A study published in Neurology suggests hospitalization may be a greater risk factor for long-term cognitive decline in older adults than previously thought, reports Medical Xpress . "We found that those who have non-elective (emergency or urgent) hospitalizations and who have not previously been diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer's disease had a rapid decline in cognitive function (i.e., thinking abilities) compared to the prehospital rates," says Rush University Medical Center Professor Bryan James. "By comparison, people who were never hospitalized and those who had elective hospitalizations did not experience the drastic decline in cognitive function." The researchers compared hospitalization data for 777 older men and women who underwent annual cognitive assessments and clinical evaluations. Of the 460 who were hospitalized, 29 percent had at least one elective hospitalization, and 54 percent had at least one non-elective hospitalization; 23 percent underwent both types of hospitalization. An approximately 50 percent acceleration in pre-hospitalization cognitive decline rate was associated with non-elective hospitalizations, which was more than twice that of persons who were not hospitalized. Elective hospitalizations were not associated with an accelerated rate of decline. "Non-elective admissions drive the association between hospitalization and long-term changes in cognitive function in later life, while elective admissions do not necessarily carry the same risk of negative cognitive outcomes," James concluded.

Researchers at Temple University have been given a $100,000 gift from the Stop Alzheimer's Now nonprofit to explore the role reduced adult neurogenesis may play in Alzheimer's, reports EurekAlert . The new study will determine whether suppressing a specific protein in the brain can trigger neurogenesis. The researchers previously discovered that the targeted protein regulates neurogenesis and demonstrated in vitro that its suppression induces new neuron growth. "Our work may not yield a significant result. But if we show that natural adult neurogenesis can be restored, it could lead to big breakthroughs in our understanding of neurogenesis, in addition to the generation of novel therapies for Alzheimer's disease," says Temple Professor Domenico Praticò.

Demographics are influencing senior housing developers and designers' decisions to expand care options for U.S. seniors, including couples, according to Forbes . Forecasts expect more than 19 million Americans 85 and older by 2050, accounting for 24 percent of older adults and 5 percent of the overall population. Pathway to Living communities let couples share assisted living apartments, and they can choose to each have their own assisted living apartment at the same community, or to have individual assisted living apartments in a companion suite. In addition, one spouse can remain in assisted living in the same community where the other resides in memory care. "Couples have different needs and often at different times, so we try to offer as many flexible options and alternatives as possible to help them choose the right home for them," remarks Pathway to Living COO Maria Oliva. Meanwhile, CA Senior Living provides traditional independent living, assisted living, and memory care suites. In certain Ohio communities, it will soon offer a duplex cottage option. Finally, communities from KTGY Architecture + Planning let couples stay together as long as possible in the same place. Should one spouse need rehabilitation, community design permits movement between independent and assisted living areas.

Leaders on the U.S. Ways and Means Committee are pressuring the Trump administration to clarify projects from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), reports Politico Pro . "Significant policy changes made unilaterally by the executive branch without sufficient transparency could yield unintended negative consequences for beneficiaries and the health care community," warned the committee in their bipartisan letter. "We strongly urge the agency to provide more sunshine in this process." The administration has been promoting CMMI as a core lab for "trialing" concepts to move the health system toward paying more for value. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has said little about this issue for several years, but CMMI is preparing to launch a pilot permitting Medicare to tie the prices of certain drugs to lower prices in other countries. CMMI also is expected to launch new projects that affect providers soon. Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal and ranking member Kevin Brady asked for a list of Medicare proposals under development and requested CMS to outline plans for keeping Congress more informed about its work.

Fox Business reports that Lowe's recently announced plans to hire more than 65,000 people — some permanent and some temporary — this year. The announcement comes only two months after the home improvement retailer said it was permanently shuttering underperforming stores throughout the United States and Canada as part of a reorganization effort. Of the new positions, approximately 50,000 will be seasonal and about 10,000 will be permanent. Around 6,000 people will be hired as full-time assistant store managers and department supervisors to help improve customer service and leadership.

The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) has announced the opening of a senior emergency care unit that is reportedly the first of its kind in California, reports CNSNews.com . The Gary and Mary West Emergency Department at UCSD Health features chairs with high backs and sturdy arms and legs, as well as acoustics, safety, and comfort enhancements. The unit's 11 rooms have walls that absorb sound to reduce ambient noise, variable illumination, and contrasting wall and floor colors to lower the risk of falling. "The new physical space allows older adults to be cared for in an environment that better meets their needs than a traditional emergency room setting," says Gary and Mary West Senior Emergency Care Unit Director Vaishal Tolia. The Gary and Mary West Health Institute is planning a joint project with UCSD Health through the new medical unit, as seniors treated by emergency room doctors are expected to expand as baby boomers age. "Through our collaboration with UC San Diego Health, we are leading the way to wider adoption of geriatric emergency departments across the nation, ultimately improving outcomes and quality of life for seniors before, during, and after a medical crisis," says West Health Institute CEO Shelley Lyford.

