A report in the Lancet indicated that a rare and potentially deadly condition exhibited in children and young adults after exposure to the novel coronavirus is being detected in older adults as well, according to Reuters . Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) can attack multiple organs, hinder heart function, and weaken heart arteries. Children initially suffer fever, rash, conjunctivitis, lower-limb swelling, pain in arms and legs, and significant gastrointestinal symptoms. Doctors at New York University reported a similar case in a 45-year-old male, while physicians at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn reported a MIS-C case last month in a 36-year-old woman in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine . Both research teams warned against drawing conclusions from these isolated cases, but expressed a desire to "heighten awareness" of the possibility that the syndrome can occur in adults.

A report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) published in NCHS Data Brief found the population of Americans 60 years and older who report receiving vaccinations for shingles has steadily climbed since 2008 and leveled off in the past few years, reports Medscape . The number of people in this demographic who were vaccinated rose from 6.7 percent in 2008 to 34.5 percent in 2018. Rates of people who reported receiving at least one vaccination with Zostavax or Shingrix varied by factors like Hispanic origin, education, and family income — but surprisingly, rates did not vary significantly between men and women. "Although the percentage who had ever received a shingles vaccine among women aged 60 and over was higher than that among men in this age group, this difference was not statistically significant," said the CDC's Emily Terlizzi. Meanwhile, non-Hispanic white adults were more likely to report receiving the vaccine than Hispanic and non-Hispanic black adults, and also were about twice as likely to report vaccinations than Hispanic and non-Hispanic black adults. Self-reported vaccinations rose in association with higher education and family income levels, with 20.4 percent of poor adults saying they were being vaccinated, versus 38.4 percent of adults who were not poor. The leveling off of vaccination rates around 34 percent in recent years could be due to multiple factors, including wide variance in cultural attitudes to vaccines and marketplace shortages.

Mighty Health has designed a nutrition and fitness wellness application customized for older adults who might have hip aches or joint difficulties, reports TechCrunch . The startup announced that it raised $2.8 million in capital by investors that include Y Combinator, NextView Ventures, RRE Ventures, Liquid2 Ventures, and Soma Capital. The Mighty Health app concentrates on live coaching; content focused on nutrition, preventative checkups, and workouts; and celebrations that let family members tune into their loved ones' accomplishments. Each day, a user logs in to the app and receives a list of three to five tasks to complete, distributed among nutrition, exercise, and workouts. The workouts are pre-recorded videos with trainers focused on the over-50 demographic. The app also couples users with a nutrition coach to help them inculcate healthy habits around diet and lifestyle, with coaching performed through text message. When it comes to nutrition, "we focus on the ingredient level," said Mighty Health CEO James Li. "We send them ingredients that they can piece together however they like at home in the way that they cook their cultural meals."

The Pima Love Note project is sending hand-colored pictures, cards, and letters to residents at long-term care and assisted-living communities in Arizona's Pima County, reports KOLD News 13 . "We just wanted the community to come together and build compassionate empathy and to reach out to these individuals that might be experiencing increased isolation due to the pandemic," said Cecilia Nguyen, Volunteer Coordinator with the Pima County Emergency Operations Center. Any community member can send a note, and Nguyen said the aim is to offer joy to those in care communities and even uplift the letters' authors. "It can be a way for the writers themselves to alleviate stress by coloring a page, creating something with their hands and just using their creativity in a way they may not have thought about before," she noted. Fifty-five communities have enrolled in the project to receive notes. Volunteers and employees at the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures are participating, including photos of the miniatures in each note. "We will be including with them a pack of art prints featuring Madeline Cook, whose work we have in our collection," said museum Marketing Director Gentry Sproken.

A promising Alzheimer's disease drug researched in Rhode Island is up for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), reports NBC 10 News . Stephen Salloway with Butler Hospital's Memory and Aging Program said the researchers examined older people who lived a long life and either did not develop Alzheimer's or had very progression. From this study was developed aducanumab, which contains an antibody that appears to retard memory loss by targeting the plaques believed responsible. The study was held once a month for 18 months, and Salloway said "people had a two out of three chance of getting the drug . . . then after that, it was an open-label extension where everybody got it every month, so we've had people on this drug for more than five years." He added that if aducanumab gets FDA approval, "we'll be using it for people with mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia, so early stages of Alzheimer's. I see this as the milestone breakthrough to get us going. But then we got to build on it."

