[tt] Helmet that could turn back the symptoms of Alzheimer's

[Hughes, James J.]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in
_article_id=510172&in_page_id=1774

The helmet that could turn back the symptoms of Alzheimer's

By DAVID DERBYSHIRE 

 25th January 2008

An experimental helmet which scientists say could reverse the symptoms
of Alzheimer's disease within weeks of being used is to be tried out on
patients.

The strange-looking headgear - which has to be worn for ten minutes
every day - bathes the brain with infra-red light and stimulates the
growth of brain cells.

Its creators believe it could reverse the symptoms of dementia - such as
memory loss and anxiety - after only four weeks.

Alzheimer's disease charities last night described the treatment as
"potentially life- changing" - but stressed that the research was still
at the very early stages.

Around 700,000 Britons have dementia, with around 500,000 suffering from
Alzheimer's disease.

The helmet is the creation of Dr Gordon Dougal, a director of Virulite,
a medical research company based in County Durham.

It follows a study at the University of Sunderland which found infra-red
light can reverse memory loss in mice.

Dr Dougal claims that only ten minutes under the hat a day is enough to
have an effect.

"Currently all you can do with dementia is to slow down the rate of
decay - this new process will not only stop that rate of decay but
partially reverse it," he said.

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.

"The implications of this research at Sunderland are enormous - so much
so that in the future we could be able to affect and change the rate at
which our bodies age," he said.

"We age because our cells lose the desire to regenerate and repair
themselves. This ultimately results in cell death and decline of the
organ functions - for the brain resulting in memory decay and
deterioration in general intellectual performance.

"But what if there was a technology that told the cells to repair
themselves and that technology was something as simple as a specific
wavelength of light?"

The study at Sunderland found that exposing middle-aged mice to infrared
light for six minutes a day for ten days improved their performance in a
three-dimensional maze. In the human trials, due to start this summer,
the scientists will use levels of infra-red that occur naturally in
sunlight.

Neuroscientist Paul Chazot, who helped carry out the research, said:
"The results are completely new - this has never been looked at before."

An Alzheimer's Society spokesman said: "A treatment that reverses the
effects of dementia rather than just temporarily halting its symptoms
could change the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people. We look
forward to further research to determine whether this technique could
help improve cognition in humans."