The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) said its researchers have begun studying the effects of the coronavirus on veterans with dementia in nursing communities, reports Connecting Vets . The National Institute on Aging allocated a $184,375 grant to the VA Center for Innovation in Long-term Services and Supports, which will help researchers seek risk factors for the virus in veterans, determine outcomes of intensive care use, and examine how the virus spreads throughout a nursing community. The VA said this information will be used to better protect veterans with dementia. The department also said each VA Community Living Center typically includes eight to 12 veterans, with some shared spaces. Those communities are currently using social distancing and monitoring temperatures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. "Veterans in our Community Living Centers are among our most vulnerable patients," declared VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. "They're counting on us to understand how this virus spreads and how it affects certain populations in these centers, and this timely grant will help us get there."

Alzheimer's Disease International claims that persons who often feel dizzy and disoriented could be at risk of developing dementia, reports the Daily Express . The organization also suggests that difficulty recalling how you got somewhere could be an early warning sign, as could problems differentiating between nighttime and daytime. However, every individual is different, and certain symptoms announce themselves differently. Alzheimer's Disease International recommends that people should consider consulting a physician if disorientation is affecting their everyday life. "An individual's personality, general health, and social situation are all-important factors in determining the impact of dementia on him or her," it said. "The most common signs are memory loss and the loss of practical abilities, which can lead to withdrawal from work or social activities." Another possible early warning sign can be language difficulty, while other potential dementia risk indicators include problems keeping track of things, personality changes, and poor judgment.

The nonprofit "CREW" is helping provide free toilet paper to seniors in Springfield, Mass., reports WWLP-TV . The "CREW" consists of 16 African-American men, whose members include Springfield Housing Authority Youth Coordinator Jimmie Mitchell. This past Tuesday, participants distributed rolls of toilet paper to seniors who live at the Robinson Gardens complex. "We have over 400 rolls of paper that we will be giving out today, and I can't wait to see the smile on their face when we ring their door bell. It's like 'Merry Christmas!'" Mitchell said. He explained that Mansfield Paper in West Springfield supplied the toilet paper, and he had enough to deliver rolls to almost 70 households.

Aging expert and Mosaic Design Studio CEO Lisa Cini offers 10 technologies that could help older adults remain healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic, including checking in daily via texting, phone calls, or online video platforms, reports Yahoo! Finance . Wellness devices like Fitbit, Garmin, Apple watch, and Kardia can be good for holding group exercise sessions, and Cini also recommends simple games like Minecraft, Words with Friends, and Candy Crush to boost older adults' energy levels. Facetime or Zoom Meals can combine video chat with mealtime, while wearable devices and apps such as Hapbee and Human Charger enable therapeutic measures to elevate energy and alertness. Cini also suggests companion pets for older adults who may not be able to care for a real pet, and remote health monitoring devices like the Livio AI hearing aid, Aidar Health's MouthLab, and the MedWand. Other technologies of note include the customizable Luxury Class A8 Serenity Bidet Toilet Seat, for keeping seniors clean amid toilet paper shortages. Meanwhile, the iRobot Braava Jet 240 Robot Mop wet-and dry-mops floors. Cini's tenth and final suggestion is FireAvert's Stove Safety automatic stove shutoff device.

The latest Trustees Report finds that seniors on Social Security could see a 20 percent reduction in scheduled benefits by 2035, and future beneficiaries could end up earning 20 percent less than the amount they would otherwise receive based on their earnings records, according to the Motley Fool . A MassMutual survey found that 39 percent of near-retirees aged 55 to 65 are unaware that future Social Security cuts are under consideration. Social Security benefits currently will generally supplant about 40 percent of the average earner's pre-retirement wages, but most seniors require closer to 70 percent to 80 percent of their former earnings to live comfortably post-retirement. Reductions are likely to make life harder for those with limited savings. Social Security also is expected to owe more in benefits than it absorbs in revenue in the coming years, due to the mass retirement of baby boomers. Trust funds that Social Security can tap to compensate for revenue shortfalls are expected to be depleted by 2035.

