A study in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research associated low muscle mass (LMM) with increased mortality in people 65 and older, reports Docwire News . The researchers used dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to assess body composition in older community-dwelling adults, including an evaluation of total fat mass, visceral adipose tissue (VAT), appendicular lean mass, and distinct LMM definitions. A total of 707 out of 839 individuals were included in the second analysis. Evaluation of male subjects in adjusted analyses revealed a significantly higher all-cause mortality risk associated with LMM and VAT, yet total fat correlated with a lower mortality risk. Cardiovascular mortality analysis yielded similar results. The only predictor of mortality among women was LMM, but the connection was significant for both all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. "The fat mass seems to play opposite roles according to its distribution in older men," concluded the researchers. "Visceral fat increases the risk of death, whereas total body fat has a protective role, quite different to what is established in the literature for young adults. These findings highlight the importance of body composition by DXA as a promising tool for the evaluation of sarcopenia, body fat, and mortality risk in older adults."

DeKalb County, Ga., is hosting a new tutoring program in which older adults will volunteer to help local students become more adept readers, reports The Neighbor . The AARP Experience Corps program targets the reading proficiency of children in kindergarten through third grade who are lagging by at least two grade levels. Recent data found DeKalb students have an average reading proficiency of 26 percent. The DeKalb County Human Services Department's tutoring program will start on Oct. 21, with several elementary schools participating. Volunteers must be 50 years old at minimum, with a high school diploma or GED. The DeKalb Human Services Department is collaborating on the program with the United Way of Greater Atlanta, the AARP Foundation, and the DeKalb County School District.

A study in the British Medical Journal determined good cardiovascular health at age 50 is linked to a reduced risk of dementia later, reports Medical Xpress . The researchers investigated the connection between the American Heart Association's Life Simple 7 cardiovascular health score at age 50 and the risk of dementia over the next 25 years. Subjects had no cardiovascular disease and dementia at 50, while dementia cases were diagnosed with hospital, mental health services, and death registers until 2017. Out of 7,899 participants, 347 cases of dementia were noted over an average follow-up of 25 years, with average age at dementia diagnosis 75 years. Adherence to Life Simple 7 cardiovascular health recommendations in midlife was connected to a lower risk of dementia later in life. In comparison with a dementia incidence rate of 3.2 per 1,000 person years among the cohort with a poor cardiovascular score, participants with an intermediate score had an incidence of 1.8 per 1,000 person years, and those with an optimal score had an incidence of 1.3 per 1,000 person years. Higher cardiovascular health score at age 50 also was associated with higher whole brain and gray matter volumes in magnetic resonance imaging scans two decades later.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found dietary consumption of phosphatidylcholine is associated with a lower risk of dementia, reports ScienceDaily . Phosphatidylcholine also was connected to improved cognitive performance, with eggs and meat the chief dietary sources of the nutrient. Choline is needed for the formation of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, with previous research suggesting sufficient choline intake may contribute to prevention of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's. The risk of dementia was found to be 28 percent lower in men with the highest intake of dietary phosphatidylcholine, compared to men with the lowest intake. Men who consumed the most dietary phosphatidylcholine also did well on memory and linguistic ability tests. The study accounted for other lifestyle and nutrition-related factors that could have explained the findings, as well as the APOE4 gene. APOE4, however, had no significant impact.

A Johns Hopkins University (JHU) study in Neurobiology of Aging could provide insights on why some people's cognitive abilities decline with age while others remain sharp, reports Technology Networks . "Some 'memory problems' aren't a matter of memory specifically, but a matter of retrieving the correct information at the right time to solve the problem at hand," noted JHU's Susan Courtney. Cohorts of young and older adults performed a mental arithmetic task while brain activity was quantified with functional magnetic resonance imaging. The task compared participants' ability to block out interfering information automatically retrieved from long-term memory. Other images also were gleaned to gauge the integrity of white matter tract connectivity. Older subjects were a fraction of a second slower at answering questions than younger participants, and brain scans revealed older individuals who had more difficulty with interference also exhibited more activation in the frontal brain. For certain older participants, fibers linking the front and back of the brain appeared to have sustained long-term damage, but other older individuals had fibers similar to younger subjects. The more integrity these fibers possessed, the better the participant's performance.

