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The controversial approval in June 2021 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of aducanumab (marketed as Aduhelm), Biogen's monoclonal antibody for patients with Alzheimer's disease, raises significant concerns for the dementia field and drug approval process, considering its lack of adequate evidence for clinical efficacy, safety issues, and cost. On 15 December 2021, an international group of clinicians, basic science experts, psychological and social science researchers, lay people with lived experience of dementia, and advocates for public health met to discuss making a recommendation for whether aducanumab's approval should be withdrawn. Attendees considered arguments both in favor of and in opposition to withdrawal and voted unanimously to recommend that the FDA withdraw its approval for aducanumab and to support the Right Care Alliance's filing of a formal Citizen Petition to this effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in catastrophic levels of morbidity and mortality for care home residents. Despite this, research platforms for COVID-19 in care homes arrived late in the pandemic compared with other care settings. The Prophylactic Therapy in Care Homes Trial (PROTECT-CH) was established to provide a platform to deliver multi-centre cluster-randomized clinical trials of investigational medicinal products for COVID-19 prophylaxis in UK care homes. Commencing set-up in January 2021, this involved the design and development of novel infrastructure for contracting and recruitment, remote consent, staff training, research insurance, eligibility screening, prescribing, dispensing and adverse event reporting; such infrastructure being previously absent. By the time this infrastructure was in place, the widespread uptake of vaccination in care homes had changed the epidemiology of COVID-19 rendering the trial unfeasible. While some of the resources developed through PROTECT-CH will enable the future establishment of care home platform research, the near absence of care home trial infrastructure and nationally linked databases involving the care home sector will continue to significantly hamper progress. These issues are replicated in most other countries. Beyond COVID-19, there are many other research questions that require addressing to provide better care to people living in care homes. PROTECT-CH has exposed a clear need for research funders to invest in, and legislate for, an effective care home research infrastructure as part of national pandemic preparedness planning. Doing so would also invigorate care home research in the interim, leading to improved healthcare delivery specific to those living in this sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Few studies have shown that an increased risk of dementia is associated with diabetes mellitus.Objective: To estimate the prevalence and incidence of dementia in people with diabetes in primary care in the UK.Methods: We conducted a descriptive study using the UK The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database. People diagnosed with diabetes from 2000 to 2016 were included in the study. Prevalence and incidence rates of dementia were calculated annually, stratified by age and gender.Results: The prevalence of dementia was 0.424% [95% CI (0.420%-0.427%)] in 2000 and 2.508% [95% CI (2.501%-2.515%)] in 2016. The highest prevalence was in those aged 85+ from 2.9% [95% CI (2.890%-2.974%)] in 2000 to 11.3% [95% CI (11.285%-11.384%)] in 2016. The incidence of dementia increased 3.7 times, from 0.181 cases per 100 persons [95% CI (0.179-0.183)] in 2000 to 0.683 cases per 100 persons [95% CI (0.679-0.686)] in 2016, respectively. Women had a higher prevalence and incidence of dementia than men 3.138% [95% CI (3.127%-3.150%)] versus 2.014% [95% CI (2.006%-2.022%)] and 0.820 [95% CI (0.814-0.826)] versus 0.576 cases per 100 persons [95% CI (0.571-0.580)] in 2016, respectively.Conclusion: There was a trend of increasing prevalence and incidence of dementia in people with diabetes over the period of 2000 to 2016. This study adds to the evidence on dementia prevalence and incidence, particularly in the diabetic population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Scientific Papers of Electrical & Control Engineering Faculty Technical University of Gdansk / Zeszyty Naukowe Wydzialu Elektrotechniki & Automatyki Politechniki Gdanskiej is the property of Gdansk University of Technology, Faculty of Electrical & Control Engineering and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: There are no disease-modifying treatments for dementia. There is also no consensus on disease modifying outcomes. We aimed to produce the first evidence-based consensus on core outcome measures for trials of disease modification in mild-to-moderate dementia. Methods and findings: We defined disease-modification interventions as those aiming to change the underlying pathology. We systematically searched electronic databases and previous systematic reviews for published and ongoing trials of disease-modifying treatments in mild-to-moderate dementia. We included 149/22,918 of the references found; with 81 outcome measures from 125 trials. Trials involved participants with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) alone (n = 111), or AD and mild cognitive impairment (n = 8) and three vascular dementia. We divided outcomes by the domain measured (cognition, activities of daily living, biological markers, neuropsychiatric symptoms, quality of life, global). We calculated the number of trials and of participants using each outcome. We detailed psychometric properties of each outcome. We sought the views of