A "Selfie School" for older adults hosted at a photo studio has enticed residents of the Greenfield of Geneva Retirement Community in Illinois to join the trend, reports WQAD . Over a roughly two-hour-long session, participants learned to shoot selfies with smartphones while posing in front of various fun backdrops. "We really wanted to bridge that gap between seniors and social media," said ClubPhotoBooth Selfie Studio owner Joe O'Connell. Participants have found the experience rewarding. "It's been fun," noted Geneva resident Donna Sharpe. "I don't do selfies, so I wasn't sure what to expect."

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine suggests older women who walk the equivalent of about two miles daily may have a longer life span than less active persons, reports KFGO . The researchers recruited nearly 17,000 females in their early 70s to track their total daily steps and the intensity of their movements via accelerometers. Participants logged an average 5,499 steps a day, or about 2.5 miles. Over an average follow-up period of 4.3 years, 504 women passed away. Compared to women who logged no more than 2,718 steps daily, women who racked up at least 4,363 daily steps had a 41 percent lower mortality rate. "More steps taken per day were associated with even lower mortality rates until about 7,500 steps a day, beyond which no further declines were observed," said Harvard Medical School's I-Min Lee. "The rate of stepping did not matter in these older women. It was the number of steps that mattered."

A study published in Diabetes Care determined older adults who have had diabetes for at least five years and have HbA1c levels above 7 percent are more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia than those with shorter diabetes duration and lower HbA1c concentrations, reports Healio . The researchers found 1,781 out of 5,099 participants had diabetes at baseline, including 1,276 with HbA1c of less than 7 percent and 459 with HbA1c higher than 7 percent. The risk for having any form of cognitive impairment at follow-up was greater for those with diabetes and an HbA1c level of 7 percent or higher, versus non-diabetics. Similar dementia risk factors were seen for those who presented with MCI, although these did not achieve significance. MCI development during follow-up also was more probable for diabetic participants deemed "cognitively normal" at baseline, as well as for those with HbA1c of 7 percent or more. "The link between diabetes and dementia is well-documented, but progression from normal cognitive function to mild cognitive impairment and then on to dementia is less well-studied," said Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Professor Elizabeth Selvin. "Our results suggest that improving diabetes control in late life may help stave off cognitive impairment."

A report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that about 29 percent of adults 65 and older had dental insurance in 2017, and around 66 percent had seen a dentist in the last year, according to U.S. News & World Report . These figures are lower compared to younger adults with private insurance, but are generally comparable with younger adults overall. "Chronic diseases that may impact oral health and the need for care, such as diabetes and osteoporosis, are common among the older population, and poor oral health may contribute to the risk of certain conditions," the CDC warned. Dental care can present a novel challenge for seniors, who often access health coverage via Medicare, which does not cover regular dental care. "Poor older adults were less likely to have dental insurance and to have visited the dentist, and more likely to have an unmet need for dental care due to cost compared with not-poor older adults," the CDC noted. The report found that seniors who are impoverished, uninsured, and in racial or ethnic minorities tend to have the worst oral health.

A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found more than one in five older adults who were aging in place with a mobility or self-care impairment experienced negative consequences due to no one being available to help, or the activity being too difficult to perform alone, reports EurekAlert . In addition, Medicare spending was higher for this group versus older adults with disabilities who did not experience adverse consequences. "The data allow us to see on a granular level how many people are in situations where they don't receive the help they need to perform daily activities," says the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Jennifer Wolff. "We are able to link that number to a public payer like Medicare and see how much extra the public is paying for services to older adults due to lack of adequate support with basic daily activities." Among seniors with impairments in household activities, Medicare spending did not vary appreciably by whether they experienced negative consequences. "To date, there has been little evidence of the potential magnitude of healthcare savings related to better meeting older adults' care needs," notes Wolff. "This study suggests there may be value in terms of both quality of care and reduced costs associated with a broader orientation for paying for services."

