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A new study led by University of California, Irvine's Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory researchers found that aging changes the brain's overall shape in measurable ways. Instead of focusing only on the size of specific regions, the team used a new analytic method to see how the brain's form shifts and distorts over time. The analysis revealed substantial alterations in brain shape, which were closely associated with declines in memory, reasoning and other cognitive functions. This suggests that the shape of the brain can serve as a reliable indicator of its overall health. The study appears in Nature Communications. (10/1)

People who sleep poorly are more likely than others to have brains that appear older than they actually are. ... Poor sleep has been linked to dementia, but it is unclear whether unhealthy sleep habits contribute to the development of dementia or whether they are rather early symptoms of the disease. In a new study, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have investigated the link between sleep characteristics and how old the brain appears in relation to its chronological age. (10/2)

A new study in npj Dementia using data from the UK Biobank shows that COVID-19 survivors aged 50 and older had a higher likelihood of developing new-onset dementia (NOD) compared to uninfected controls. ... According to the authors, compared with matched non-COVID controls, prior COVID-19 infection was associated with a 41% increased risk of all-cause dementia. ... Men, unvaccinated participants, those with high blood pressure, and those with frequent alcohol use had the highest association with NOD. (Soucheray, 10/2)

The Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience, or GUIDE, Model is designed to benefit people with traditional Medicare health insurance who want to age in place at home while living with dementia. GUIDE pays participating local health and home care organizations to provide dementia patients and their unpaid caregivers with an array of services that include respite care, education and training programs, 24/7 access to a care team of professionals, medication reviews and more, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. All services offered through the program are fully covered by Medicare. (Leonard, 10/3)

More health and wellness news —

Amgen said Thursday that its cholesterol-lowering shot, Repatha, prevented a composite of heart disease death, heart attack, and the most common type of stroke in a 12,000-patient trial. (Herper, 10/2)

People with certain bacteria and fungi in their mouths may face a dramatically higher risk of pancreatic cancer — more than three times greater — according to new research from NYU Langone Health and and Perlmutter Cancer Center. In the study, which was published in JAMA Oncology, researchers identified 27 types of bacterial and fungal species in the mouth’s microbiome that may contribute to the disease. (McGorry, 10/2)

Investigations into human and animal infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria in Massachusetts reveal genetic links that hint at potential transmission between pets and their owners, researchers reported last week in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The paper describes two separate investigations that were ultimately linked through epidemiologic and molecular detective work. (Dall, 10/2)

Four people are dead and 19 more have been hospitalized following a listeria outbreak connected to recalled ready-to-eat pasta meals sold at grocery stores across the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced. As of Sept. 30, there have been 20 confirmed cases of listeria poisoning in connection with the outbreak across 15 states. The outbreak is linked to recalled ready-to-eat pasta meals sold at Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Kroger and Albertsons stores. (Kaplan, 10/2)