Studies presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience associated breakdowns in the brain's blood vessels with Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, reports Medical Xpress . Molecules that flag damage in these systems could help detect these diseases earlier and inform more effective interventions. The studies indicated that biomarkers, which signal brain vascular injury, could help spot early-stage dementia, permitting intervention and ultimately treatment to improve outcomes. Meanwhile, cardiovascular exercise appears to improve blood flow to white matter and protects against vascular impairment in a mouse model of dementia, while a molecule that is depleted in persons with vascular dementia could be utilized for early detection or treatment. In addition, age-related loss of function in the brain's lymphatic system was found to have a role in neurodegeneration, and improving it could help delay or prevent Alzheimer's. Moreover, the blood brain barrier's effectiveness is weakened in mice engineered with the strongest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's, leading to neuronal loss and cognitive decline. "Knowledge of the neurobiology and mechanisms involved open the door to being able to identify dementia early, which offers hope of potential new treatments and interventions that could help patients and their families around the world," said the Boston University School of Medicine's Richard Wainford.

Voters in Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah on Tuesday defied their Republican state leaders in approving ballot initiatives to expand Medicaid, confirms the Huffington Post . In Idaho, for instance, 62 percent of voters backed Medicaid expansion, while 53 percent of Nebraska voters did the same. Each of the three states indeed have GOP-majority legislatures and Republican governors, who could opt to obstruct the implementation of the Medicaid expansion. In other potentially positive news for advocates of Medicaid expansion, Kansas elected Democrat Laura Kelly to be its next governor. The state legislature approved a bill to expand Medicaid in 2017 only to have then-Gov. Sam Brownback (R) veto it.

A sustained labor shortage and the tendency for longer-living Americans to keep working to supplement their retirement savings is causing seniors to look for and find work in the quick-service food industry, reports Bloomberg . Fast-food establishments are posting want ads on AARP's website, with recruiters saying older workers are valued for soft skills — such as a friendly demeanor and punctuality — that younger workers sometimes lack. The restaurant chains benefit from older workers' years of experience for the same salaries they would pay someone decades younger, a desirable quality in an industry pressured by rising transportation and raw material costs. Calibrate Coaching's James Gray says seniors also are a solid deal for fast-food companies financially because they are not always looking to advance and earn more. Older adults usually have more mature social skills than children who grew up online and who often would rather not be concerned with real-world interactions. AARP has been an essential player in the industry's senior recruitment. For example, this past summer American Blue Ribbon Holdings, owner of casual dining chains, paid $3,500 to list hourly and management jobs on the AARP site and hired five people for its Bakers Square and Village Inn dining brands.

The 2016 National Survey of Children's Health, which involved nearly 45,000 parent-led households, found more three million older Americans are now raising their grandchildren as their own, reports HealthDay News . "Grandparents raising grandchildren — despite having greater physical and mental health issues, and despite raising somewhat more behaviorally challenging children — appear to be coping with the stresses of parenting just as well as biological/adoptive parent caregivers," said survey author Andrew Adesman with Cohen Children's Medical Center. Reasons he cited for this trend include children being placed with their grandparents because of the opioid epidemic, child abuse, or neglect. "Other common reasons include mental health problems of one or both parents, or unexpected deaths due to health problems or motor vehicle accidents," Adesman noted. The poll found grandparent caregivers were more likely to say they had nobody to turn to for emotional support.

Duke University aims to implement a program for medical students to interact with healthy older adults in order to combat ageism among providers, reports the Duke Chronicle . Duke University School of Medicine will take a cue from at least 20 other U.S. medical schools in its plans to deploy an initiative to debunk misperceptions about older men and women. "With the exception of pediatricians, everyone will be doing geriatrics and caring for older adults," says Duke Professor Mitchell Heflin. "I think we owe it to students to provide these experiences so that they graduate with skills in how to approach and provide care for older adults." The school's clinical committee has lobbied for more student interaction with older adults, and committee member Liza Genao says, "One of the main things we recommended to the curriculum team was to consider early engagement starting in the first week of medical school, partnering with a senior in the community that they can follow over four years." A now-defunct program had groups of students follow seniors with specific conditions over five weeks, while another brief initiative had students practice both social interaction and medical assessments. Heflin said providers who work with older adults will continue to try to engage in curriculum development and talk to students outside of geriatric-specific courses, at least until an official program is developed.