people living with dementia and family carers in three cities through Alzheimer’s society focus groups. Attendees at a consensus conference (experts in dementia research, disease-modification and harmonisation measures) decided on the core set of outcomes using these results. Recommended core outcomes were cognition as the fundamental deficit in dementia and to indicate disease modification, serial structural MRIs. Cognition should be measured by Mini Mental State Examination or Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale. MRIs would be optional for patients. We also made recommendations for measuring important, but non-core domains which may not change despite disease modification. Limitations: Most trials were about AD. Specific instruments may be superseded. We searched one database for psychometric properties. Interpretation: This is the first review to identify the 81 outcome measures the research community uses for disease-modifying trials in mild-to-moderate dementia. Our recommendations will facilitate designing, comparing and meta-analysing disease modification trials in mild-to-moderate dementia, increasing their value. Trial registration: PROSPERO no. . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims It has been suggested that delusions may serve as a defence against negative self-representations. The present study investigated general psychological well-being and evidence for defensive emotional processes among people with late-onset psychosis. Method The performance and responses of older people with late-onset psychosis (n = 13), older people with depression (n = 15), and age-matched healthy controls (n = 15) were compared in a cross-sectional design. Participants rated their own levels of depression and self-esteem, and completed an emotional Stroop task to establish whether there was evidence of implicit depression in the absence of explicit acknowledgement. Participants rated themselves on a number of personal attributes in relation to two life stages to generate discrepancies in ‘actual’, ‘ideal’ and ‘other’ self-concepts, and completed measures of their perceptions of current and past psychological well-being. Results People with late-onset psychosis showed no evidence of overt depression or low-self esteem. All three groups showed an attentional bias to depression-related and age-related words, although response times overall were faster for controls. The psychosis group showed no discrepancies between either their past or their current ‘actual’ and ‘other’ self-concepts, suggesting that they do not have more negative views about how others see them. Conclusions Evidence from this study does not support the application of the ‘delusion-as-defence’ model to late-onset psychosis, but methodological constraints must be borne in mind when interpreting the findings. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Psychosis with first onset after the age of 60, and arising in the absence of dementia or primary affective disorder, is thought to affect 2–4% of older people, and as many as half will not respond fully to medication. Aims This study represents a preliminary attempt to explore a number of possible psychosocial correlates of late-onset psychosis with potential relevance for a cognitive-behavioural formulation and for the development of psychosocial interventions for this group. Methods The nature and extent of adverse early life experiences, presence of maladaptive cognitive schemas, and morale in relation to ageing were compared for older people with a diagnosis of late-onset psychosis (LOP; n = 14) or late-onset depression (DEP; n = 13) and healthy older volunteers (HEV; n = 18) in a cross-sectional design. Results Both LOP and DEP groups reported significantly higher levels of adverse life experiences than the HEV group, with between-group differences in the types of experiences described. The LOP group scored significantly higher than the HEV group on four out of five schema domains, and significantly higher than the DEP group on two domains, other-directedness and over-vigilance/inhibition. The LOP group had significantly lower overall morale in relation to ageing than the HEV group, reflecting significantly higher levels of lonely-dissatisfaction. Conclusions Life experiences, cognitive schemas and attitudes to ageing are important psychosocial correlates of LOP. These findings contribute to an understanding of the emotional world of individuals who develop psychosis in later life and may have implications for developing more effective intervention approaches. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification of Gifted and Talented children within this curriculum subject has always presented problems. Children who display ‘all-round’ talent across all the different aspects that make up this subject broadly referred to as ‘Art’ are rare, more often we discover individuals who have particular gifts and talents within the different aspects, that are related to specific media. These children surface and disappear, succeeding in coming up with the goods on occasions but not being able to necessarily sustain their output. Unfortunately, within many schools the existing Art curriculum focus leans towards the production of predetermined end pieces rather than the acquisition of skills and the experimentation and exploration of media. Children therefore have no foundation to build on and sadly, as children move through the educational system, opportunities for gathering this knowledge diminish along with time and breadth of choice, and the wonderful experiences instigated in the foundation stages can become dry and end product led. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]