Gizmodo reports that new research suggests a robust immune response to COVID-19 lasts for at least eight months, perhaps even years, in most survivors. The study considered 180 volunteers who had confirmed COVID-19, including from samples collected over six months post-infection. Concentrations of antibodies to the virus fell slightly following infection but remained stable afterwards for up to eight months in most people. T cells specific to the virus also declined slightly after three months but held at steady levels afterward. Memory B cells, which help reactivate the immune system in response to a familiar threat and produce more antibodies when needed, were actually more abundant at six months than at one month. This is especially encouraging, since these cells are vital to immunity that lasts for years. All in all, 95 percent of study subjects had some degree of immune memory in their antibodies, B cells, and T cells to the virus five to eight months following symptom onset. The authors therefore suggest that "durable immunity against secondary COVID-19 disease is a possibility in most individuals."

Yahoo! Finance reports that Biogen is collaborating with Apple in a virtual study to explore use of the Apple Watch and iPhone in monitoring cognitive performance, and screening for deterioration in cognitive health, including mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The research study is slated to launch this year, and will recruit young and aging subjects. Its primary goal is to develop digital biomarkers to help monitor cognitive performance over time and identify early MCI symptoms. "The successful development of digital biomarkers in brain health would help address the significant need to accelerate patient diagnoses and empower physicians and individuals to take timely action," said Biogen CEO Michel Vounatsos. Apple COO Jeff Williams added that through this partnership, the company hopes "this study can help the medical community better understand a person's cognitive performance by simply having them engage with their Apple Watch and iPhone."

With hospitals across the United States swamped with COVID-19, the minimal presence of flu cases is seen as a positive development, reports The Guardian . Vanderbilt University Professor William Schaffner said "we're having, to date, a profoundly mild influenza season." This is a blessing, as a mild to average flu season in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic would be catastrophic to the already strained U.S. healthcare system. Public health experts think measures in the southern hemisphere to prevent the spread of COVID-19 also helped curtail the spread of the flu. The flu is not as transmissible as the coronavirus, so mask-wearing and social distancing more effectively contain flu spread than that of COVID-19. The low number of cases, combined with reduced travel between the northern and southern hemisphere, helped mitigate the flu season in the northern U.S. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 192 million doses of flu shots were distributed throughout the U.S. by the end of December, the highest number distributed in a single flu season. Schaffner added that schools undertaking measures to prevent COVID-19's spread — like virtual classes — also probably made an extensive contribution to stopping the flu's spread.

A KLAS report determined that some telehealth technology vendors boomed due to the pandemic while others struggled, reports Healthcare IT News . "COVID-19 revealed telehealth to be a sleeping giant," the KLAS team reported. "Prior to COVID, the majority of interviewed organizations had telehealth visit volumes of less than 1 percent, but not surprisingly, those rates increased exponentially in the days and weeks immediately following the outbreak." The report focused on virtual care platforms, videoconferencing platforms, and electronic health record (EHR)-centric virtual care platforms. In the first category, customer satisfaction with Amwell has steadily plunged since 2018. But Amwell Now, deployed in response to COVID-19, has seen positive early feedback. In terms of videoconferencing, customers found Doxy.me's low cost appealing, but its onboarding, guidance, support and executive involvement "fall short of their expectations." Zoom customers lauded the platform's stability and scalability, but cited frustration with patient experience. Overall satisfaction with EHR-centric telehealth platforms from Epic and NextGen is high, although patients had mixed feelings about Epic due to the multiple applications involved.

The Idaho COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee has recommended to include people 65 and older and frontline essential workers in Phase 2 of the state's vaccine distribution, reports KTVB NewsChannel 7 . This would cover more than 500,000 Idahoans. Primary Health Medical Group CEO David Peterman said only about 63 percent of the healthcare workers they are involved with are currently getting the vaccine. "I think that we need to realize that the numbers there all need to be decreased by 30 percent of those that actually want the vaccine," he added. The committee overwhelmingly voted in favor of recommendation C, which includes the older Idaho residents, which will now go to Gov. Brad Little for final approval. The committee also passed some revisions to include additional essential workers in four different subgroups in Phase 2. No timeframe currently exists for when Idaho will enter Phase 2, while the committee is attempting to inoculate at least 70 percent of any category before moving on the next one. Should Little approves the changes to Phase 2, committee members say it would take 17 weeks to immunize most of the phase.