A study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society reviewed information from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) to gain insights on sarcopenic obesity and its effects on falls in older women, reports ScienceDaily . The study concerned more than 160,000 females aged 50 to 79 who were followed for more than 15 years, with results for 11,020 postmenopausal women analyzed. The researchers determined postmenopausal Hispanic/Latina women had the highest risk of sarcopenic obesity-related falls, and postmenopausal women younger than 65 were at a higher risk for falls linked to sarcopenic obesity. The investigators concluded that many older adults will be at high risk for falls as obesity and muscle weakness also increase with aging. Initiatives to gain more knowledge about how women's bodies change after menopause should help healthcare professionals conceive of potential solutions.

James Truchard, the now-retired CEO of National Instruments, has announced up to $2 million in prizes for researchers who can find the mechanism that causes Alzheimer's by poring through the more than 100,000 scientific papers published on the disease, reports Stat . Truchard said the many factors thought to contribute to Alzheimer's reported in the scientific literature have yet to be synthesized into a "grand unified theory" that might lead to a treatment or cure. "I'm hoping there's some genius out there who will put them together," he noted. The University of Texas at San Antonio College of Sciences will administer the Oskar Fischer Prizes, and it remains uncertain as to what the criteria will be for winning either the $2 million top prize or two second-place prizes of $500,000 each and four third-place prizes of $250,000. "It does seem a bit risky in achieving the goal of finding a theory that completely explains the disease, but the actual weaving of the literature into a theory shouldn't be that hard," suggests Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation Executive Director Howard Fillit.

A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study of 28 million Medicare recipients estimated that African-Americans have the highest prevalence of Alzheimer's and related dementias among people ages 65 and older, reports the Chicago Sun-Times . The next highest prevalence for Alzheimer's and related dementias is among Latinos, non-Hispanic whites, Native Americans and Alaska natives, and Asian and Pacific Islanders. In addition, African-Americans and Latinos are less likely than whites to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's or another dementia. This is valuable as researchers can now identify people at risk and are developing what therapies and treatments to stop the disease from worsening as people age. Experts recommend people start preventive measures in their 40s, including exercising vigorously, staying socially connected, and consuming a Mediterranean diet. The CDC says the population of Americans forecast to have Alzheimer's or dementia is expected to double to nearly 3.3 percent by 2060, mostly because of aging baby boomers.

The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that by 2026, unprecedented aging demographics will push 17 U.S. states into a "superaged" category, reports Route Fifty . Fitch Ratings states that societal aging in the United States "is expected to accelerate over the next 20 years as population growth slows and the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age. While there will be marked variation between states, general demographic trends point to more aging and slower working-age population growth in almost every state." The United Nations describes superaged as a population where 20 percent is older than 65 and the number of working-age people is shrinking. "Smaller states such as Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and West Virginia are forecast by the Census Bureau to have the highest percentage of population aged over 65 by 2026," Fitch notes. "They are also likely to continue to be among the states with the largest working age population decline." Fitch also forecasts that "aging demographics and slowing or declining working-age populations will constrain GDP growth. As state budgets largely rely on income and sales taxes, slower economic growth will be clearly linked to slower revenue growth. Concurrently, state expenditures will face greater pressures from higher healthcare and retirement cost demands."

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that under yearly inflation adjustments, it will raise the limits on 401(k) and IRA contributions for next year, reports Money . The cap on annual contributions to a traditional and Roth IRA will rise to $6,000 from $5,500, while the catch-up contribution to these accounts for those 50 and up will stay at $1,000. Employees who participate in a 401(k), 403(b), most 457 plans, and the federal Thrift Savings Plan can reserve up to $19,000 before taxes next year, up from $18,500. The new option could amount to major savings for investors in the long run, with NerdWallet's Arielle O'Shea estimating that for someone who starts contributing at 30 and retires at 67, the additional $1,000 a year adds up to an extra $134,000 in retirement savings at a 6 percent return. Consumers who cannot find the extra $1,000 to max out both accounts should compare options when choosing between contributing to a 401(k) or an IRA. A solid strategy is for workers whose employer offers a 401(k) with a company match to contribute enough to get the maximum matching dollars possible, while putting the remainder into a Roth IRA to work toward more tax-free savings for retirement.