Editor's Note
VOLUME 40, NO. 3 • September 2023
Tzung-Jeng Hwang, IPA Bulletin Editor-in-Chief
Firstly, I would like to update our readers on recent IPA activities. The IPA 2023 International Congress was successfully held in early July in Lisbon. Details can be seen in the report by Dr. Javier Vicente-Alba in this issue. Buenos Aires, Argentina, was chosen as the venue for the 2024 regional meeting. The 2022 impact factor of our official journal, International Psychogeriatrics, has increased to 7, making the journal ranked number 2 in the field of Gerontology. Our Product and Service Committee has actively continued its activities, including Journal club, webinar, debates, etc. You are welcome to participate in these exciting programs.
October 1st- 10th is IPA’s 2023 Older Adult Mental Health Awareness Week. The organizing task force has prepared many activities for our members and people worldwide. Please remember to join these wonderful events.
In the “International Psychogeriatrics Review Column”, Ms. Kun Wang (USA) reviewed the paper “Does our cognitive empathy diminish with age? The moderator role of educational level” by Gutierrez-Cobo et al. International psychogeriatrics, 335(4), 207-214. “The main finding was that middle-aged adults showed higher cognitive empathy than younger and older adults. However, education could mitigate the age-related decline in cognitive empathy in those aged 35 and above.
There are four articles in “Research and Practice”, and two in “Around the World”. In “Research and Practice”, Drs. Antoine Sader and Rita Khoury (Libanon) report a new anti-amyloid immunoglobulin treatment for Alzheimer’s disease (AD): Donanemab, and compare it with another anti-amyloid immunoglobulin treatment, Lacanemab. Drs. Michael Kob and Laura Valzolgher (Italy) review the risks and benefits of the vegan diet in AD. They show that a vegan diet is often richer in nutrients with a favorable effect on AD risk (such as folate and antioxidants), but at the same time, also carries the risk of deficiency in other crucial substances for the nervous system, such as Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, and EPA/DHA. Dr. Clarissa Giebel (UK) reports the experiences of creating a game on dementia inequalities through a joint effort from people living with dementia, unpaid carers, health and social service professionals, and Third Sector representatives. Ms. Mara Brouwers et al. (the Netherlands) make a scoping review on innovative living arrangements within long-term care.
There are 2 articles in “Around the World”. Dr. Javier Vicente-Alba makes a summary report on the IPA 2023 International Congress: A Joint Congress with the Spanish Society of Psychogeriatrics (SEPG) and the Section of Geriatric Psychiatry of the Portuguese Association of Psychiatry and Mental Health (SPG/SPPSM) of Portugal. Finally, Dr. Thomas Rego et al. (Australia) share the information on the upcoming RANZCP Faculty of Psychiatry of Old Age annual conference, which is being held in Melbourne in November 2023 with the main theme of “Ageing in the Contemporary Era”.
We hope we can further improve the content of the Bulletin and make it a valuable platform for communications and exchanging experiences among IPA members. You are always welcome to join as an assistant editor or submit articles to express your thoughts and feelings in this great IPA community. Please reach us at ipa.b.editor@gmail.com.
