Background: There is a need to develop a quick original screening test for dementia due to paucity of short, education and culture fair tests. Hence, following DSM-V criteria, a quick screening test was developed which can be used for both the clinical and prognostic purposes.Objective: Develop a quick and valid Indian screening test for geriatric population for early and timely identification of cognitive decline.Method: Total sample consisted of 150 (88=patients and 62=control) right-handed, consenting subjects between 55-84 yrs of age with minimum elementary education were recruited in the study.Results: DART scores discriminated between dementia cases and controls clearly. It was also validated against gold standard of MMSE, with sensitivity of 95.5% and specificity of 60.0%; true positive predictive value of 70.2% and true negative predictive value of 93.0%. Conclusion:DART is a quick and valid screening test for dementia for Indian population.

The present study investigates the extrapyramidal effects of co-administration of enalapril (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor) or losartan (angiotensin receptor blocker) with haloperidol in mice. Enalapril/losartan (as a suspension in 1% gum acacia) was administered by oral gavage and haloperidol was administered as an intraperitoneal injection to all the animals for seven days. Catalepsy was measured 30 min after the administration of haloperidol (1 mg/kg i.p.) on days 1 and 7. Observations on day 1 constituted the acute study (single dose administration) and observations on day 7, constituted the chronic study (repeated dose administration). Both acute and chronic administration of enalapril/losartan produced an increase in the duration of haloperidol induced catalepsy at the highest dose (20 mg/kg). Enalapril produced a more pronounced increase in the duration of catalepsy as compared to losartan on both acute and chronic administration. Results of our study suggest that co-administration of anti-psychotics and drugs affecting the angiotensin system can lead to an increase in motor side effects and therefore should be used with caution in patients with these co-morbid conditions.