There are now four drug treatments, all monoclonal antibodies, which have been shown to reduce amyloid in the brain. Amyloid build-up in the brain is associated with the cognitive changes of Alzheimer’s Disease, although there are questions about the exact nature of this relationship between amyloid and cognitive deterioration. One of these drugs (lecanemab) has now been shown to halt or slow clinical deterioration in cognitive functions as well as reducing amyloid in the brain. There are however, a number…..

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Like Google and Siri, scientists are listening to animals and using Artificial Intelligence, not to sell them stuff, but to understand how they communicate with each other. Communication between animals and humans (e.g., dogs, dolphins, Koko the gorilla) has fascinated humankind for a long time. But this approach often puts humans in the centre of the picture. It is anthropocentric and usually lacks an appreciation of how an animal experiences the world – their ‘umwelt’ (the ‘world around’ – lived…..

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AUTOIMMUNE ENCEPHALITIS, only fully understood in the two thousands*, can cause psychosis, rapid deterioration in memory, and altered behaviour. As a result, people with this disorder can present to psychiatric/mental health services and professionals, sometimes after being declared ‘psychiatric’ by medical services or professionals. The 2012 book and 2016 film ‘Brain on Fire. My month of madness’ recorded Susannah Calahan’s experience of delayed diagnosis and misdiagnosis, but with ultimately successful treatment for autoimmune encephalitis (AE). AE occurs when antibodies are…..

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Many people with autism, especially some with High Functioning Autism HFA/Aspergers have expressed concerns about therapy for children which prioritizes changing the child’s behaviour to mimic or fit ‘neurotypical norms’ – that is, the norms that apply to usual, non-autistic people. Which is not to argue against early detection and intervention directed towards improving language, adaptive behaviour, daily living skills, functional communication skills. Geraldine Dawson, writing in JAMA Pediatrics*, quotes studies which showed “good” outcomes for individual people whether the…..

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MUHAMMAD ALI’S ILLNESS: Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), or Parkinson disease? Many, including myself, doubted the nineteen-eighties diagnosis of Muhammad Ali’s disabling illness as Parkinson’s disease. Instead, I assumed he must have had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) as a result of many blows to his head during his stellar boxing career. CTE in those days was known as ‘dementia pugilistica’ or ‘punch-drunk syndrome’. This tragic condition has now been found to be more common than previously thought in association with several…..

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Voluntary assisted dying is generally called ‘physician assisted death’ in the USA. I acknowledge that this is a sensitive and divisive issue. However, it is important that as many people as possible, especially in Australia, and whatever their attitude to the issue, should be informed about some aspects of the recent New South Wales (NSW) legislation, where the legislation relates to dementia and mental illness. I emphasise in advance that I am merely reporting on some of the provisions of…..

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DBS FOR SEVERE, TREATMENT REFRACTORY OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER. The idea that brain surgery can help someone suffering from a mental illness is still a controversial and, to many people, a confronting one. However, there is now firm evidence that a procedure called Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) can improve the lives and relieve the crippling and distressing symptoms for some people suffering from very severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). There have now been four placebo-controlled trials (one of which was Australian) providing…..

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BRAIN EFFECTS OF COVID-19. A recent study from Oxford University confirmed that Covid-19 often does produce changes in the brain during and after infection. These changes may explain some of the symptoms of ‘Long Covid’. The study compared MRI imaging before and after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Most of the infections studied were not associated with severe illness. Participants in the study who had experienced a Covid-19 infection had more grey matter loss and abnormalities in the area of the brain associated…..

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In addition to all the negative effects of infection on individuals, especially older people, Covid has had severe and often fatal indirect effects on the care of older people, including those older people with dementia. During the peak of the recent Omicron wave the exacerbation of existing shortages of skilled workers, and other effects on care had a demonstrable effect on mortality rates in Australian Aged Care. In January 2022 there was a substantial increase in death risk “in aged…..

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