The Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) is a measure of a person's ability to make verbal associations to specified letters (i.e., C, F, and L). This measure is a useful component of a neuropsychological battery as it is able to detect changes in word association fluency often found with various disorders. In order to generate current norms for the elderly and aid in interpreting their performance, the COWAT was administered to a group of community-dwelling elderly persons. Information regarding total numbers of words produced as well as frequency of perseverations, breaking set, using the same word stem, and using a proper noun is provided.

Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological sleep disorder with potentially disabling symptoms ranging from occupational concerns to mental health difficulties. Recent advances related to the neurobiological basis of narcolepsy have led to newer pharmacological treatment options and adjunctive behavioral techniques that support symptom management. This article outlines evidence-based pharmacologic therapies, behavioral techniques, and psychosocial costs related to narcolepsy. Psychosocial factors, although frequently acknowledged, deserve further attention and awareness from researchers and providers. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine's (AASM) Quality Measure Drivers and potential future treatment options are also discussed.

Background: There is evidence that low-level alcohol use, drinking 1–2 drinks on occasion, is protective for cardiovascular disease, but increases the risk of cancer. Synthesizing the overall impact of low-level alcohol use on health is therefore complex. The objective of this paper is to examine the association between frequency of low-level drinking and mortality. Methods: Two datasets with self-reported alcohol use and mortality follow-up were analyzed: N=340,668 individuals from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS); and N=93,653 individuals from the Veterans Health Administration (VA) outpatient medical records. Survival analyses were conducted to evaluate the association between low-level drinking frequency and mortality. Results: The minimum risk drinking frequency among those who drink 1–2 drinks per occasion was found to be 3.2 times weekly in the NHIS data, based on a continuous measure of drinking frequency, and 2–3 times weekly in the VA data. Relative to these individuals with minimum risk, individuals who drink 7 times weekly had an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of all-cause mortality of 1.23 (p<0.0001) in the NHIS data, and individuals who drink 4–7 times weekly in the VA data also had an adjusted HR of 1.23 (p=0.01). Secondary analyses in the NHIS data showed that the minimum risk was drinking 4 times weekly for cardiovascular mortality, and drinking monthly or less for cancer mortality. The associations were consistent in stratified analyses of men, women, and never-smokers. Conclusion: The minimum risk of low-level drinking frequency for all-cause mortality appears to be approximately 3 occasions weekly. The robustness of this finding is highlighted in two distinctly different datasets: a large epidemiological dataset, and a dataset of veterans sampled from an outpatient clinic. Daily drinking, even at low-levels, is detrimental to one’s health.

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MDD and PTSD act as significant risk factors for dementia and other forms of cognitive impairment, and Black veterans, given a history of MDD, may be at an increased risk. An important endeavor for future research is to examine how this risk may vary across dementia subtypes and related conditions.