Results from the U.S. National Health and Aging Trends Study published in JAMA Ophthalmology demonstrated that older adults who suffer from vision loss may be at a higher risk of anxiety and depression, reports Bel Marra Health . In addition, seniors who exhibit signs of mood disorders have an increased risk of vision impairment. The researchers analyzed data from more than 75,000 older men and women, and learned that 31 percent of persons with impaired vision reported symptoms of depression, compared to 13 percent of those without vision problems. Those with anxiety symptoms had similar outcomes. Twenty-seven percent of participants who experienced anxiety also reported vision problems, compared to 11 percent of those without it. Over 40 percent of participants with impaired vision had suffered anxiety or depression, compared to 19 percent of those lacking poor vision. Moreover, those with impaired vision were 33 percent more likely than those without it to report new depression symptoms over time, but this was not borne out for symptoms of anxiety.

Career experts were asked about well-paying part-time jobs for retirees that also were mentally rewarding, reports MarketWatch . According to FlexJobs.com's Brie Reynolds, a consultant can be "an excellent way to use your former skills after retirement." Companies or individuals will hire consultants for assistance on jobs ranging from boosting profitability to strategy development to reorganizing staff, and retirees' experience and previous career success can play into that. Retirees may appreciate that they get to think through challenging issues, find solutions, and engage with various people, earning anywhere from $25 to more than $100 an hour. Reynolds also highlights interpreter or translator as a good part-time career choice for retirees, with advantages that include flexible schedules or working from home. Such jobs typically earn about $20 an hour, and additional perks include meeting people from diverse countries and backgrounds. Reynolds describes part-time project manager, which can earn about $31 to $41 an hour, as demanding "a variety of different skill sets, which include strong adherence to time management, the ability to manage a budget, and the ability to stay on schedule and keep others on schedule while maintaining a commitment to productivity and motivating team members." Bookkeeper, accountant, or tax preparer jobs only require working during tax season, but are popular with retirees and older people.

A study published in JAMA Neurology explored the link between LDL cholesterol levels and early-onset Alzheimer's, to see if high cholesterol and late-life Alzheimer's have a connection as well, reports Newsweek . The researchers studied the cholesterol levels of 267 blood samples taken from the Alzheimer's research centers at Emory University and University of California, San Francisco. The genes of 2,125 people, including 654 with early-onset Alzheimer's, were also sequenced. People with higher LDL cholesterol levels were more likely to have early-onset Alzheimer's versus those whose LDL was not so elevated, while the APOE E4 genetic mutation was associated with about 10 percent of cases of early-onset Alzheimer's. When adjusting for the potential effects of APOE E4, the risk between LDL cholesterol and Alzheimer's persisted, suggesting LDL poses a risk independent of the mutation. Furthermore, participants with rare changes in the coding of the APOB gene, which contributes to the control of LDL cholesterol levels, had a greater chance of having the rare form of Alzheimer's. "One interpretation of our current data is that LDL cholesterol does play a causal role," said Emory University Professor Thomas Wingo. "If that is the case, we might need to revise targets for LDC cholesterol to help reduce Alzheimer's risk. Our work now is focused on testing whether there is a causal link."

A study published in the Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease suggests trouble managing money can be an early indicator of dementia and could be correlated to protein deposition in the brain, reports Futurity . "The more we can understand adults' financial decision-making capacity and how that may change with aging, the better we can inform society about those issues," said Duke University Professor P. Murali Doraiswamy. The researchers looked at 243 adults age 55 to 90 participating in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, which evaluated financial skills and took brain scans to examine protein accumulation of beta-amyloid plaques. Specific financial skills were observed to decline with age and at the earliest stages of mild memory impairment, more or less equally in both sexes. After controlling for education and other demographics, more extensive amyloid plaques mirrored poorer understanding and application of basic financial concepts, or completing tasks like calculating an account balance. "Little is known about which brain circuits underlie the loss of financial skills in dementia," noted Doraiswamy. "Given the rise in dementia cases over the coming decades and their vulnerability to financial scams, this is an area of high priority for research."

Major league baseball player Bill Buckner died on Monday at the age of 69 from Lewy Body Dementia, reports ESPN . "Bill fought with courage and grit as he did all things in life," his family said in an official statement announcing his passing. Buckner played 22 seasons in the majors and won a batting title in 1980. But, for years, he was known for a single play in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series in which a ground ball went through his legs that allowed the New York Mets to tie the Series and eventually win it in Game 7. Buckner was vilified in Boston for years. But after the team won two World Series titles in the 2000s, he was invited back to throw the first pitch in the Red Sox's 2008 home opener. He received a standing ovation that lasted nearly two minutes.