Preliminary results from a population-based cohort study presented at the virtual annual meeting of the American Headache Society backs earlier findings that migraine is a midlife risk factor for dementia later in life, while migraine with aura and frequent hospital contacts significantly elevated dementia risk after age 60, according to Medscape . The analysis included 18,135 people registered with migraine before age 59 and 1.38 million without migraine, while the matched study population was 62,578. A diagnosis of dementia or use of dementia drugs after 60 years was the main finding, while socioeconomic factors, psychiatric comorbidities, and other headache diagnoses were covariates. The average age at diagnosis was 49 years and about 70 percent of the migraine population were female, with a 50 percent higher dementia rate in individuals who had any migraine diagnosis. A 20 percent dementia rate was observed in individuals who had migraine without aura, but assessment of this population found that its dementia rate was twice that of people with no migraine. "The dementia rate was higher if individuals had more frequent hospital contacts with migraine," said the University of Copenhagen's Sabrina Islamoska. She added that the research highlights "the value of investigating the effect of migraine medications in dementia risk to assess the impact of mild to moderate migraines."

Winston-Salem, N.C., musician Dave Combs aims to help seniors across the United States reduce stress and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic by allowing them to access his music videos, reports Spectrum News . He has personally contacted more than 200 nursing and assisted-living communities in North Carolina with his offer, and the response was so positive that he decided to extend his offer to all 50 states. "I knew that my music was always very soothing and relaxing because my mother ... was in a nursing home here in Winston-Salem," he remarked. "And I know how much the music administered helped those residents where she was staying." He estimates that he has contacted 70 long-term care associations nationwide.

A new study in the British Journal of Nutrition led by researchers from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging (TILDA) disputes assertions that having high blood levels of folate elevates the risk of poor cognition in older adults, especially in those with low vitamin B12 levels, reports News-Medical . Although folic acid fortification is known to reduce neural tube defects in newborns, leading U.S. publications suggest that very high concentrations in older persons, plus low vitamin B12, leads to poorer brain function and accelerated cognitive decline. "Our study shows that a small percentage of older people in the community have this potentially adverse combination, but they are not at increased risk of poorer cognition," said Trinity College Dublin Professor Anne Molloy. The TILDA researchers found that cognitive performance was not worse in older people with low vitamin B12 combined with high folate. Moreover, subjects with normal vitamin B12 levels and high folate levels exhibited better cognitive performance than those with normal folate levels. Use of folate-containing supplements was low, with more men than women taking them, but with less than 4 percent taking the supplements overall.

LinkedIn's Global Talent Trends 2020 report found that older workers ages 50 to 65 prioritize flexible schedules and meaningful work, while 94 percent of talent professionals said the employee experience is gaining importance in the age demographic, according to WTOP-FM in Washington, D.C. Older Americans may be in a better position to pursue their desired jobs, thanks to a combination of expertise, insight, savings, benefits, and retirement plans from earlier employment. A top quality for older workers is a job that provides meaning, and clergy scored the highest for enjoyment on a 2017 Urban Institute survey. The second most enjoyable occupation is counseling, while retail sales is highly appealing due to its flexible hours. Older respondents appreciate administrative work for providing social interaction without being physically demanding, and teaching jobs are enticing for their flexibility and accommodation for older people. Baby boomers are often attracted to insurance sales for their autonomy, while landscaping and groundskeeping may be perfect for those who want to remain active later in life. Rounding out the top 10, floral design appeals to older workers with creative flair, while healthcare positions can fit well for older workers who want to help others.

A study published in Current Biology may offer new insights into Alzheimer's disease, reports ScienceDaily . The investigators demonstrated that how two areas of the brain interact during sleep may explain Alzheimer's symptoms. They explored memory replay — the playback of activity patterns from waking experience during sleep — in a mouse model of Alzheimer's as a potential cause of impaired spatial learning and memory. During these periods, the mice modeling aspects of Alzheimer's in humans had deteriorated functional interactions between the hippocampus and the parietal cortex. The hippocampus is critical for storing "episodic" memories, and considered essential for helping other brain regions extract generalized knowledge from these personal experiences. "A better predictor of performance and the first impairment to emerge was not 'memory replay' per se, but was instead the relative strength of the post-learning coupling between two brain regions known to be important for learning and memory: the hippocampus and the parietal cortex," said Florida State University Professor Aaron Wilber.

