The COVID-19 epidemic places great strain on families with loved ones suffering from dementia, reports AlzForum . Alzheimer's or a related disease does not in itself make a person vulnerable to COVID-19, but some behavioral symptoms stemming from cognitive impairment or dementia elevate the possibility of infection. For example, while people with Alzheimer's need consistent reminders to wash their hands, people with frontotemporal dementia have difficulty with social distancing, and those with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) have trouble understanding the pandemic or raising their concerns to caregivers. "With social isolation on one hand and difficulty communicating on the other, people with PPA are hit with a double whammy," noted Northwestern University's Marsel Mesulam. The burden for caregivers is compounded by social distancing measures, as many previously relied on visits from relatives, friends, or neighbors for temporary relief.

Politico Pro observes that an increasing number of states dealing with the coronavirus pandemic are not only suspending scores of regulations, they are also reducing legal barriers to let retired physicians, medical students, and out-of-state doctors relieve their frontline health workers. However, all of this red-tape cutting may not come fast enough for the hardest hit locales. Hospitals are facing shortages of essential personnel like emergency physicians, pulmonologists, and respiratory therapists. In addition, many are seeking a surge of temporary workers to handle administrative work and/or telemedicine tasks. Those drafted into service may come from all over the nation and require malpractice insurance; temporary medical licenses; or, in the case of retired doctors, board recertification. Some states have had to scramble to make such arrangements in the past, most notably after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But the nationwide push coupled with uncertainty over when the virus may peak in many areas is creating a run on personnel. Some states are tackling the problem by creating emergency licenses. The Arkansas State Medical Board, for instance, now permits medical students with at least one year of postgraduate training and a written recommendation from their program director to apply for a temporary emergency license.

The White House announced yesterday that it will likely soon adjust previous guidelines discouraging non-health workers from wearing face masks, to be published as "guidance" from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reports TechCrunch . The new guidance is expected to concern cloth and non-medical face coverings exclusively due to persistent shortages of medical masks for health workers. White House Coronavirus Task Force Response Coordinator Deborah Birx said in the Thursday briefing that the updated guidance was an "additive" protective measure as opposed to a substitute. She implied that the White House and CDC were hesitant to offer the new mask advice due to concerns that people would ease social distancing measures that are essential to containment of the coronavirus epidemic. Memos indicate that the CDC began considering the cloth mask recommendation on account of evidence that asymptomatic people are transmitting the virus. A draft copy of the policy declares that the agency "recommends the community use of cloth masks as an additional public health measure people can take to prevent the spread of virus to those around them."

University of Michigan Professor Geoffrey Hoffman discusses stigma and isolation among older adults — an especially critical problem during the COVID-19 pandemic — in Medical Xpress . He advises practicing caution when it comes to anecdotal information and media reports of older adults not self-isolating. "Ingrained stereotypes often can influence our perceptions, letting us possibly overstate the problem," he says. "For instance, negative views about aging, including stereotyping older adults as incapable of making decisions or taking care of themselves, may let us more easily perceive that they aren't doing so." Hoffman suggests "older adult" is a less stigmatizing term than "elderly." He also stresses that "things that don't appear entirely ideal from a public health or prevention perspective, including for coronavirus, aren't all bad — they may be healthy in the sense that they reflect a desire of older adults to engage and have a full quality of life." Hoffman admits that the self-isolation edict creates a balancing act between upholding older adults' sense of autonomy and keeping them safe. To that end, he recommends that others "give older adults information about risk, but also provide help with technology. Deliver medications and groceries; clean door knobs, call nursing homes, provide support to caregivers."

Despite the closure of Senior Age centers to keep staff safe during the coronavirus, the agency is still helping seniors navigate through the crisis, reports KY3 . "We're fielding phone calls every day and then we're also calling all of our seniors as well," said Senior Age Chief Human Resources Officer Alex Cobb. "It's kind of a wellness check to make sure they're doing OK and then also answer a lot of the questions that they have." A frequent question seniors ask is how they will receive their stimulus checks, as the language has changed several times. "I would encourage people to wait a day or two to help the individuals help us understand things to be able to make that translation into simpler language and so we know how to answer their questions," Cobb said. Senior Age just initiated a partnership with Missouri State University (MSU) students nearing graduation. "The counseling program at Missouri State, their students need practicum hours," Cobb said."They can't get them right now because they have to be shut down." MSU students can now continue their counseling work by joining their telephone reassurance program. "They're offering us the opportunity to have seniors call in and talk to the counseling students for free," Cobb said.

