Benzodiazepines have attracted controversy from shortly after their introduction. They have been subject to periodic calls for their use to be re-evaluated on the basis that their risks have been overstated and their benefits underappreciated. Claims made in recent editorials from the International Task Force on Benzodiazepines in support of their wider use are critiqued in this issue. I examine here whether there is a case to change the conclusions of previous reconsiderations of the question.

This article is a clinical guide which discusses the “state-of-the-art” usage of the classic monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) antidepressants (phenelzine, tranylcypromine, and isocarboxazid) in modern psychiatric practice. The guide is for all clinicians, including those who may not be experienced MAOI prescribers. It discusses indications, drug-drug interactions, side-effect management, and the safety of various augmentation strategies. There is a clear and broad consensus (more than 70 international expert endorsers), based on 6 decades of experience, for the recommendations herein exposited. They are based on empirical evidence and expert opinion—this guide is presented as a new specialist-consensus standard. The guide provides practical clinical advice, and is the basis for the rational use of these drugs, particularly because it improves and updates knowledge, and corrects the various misconceptions that have hitherto been prominent in the literature, partly due to insufficient knowledge of pharmacology. The guide suggests that MAOIs should always be considered in cases of treatment-resistant depression (including those melancholic in nature), and prior to electroconvulsive therapy—while taking into account of patient preference. In selected cases, they may be considered earlier in the treatment algorithm than has previously been customary, and should not be regarded as drugs of last resort; they may prove decisively effective when many other treatments have failed. The guide clarifies key points on the concomitant use of incorrectly proscribed drugs such as methylphenidate and some tricyclic antidepressants. It also illustrates the straightforward “bridging” methods that may be used to transition simply and safely from other antidepressants to MAOIs.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for depression is a controversial treatment with highly polarised views about the balance between therapeutic benefits and adverse effects. Studies investigating whether ECT is more effective than a placebo treatment started in the 1950s, with the most important randomised controlled trials carried out about four decades ago in which ECT was compared with sham ECT (SECT) involving anaesthesia but no electrically induced seizure. Subsequently the data have been pooled in a number of meta-analyses which have found that ECT is an effective treatment. However, a recent review of the quality of the SECT-controlled studies, and the meta-analyses based on them, concludes that their quality is too poor to allow assessment of the efficacy of ECT and that, given its risks (permanent memory loss and death), the use of ECT should be suspended. This commentary critically discusses the methodology of this review and its conclusions.

The Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) is the first large-area survey to be conducted with the full 36-antenna Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. RACS will provide a shallow model of the ASKAP sky that will aid the calibration of future deep ASKAP surveys. RACS will cover the whole sky visible from the ASKAP site in Western Australia and will cover the full ASKAP band of 700–1800 MHz. The RACS images are generally deeper than the existing NRAO VLA Sky Survey and Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey radio surveys and have better spatial resolution. All RACS survey products will be public, including radio images (with $\sim$ 15 arcsec resolution) and catalogues of about three million source components with spectral index and polarisation information. In this paper, we present a description of the RACS survey and the first data release of 903 images covering the sky south of declination $+41^\circ$ made over a 288-MHz band centred at 887.5 MHz.

Although in common use, treatment-resistant depression is unhelpful both conceptually and practically. In this issue a new term, multiple-therapy-resistant major depressive disorder, is proposed; although it may be useful in guiding treatment options for patients with persisting depression, it should not be an automatic trigger for further, more invasive treatments.

This notice describes a correction to the above mentioned paper.

In North America, terrestrial records of biodiversity and climate change that span Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 are rare. Where found, they provide insight into how the coupling of the ocean–atmosphere system is manifested in biotic and environmental records and how the biosphere responds to climate change. In 2010–2011, construction at Ziegler Reservoir near Snowmass Village, Colorado (USA) revealed a nearly continuous, lacustrine/wetland sedimentary sequence that preserved evidence of past plant communities between ~140 and 55 ka, including all of MIS 5. At an elevation of 2705 m, the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site also contained thousands of well-preserved bones of late Pleistocene megafauna, including mastodons, mammoths, ground sloths, horses, camels, deer, bison, black bear, coyotes, and bighorn sheep. In addition, the site contained more than 26,000 bones from at least 30 species of small animals including salamanders, otters, muskrats, minks, rabbits, beavers, frogs, lizards, snakes, fish, and birds. The combination of macro- and micro-vertebrates, invertebrates, terrestrial and aquatic plant macrofossils, a detailed pollen record, and a robust, directly dated stratigraphic framework shows that high-elevation ecosystems in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado are climatically sensitive and varied dramatically throughout MIS 5.

Persistent major depression that does not respond to adequate first- or second-line treatment is a common problem in psychiatry. This article updates evidence on recommended treatment strategies and reviews the prospects of more experimental approaches. The main pharmacological development in recent years has been the demonstration that several atypical antipsychotic drugs are effective adjunctive agents in improving symptoms in depression unresponsive to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, although their adverse effect burden is high. There is optimism about novel pharmacological strategies based on glutamatergic and anti-inflammatory mechanisms. It is important to combine drug and psychological treatments whenever possible. With persistent therapeutic engagement, the majority of patients remit eventually, but subsequent relapse remains a problem. Clinicians should pursue an active and collaborative treatment plan that makes use of all effective therapeutic modalities and continues into the relapse-prevention phase.