A study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry determined that a protein that can damage the nerves and heart when it accumulates can also block the formation of toxic protein clumps associated with Alzheimer's disease, reports Medical Xpress . When mice modeled to have Alzheimer's disease were genetically modified to produce more transthyretin (TTR), they were slower to develop an Alzheimer's-like malady, while reducing TTR production hastened such cognitive deterioration. University of Texas Southwestern Professor Lorena Saelices said TTR helps transport thyroid hormone and the vitamin A derivative retinol to where they are needed in healthy people and animals. But when the protein separates into molecules called monomers, these individual pieces can form sticky fibrils that cohere into toxic clumps in the heart and nerves to cause amyloidosis. "By solving the mystery of TTR's dual roles, we may be able to offer hope to patients with Alzheimer's," Saelices explained.

Kentucky Today reports that the Gospel Music Hymn Sing Foundation is engaged in an ongoing outreach project that has distributed nearly 47,000 gospel music DVDs among more than 15,600 nursing communities. The Operation Sing Again initiative gave each community three DVDs featuring well-known gospel artists leading congregations of up to 2,000 people singing hymns in sanctuaries like Atlanta's First Baptist Church, with each DVD concluding with an invitation to receive the Gospel. Mary Anne Oglesby, director of Veranda Ministries in Gallatin, Tenn., says patients have been known to talk to the DVDs as though the singers were in the room with them. The videos have been particularly beneficial as communities operate during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Gerald Wolfe on the Gospel Music Hymn Sing Foundation's board. "We've received stacks of cards and notes from activity directors letting us know how encouraging the DVDs have been for their residents, especially during the last year," he notes. "They've become a kind of lifeline connecting the residents to the familiar scenes of a church sanctuary, and the songs they sang all their lives."

A study published in Science Advances outlines three distinct Alzheimer's disease (AD) subtypes from brain tissue analysis, reports New Atlas . The team used RNA sequencing to screen more than 1,500 tissue samples, covering five different brain regions. The subtypes were identified according to factors like synaptic signaling, immune activity, mitochondria arrangement, myelination, and specific gene activity. Just one third of cases displayed "typical' AD hallmarks, including less synaptic signaling and higher immune response, in a subtype labeled class C. The research suggests the other two identified subtypes — class A and B — exhibited distinct characteristics. In some cases the subtypes displayed oppositional gene regulation, suggesting these findings could potentially help explain previous clinical trial failures. "These findings lay down a foundation for determining more effective biomarkers for early prediction of AD, studying causal mechanisms of AD, developing next-generation therapeutics for AD, and designing more effective and targeted clinical trials, ultimately leading to precision medicine for AD," said Bin Zhang at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "The remaining challenges for future research include replication of the findings in larger cohorts, validation of subtype specific targets and mechanisms, identification of peripheral biomarkers, and clinical features associated with these molecular subtypes."

A developing study from the Creighton University School of Medicine discovered that a medication already in use could potentially treat hearing loss, reports KCTV 5 . The research determined that Dabrafenib, used for treating cancer like melanoma, small-cell lung carcinoma, and thyroid and biliary tract cancers, could protect hearing loss when orally administered to mice. "Dabrafenib showed no adverse effect to cisplatin's tumor-killing ability in tumor cell lines, and from having previously gone through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval process, we already know that some of the possible side effects of the drug such as headaches and skin rash are manageable, especially when the drug is administered for short periods of time," said Creighton's Matthew Ingersoll. Creighton's Tal Teitz noted that while the drug cannot regenerate cells once hearing loss is permanent, it can help prevent symptoms from worsening among those with partial hearing loss. In an ideal scenario, Dabrafenib also would work as a "day after" treatment for people experiencing temporary hearing loss due to a gunshot, explosion, or other factors. The drug is still in the animal testing phase, and Teitz thinks it would be available to the general population in three to five years if everything continues to move forward.

A survey of 1,611 U.S. adults by the Steven S. Hornstein Center for Policy, Polling, and Analysis at Long Island University determined that older Americans' willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19 has doubled since an October poll, reports AARP . The Center's Andy Person said this signals "a considerable positive shift during the past two months in the way Americans are thinking about the vaccine. It suggests that more Americans are optimistic and hopeful that the vaccine is safe and effective." The survey estimated that 76 percent of people 60 and older want to get the shots and 46 percent would get them as soon as they become available. Moreover, 11 percent of age 60-plus respondents said they wanted to get the shots within a few weeks of availability and another 7 percent within a month, while 12 percent said they would wait longer. Only 14 percent refused to get immunized, while 10 percent were uncertain or did not answer. Forty-one percent of Americans 60 and older expect shots will be widely available by spring, while 31 percent expect wide availability by summer, and 17 percent by fall.