University of Arizona Professor Jake Harwood offers tips for loved ones and caregivers to respectfully communicate with older adults during the COVID-19 crisis, reports Futurity . He says the pandemic has highlighted the often wrong assumption that older people are frail and require protection, which can cause caregivers or family members to take a patronizing or paternalistic attitude. Harwood argues that caregivers and adult children should be especially aware of how they talk to seniors and avoid using patronizing language. He says if an older person is about to risk their health, caregivers should ask questions and offer safer alternatives, such as suggesting that groceries be delivered rather than the older person go out to get them. Another suggestion is to appeal to relationships when the older adult seems dismissive or nonchalant about the consequences of getting the virus. Harwood further recommends that family members seek ways to increase their social interaction — from a safe distance — with older family members to stave off seniors' willingness to take risks because of their feelings of isolation. His fourth and final tip is for loved ones and caregivers to embrace rather than reject the use of technology to substitute for in-person get-togethers.

A recent Medicare Advantage survey of 479 Americans aged 55 or older found many grandparents wish their grown children and grandchildren would communicate more during the pandemic, reports the Burlington Free Press . According to the poll, nearly 60 percent of respondents desired more communication with family. Although 40 percent said they have been communicating more frequently with grown children and grandchildren during the crisis, an equal number wished for greater communication. About 25 percent said they would like "richer and deeper" conversations, and 57 percent of seniors communicate with their adult children at least once daily. Forty-one percent of that subgroup said they communicated by text or talking multiple times a day, and only 20 percent reported hearing from grandchildren each day. Sixty-five percent of grandparents prefer seeing grandchildren in person, while 21 percent cited video chat as the next preferred method when in-person interaction is unavailable. When queried about their preferred form of communicating with their adult children, 26 percent of older adults said they mainly prefer to speak to by phone, while just 13 percent preferred video chat.

The Rainwater Charitable Foundation will once more fund drug discovery research toward finding therapies for Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal degeneration, and other tauopathies in collaboration with the Alzheimer's Association, reports the Fort Worth Business Press . The foundation underwrites roughly $4 million Alzheimer's and other dementia research, which focuses on mitigating or eliminating the effects of abnormal tau in the brain. The Alzheimer's Association and Rainwater Charitable Foundation's Tau Consortium have completed a second year of the Tau Pipeline Enabling Program (T-PEP II), which this year awarded grants to eight additional research groups. The goal of T-PEP II is to expedite the timeline from drug discoveries in laboratories to clinical trials in people living with Alzheimer's and other dementia. The foundation has pledged more than $100 million to the program since the consortium's inception, and so far eight treatments have entered human trials as a result of the Rainwater family's funding. "The research we're co-funding through this program will expand the pipeline of possible treatments and accelerate the pace of progress toward finding effective treatments for Alzheimer's and other dementia," declared Alzheimer's Association executive Heather Snyder.

Studies indicate that exercise and a Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of cognitive decline from Alzheimer's, reports Healthline . "The idea . . . is that if you can delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease by just five years, you would delay the onset of serious cognitive impairment beyond the time of death, and so people would be able to live into old age without suffering dementia, and that's looking like a very achievable goal from these prevention studies," said Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation Founding Executive Director Howard Fillit. The brain contracts with aging, but Fillit said studies show that aerobic exercise can increase its size. The Harvard Aging Brain Study associated higher physical activity to less cognitive decline and less brain volume loss, even in people with amyloid plaques. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization recommends nutrition similar to a Mediterranean diet to lower the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Moreover, a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society of Medicare health maintenance organization enrollees found that adults 66 and older who obtained a hearing aid for newly diagnosed hearing loss had a lower risk for being diagnosed with dementia, depression, or anxiety for the first time over the next three years.

The New York Times is reporting that several methods are effective at killing the new coronavirus on N95 masks — primary protective gear for health care workers — for two or even three rounds of use. The new research was conducted at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Researchers used live novel coronavirus, formally known as SARS-CoV-2, to test the mask material. They not only determined which decontamination procedures were most effective, but also how they affected the integrity of the masks. Vincent Munster, one of the study's co-authors, notes that the work built on over 10 years of studies into decontamination. "We showed that it actually works as well for SARS-CoV-2 as for influenza," and for bacteria, he remarked. Vaporized hydrogen peroxide was deemed effective and left the masks still functioning for at least three rounds of decontamination, as did UV light.