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Scientists Claim Infrared Helmet Could Reverse Alzheimer's Symptoms
penguin_dance writes "Ready to put on your thinking cap? There's a report out of the UK regarding an 'experimental helmet which scientists say could reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease within weeks of being used'. The helmet is to be worn for ten minutes every day and stimulates the growth of brain cells using infra-red light. The article explains, 'Low level infra-red red is thought to stimulate the growth of cells of all types of tissue and encourage their repair. It is able to penetrate the skin and even get through the skull.' Human trials are due to start this summer." I wont make any nomad-based predictions, but I'll remain on the skeptic side of the fence for now.
Seeing the linked article's image of the 3 Doctor's holding their experimental "Prototype Cognitive Helmet", I can't help but imagine one of them wearing it while reenacting Rick Moranis' doll-play monologue from Spaceballs:
[Playing with his dolls]
Dark Helmet: [In Dark Helmet voice] And now Princess Vespa, I have you in my clutches, to have my wicked way with you, the way I want to.
[In Vespa voice]
Dark Helmet: No, no, go away, I hate you! And yet... I find you strangely attractive.
[In D.H. voice]
Dark Helmet: Of course you do! Druish princesses are often attracted to money and power, and I have both, and you *know* it!
[In V. voice]
Dark Helmet: No, no, leave me alone!
[In D.H. voice]
Dark Helmet: No, kiss me!
[V]
Dark Helmet: No! Stop!
[D.H]
Dark Helmet: Yes, yes!
[V]
Dark Helmet: Oh, oh, oh! Ohhhh, your helmet is so big!
Will it work even if I'm wearing my tinfoil hat?
So how is this helmet different from just walking around in the sunshine? It's not like there isn't any infra-red light in ordinary sunlight.
If infrared will penetrate the skull? Then people in sunny climates should have lessor incidents of the disease?
Won't it work even better on those of us who don't have the Alzheimer's, yet?
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
It shines a light on your head in the infrared spectrum... which is basically heat radiation... So it's a head warmer?
I know IR has more things than heat associated with it, but still... its a head warmer!
My father has Alzheimer's. Most Alzheimer's patients are very kind and sweet but my father is so bitter that he is always angry because at 55 he realizes his brain is slowly killing him. His short term memory is nil. He walks especially slow and his communication is getting poorer. He was diagnosed in October 2005 and he was showing symptoms before that.
Frankly, This is an illustration of why our process of developing medications is ridiculous. This may not work (though I resent that "wontwork" tag) but frankly there are at least 3 very promising treatments for Alzheimer's Disease in early trials. But because of the length and the way trials work, if they are successful none of them will emerge from trials early enough to help my father. And frankly, he and my family would be willing to try anything to help him. And in the end the worse outcome is that he doesn't get better. But we will never know. 10 years from now Alzheimer's may be no worse than severe diabetes, MS, Crohn's Disease or what have you: controllable, not curable with a quality of life equivalent to most other people. But because we would rather not kill a dying person to find out if we'll kill them or save them, my father will never get benefit of this.
Derek Greene
Another therapy reported in Science Daily shows reversal of Alzheimer's symptoms in minutes, rather than weeks
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080109091102.htm
From the article:
"An extraordinary new scientific study, which for the first time documents marked improvement in Alzheimer's disease within minutes of administration of a therapeutic molecule, has just been published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation.
"This new study highlights the importance of certain soluble proteins, called cytokines, in Alzheimer's disease. The study focuses on one of these cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF), a critical component of the brain's immune system. Normally, TNF finely regulates the transmission of neural impulses in the brain. The authors hypothesized that elevated levels of TNF in Alzheimer's disease interfere with this regulation. To reduce elevated TNF, the authors gave patients an injection of an anti-TNF therapeutic called etanercept. Excess TNF-alpha has been documented in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with Alzheimer's.
"The new study documents a dramatic and unprecedented therapeutic effect in an Alzheimer's patient: improvement within minutes following delivery of perispinal etanercept, which is etanercept given by injection in the spine. Etanercept (trade name Enbrel) binds and inactivates excess TNF. Etanercept is FDA approved to treat a number of immune-mediated disorders and is used off label in the study."
An 80-year-old couple is having trouble remembering things, so they go
to the doctor to make sure there's nothing wrong.
After an exam, the doctor says, "You're physically okay, but you guys
might want to start writing notes to help you remember things."
That night they're watching TV when the old man gets up from his chair.
His wife says, "Where are you going?"
He says, "I'm going to the kitchen to get a glass of water."
She says, "Will you get me some Vanilla ice cream?"
He says, "All right."
She says, "Don't you think you should write it down?"
He says, "I don't have to write it down. Vanilla ice cream."
She says, "And could I have strawberries and whipped cream?"
He says, "All right."
She says, "Don't you think you should write it down?"
He says, "I don't have to write it down.Vanilla ice cream with
strawberries and whipped cream."
Twenty minutes later he walks in and hands her a plate of bacon and eggs.
She says, "You forgot my fucking toast."
What?
I guess I'm just a cynical bastard now, but having weasel words in a story like this whispers, "snake oil" or, "wishful thinking" to me. Maybe it's because all the people selling quack stuff are careful about how they say things for legal reasons, and now I put too much effort into scrutinizing how medical claims are worded. Call me when it's actually curing Alzheimers in a no-shit, double-blind, randomized study with more than a handful of participants.
[b.belong('us') for b in bases if b.owner() == 'you']
Will it help me remember what I actually wanted when I went down the steps to the basement?
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Does infrared light have the ability to pass through the skull ?... sounds like snake oil to me... I'll stick with my pyramid hat.
Yes, infrared light can pass through the skull. In fact, there's a technique called fNIR (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) which uses a system of IR emitters and detectors to measure brain activity. Some links:
http://www.lab-times.org/methods/m_07_03.html
http://www.biomed.drexel.edu/fnir/Contents/brain_imaging/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FNIR
Apparently the white hair on polar bears acts like optic fibre. It collects light over a larger surface than the bare skin of the animal and channels it to the body to keep it warm.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Tried finding 1072nm near-IR emitters lately?
I just spent 10 minutes searching, the stuff I've seen tops out at about 880 nm.
Tech Public Policy stuff
Don't worry about that, I can remind you...
:-)
Your last words before doing so were "mom, I'm going back to my room now"
I have this image of brain cells getting depressed and just hanging around, slowly degenerating.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is usually crucified.
Key points:
This is a case study of one patient.
Treatment was not double blinded. Patient's family and doctor knew about the treatment.
From the paper, the degree of improvement sounds a bit short of complete reversal of symptoms Upon returning to the clinic one week following perispinal etanercept administration for his weekly dose the patient's wife and son confirmed that he had remained markedly clinically improved throughout the week, a fact which was remarked upon by the family [see Additional file 1]. He was noticed to be less reluctant to join in conversation. On re-examination by author ET prior to repeat dosing one week after the initial dose, the patient correctly identified the year, month, season, day of week and state. He appeared to answer with less frustration, and the examiner's impression was that there was reduced latency of response, and his affect seemed improved. On the FAS test for verbal fluency when asked to list all of the words that start with the letter F in 60 seconds he listed 8 words, and named 5 animals in 60 seconds. The study author has a patent on this treatment strategy.
Severity of Alzheimer's dementia can vary dramatically from day to day, and many patients show periods of near-complete lucidity.
I can't help wondering how much etanercept (it is a large protein) is getting into the brain when administered in this way.
It is widely suspected that Alzheimer's Disease has an inflammatory component, so the approach is not unreasonable, but I worry about large number of patients' families demanding etanercept based on this very preliminary work.
Never heard of this before. Too bad it's not true and you are propagating another "urban myth" (although Polar Bears aren't especially urban).
Thanks for playing.
And now back to our regularly scheduled program.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!