A study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health found one out of two older women in the United States is affected by fractures due to psychosocial stress, reports the International Business Times . Postmenopausal women are particularly susceptible to bone loss on account of reduced estrogen production. The researchers learned that reduced social functioning can weaken bones in the hip and neck, while low social support also can spur a larger decline in bone mineral density (BMD) in the neck. A one-point uptick in the scores of social strain was associated with 0.108 percent greater loss of BMD in the hip, 0.082 percent greater loss of BMD at the neck, and 0.069 percent greater loss of BMD in the lower spine. Also factored into the analysis was age, weight, smoking status, hormone therapy, alcohol use, chronic health problems, physical activity, education, age at menopause, and fracture history.

Last week, President Trump and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced the Safe Importation Action Plan to help rein in the drug industry's unchallenged dominance over pricing, reports the Baltimore Sun . Yet getting Americans affordable drugs requires a much greater legislative effort, writes James Campbell, the AARP Maryland state president in an op-ed. He calls on the U.S. Senate to approve the bipartisan Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act and advocate for granting Medicare the authority to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices. The companies' control over prices has been especially harmful to older Americans, Campbell adds. Those enrolled in Medicare Part D take an average of four to five monthly prescriptions, and their average annual income is about $26,000. Pricing is a key reason why one in three Americans has not taken a prescribed drug. The bill in the Senate would cap out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors and regulate drugmakers whose price hikes overtake inflation.

The University of North Carolina's (UNC) Center for Aging and Health has been apportioned a $3.75 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to fund the Carolina Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (CGWEP), reports Newswise . The program's goal is to address healthcare gaps affecting seniors, with specific concentration on rural and underserved regions. Through the grant, the Center will collaborate with community-based organizations and healthcare systems to create an age-friendly healthcare environment. HRSA underwrites the GWEP among 48 sites across the United States, and UNC's CGWEP is spearheading the statewide initiative to bring best practices of geriatrics training to primary care practices and medically overlooked communities. The latest HRSA award will be channeled into training to improve dementia care, boost advance care planning, target chronic opioid use, and reduce falls and occurrences of uncontrolled diabetes. East Carolina University's College of Nursing leads CGWEP's effort to supply dementia screening, caregiver education, and support to seniors in partnership with the NC Area Health Education Centers.

Columbia University researchers have augmented a cane with electronics and computation technology to create a light-touch assistive device to help seniors and those with impaired mobility walk, reports News-Medical . A study published in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters details the autonomous CANINE robot, which "walks" side by side to provide light-touch support to people. CANINE improves the individual's proprioception, or spatial self-awareness, during walking, and enhances stability and balance. "This is a novel approach to providing assistance and feedback for individuals as they navigate their environment," said Columbia Professor Joel Stein. Tests demonstrated that the light-touch support of the robotic cane caused all participants to narrow their strides, which signaled more gait stability. "The next phase in our research will be to test this device on older individuals and those with balance and gait deficits to study how the robotic cane can improve their gait," said Columbia Professor Sunil Agrawal.

A study by University of Queensland researchers in eLife details the use of super-resolution microscopy to monitor how key molecules operate in living brain cells, gaining further knowledge about memory formation and the causes of dementia, reports ScienceDaily . The researchers learned the tau protein involved in Alzheimer's impacts the structure of the signaling protein Fyn, which is critical to memory formation. "This is the first time anyone has demonstrated that Fyn nanoclustering is affected by tau," said Queensland Professor Jürgen Götz. Single-molecule imaging in living brain cells enabled unprecedented access to the organization of key proteins in small nanoclusters that could not be detected earlier. "When tau is mutated, Fyn makes aberrantly large clusters, thereby altering nerve signals and contributing to dysfunction of the synapse-junctions between nerve cells," noted Queensland Professor Frédéric Meunier. Investigation of a different mutant of tau detected in families with a high risk of frontotemporal dementia revealed Fyn over-clustering in the spines of dendrites. "The spines of the dendrites are critical to how nerve cells communicate with each other and underpin memory and learning," Meunier commented.