A review presented at the American College of Rheumatology's annual meeting determined opioids only offer minor pain relief to people with osteoarthritis, and should almost never be used in such a capacity, reports Healthline . The authors wrote that generally, "opioids demonstrate only small benefits on pain and function from two to 12 weeks of treatment and no measurable benefit to quality of life or depression." The researchers looked at 23 previously published clinical trials, and Emory University School of Medicine Professor John Xerogeanes explained that opiates "just distract you by making you tired or feeling dystrophic. They don't really get rid of the pain." Xerogeanes said combining the common pain reliever Tylenol and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen offers better pain relief than opioids. "The last thing you want to do for someone with chronic pain is give them opioids," he warned. "Not only will they suffer side effects such as constipation, but over the long run they can become dependent on these drugs."

A study published in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology involved the production of 0.6 gram of ergothioneine per liter yeast broth in a small-scale fermentation process, reports ScienceDaily . Ergothioneine is a natural amino acid with antioxidative properties, which blocks cellular stress that could lead to brain diseases, neurological damage, and cancer. Research suggests ergothioneine might have significant potential as a vitamin to prevent or delay disease onset, and the new study could offer an inexpensive process for culturing ergothioneine in large amounts. "By making this important antioxidant in a biobased fashion, you avoid using chemicals or farmland," says the Technical University of Denmark's Steven van der Hoek. "Yeast is far better at producing ergothioneine than humans or mushrooms could ever be." The researchers screened enzymes from different fungi and from the bacterium Mycobacterium smegmatis in various combinations to identify clones with the highest ergothioneine concentration. With yeast as the production medium, they learned that two specific fungal enzymes, NcEgt1 and CpEgt2, produced the optimal blend. By adding amino acids that serve as building blocks of ergothioneine to the medium, the researchers substantially increased ergothioneine production.

The Be a Santa to a Senior program from Home Instead Senior Care will allow participants to cheer up Maine seniors in Cumberland County during the upcoming Christmas season, reports WGME 13 . Last Christmas, more than 450 community seniors received gifts through the program. Participants can decorate trees acquired by the program with ornaments that feature seniors' first names, as well as respond to gift suggestions. Participants can select the ornament, purchase the requested gift, and return it with the ornament attached. The trees will be on display through Dec. 2.

U.S. seniors are being targeted by fraudsters allegedly offering free genetic DNA tests, reports WBRC . The scammers claim the test involves a cheek swab, after which they ask the target for their Medicare information. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services warned the fraud occurs when Medicare is billed for a test or screening that was medically unnecessary and not ordered by a physician. "We have multiple states that have issued warnings about this," said Angela Guth with the Better Business Bureau. "We are seeing it more and more." Federal prosecutors in Louisiana recently charged a company and its owner of defrauding the government out of more than $127 million, claiming the business billed beneficiaries' Medicare accounts for unneeded tests, while the labs took a share and returned it to the marketers and tele-doctors who approved the test. The case is a part of a nationwide crackdown that led to more than 30 similar indictments and cost Medicare over $2 billion in unnecessary charges. Guth said seniors can avoid becoming victims to such scams by not giving out their personal information.

A study by University of Washington (UW) researchers published in Alzheimer's and Dementia found two variants of the Alzheimer's-affiliated gene apolipoprotein E (APOE) that act differently among Caribbean Hispanics depending on the ancestral origin, reports UW Medicine . The authors discovered that individuals with African-derived ancestry in their APOE gene were 39 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's than those with European-derived APOE. "The results from our study have important implications for the use of personalized genetic risk in populations with diverse ancestries, even for well-established risk factors," said UW School of Public Health Professor Timothy Thornton. The researchers emphasized the need for more studies using larger and more diverse datasets to assess the interrelationships between ancestry, APOE, and Alzheimer's. "When trying to understand the genetic risk of disease, there needs to be a diverse group of people to look at it from all angles," said UW School of Medicine Professor Elizabeth Blue.

