Papers submitted to International Psychogeriatrics undergo peer review, with each manuscript being assessed by two or more reviewers possessing expertise relevant to the paper's topic. The advice of reviewers is often highly valuable to authors working to strengthen papers through revision, and their recommendations are central to the process of determining what is published in International Psychogeriatrics.

The growing need for lumbar puncture in order to obtain cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for the diagnosis Alzheimer's disease is becoming increasingly apparent (Herskovits and Growdon, 2010). The concept of a CSF sampling unit specializing in lumbar puncture would seem the most plausible solution. Physicians and interns are not necessarily skilled in the procedure and neurologists perform lumbar puncture rarely.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a heterogeneous disorder that has a multifactorial etiology. No single factor can account for all cases by itself. Dietary surveys have shown that the elderly often have low intakes of vitamins and that their plasma or red blood cell folate levels are often low. Low blood levels of other nutrients like vitamin C, thiamine and 25-hydroxycholecalciferol have also been found to be common.

A recent study reported the relationship between suicide rates in both sexes in the age bands 65–74 and 75+ years and the Gross National Domestic Product (GDP), a measure of socio-economic status, as being curvilinear (inverted U-shaped curve) and fitting the quadratic equation y = a + bx−cx2 (where y is the suicide rate, x is the Gini coefficient and a, b and c are constants) (Shah, 2010). This relationship was explained using the epidemiological transition hypothesis (Shah and Bhat, 2010) and the explanatory model included the following sequence of events (Shah, 2010): (i) countries with low socio-economic status have poorly developed healthcare system; (ii) a poorly developed healthcare system is associated with increased child mortality; (iii) increased child mortality rates result in reduced life expectancy; and (iv) reduced life expectancy leads to fewer people reaching old age, the age at which the risk of suicide is high. In order to provide support for this hypothesis other data sources related to socio-economic status, quality and quantity of healthcare services and life expectancy were examined.

In certain older adult subpopulations, e.g. those with dementia or cognitive impairment, aggression would appear to be commonplace, particularly in inpatient settings (Winstanley and Whittington, 2004; Stewart et al., 2008). Healthcare professionals have a spectrum of different techniques they may employ to avoid and manage aggression (National Institute of Clinical Excellence, 2005). Aggression may manifest itself in many forms, but physical assault is particularly troublesome as this may have many deleterious effects on the victim's health. The displays of such behavior increase the likelihood that more intrusive measures, such as physical intervention and/or administration of psychotropic medication, are used by the responding healthcare professionals (NICE, 2005).

Alzheimer's disease (AD) manifests clinically with an insidious onset and slow but progressive cognitive impairment. The clinical picture of AD can be classified into cognitive and behavioral changes. The initial deficit usually manifests as an amnesic syndrome which may progress very gradually for several years before impairment in other cognitive domains, such as language, semantic memory and visuospatial function, becomes apparent (Hodges and Patterson, 1995).