Technology firms are seeking ways to make Alzheimer's more manageable and compensate for drug companies' failure to develop effective pharmaceutical solutions, reports STAT . Their goals include helping people with the disease better cope with symptoms, and delivering better support to family caregivers. Seniorlink, for example, has developed a digital communication platform to help coordinate care, while Dthera Sciences has created a therapy that uses music and images to help retrieve memories by analyzing facial expressions to identify the most beneficial sounds and visuals. Meanwhile, Ageless Innovation has invented robotic pets to help treat depression and social isolation that typically accompanies Alzheimer's. Ageless CEO Ted Fischer notes research from Pace University demonstrated that the products led to improved outcomes that included less hospitalization. Embodied Labs has a virtual reality program to educate caregivers about Alzheimer's and its effect on their loved ones. The product immerses users in various situations ranging from loss of cognitive function to changes in family relationships to caregiver burnout. "We not only go inside their lives, but inside their bodies, so they actually know what it's like to have this disease," says Embodied Labs CEO Carrie Shaw.

A study published in Neuron found lab mice engineered to exhibit greater genetic diversity more accurately modeled the genetic, molecular, and clinical markers of people with Alzheimer's, reports Laboratory Equipment . The research was part of the Resilience-Alzheimer's Disease Consortium supported by the National Institute of Aging. The researchers bred a new strain of mice by crossing a well-established mouse model of familial Alzheimer's with a genetically diverse mouse strain. The offspring were genetically diverse while still carrying a high risk of Alzheimer's. The AD-BXD mouse strain more precisely modeled the genetic diversity observed in real-world populations of people with the disease, and also differed significantly in the development of pathologic and cognitive Alzheimer's symptoms. Furthermore, comparative analyses showed the C57BL/6J Alzheimer's mouse model retained resilience factors that mitigated the impact of Alzheimer's risk factor genes; this might help explain the difficulty of replicating the outcomes of research in C57BL/5J mice.

A study of Labor Department data published in The Liscio Report calculated that persons 55 and older comprised about half of all U.S. employment gains last year, even though they accounted for just 25 percent of the workforce, reports USA Today . Of the 2.9 million new jobs posted in 2018, 1.4 million were filled by baby boomers, while in December, 39.2 percent of Americans in that age bracket were employed. Underlying reasons for this trend include older persons wishing to work longer, and a 3.9 percent unemployment rate opens up more opportunities as companies struggle to find qualified candidates. Moreover, many employees are simply aging into the 55-and-older bracket while many prime age-Americans are not employed. Generally, older workers are changing the dynamics of the U.S. labor pool. Moody's Analytics economist Sophia Koropeckyj notes while baby boomers' knowledge and talents make many more productive, others may be less adaptable and familiar with new technology. She also says many boomers can work past retirement age in white-collar jobs because they are healthier and better-educated than their predecessors. The size of the boomer generation is another contributor, as there are some 73 million boomers, with those in the 55-plus bracket making up half of the 2.6 million increase in the American workforce last year.

A study published in PLOS Medicine found having two or more non-communicable diseases costs more for New Zealand than the costs of the individual maladies, reports Newswise . The investigators used nationally linked health data for all New Zealanders, including 18.9 million person-years and $26.4 billion in spending. They estimated annual health costs per individual and analyzed the association of this spending to whether a person had cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal, neurological, and lung/liver/kidney (LLK) diseases, or any combination thereof. Analysis determined 59 percent of publicly-funded health expenditures stemmed from non-communicable diseases, with 23.8 percent of this spending attributable to the cost of having multiple diseases above and beyond what the diseases cost separately. Heart disease and stroke accounted for 18.7 percent of the remaining expenditures, followed by musculoskeletal (16.2 percent), neurological (14.4 percent), cancer (14.1 percent), LLK disease (7.4 percent), and diabetes (5.5 percent). Overall, spending was highest in the year of diagnosis and the year of death. "There is a surprising lack of disease-attributed costing studies involving multiple diseases at once," the researchers note. "Governments and health systems managers and funders can improve planning and prioritization knowing where the money goes."