American taxpayers 65 years and older may get to use a new form, Form 1040SR, to file their federal income tax returns for 2019 and later years, reports ThinkAdvisor . Section 41106 of the new Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA) calls for the Internal Revenue Service to make the new form available for taxable years beginning after the date of the BBA's enactment. The new form is designed to resemble the Form 1040EZ, a simplified tax form targeting individuals with straightforward finances. The BBA says the new 1040SR will be available "only to individuals who have attained age 65 as of the close of the taxable year." Such taxpayers will be allowed to use the new form even if they must report Social Security benefits, distributions from annuities or retirement plans, interest or dividend payments, or capital gains and losses. The BBA says Form 1040SR "shall be available without regard to the amount of any item of taxable income or the total amount of taxable income for the taxable year." There is no indication that the BBA makes the form available to retirees ages 64 and younger. Members of Congress used the BBA as an omnibus measure to bring a number of Medicare bills to the White House. One Medicare-related provision could raise Medicare plan premiums for enrollees who have more than $500,000 annually in modified adjusted gross income, while other provisions could lead to new Medicare Advantage telehealth benefits.

A study published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research found routine body computed tomography (CT) scans may help clinicians predict an individual's risk of future osteoporotic fractures, reports ScienceDaily . "CT scans are commonly performed in older adults for a wide variety of reasons," says the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health's Dr. Perry J. Pickhardt. "The rich bone data embedded in these scans is often ignored, but can and should be harnessed for opportunistic screening for fracture risk." The research team examined 507 older adults who received chest and/or abdominal CT scans for a variety of indications, and found a rapid density measurement of bone quality known as vertebral trabecular attenuation correlated with fracture risk in the following six years. Undergoing a trabecular attenuation of the first lumbar vertebra below a certain threshold was linked with an elevated risk of future fractures.

An interactive text messaging system can improve medication adherence, according to a study published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth . In the study, researchers used mPulse Mobile, a leader in mobile health engagement, on partially adherent and nonadherent Medicare patients to compare refill rates of a text message group of 12,272 with a control group of 76,068 individuals who did not receive text messages, reports Clinical Innovation + Technology . All participants had experience with other forms of refill and adherence reminders like phone calls, emails, and robo-calls. Results showed a 14.1 percent increase in refill rates in the text message group when compared with refill rates of the control group.

A study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published in Acta Neuropathologica Communications detailed how they have modified an assay for early diagnosis of prion diseases to offer the possibility of enhancing early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, reports ScienceDaily . The researchers tested 60 cerebral spinal fluid samples, including 12 from people with Parkinson's disease, 17 from those with dementia with Lewy bodies, and 31 controls, including 16 of whom had Alzheimer's disease. The procedure correctly excluded all the controls and diagnosed both Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies with 93 percent accuracy. Test results were available within two days, versus related assays requiring up to 13 days. The team performed the tests using Real-Time Quaking-Induced Conversion (RT-QuIC), an assay developed and refined over the past 10 years at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' Rocky Mountain Laboratories. The team is continuing to adapt the RT-QuIC assay to identify additional types of neurological diseases with more accuracy using the least invasive patient sample possible. They also have trained many international colleagues to use and advance the assay.

A study published in Circulation found children in Denmark with congenital heart disease (CHD) surviving to adulthood are more likely to develop early dementia than the general population, reports MedPage Today . In general, the Danish congenital heart disease population had a 61 percent elevated risk of dementia versus 95 percent among those lacking congenital defects. They were especially prone to developing early-onset dementia, but more likely to develop dementia later on in life as well. The study outcomes remained the same when excluding all individuals diagnosed with mild cognitive impairments and amnestic syndromes, and reclassification of unspecified dementias such as Alzheimer's disease did not change the results either. "Our findings extend the knowledge of long-term neurologic impairment and mental health functional morbidities in the CHD population," they researchers note. "While previous studies have reported elevated risks of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes among CHD individuals, including increased occurrence of depression, autism, and epilepsy compared to the general population, our study examined an older adult population to determine the later-life consequences of this neurologic outcome. While the underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms are not completely understood, the potential etiologic factors appear multifactorial and consistent with previous finding within the neurodevelopmental scientific literature."

A U.K. study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found the mental health of older adults improves when public transport becomes accessible to them with the elimination of cost, reports Reuters . By following 18,453 people for more than a decade, the researchers found increased eligibility for a free bus pass led to an 8 percent increase in the use of public transportation among older people, and a 12 percent reduction in depression symptoms among those who started taking the bus when they qualified for the program. In investigating the effect of eligibility for free bus travel, the team associated it with 51 percent higher odds of people using public transportation. After adjusting for age, gender, disability, and employment and pension status, greater use of public transport was linked to an average 1-point decrease in scores on an 8-point scale for measuring depression symptoms. "This study should motivate policymakers from other countries to adopt similar concessionary fare schemes that encourage public transport use, increase social engagement, and improve mental health," says King's College London's Erica Reinhard. The probability of older adults living alone rises as they age, and past research has demonstrated that older people who remain engaged in activities have better physical and mental health than those who are isolated and lonely. Reinhard's team notes a lack of social engagement can trigger mental health problems and chronic illnesses in this population.