A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found seniors who have enough vitamin D have better odds of recovering from hip fractures, according to U.S. News & World Report . About 300 patients undergoing hip fracture surgery were post-surgically evaluated in terms of mobility and vitamin D levels, and those with higher vitamin D levels had higher rates of walking 30 days after the operation. Although poorer nutritional status was linked to less mobility, there was no association between vitamin D levels and mortality rates. Rutgers University Professor Sue Shapses advised that older adults take 800 international units of vitamin D per day to prevent deficiency. "An important next step is learning how vitamin D affects mobility," she added. "For example, it is not clear if severe vitamin D deficiency is associated with direct effects on muscle, cognition, and/or other organ systems."

A study from the University of California, San Diego in Current Biology learned that high blood levels of RNA produced by the PHGDH gene could function as a biomarker for early detection of Alzheimer's disease, reports EurekAlert . This research could lead to the development of a blood test to identify persons who will develop the disease years before they become symptomatic. The PHGDH gene generates RNA and proteins crucial to brain development and function in infants, children, and adolescents. As people age, PHGDH usually produces less, and the new study suggests that overproduction of extracellular RNA (exRNA) by the gene in older adults could signal nascent Alzheimer's. The researchers determined this using a method called SILVER-SEQ, which is sensitive enough to sequence tens of thousands of exRNAs in less than a single drop of blood. SILVER-SEQ analyzed the exRNA profiles in blood samples of 35 people 70 years and older who were tracked up to 15 years before death. Included were 15 with Alzheimer's; 11 "converters," or subjects who were initially healthy then later developed Alzheimer's; and nine healthy controls. A steep increase in PHGDH exRNA production was observed among all converters about two years before they were clinically diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and PHGDH exRNA levels were on average higher in those with Alzheimer's.

The U.S. Treasury Department has reversed course and announced that Social Security beneficiaries and other Americans who have not filed income taxes for the past two years will not have to take any extra steps to get one-time checks of up to $1,200 under a new program designed to help the economy rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, reports USA Today . This is in response to criticism following the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) online notice that people who usually do not file taxes would need to file a simple tax return to receive one of the payments. Forty-one senators sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claiming that this would place "a significant burden" on retired seniors and people with disabilities. Mnuchin responded that the IRS will now use Social Security data to generate payments to Social Security recipients who did not file tax returns in 2018 or 2019 as paper checks or direct deposits. "One of the reasons Treasury officials may have wanted to require a simple tax form from those who haven't paid taxes in the past two years is to make sure they are sending checks to the most up-to-date address," said American Enterprise Institute economist Kyle Pomerleau. Electronic Transactions Association CEO Jodie Kelley said the industry has offered to assist Treasury "to quickly and securely deliver stimulus money to American consumers."

Grandparents are using digital solutions like e-mail and video-webcam calls to maintain communication and interaction with loved ones during the coronavirus pandemic, reports the Associated Press . Salt Lake City resident Debbie Cameron, 68, and her husband have had to socially distance themselves from their grandchildren. Some grandparents are replacing live chats with friends with Facebook conversations, or connecting with church groups through video-messaging apps like Marco Polo. "When you're in a time of crisis, you want to be with people you love, and we can't," admits retired Marylander Terry Catucci, 69. "I've run the whole gamut of the five stages of grief at any given day." Nevertheless Catucci, a recovering alcoholic, is coping, talking with her family and checking in daily with her Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor.

A study in the American Journal of Human Genetics determined that a mutation of the NRROS gene causes a rare childhood-onset neurodegenerative disorder, and couples who both carry the mutant gene have a one in four chance of giving birth to an affected child, reports Being Patient . The mutant gene hinders the signaling pathway of their brains known as transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF-ß1) from anchoring in cells' surfaces. The researchers theorize that the NRROS mutant causes TGF- ß1 to be overly active, leading to unchecked activation of microglia and inducing inflammation in the brain, which also is a factor in Alzheimer's. "It's intriguing to me that there's some overlap with the pathogenesis of more common neurodegenerative adult diseases like Alzheimer's in which we see that inappropriate activation of the microglia," said Murdoch Children's Research Institute Professor Susan White. "And so maybe, just maybe, there's something we can learn from this ultra-rare neurodegenerative disorder which can help us better understand the devastating disease that is Alzheimer's."