe provision (NSP), 2) opioid agonist therapy (OAT) and 3) BBV testing.

Methods: An interrupted time series study design; 23rd March 2020 (date of the first 'lockdown') was chosen as the key date.

Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Gut Microbiota in Children: A Systematic Review.

Introduction: Differences in microbiota composition in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to unaffected siblings and healthy controls have been reported in various studies. This study aims to systematically review the existing literature concerning the role of the gut microbiota in ASD.

Methods: An extensive literature search was conducted using MEDLINE and EMBASE databases to identify studies (January 1966 through July 2019).

Psychosocial, psychopharmacological and demographic predictors of changes in psychological distress over a course of computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (cCBT).

Social group identification, socioeconomic deprivation, and a number of other clinical and demographic factors have been found to predict severity of psychological distress prior to treatment in those referred to receive computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (cCBT) as an intervention for mild to moderate depression. The aim of the current study is to investigate whether the same key factors are able to predict in psychological distress across treatment in a sample receiving cCBT. Participants ( = 1158) consisted of individuals completing the 'Beating the Blues' (BtB) programme.

Mental capacity legislation in the UK: systematic review of the experiences of adults lacking capacity and their carers.

Capacity legislation in the UK allows substitute decision-making for adults lacking capacity. Research has explored the experiences of such adults and their carers in relation to the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000, and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in England and Wales. A systematic review of the relevant research was performed using a framework method.

The Actions and Feelings Questionnaire in Autism and Typically Developed Adults.

Impaired motor cognition may underpin empathy problems in autism. The actions and feelings questionnaire (AFQ), designed to examine individual differences in motor cognition, was completed fully by 1391 adults, of whom 326 reported a diagnosis of an autism spectrum condition (ASC). A confirmatory factor analysis supported a 3 factor model.

Posttraumatic stress disorder following asthma attack: the role of agency beliefs in mediating psychiatric morbidity.

Background: The link between serious illness and subsequent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psychiatric comorbidity has been established. In populations with asthma, however, few studies have investigated this link, or what psychological mechanisms mediate it. Healthcare guidance for chronic conditions, and PTSD literature, highlight "agency beliefs" as a direction for investigation.

Theory of Mind and Executive Functioning Following Stroke.

Objective: Cognitive deficits following stroke are well documented, but less is known about problems with social skills such as understanding others' thoughts and feelings. This study investigated the effect of stroke on a visual-affective measure of social understanding: the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (RMET). The aims were to investigate whether right hemisphere stroke was particularly detrimental to this aspect of Theory of Mind (ToM), and investigate the relationship between ToM ability and executive function following stroke.

Gaze detection and gaze cuing in Alzheimer's disease.

People with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show problems with social processing in tasks which require the understanding of others' mental states. However traditional social processing tasks are cognitively complex, which may influence the effects of AD. Less is known about how AD influences more basic aspects of social perception, such as the ability to decode eye gaze direction or follow the gaze of another.

Schizophrenia illness severity is associated with reduced loss aversion.

Loss aversion, whereby losses weigh more heavily than equal-sized gains, has been demonstrated in many decision-making settings. Previous research has suggested reduced loss aversion in schizophrenia, but with little evidence of a link between loss aversion and schizophrenia illness severity. In this study, 20 individuals with schizophrenia and 16 control participants, matched by age and sex, played two versions of the Iterated Prisoners' Dilemma, one version with only positive payoffs and another version in which negative payoffs were possible, with the second version being derived from the first by subtracting a constant value from all payoffs.

Ketamine as the anaesthetic for electroconvulsive therapy: the KANECT randomised controlled trial.

Ketamine has recently become an agent of interest as an acute treatment for severe depression and as the anaesthetic for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Subanaesthetic doses result in an acute reduction in depression severity while evidence is equivocal for this antidepressant effect with anaesthetic or adjuvant doses. Recent systematic reviews call for high-quality evidence from further randomised controlled trials (RCTs).

Psychopathology of the General Population Referred by Primary Care Physicians for Urgent Assessment in Psychiatric Hospitals.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the type, severity and progression of psychiatric pathologies in a sample of 372 outpatients (age range 18-65 years) referred by their primary general practitioners (GPs) to an Urgent Referral Team (URT) based in a psychiatric hospital in Aberdeen, Scotland. This team offers immediate appointments (1- to 7-day delays) for rapid assessments and early interventions to the outpatients referred by their primary family doctors. One-sample t-test and z statistic were used for data analysis.

Readability of clinical letters sent from a young people's department.

Background: Writing directly to patients or copying letters to them is common practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). If the intention is to increase young people's understanding and collaboration in their health care, then the readability of such letters is important. The aim of this study was to reassess the readability of letters sent to patients from the Young People's Department at Royal Cornhill Hospital since it adopted the choice and partnership approach (CAPA).