A survey from Ultimate Software and the Center for Generational Kinetics (CGK) found 80 percent of employees said they could do their job without managers, reports Forbes . Many modern human capital management technologies are designed to tackle common breakdowns in the employee-manager relationship. CGK calculated 80 percent of managers said they are transparent with teams, but only 55 percent of employees agreed. Furthermore, just 53 percent of employees felt their managers cared about their well-being. Survey technologies can help address employee-manager disconnection, using natural language processing and machine-learning algorithms to analyze open-ended text and identify human emotions and workplace themes in real time. The feedback from sentiment analysis tools can help managers proactively address their own weaknesses and initiate honest conversations with employees. CGK also found less than half of today's managers have a mentor, while 45 percent of managers have never received any training. Formal leadership programs from learning academies offering flexible, personalized, and easy to use courses can help in this regard. Meanwhile, the CGK poll found 47 percent of managers use any type of data when making salary or promotion decisions, and predictive and prescriptive analytics could be a boon in forecasting all aspects of employee behavior and recommending remedial action.

Managing a friendship with a subordinate employee can be done by following five tips, according to CEO coach Sabina Nawaz in the Harvard Business Review . Managers should first choose their friends carefully. "Having a friend who is a subordinate requires high degrees of trust and judgment on both parts," Nawaz writes. "It's not possible with every work relationship." The second tip is to establish expectations at the start of the relationship. "You will have knowledge and responsibilities beyond your friend's role and clearance, and your friend needs to know that," Nawaz notes. "Be transparent up front about what you can and can't share." The third imperative is for managers to clarify their roles in conversation. "Explicitly setting norms together for how you will work and play creates equality and equanimity in your friendship," Nawaz says. "Whether you're in a one-on-one conversation in the office or hanging out together after work, be transparent about what kind of conversation you're having." Being transparent with others is Nawaz's fourth tip for managers. "Others might feel awkward disclosing their feelings about your employee, especially if they have negative feedback," she notes. "They might wonder if you'll hold their comments against them, or if you might unduly influence the outcome of the discussion." Nawaz's final tip is for managers to prioritize their job responsibilities over friendships. "Even if you're afraid of hurting your friend's feelings or fear they might get defensive, speak up, but be prepared that there may be rocky times or even long breaks in your relationship," she advises.

The latest HealthDay/Harris Poll found most Americans disagree with President Trump's decision to further protect healthcare workers who deny treatment on religious or moral grounds, reports HealthDay News . More than 80 percent of more than 2,000 American adults surveyed do not think doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers should be permitted to refuse care for those reasons. Sixty-nine percent of respondents felt providers should not refuse care due to religious objections to an individual's sexual orientation, and 59 percent said they should not refuse to perform surgical procedures because of a religious objection. "What we're seeing here is that the American public understands the danger of allowing individual bias to impact the ability of health providers to do their job," says Families USA Executive Director Frederick Isasi. He is concerned the rule will discourage people to seek help from doctors. "The way this regulation reads, it feels like it's trying to provide a basis for a provider to not have to shield their bias, and to inject their bias into those very personal moments with patients," Isasi says. Meanwhile, Harvard Medical School's Dr. Robert Truog cites the regulation and similar rules as "focused more on scoring political points than on solving actual real-world problems."

A study published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology determined reduced levels of sodium in the blood have a connection with declines in cognitive function in older adults, reports Medical Xpress . The researchers analyzed information on 5,435 asymptomatic community-dwelling men older than 65 who were followed for an average of 4.6 years. A total of 100 men had serum levels indicating hyponatremia, and slightly lower sodium levels in the blood were associated with both cognitive impairment and declines in cognitive function over time. In comparison with men with sodium levels of 141-142 mmol/L, men with levels of 126-140 mmol/L were 30 percent more likely to have cognitive impairment at baseline and 3 percent more likely to experience cognitive decline over time. High serum sodium also was associated with cognitive decline over time. "Slightly lower sodium levels in the blood are likely to be unnoticed in clinical practice," says the University of Colorado's Dr. Kristen Nowak. "Because both slightly lower serum sodium levels and mild changes in cognitive function are common occurrences with advancing age, future research on this topic is important — including determining whether correcting lower sodium levels affects cognitive function."