A study published in Science Advances describes a prototype hearing aid from Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute, which detects whom the wearer is listening to and amplifies only that speaker's voice, reports Scientific American . The device employs artificial intelligence to separate voices and compare them with a listener's brainwaves to recognize and amplify the speaker being paid closest attention to. Columbia University's Nima Mesgarani and his team created an algorithm trained on subjects' auditory experience of recordings of two voices — one male, one female — speaking simultaneously. Participants were told to focus first on one voice, and then the other, while the sound and their electrical brain signals were fed into the algorithm. The algorithm sorted the sounds, then amplified the attended voice while attenuating the other. "These two inputs go inside this box, and what comes out of it is the modified audio in which the target speaker is louder," Mesgarani notes.

A study published in the British Medical Journal found older adults with fluctuating weight may increase their risk of dementia, reports ConsumerAffairs . "Severe weight gain, uncontrolled diabetes, smoking, and less physical activity in late-life had a detrimental effect on dementia development," the researchers noted. The team had more than 67,000 participants from the National Health Insurance Service-Health Screening Cohort record their body mass index (BMI) from 2002 through 2003, and again from 2004 through 2005. Following the second two-year monitoring period, participants were evaluated from 2008 through 2013 to assess their risk of dementia. Approximately 12,000 participants were diagnosed with dementia by the study's end, and the researchers observed a correlation between weight fluctuation and diagnoses. Participants whose BMI rose or declined by 10 percent over a two-year period were more likely to later develop dementia, and fasting blood sugar was another risk factor of a later dementia diagnosis. Subjects whose lifestyles included typically unhealthy habits like excessive drinking, little physical activity, and smoking also were more likely to later develop dementia. "Our results suggest that continuous weight control, disease management, and the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle are beneficial in the prevention of dementia, even in later life," the investigators concluded.

Auburn University School of Nursing researchers are promoting social engagement among adults with dementia or other cognitive deficiencies via animal-assisted therapy, reports Alabama NewsCenter . Auburn Professors Morgan Yordy and Stuart Pope explored the potential benefits with three therapy dogs at a community respite ministry at Auburn United Methodist Church. A study published in Nurse Educator detailed their findings, along with research in the Journal of Nursing Education and Practice . The researchers noticed significant engagement between participants with dementia and the animals, as well as student engagement and comfort level, when working with such subjects and animals together. "Students were significantly more comfortable and more effective in their communication with participants when the animals were included in the community clinical experience," Yordy noted. "Persons with dementia were more engaged in the presence of animals."

The Frederick County, Md., Senior Services Division has begun the process for the county to gain "dementia-friendly" certification through the national Dementia Friendly America initiative, reports Herald-Mail Media . "The new Senior Services Division is working hard to create a culture that embraces individuals with dementia," announced Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner. The county is offering "Dementia Live" training to healthcare providers, caregivers, and first responders about what people with cognitive problems might be experiencing. Participants use specialized equipment to simulate what people with dementia go through to complete basic tasks, so they cultivate a deeper understanding of those they are helping. More than 400 first responders in Frederick County's Division of Fire & Rescue Services are set to undergo Dementia Live training to experience the problems that some of their recipients encounter.

Axios reports there currently are about 326 active, recruiting, or enrolling-by-invitation clinical trials for Alzheimer's drugs, according to clinicaltrial.gov . Last year, the United States ramped up funding for Alzheimer's research from $400 million to more than $2 billion annually. The precise cause of the disease remains elusive, with much research focused on beta-amyloid proteins that build up in the brain. Despite a lack of effective treatments yielded from this research, some drug companies are still pursuing anti-amyloid solutions, like a phase 3 trial of BAN2401 that focuses on persons with mild Alzheimer's or a phase 3 trial of AMG 520/CNP520. The latter aims to block the BACE1 enzyme that helps form amyloid plaques. Other trials, like a phase 2 test of PDE4D, are hoping to preserve people's memories and slow degeneration caused by the disease. Still other efforts concentrate on predicting the onset of Alzheimer's.

