Evidence is building that the U.S. vaccine effort is bearing fruit, helping to protect older adults from COVID-19, reports the Wall Street Journal . Hospitalizations and deaths among seniors are dropping, while fatality rates at nursing communities have plunged. Seven-day averages for newly reported deaths have again slipped below 1,000 for the first time in over four months. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said more than 70 percent of Americans 65 and older had received at least one vaccine dose by Wednesday, versus nearly 26 percent of the general population; close to 44 percent of people 65 and up are fully vaccinated. "We're seeing less severe disease in the highest risk population, that's probably in large part due to the vaccine," said infectious-disease doctor James Lawler at the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Global Center for Health Security. The vaccines seem to be affecting mortality rates for those 85 and over, the oldest group tracked by the CDC. Prior to the vaccine push, nursing-community residents represented nearly a third of all weekly U.S. COVID-19 deaths on average, but more recent data indicates that this group encompassed far less than 10 percent of COVID-19 deaths.

A study in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease found older adults with mild memory loss who followed an exercise program for a year saw an increase in blood flow to their brains, reports ScienceDaily . The authors followed 70 men and women aged 55 to 80 who had been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, and underwent cognitive exams, fitness tests, and brain magnetic resonance imaging scans. The subjects were randomly assigned to either a moderate aerobic exercise program or a stretching program for one year. Forty-eight study participants — 29 in the stretching cohort and 19 in the aerobic exercise cohort — completed the full year of training and had follow-up tests, and those who performed aerobic exercise had more flexible blood vessels in their neck and more overall blood flow to the brain. The more their oxygen consumption increased, the greater the changes to blood vessel suppleness and brain blood flow, which was not observed among stretching program participants."We now know . . . that exercise can increase blood flow to the brain, which is a good thing," said Professor Rong Zhang at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

A study published in Alzheimer's and Dementia found adults who experience loneliness in middle age are more likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer's disease later, reports United Press International . People who were "persistently lonely" between the ages of 45 and 64 had a 91 percent elevated risk for dementia and a 76 percent greater risk for Alzheimer's disease compared to those who do not feel lonely. "We think because human beings are social and need social interaction, without . . . interaction, the brain can lose external stimulation, which can increase Alzheimer's risk," said Boston University's Wendy Qiu. The researchers determined that social isolation, lack of physical exercise and intellectual stimulation, and poor physical health are risk factors for all forms of dementia. "People in this age group should realize the existence of the risk and prepare to face mid-life challenges," Qiu said. "As a society, we can do things to intervene in loneliness, like providing counseling and reaching out to those who are facing life stressors or grieving."

ABC7 News reports that sisters Ava and Lily Weinstein have founded Vaccine Teens, a free hotline service to help seniors in New York book COVID-19 vaccination appointments. The siblings listen to voicemails, follow up on missed calls, and keep tabs on people who have yet to schedule an appointment in an organized Excel spreadsheet. Appointments are set up based on the caller's needs and location. "Once we get an appointment, we already know that we are potentially saving someone's life," Lily explained. "Even if we put them on a wait list, it's better than not having anything at all."

The Iowa Department of Public Health has acknowledged that it significantly overestimated how many seniors in the state have been vaccinated against COVID-19, reports the Des Moines Register . On March 12, the department said 94.9 percent of Iowans 65 or older had received at least one dose of the vaccine, while Gov. Kim Reynolds announced five days later that 95.3 percent had received at least one dose. The Des Moines Register queried Iowa Department of Public Health officials last week about the senior estimates, which did not correlate with much lower estimates reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Department spokesperson Sarah Ekstrand has admitted that state estimates were in error, as staff mistakenly had counted some seniors twice, because they were in listings of Iowans receiving an initial dose of the vaccine and in listings of those receiving a second shot. The corrected tally estimates that 82 percent of senior Iowans had received at least one dose by Tuesday, while the CDC said that number was 76 percent. "Despite this change, Iowa's administration results for adults aged 65 and older rank in the top 10 nationwide," Reynolds noted.

The state of Massachusetts has announced that residents of long-term care communities, congregate care communities, and assisted living residences who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 can now host vaccinated guests in their rooms without physical distancing, although masks must still be worn, reports WHDH . The Executive Office of Health and Human Services and its associated agencies issued new guidelines for healthcare and human service providers, which say community visits no longer have to be scheduled in advance, unless requested by the individual community. Activities that require residents to be within six feet of each other can resume if residents are fully inoculated, while those who are fully vaccinated and return to their living center from a different setting no longer need to quarantine for two weeks. Gov. Chariie Baker's administration said 86 percent of all long-term care or assisted living residents are fully vaccinated, and 98 percent have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. In congregate care communities, where 70 percent of eligible residents have received at least one dose and nearly 60 percent are fully vaccinated, programs can permit over two visitors per resident at a time, provided all visitors are from the same household.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID-NET surveillance network reports that coronavirus hospitalizations are declining among older adults, according to Axios . This suggests that the vaccination effort against the virus is having an effect. COVID-NET represents roughly 10 percent of the U.S. population. Older adults are not only comprising a smaller percentage of hospitalizations, but hospitalizations also are down across all age groups overall.

Spectrum News 1 reports that the Sayre Christian Village long-term care community in Lexington, Ky., will celebrate Easter with community donations designed to make music therapy more accessible to residents. "When we bring music to people, it really can activate like memories and happiness and a sense of peace, and I just think it's so powerful for older adults to experience that," said Sayre Activities Assistant Paula White. The community has initiated an Easter Basket fundraiser, where the proceeds will help purchase music therapy equipment. "You can double your impact with your donation," said Sayre executive Elise Hinchman. "So for $10, you will be gifting an Easter basket, with candy, a card, and a sweet little stuffed animal and the resident will get that and be surprised by the Easter Bunny." Hinchman is asking the wider community to support this effort, urging Kentuckians to buy one of the baskets for a resident to help expand their music therapy program.

A study in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association suggests a new early-stage Alzheimer's disease model in rhesus macaques could find application in testing novel treatments, reports News-Medical . The investigators designed versions of the human tau gene with mutations that would cause misfolding, bundled in a virus particle and injected into the macaques' entorhinal cortex. The misfolded tau proteins had spread to other parts of the animal's brains within three months, with misfolding of the introduced human mutant tau protein and of the monkey's own tau proteins present. "This capacity to spread through brain circuits results in the damage to cortical areas responsible for higher level cognition quite distant from the entorhinal cortex," said Professor John Morrison at the California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC). Fellow CNPRC researcher Danielle Beckman noted that the new tau protein model likely signifies a middle stage of the disease, "before widespread cell death occurs." The next step will be to test if behavioral changes similar to human Alzheimer's disease develop in the rhesus macaque model, which could be employed to test therapies that prevent misfolding or inflammation.

Research in Science Advances details a genetic engineering protocol to dramatically reduce levels of tau protein in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease, which could lead to a potentially promising treatment for patients, reports the Harvard Gazette . The researchers proposed using zinc finger protein transcription factors (ZFP-TFs) to target and suppress expression of the gene that codes for tau. Mice with Alzheimer's got an injection of ZFP-TFs directly into the hippocampus region of the brain, or intravenously into a blood vessel. This treatment reduced tau levels in the brain by 50 percent to 80 percent out to 11 months. The therapy also reversed certain Alzheimer's-related damage that was present in the mice's brain cells. "While this therapy is far from patients — as much more development and safety testing would need to be done — it is a promising and exciting first step," noted Bradley Hyman at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease.