New Way to Stimulate Brain to Release Antioxidants

Neopallium writes "A joint research effort between researchers at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, CA, and a team from Japan (Iwate University, Osaka City University, Gifu University, Iwate Medical University) has discovered a novel way to treat stroke and neurodegenerative disorders. This approach works by inducing nerve cells in the brain and the spine to release natural antioxidants that protect nerve cells from stress and free radicals that lead to neurodegenerative diseases."

Comments

Very promising research - but is it just PR?

[filenavigator]

The research even suggests that this therapy could help in the treatment of Lou Gehrig's, and Alzheimer's disease. This is some very interesting and promising stuff. Lets hope that this is not just some press release for a pharmaceutical company trying to push a drug they are working on.

Re:Very promising research - but is it just PR?

[kfg]

Lets hope that this is not just some press release for a pharmaceutical company trying to push a drug they are working on.

Considering that the article linked to is on an investment site which also reports lottery numbers and the article itself seems little more than a troll for donations put forward before the study itself has even been published. . .

I wouldn't get my hopes up too high just yet.

KFG

Re:Very promising research - but is it just PR?

[kfg]

. . .a non-profit academic research facility.

Whose raison d'etre is to patent and license their discoveries:

http://www.burnham.org/TechnologyTransfer/Overview .asp

Where on earth do people ever get the idea that a nonprofit is without profit motive? Trust me, I've served as an executive officer/director in both profit and and nonprofit corporations and they are both equally businesses before all else primarily concerned with grubbing money.

KFG

This can't be good.

[Spazntwich]

Perhaps for treating specialized diseases, but like most drugs, if you force your brain to do things it normally shouldn't, like release more of a certain compound, you'll run into production and resistance issues, eventually requiring more and more for the same effect until bad things happen.

I remain skeptical.

Re:This can't be good.

[avasol]

Let me philosophize, for a second. Imagine that you had the choice between being physically crippled but mentally fit, or mentally broke versus physically ablebodied; what would you pick?

I can say with some safety among numbers that most of us would choose the first. To keep your mind functioning is after all much closer to the real you. Therefore, any positive news on this front is, well, positive news. No need to be such a pessimist. :-)

---
If Lucifer was God's best Angel before his fall, is it okay to be a fan of Lucifer during that particular Era? Mainly making the comparison to, say, Elvis fans.

Re:Not a Cure

[drpimp]

None the less it could be very good for those whom haven't acquired it yet. Let's be honest, even if you get cured for one disease, odds are you are going to get another to which a cure has not yet been discovered. So let's face it, there are more preventative medicines that there are cures. Preventative medicine is sometimes just as good as a cure.

Jumping the gun

[denebian devil]

It seems in this situation, such a complaint is jumping the gun a bit. First of all, this *is* talking about treating specialized diseases (as it says in the article, "stroke and neurodegenerative disorders". And in these cases, the brain is already "doing something it normally shouldn't." The drug is merely trying to restore it to a state of functioning normally.

Second, while the possibility of resistance is always looming, a stroke or Alzheimer's patient may be willing to take that risk if it means even a slightly longer period of lucidity. Would you rather risk the *possibility* of the drug eventually causing problems or losing its effectiveness, or take instead the *certainty* of a progressive and insidious neurological disease?

Certainly a new drug should not be taken lightly. For example, it may not yet be appropriate for someone who has learned of their diagnosis but have not yet degenerated very far. But once you've reached such a hopeless condition as to be completely debilitated, you (or those caring for you) may ask "What's the worst that could happen? At least with this there's hope."

Wildly out of context

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a very big difference between discovering a new technique for activating a cells stress response and developing a novel therapy for humans. Time and time again, the media (slashdot included) takes scientific reports completely out of context. The authors tested their compounds in tissue cultures, nothing more.

Re:There is no line

[zippthorne]

Why is everyone that suffers some hardship described as "courageous?" Isn't it enough that they suffer the hardship without having to have some kind of character building personal revelation as a result? The next time you see a similar patient described in such a way, think about the question, "Does he have a will to live or a fear of death?"

Does the answer to that question really matter?

TANSTAAFL!

[Maxmin]

The body's closed-loop system requires that the ingredients for making the anti-oxidants be available in good quantity. Today's hospitals are not exactly outposts of healthy nutritious food, and regular "allopathic" doctors are not very knowledgeable about nutrition. Last time a relative was in the hospital (my mom), they were serving white bread, processed turkey loaf, and what had to be frozen vegetable bits - your basic CHON food, but devoid of the phytonutrients the fresh fruits and veggies we're told to consume would contain.

In other words, the same results can be obtained from the outside - the antioxidants already available in your food.