Politico Pro is reporting that the first generation of developmentally disabled adults who grew up at home, and not in an institution, have now reached middle-age. Unfortunately, they are facing a health care system that is largely unprepared to care for them as their baby boomer parents age out of that role. Many have never spent much time away from their parents and are on long waitlists for state services. The problem dates back to the 1970s when a deinstitutionalization movement took hold that argued that developmentally disabled children and adults are better off when integrated into a community than warehoused in a group home setting. Since then, autism diagnoses have become far more common, those with disabilities have lived longer than ever before, and babies born prematurely survived at significantly higher rates. In a nutshell, far more people have needed services, will be needing services in the years to come, and governments have struggled to keep up. To be sure, some states have been trying to get out in front of the "demographic tsunami." Tennessee, for instance, revamped its entire long-term care program three years ago, for the first time offering home and community-based services to people with a physical disability, which were previously only available to people with intellectual disabilities.

Researchers are delving into the question of dementia's effect on bilinguals, reports The Conversation . Workers in Scottish, Irish, and Welsh care communities noted bilingual people with advanced forms of dementia and nearly no linguistic skills had their lives changed by caregivers who could speak their mother tongue. Music and song often were essential to aiding them with recollection and speech. If immigrant parents have discarded their native tongue to speak only the dominant language of their adopted country with their children, this renders entire generations incapable of speaking their parents' language. This means first-generation migrants who develop dementia may have no way to communicate with their children as they revert to the language they used when they were younger. The Lingo Flamingo language-learning company hosts befriending programs for older people and persons with dementia, using languages such as Punjabi. Identifying the complexity of caring for bilinguals with dementia is a first step toward tackling this issue both politically and practically.

A study published in the European Heart Journal suggests people older than 60 should exercise more to reduce the danger of heart attack and stroke, reports the Sydney Morning Herald . The researchers looked at more than 1.1 million seniors, and found those who started exercising after being continuously inactive had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease of up to 11 percent versus those who remained passive. Those who tapered off as they aged were up to 27 percent more likely to develop heart and blood vessel problems. These trends were evident even in individuals with disabilities and chronic conditions like high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. "The most important message from this research is that older adults should increase or maintain their exercise frequency to prevent cardiovascular disease," said Kyuwoong Kim at Seoul National University Graduate School Department of Biomedical Sciences. He added that doctors should prescribe physical exercise in addition to other recommended medical treatments for people with a high risk of cardiovascular disease.

A study presented at the Society for Endocrinology's annual conference found weight-loss surgery may help older adults to achieve successful weight loss and improved diabetes control, reports News-Medical . The researchers considered results of 22 persons in the United Arab Emirates who underwent bariatric surgery after the age of 65. After two years, subjects had significant loss of about 24 percent of their baseline body weight prior to surgery. "Our study suggests these procedures could be considered in older adults as an effective intervention to aid weight loss and associated complications," said Nader Lessan at the Imperial College London Diabetes Center. Also included were 11 individuals with type 2 diabetes who were on insulin, four of whom no longer needed the insulin after surgery, while the others only needed a lower dosage. No adverse effects, aside from vitamin D deficiency, were seen.

Companies with remote workforces have launched programs to recruit veterans and military spouses, reports CNBC . Veterans often favor the flexibility of working from home, which also offers opportunities to those challenged by reacclimating to civilian life due to injury, disability, or adapting to corporate culture. For example, FlexJobs teamed up with the U.S. Department of Defense as an official Military Spouse Employment Partner, as well as with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Hiring our Heroes campaign. "These are folks who know what it means to be part of a team," said FlexJobs' Mika Cross, adding that companies today value soft skills like flexibility, adaptability, and loyalty — which veterans can offer. Support.com and UpWork are other companies offering veterans remote-employment opportunities, especially those with disabilities and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The flexibility of freelancing lets such veterans earn a regular income, while PTSD sufferers might be more comfortable working from home. "Freelancing provides opportunities for veterans who come home and find that the traditional labor market might no longer work for them," said UpWork CEO Stephane Kasriel.