Media coverage

Areas of the brain that help a person differentiate between what is real and what is imaginary have been uncovered in a new study led by Dr Nadine Dijkstra (UCL Department of Imaging Neuroscience) and Professor Steve Fleming (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences).

“We know there are genes that can confer risk for Alzheimer's, but we also know there are lots of other factors,” said Professor Rob Howard (UCL Psychiatry) on the root cause of dementia.

“We can’t conclude that depression is related to serotonin abnormality,” said Professor Joanna Moncrieff (UCL Psychiatry) on the causes of depression.

“There are a few possible mechanisms for the beneficial effect of coffee and caffeine on dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, including reducing inflammation, decreasing the chance of stroke and slowing neurone (nerve cell) death,” said Professor Gill Livingston (UCL Psychiatry).

“If we’re going to see any advances in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease in the next five to 10 years, it will be through better symptomatic treatments, not through better disease modifiers,” said Professor Rob Howard (UCL Psychiatry) on new Alzheimer's treatments.

“We all have ADHD symptoms to some extent,” said Professor Joanna Moncrieff (UCL Psychiatry) on the prevalence of ADHD and its rates of diagnosis.

“Out in normal human interactions, you very rarely are laughing at jokes in comedy. Most of the time when you laugh, you’re laughing for purely social reasons,” said Professor Sophie Scott (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience) on the science of laughter.

“I cannot think of any application that would not be fundamentally simpler with infrared goggles… Evolution has avoided this for a good reason,” Professor Glen Jeffery (UCL Institute of Ophthalmology) on contact lenses that can see infrared light.

Professor Robert Pitceathly (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) welcomed the research. He said: “The next step is broader validation and integrating this technology into NHS diagnostic services to improve patient outcomes”.

People who have been taking antidepressants for more than two years are substantially more likely to experience withdrawal symptoms compared to short-term users when they come off the medication, find Dr Mark Horowitz and Professor Joanna Moncrieff (UCL Psychiatry).

Professor Jonathan Schott (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) expressed his misgivings about the tests.

“Sometimes families are in despair, knowing that something is wrong but not having a diagnosis” says Professor Nick Fox (UCL Institute of Neurology).

The first signs of posterior cortical atrophy include changes to your vision. Dr Natalie Ryan (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) explains that this can show up as “difficulty reading, judging distances and depth perception”.

Dr Cath Mummery (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) is leading clinical trials to test a new generation of drugs aimed at slowing down the progress of young-onset Alzheimer’s.

“It’s quite a pragmatic approach to diagnosis, it’s not an exact science,” said Professor Ginny Russell (UCL Psychiatry) on when autism diagnoses are assigned on the basis that it’s beneficial to an individual.