A study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease found a simple meditation or music listening regimen may change certain biomarkers of cellular aging and Alzheimer's in older adults experiencing memory loss, reports News-Medical . These alterations also might be directly related to improvements in memory and cognition, sleep, mood, and quality of life. Sixty participants with subjective cognitive decline were randomly assigned to either a beginner meditation or music listening program and asked to practice 12 minutes daily for 12 weeks. Blood samples were taken at baseline and three months, with the cellular aging biomarkers of telomere length and telomerase activity quantified. Also measured were blood levels of beta-amyloid peptides commonly linked to Alzheimer's, as well as memory and cognitive function, stress, sleep, mood, and quality of life. The meditation cohort had greater increases in a key beta amyloid peptide than the music cohort, and climbing beta amyloid levels were correlated with improvements in memory and cognitive function, mood, sleep, and quality of life at both three and six months. Telomerase activity increased in both cohorts and was significant only among participants who had lower values at baseline who practiced more frequently over the course of the intervention. Telomere length also was greater among participants with lower values at the beginning of the study.

A study published in Molecular Psychiatry details an approach for classifying people with Alzheimer's that could help in the development of personalized treatments, reports UW Medicine . University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine Professor Shubhabrata Mukherjee led a team that placed 4,050 people with late-onset Alzheimer's into six groups based on their cognitive functioning at the time of diagnosis. The team then applied genetic data to identify biological differences across these groups. Participants were assigned cognitive scores in the domains of memory, executive functioning, language, and visuospatial functioning. The largest group had scores in all four domains that were fairly consistent, while the next largest group had memory scores that were substantially lower than their other scores. Smaller groups scored substantially lower in language, visuospatial, and executive functioning than in the other domains. Six percent had two domains that were substantially lower than their other scores. Genetic data analysis uncovered 33 single nucleotide polymorphisms in which the genetic association was very strong for one of the subgroups, as well as a strong relationship between a specific variant of the APOE gene and risk for the memory loss subgroup.

Pennsylvania State University Professor Martin Sliwinski and colleagues will use a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to gain more knowledge about how small changes in the brain can develop into neurological conditions later in life by developing new standardized mobile technologies for American scientists, reports EurekAlert . This work could yield new insights that inform prevention measures and enhance quality of life for older adults and their loved ones. "Using these new technologies, we'll be able to obtain high-precision data about the mental and cognitive function of research study participants in the context of their everyday lives," Sliwinski says. "This allows us to gather data as they go about their everyday lives, which goes beyond what we can already do in a lab." In one example, participants could open a smartphone app, input information about stress levels, and then play a brain game so researchers can measure their cognition and study how stress impacts brain function. The NIH grant will enable Sliwinski and his team to partner with the company Sage Bionetworks to construct the necessary infrastructure. "We'll be designing a suite of tools that are ready for scientists to begin using immediately in their research, with no programming or technical knowledge needed on their part," Sliwinski notes. "But it will also be a code base that can be built upon if a researcher needed to customize and tailor it to fit their work. We want other labs to be able to innovate it and make it their own."

Senior assisted living communities in California are providing residents with more sophisticated meals prepared by expert chefs amid mounting interest in food and healthier lifestyles, reports the Los Angeles Times . Residents at certain communities now have the option of ordering daily specials or offerings from more extensive everyday menus. Crown Cove Executive Director Kathleen Olson notes she has observed an elevation in food service in the past two years, with demographics shaping the dietary differences among senior communities. "The area we're in, residents are interested in healthier food; many have traveled and experienced a higher level of dining and expect that here," she points out. "They don't want casseroles." Crown Cove Head Chef Daniel Perez also chimed in. A veteran of the assisted-living sector, he said, "I love working with seniors, and for some, it's the end of their journey and I want to make them as happy as possible. Food plays a huge role — the interaction, the family, bringing everyone closer together — and it gives me joy when families come and eat here instead of going out."

A study published in PNAS details how the protein klotho serves as a gatekeeper that protects the brain from the peripheral immune system, promoting longevity and countering aging-related impairments, reports Medical Xpress . The researchers determined one brain structure, the choroid plexus, contains vastly higher levels of klotho than any other. "We discovered, in mouse models, that klotho levels in the choroid plexus naturally decrease with age," says Lennart Mucke at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease. "We then mimicked this aging process by reducing levels of klotho in this structure experimentally, and we found that depleting this molecule increases brain inflammation." In mice with less klotho in the choroid plexus, inherent immune cells in a key memory center underwent a more aggressive reaction when other parts of the body were exposed to immune challenges that mimic infections. "The barrier between the brain and the immune system seems to break down with low levels of klotho," notes Gladstone's Lei Zhu. "Our findings indicate that klotho helps keep that barrier closed. When levels of this molecule are depleted in the choroid plexus, the barrier becomes more porous and allows immune cells and inflammatory molecules to get through more easily." The team's next step will entail ascertaining whether an increase in klotho levels in the choroid plexus will help suppress age-related cognitive decline.

