President Trump is said to be considering former House Veterans' Affairs (VA) Committee Chair Jeff Miller to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, reports the Washington Examiner . Miller retired in 2016 after serving eight terms in Congress. He has since become an advocate for American veterans. Miller, a Republican from Florida, also helped craft a $16 million bipartisan VA reform plan in 2014. That bill was passed three years after he began to serve as chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. At the time, the VA was facing a number of scandals and controversy. Miller's potential nomination comes after White House physician Ronny Jackson withdrew his nomination amid scrutiny that made his confirmation doubtful. An official announcement for a candidate for the job is not expected to be made soon.

According to the Department of Labor, 12.5 percent of older adults in the United States continue to work full-time jobs. A study published in Workplace Health & Safety explored the impacts of older adults remaining in the workforce, reports Medical News Bulletin . In terms of benefits, older workers bring valued experience and reliability to jobs. However, older workers face the risk of a higher chance of injuries and declining health. These challenges can ultimately impact performance in the workplace. Older workers may also face issues related to ageism, which can discourage them from remaining on the job. The study says employers should recognize the trend of older adults continuing to work, and be prepared to accommodate them and their needs. Lawmakers and healthcare organizations should also consider efforts to ensure work environments remain safe for all workers.

According to a study from researchers at the University of Michigan, hearing aids may be the key to lowering the number of times older adults visit hospitals and emergency rooms, reports News-Medical.net . The researchers examined 1,336 adults who reported having severe hearing loss, but only 45 percent of the group actually use a hearing aid. Further investigation found that older adults who used a hearing aid were less likely to have visited a hospital or emergency room over the last year. Furthermore, those who had been hospitalized and used a hearing aid had shorter stays than those who did not use a hearing aid. The researchers say the findings are unexpected considering few insurers provide coverage for hearing aids. Elham Mahmoudi, lead author of the study and a health economist in the Department of Family Medicine at the U-M Medical School, hopes the results of the study can lead to better decisions regarding Medicare, insurance coverage for hearing aids, and healthcare costs.

A new paper published in the journal Nature provides the first detailed picture of the 3D molecular structure of the human telomerase enzyme, which should jumpstart a long-sought-after effort to develop telomerase-based anti-aging drugs and anticancer drugs, reports EurekAlert . More than 30 years ago, when University of California, Berkeley researchers discovered telomerase—an enzyme that lengthens chromosome ends and prevents them from fraying enough to kill a cell—speculation ran wild about its role in aging and cancer, spurring efforts to produce drugs to activate or block the enzyme. Many scientists believe that depleted telomeres are a major cause of aging. However, one obstacle has been obtaining pure samples of this complex molecule. Without knowing the structure, it has been difficult to design a drug to target the molecular machine and either destroy telomerase activity—which could stop a cancer that has boosted its telomerase levels—or restart telomerase, perhaps to prime the body for rapid cell division after a bone marrow transplant. The UC Berkley scientists used a new, state-of-the-art cryoelectron microscope to reveal details of protein, RNA binding, and possible drug-target sites. The newly revealed structure still lacks fine detail, but together with knowledge of the gene sequence of human telomerase, it offers enough information to allow more targeted drug screens and intelligent design of new drugs.

The attorneys general (AGs) from California, New York, and Oregon filed a motion at an appeals court Thursday seeking to protect the interests of millions of their current and future retirees after the court vacated the Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary rule in March, reports MarketWatch . The AGs say that the DOL "appears ready to abandon its effort to protect retirement investors" by failing to act to defend the rule itself, even though "every other court to issue a final judgment on the rule's legality has upheld it." California Attorney General Xavier Becerra told reporters on Thursday, "We think at the end of the day, the Courts will agree: anything that helps the people understand their choices for retirement is crucial. We believe the fiduciary rule is lawful in its role. And we believe if given the opportunity to litigate this, we can succeed."

A study in the British Medical Journal says that people who use certain types of anti-cholinergics for a year or more have a 30 percent increased risk of developing dementia in the future compared to their counterparts who do not take the medications, reports CNN . The anti-cholinergics in this case include those used to treat depression, Parkinson's, and urinary incontinence. However, individuals taking anti-cholinergics for asthma and gastrointestinal issues were not at an increased risk of developing dementia. Researchers have not determined why there is an increased risk for particular anti-cholinergics. However, some anti-cholinergics drugs may block the normal activity of acetylcholine in regions of the brain associated with memory and cognition. In addition, lower levels of acetylcholine are commonly found in people with Alzheimer's. Researchers also note that there is evidence in animals that anti-cholinergics may affect inflammation in the brain, which can trigger tau and amyloid deposition. Study authors say the investigation did not reveal solid conclusions, but it does suggest alternatives to anti-cholinergics drugs should be explored when possible.

A report from the University of Maryland's Do Good Institute finds that students entering college have a very high interest in helping others, but the volunteer rate for these students has not increased over the past decade, reports Government Executive . Experts say this is creating lost opportunities to involve young people in the public sector. This issue becomes particularly important because a large swath of the workforce in the public service sector will be retiring soon. These agencies and organizations will require an influx of young talent to replace those workers. To get more young people involved in public service, experts say that organizations, agencies, and schools should encourage regular volunteering through special programs and projects.

A study released last week found that mortality rates among people 62 and older are inextricably linked to lifetime earnings, reports the Los Angeles Times . The higher the earnings, the lower the mortality rate. As Kathy Ruffing of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities points out, among men ages 65 to 69, those in the lowest 20 percent of lifetime earnings (less than $22,400 a year) had death rates more than three times as high as those in the top 20 percent (annual earnings of $74,356 or more). Specifically, the lowest-income group had a mortality rate 65 percent higher than the average of all men ages 65 to 69, while the highest-earning had a rate 39 percent less than the average. The spread between rich and poor narrowed for older groups, but never disappeared. The researchers conjecture that the healthiest members of each age group live the longest, and as the number of survivors shrinks, the wealth factor becomes less crucial.

According to researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., pre-clinical Alzheimer's disease may be identifiable through optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography, reports MedPage Today . Experts note that there is evidence of retinal changes in people with Alzheimer's disease. To discover if there is a link, researchers studied 30 people who were cognitively normal and had either positron emission tomography or cerebrospinal fluid analysis to assess Alzheimer's disease. Each participant underwent a neuro-ophthalmic examination and OCT angiography. This allowed scientists to examine retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, ganglion cell layer thickness, foveal thickness, vascular density, macular volume, and data about the foveal avascular zone. They found that 16 participants were biomarker-negative for Alzheimer's disease, while 14 were biomarker-positive and were classified as having preclinical Alzheimer's. The biomarker-positive group had inner foveal thinning. Biomarker-positive participants also had an enlarged foveal avascular zone. Researchers say this could mean Alzheimer's disease could be diagnosed in the preclinical stage using less invasive biomarkers.

AARP said it is challenging a March ruling by a federal appeals court that vacated the U.S. Department of Labor fiduciary rule, reports Politico Pro . In a motion to be filed Thursday at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, AARP is asking for permission to intervene in the case and for the court's full panel of judges to reconsider the three-judge decision handed down March 15. "AARP is not giving up on our fight to make sure that hard-earned retirement savings have strong protections from conflicts and hidden fees," said Nancy LeaMond, the group's chief advocacy and engagement officer. "The recent court decision allows some financial advisers to provide guidance based on what's best for their pocketbooks, not the consumers."