A study from the University of Cambridge published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry suggests apathy, and not depression, is an important early warning sign of dementia in individuals with cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), reports EurekAlert . Researchers examined two independent cohorts of people with SVD from Britain and the Netherlands. Across both cohorts, individuals with higher baseline apathy, as well as those with increasing apathy over time, had a higher risk of dementia. Neither baseline depression nor change in depression had any noticeable influence on dementia risk. These findings maintained consistency despite variation in the severity of symptoms, suggesting they could be generalized across a broad range of SVD cases. The association between apathy and dementia persisted after controlling for other well-established risk factors for dementia like age, education, and cognition. "Continued monitoring of apathy may be used to assess changes in dementia risk and inform diagnosis," said Cambridge's Jonathan Tay. "Individuals identified as having high apathy, or increasing apathy over time, could be sent for more detailed clinical examinations, or be recommended for treatment."

A study from the Physiological Society found that soy and wheat protein derivatives cannot equal animal protein in terms of muscle-building benefits in older adults, reports StudyFinds . The researchers conducted a series of lab trials with volunteers, who were asked to eat both animal and plant proteins on different occasions, after which their muscle health was evaluated. The results indicated that one must consume larger amounts of soy or wheat protein to gain the same muscle-building advantages as a smaller amount of animal sources. This means that if older adults opt to go vegan, it is in their best interests to adjust their protein intake. "This research challenges the broad viewpoint that plant proteins don't help build muscles as much as animal protein by highlighting the potential of alternative plant-based protein sources to maintain the size and quality of aging muscles," said Oliver Witard of King's College London.

Researchers suggest that phase transition, which allows neurons to constantly restructure their inner machinery, appears to malfunction, with implications for Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), reports National Public Radio . The Howard Hughes Medical Institute's J. Paul Taylor said this glitch causes the neuron's interior to become too viscous, and appears to allow toxins to accrue. Taylor previously discovered gene mutations that induced abnormal phase transitions in cells of people suffering from symptoms associated with both dementia and ALS, as well as indications of similar mutations in other neurodegenerative disorders. Fellow Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher Clifford Brangwynne said experimental drugs and genetic modifications performed in laboratories have been used to disentangle these molecules, and this could lead to new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. "It's very clear that this principle is at play in many, many diseases," Brangwynne noted.

The Nevada-based nonprofit TeleHealth Access for Seniors is raising funds and collecting electronic devices for seniors to help them access telehealth services, reports KTNV-TV 13 . "We provide live teaching services or educational services for our devices," says the nonprofit's Christian Ong. "We have volunteers who are available just to walk seniors through their devices." TeleHealth Access aims to help seniors reach out to loved ones and improve their mental well-being, consult with physicians via telehealth, and use wellness applications to benefit their physical health. The ultimate goal is to avoid complications and unnecessary hospitalizations, potentially saving seniors hundreds or thousands of dollars. TeleHealth Access is partnering with the VA of Southern Nevada to spread awareness of the program. The VA says remote healthcare services help patients avoid the travel and wait times of live visits. "They tend to run very much on schedule and also the visits tend to not take as long," says VA Telehealth Services Chief Lowryanne Vick.

The Population Reference Bureau's (PRB) 2020 World Population Data Sheet estimates that older adults 65 and older currently make up 9 percent of the world population partly due to declining fertility rates, reports PR Newswire . Total fertility rates in 91 nations — accounting for approximately 45 percent of the global population — are below replacement level, while in 21 countries and territories, including several battered by COVID-19, people 65 and older constitute at least 20 percent of the populace. This trend is most concentrated in Europe and East Asia, while many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and some in Asia continue to experience rapid population expansion and high fertility rates. "Population changes such as aging and rapid urbanization are important factors for countries to consider as they plan for future disease outbreaks, long-term healthcare needs, and other developments," said PRB CEO Jeff Jordan. "PRB's World Population Data Sheet provides objective data and analysis policymakers need to make these decisions."