Cognition and heterogeneity in first-episode psychosis before antipsychotic treatment

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Ana Veic looks at an updated systematic review which suggests that patients with psychosis display cognitive difficulties very early in the disease process, and concludes this variation in cognitive function should prompt individual clinical assessments to optimise care.

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Can hearing interventions slow down cognitive decline?

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In this blog, Daisy Long and the elf apprentices that took part in the woodland workshop undertook a group critical analysis on Lin, F.R., Pike, J.R., Albert. M.S., Arnold, M., Burgard, S., Chisolm, T. & others (2023) paper on Hearing intervention versus health education control to reduce cognitive decline in older adults with hearing loss in the USA (ACHIEVE): a multi-centre, randomized controlled trial.

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Is complex trauma associated with worse outcomes than non-complex trauma?

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Rudo Dube summarises a longitudinal study which finds that people exposed to complex trauma had higher levels of general psychopathology and were more likely to experience conditions such as PTSD, depression and psychotic symptoms.

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Can we treat cognitive deficits in schizophrenia through electrical brain stimulation?

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Stefanie Sturm summarises a recent systematic review on improving cognitive deficits in schizophrenia using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), a form of electrical brain stimulation.

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Cognitive functioning in psychosis: is neuropsychological decline continuous, generalised, and specific to schizophrenia?

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Emmeline Lagunes Cordoba and Derek Tracy explore a case control study that looks at cognitive change in people with schizophrenia and other psychoses in the decade following the first episode.

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New genes implicated in Alzheimer’s disease #LetsTalkMentalHealthII

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Byron Creese writes a #LetsTalkMentalHealthII blog about a recent genome-wide meta-analysis which identifies new loci and functional pathways influencing Alzheimer’s disease risk.

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Can smoking cessation improve cognitive functioning in people with psychosis?

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Dafni Katsampa explores a recent prospective cohort study that investigates the association between smoking behaviour and cognitive functioning in patients with psychosis, their siblings and healthy control subjects.

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Cannabis use in the developing brain: evidence from a recent cross-sectional meta-analysis

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Joe Barnby considers the findings of a recent meta-analysis of cross-sectional observational data, which explores the association of cannabis with cognitive functioning in adolescents and young adults.

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Can museums help prevent dementia?

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Dafni Katsampa and Derek Tracy get all cultured and summarise a retrospective cohort study of museum attendance and dementia incidence, which suggests that cultural engagement may help protect us from cognitive decline.

The research is led by Daisy Fancourt who heads up the new MARCH Network which is launching later this month.

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