The Pennsylvania Department of Aging has issued a survey for the general public and community stakeholders to comment on its strategies and priorities as part of the process of completing a State Plan on Aging for 2020-2024, reports the Reading Eagle . The plan aims to help Pennsylvania fulfill the objectives of the Older Americans Act, and will be submitted to the Administration for Community Living with a vision and direction for the state's network of aging services. Survey respondents are asked to prioritize services and quality-of-life issues of greatest interest to them in ensuring age-friendly communities over the next four years. Citizens 60 and older are strongly encouraged to participate. "The survey is user friendly, and the Department of Aging hopes to have community members, consumers of services, caregivers and advocates give us their input," said Pennsylvania's Acting Secretary of Aging Robert Torres. "We truly value the feedback that we receive in order to craft a plan that continues to prioritize the needs and services of older Pennsylvanians now and in the future." The Department is mandated to submit a plan every four years, with the next one due by Oct. 1.

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott announced on Wednesday that the state is starting to relax restrictions on visiting people in hospitals and seniors in long-term care communities, reports the Associated Press . Long-term care communities are initially required to hold visits outdoors and include no more than two visitors per day for each resident. One of the first restrictions instituted in March was banning visitors to senior care communities. If COVID-19 cases remain low, Scott said the restrictions will be further eased in the weeks ahead. Vermont reported on Wednesday that there were no new positive cases of the coronavirus, leaving the statewide total since the pandemic began at 1,130. The state has not seen a COVID-19 death since late May, with total fatalities holding at 55.

Psychedelic drugs lack the serious side effects of antidepressants, which stands to especially benefit older adults, reports Forbes . The Bright Minds biotechnology startup is developing second-generation analog compounds intended to overcome such health risks, including psilocybin-like compounds that are free of potential toxicities to deliver more attenuated treatment. "When you're dealing with an individual that's compromised in terms of their health, you're going to need to have them very carefully monitored if you're going to give them psilocybin itself," said Bright Minds lead researcher Alan Kozikowski. He also acknowledged the possibility that psilocybin could halt neurodegenerative processes, and even enhance memory in persons with Alzheimer's. "There is a possibility you can get formation of new neurons, and you might restore certain synaptic connections," Kozikowski said. Bright Minds is currently testing one of its designer compounds for the treatment of cluster headaches, which according a study in Neurology respond well to psilocybin. Kozikowski calculates that about two years of preclinical work will pass before his researchers discover an investigative new psychedelic drug, followed by two to three more years of clinical trials before Bright Minds can roll out a first drug onto the market.

A study in JAMA Neurology found older men with a weak or irregular circadian rhythm are more likely to later develop Parkinson's disease, reports News-Medical . The researchers analyzed 11 years of data for 2,930 independently living men, average age 76.3. None of the participants initially had Parkinson's, and all were living in community-based environments. Earlier research drew an association between daytime napping and the later development of Parkinson's, even after considering sleep disturbances. During follow-up, 78 participants were diagnosed with Parkinson's, and those scoring lowest in actigraph amplitude, mesor, or robustness had a threefold risk of developing Parkinson's compared to those who scored highest. No association between acrophase and Parkinson's risk was observed. "If research points to sleep or circadian problems being risk factors for neurodegeneration prior to traditional symptoms, then we may be able to use that information for early detection and diagnosis, or we might be able to intervene in ways that prevent development of neurodegenerative loss of function," suggested University of California, San Francisco Professor Yue Leng.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas' (UNLV) new Chambers-Grundy Center for Transformative Neuroscience is designed to provide hope for people with Alzheimer's, dementia, and other brain and neurological diseases through scientific discovery, reports EurekAlert . The center will impel research, monitor the progress of clinical trials worldwide, and offer learning opportunities in the science of developing treatments for these disorders. "The . . . Center . . . will advance the science of brain health in tangible ways to transform the lives of millions of people affected by neurodegenerative diseases today and into the future," said Ronald. T. Brown, dean of the UNLV School of Integrated Health Sciences. The center's core element is its clinical trial observatory, which will track most Alzheimer's clinical trials throughout the world, compiling data from each trial's successes and failures to help scientists learn how to improve trials and expedite drug development. "The observatory will strengthen the science of treatment development and systematically reveal how to make trials better, faster, and cheaper," said center director and UNLV Professor Jeffrey Cummings. "Application of these lessons will accelerate treatments to dramatically improve people's lives."