Background: People with dementia and their family caregivers may face a great burden through social isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be manifested as various behavioral and clinical symptoms. Objective: To investigate the impacts of social isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals with dementia and their family caregivers. Methods: Two semi-structured questionnaires were applied via telephone to family caregivers of people diagnosed with dementia in three cities in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, in order to assess clinical and behavioral changes in people with dementia and in their caregivers. Results: In general, 321 interviews were conducted. A significant decline in memory function has been reported among 53.0%of people with dementia. In addition, 31.2%of individuals with dementia felt sadder and 37.4%had increased anxiety symptoms. These symptoms of anxiety were greater in individuals with mild to moderate dementia, while symptoms of agitation were greater in individuals with severe dementia. Moreover, compulsive-obsessive behavior, hallucinations, increased forgetfulness, altered appetite, and increased difficulty in activities of daily living were reported more frequently among individuals with moderate to severe dementia. Caregivers reported feeling more tired and overwhelmed during this period and these symptoms were also influenced by the severity of dementia. Conclusion: Social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a series of negative behavioral repercussions, both for people with dementia and for their family caregivers in these three South American countries.

Introduction Expert knowledge is critical to fight dementia in inequitable regions like Latin American and Caribbean countries (LACs). However, the opinions of aging experts on public policies’ accessibility and transmission, stigma, diagnostic manuals, data‐sharing platforms, and use of behavioral insights (BIs) are not well known. Methods We investigated opinions among health professionals working on aging in LACs (N = 3365) with regression models including expertise‐related information (public policies, BI), individual differences (work, age, academic degree), and location. Results Experts specified low public policy knowledge ( X 2 = 41.27, P < .001), high levels of stigma ( X 2 = 2636.37, P < .001), almost absent BI knowledge ( X 2 = 56.58, P < .001), and needs for regional diagnostic manuals ( X 2 = 2893.63, df = 3, P < .001) and data‐sharing platforms (X 2 = 1267.5, df = 3, P < .001). Lack of dementia knowledge was modulated by different factors. An implemented BI‐based treatment for a proposed prevention program improved perception across experts. Discussion Our findings help to prioritize future potential actions of governmental agencies and non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) to improve LACs’ dementia knowledge.

Statins, belonging to a well-known drug class used for lowering cholesterol through competitive inhibition of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, also have other pleiotropic properties, such as anti-inflam-matory action. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects of simvastatin in five models of nociceptive behaviour. Oral gavage administration of simvastatin induced a dose-dependent inhibition of noci-ception for 1 day in the acetic acid writhing (ED 50 = 5.59 € 0.07), tail-flick (ED 50 = 112.96 € 8.00), hot-plate (ED 50 = 134.87 € 2.20), formalin hind paw (ED 50 = 19.86 € 1.12 in phase I and 23.30 € 2.05 in phase II) and orofacial formalin (ED 50 = 5.54 € 2.74 in phase I and 11.48 € 1.88 in phase II) tests. However, after 3 days, the values were in the acetic acid writhing (ED 50 = 6.14 € 0.51), tail-flick (ED 50 = 154 € 8.88), hot-plate (ED 50 = 136.14 € 2.94), formalin hind paw (ED 50 = 15.93 € 0.42 in phase I and 17.10 € 1.80 in phase II) and orofacial formalin (ED 50 = 6.79 € 0.66 in phase I and 5.80 € 1.49 in phase II) tests. This study demonstrated the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities of simvastatin in five models of tonic or phasic pain. These actions seem to be related to the inhibition of cytokine and prostanoid release and stimulation of nitric oxide synthesis. A possible clinical role of simvastatin could be related to the potentially beneficial effects in the neuropathic pain, and by their pleiotropic properties, they could play a clinical role in anti-inflammatory disease. Statins, a well-known drug class used for lowering cholesterol through competitive inhibition of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, also have other pleio-tropic properties, including a slight anti-inflammatory action. Although all statins share a common mechanism of action, they differ in terms of their chemical structures, pharmacoki-netic profiles and lipid-modifying efficacy. The overall conclusion of the recent JUPITER trial study was that statins had anti-inflammatory properties independent of their ability to lower cholesterol [1]. Animal models reveal consistent findings of the anti-inflammatory effects of statins. Simvastatin, in a model of collagen-induced arthritis in mice, demonstrated significant anti-inflammatory activity [2]. The daily oral administration of atorvastatin inhibited the increase in hind paw volume and inflammatory hypernociception in the adjuvant-induced arthritis assay in rats [3]. Atorvastatin produced an antinociceptive effect in two different models of mechanical inflammatory hypernociception in mice [4]. Simvastatin reduced the inflammatory process and the dopaminergic degeneration induced by the intrani-gral injection of a lipopolysaccharide in rats [5]. A significant decrease in the analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities was induced by atorvastatin and rosuvastatin in mice and rats [6]. It is important to note that, although the anti-inflamma-tory properties of statins are consis...