A meta-analysis published in BMJ Open examining a possible connection between anxiety and dementia onset found increased association between significant midlife anxiety and a higher risk of dementia over at least 10 years, reports U.S. News & World Report . Although the implication is that midlife anxiety may be an independent risk factor for late-onset dementia, as opposed to anxiety that might represent initial dementia symptoms, this is only a correlative link, lacking concrete proof. The study authors note anxiety induces an excessive stress response, which could have a detrimental effect on brain health and lead to accelerated cognitive decline, according to Simon Rego at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In addition, the University of Texas-Austin's Charles B. Nemeroff says depression has long been known to nearly double the risk of dementia. He says linking anxiety "is relatively novel," as well as "important because, if we can identify people at risk for dementia, we can intercede earlier. Any predictive biomarker or clinical sign or symptom to predict risk is good news." The study authors concur that "nonpharmacological therapies, including talking therapies, mindfulness-based interventions, and meditation practices, that are known to reduce anxiety in midlife, could have a risk-reducing effect, although this is yet to be thoroughly researched."

New research published in Neuropsychologia has determined that when older adults and younger adults are displayed the same pictures, the images trigger weaker brain activity in the older adults, which could lead to "fuzzier" memories, reports NJ.com . "We found that older adults are not building up the memory in the same way as younger adults," says Jennifer Ryan at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute in Toronto. "Something is falling apart somewhere along the path of taking in visual information through the eyes and storing what is seen into a memory." These findings could potentially lead to new tools for the early detection of cognitive impairment and dementia. For the study, 21 adults between the ages of 64 and 79, and 20 adults younger than 30, were shown images of faces, some of which were repeated multiple times. The team recorded participants' eye movements and brain activity, and found that when older adults looked at the photos, they exhibited more eye movement but less brain activity than their younger counterparts. Ryan says at some point along the path to the hippocampus, the process of converting visual information into memories is "breaking down." "It's not clear yet if there's a specific place in the brain that's kind of a gatekeeper for allowing information to reach the hippocampus, or if there are changes taking place all along the way between the visual system and the hippocampus, and the information just keeps getting a little fuzzier as it goes along," she notes.

An American Academy of Family Physicians survey found older adults do not like to talk about life expectancy within a hypothetical scenario, reports Earth.com . When requested to consider this situation from the hypothetical person's perspective, 878 participants older than 65 were asked if they would query their clinician about their life expectancy, if they thought this was an appropriate discussion for the doctor to bring up, if they would like their physician to discuss their life expectancy with family and friends, and at what point should life expectancy be talked about. Fifty-nine percent of survey participants did not want to discuss their life expectancy at all within the hypothetical scenario, and 291 believed the discussion to be inappropriate for a doctor to initiate, while 450 did not want their doctor discussing life expectancy with loved ones. When participants were told that their hypothetical life expectancy was increased, fewer felt it should be discussed, with 56 percent only deeming it necessary to raise the issue if life expectancy was less than two years. Participants who found it necessary to discuss life expectancy often had higher levels of education, faith in doctors to predict life expectancy, and had experienced a life-threatening illness or gone through the same scenario with a family member. Participants who felt the discussion was unnecessary often had stronger religious convictions.

Although private Medicare Advantage plans offered next year will include new benefits for older adults, they will not be widely available or easy to find during fall enrollment, reports National Public Radio . The benefits will include transportation to medical appointments, home-delivered meals, wheelchair ramps, bathroom grab bars, or air conditioners for people with asthma. Only 273 plans in 21 states will offer at least one of these benefits, while Medicare officials say only about 7 percent of Advantage members will have access. Medicare officials envision the added benefits as key to helping Advantage members avoid expensive hospitalizations, with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Director Seema Verma calling federal sanctions for new supplemental benefits "one of the most significant changes made to the Medicare program." She also expects plans to expand the number of services in coming years. Still, plans offering these services will likely have only some of the promised options and could have different eligibility criteria and other constraints. Enrollees will require a recommendation or referral from a healthcare provider in the plan's network, and they also may need to have a certain chronic health problem, a recent hospitalization, or meet other eligibility requirements.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego's Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences note older men and women are more likely to take a mix of medications to manage multiple chronic health issues related to aging, reports UC San Diego Health . Older people who take more drugs are at higher risk of adverse side effects, with common problems like thinking and balance difficulties stemming from anticholindergics for conditions such as urinary incontinence, overactive bladder, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, as well as sedatives and tranquilizers such as zolpidem and lorazepam. Meanwhile, older adults are sometimes prescribed a drug for a symptom or condition but fail to follow up with their doctor to see if they still need the drug or if the dose should be adjusted. Moreover, some medications tend to interact with other drugs with adverse effects. Because many seniors see more than one doctor, they can be confused about their medication, especially after hospitalization, when they are often prescribed even more drugs. "This is especially true during transitions of care, when a senior moves from a hospital to home or to a care community," notes Skaggs' Sarah Lorentz. She recommends seniors or caregivers make a comprehensive list of all medications, which should be on hand for medical appointments and trips to the pharmacy.