A study published in the Journal of Molecular Biology found urinary tract infections (UTIs) are prevalent among older women partly because their bladder walls can be infiltrated by several species of bacteria, reports HealthDay News . The researchers examined bacteria in bladder biopsies from 14 postmenopausal women suffering from recurrent UTI. They cited bacterial diversity, antibiotic resistance, and immune response as significant factors in recurrent UTIs. "Our findings represent a step in understanding recurrent UTIs in postmenopausal women," said University of Texas Southwestern Professor Kim Orth. "We will need to use methods other than antibiotics to treat this disease, as now we observe diverse types of bacteria in the bladder wall of these individuals." Orth added that recurrent UTI "reduces quality of life, places a significant burden on the healthcare system, and contributes to antimicrobial resistance." Additional factors believed to play a role in higher UTI rates in postmenopausal women include pelvic organ prolapse, diabetes, lack of estrogen, loss of Lactobacilli in the vagina, and higher levels of E. coli in tissues surrounding the urethra.

Forbes observes that more and more businesses are recognizing the benefits of not just hiring gig workers, but also allowing their employees to freelance. First of all, employers report, freelancing creates an environment that promotes self-development. By going this route, businesses are also showing they're honoring newer concepts of work and, thus, cultivating staff loyalty. Freelancing also enables employees to groom themselves for career advancement. And while employers can certainly put security measures in place, bosses should know that the vast majority of those who freelance on the side are not interested in sharing privileged company information or otherwise behaving badly.

A study presented at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting suggested the Mediterranean diet can protect against depression in old age, reports Healio . "Following a healthy lifestyle, which includes not only a Mediterranean-style diet, but also plenty of physical activity and drinking alcohol only in moderation, is linked to a reduction in depression," said Hellenic Open University's Konstantinos Argyropoulos. His team estimated that 64.3 percent of study participants were moderately compliant with the Mediterranean diet, and although adherence was not significantly linked to the Geriatric Depression Scale, a physician diagnosis of depression was significantly connected to the MedDietScore. A logistical regression analysis determined each unit increase in consumption of vegetables lowered participants' likelihood of developing depression symptoms by 20 percent. The probability of developing depression declined 36.1 percent for each unit decrease in poultry consumption, and 28 percent for each unit decrease in alcohol consumption.

A Canadian study published in JAMA Neurology found older adults are significantly more likely to develop dementia after a concussion, but this risk could be reduced with a certain family of cholesterol inhibitors, reports the Toronto Globe and Mail . One in six Ontario residents 65 and older were diagnosed with dementia within an average four years after suffering a concussion, which was twice the rate for the rest of the provincial populace. However, those who took statins cut the risk of dementia by about 10 percent to 15 percent compared to those who did not. Individuals who were prescribed a statin within 90 days of a concussion had about a 13 percent reduced risk of dementia. Donald Redelmeier of ICES (formerly the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences) says persons who were on statins were taking the drugs incidentally for non-concussion-related reasons, with most taking them before and after injury. Experimental models suggest statins can mitigate injury-related brain swelling, inflammation, and faulty microcirculation, which may explain why the drugs appear to offer some protection against dementia following concussion.

A special report — by Axios ' Alison Snyder, Jessie Li, Eileen Drage O'Reilly and Kaveh Waddell — chronicles recent advances in understanding memory, what happens when it goes awry, and what might be done to maintain and even possibly manipulate it. Forgetting is currently being studied as a brain process in its own right. To be sure, psychologists have been studying forgetting for decades, including how we control our memory by substituting thoughts or by directing some attention to an unwanted memory. Now, neuroscientists are beginning to figure out how the brain forgets. "Neurons represent memories as patterns of firing between themselves in the short term," notes the article's author. Over the long term, they become etched in connections between neurons that get stronger with repeated firing. Researchers have found that memories tend to fade over time if connections between neurons weaken, or similar memories may interfere with one another.