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.

Weasel words ftw...

[NewbieProgrammerMan]

"...an 'experimental helmet which scientists say could reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease..."

"Low level infra-red red is thought to stimulate the growth of cells of all types of tissue and encourage their repair..."

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.

Re:So... the next logical question is...

[Savage-Rabbit]

Won't it work even better on those of us who don't have the Alzheimer's, yet?

Yes but unfortunately it still comes to late to help President Bush and his advisers.

Re:Weasel words ftw...

[FleaPlus]

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.

Uh, they're scientists engaging in very preliminary research, and you're criticizing them because they're being honest about how experimental it is? They aren't making any medical claims whatsoever. They're just basically saying "we found this interesting result in rats, let's see if it also applies to humans."

Call me when it's actually curing Alzheimers in a no-shit, double-blind, randomized study with more than a handful of participants.

Well yes, I'm sure if their next stage of research confirms their findings, that's the eventual plan. We'll be sure to call you when their research is complete.

Re:Skeptical and yet...

[AngelofDeath-02]

Except it actually works the other way around ...
Corporations have bottomless wallets while the people don't. Your best bet is a class action lawsuit that returns almost nothing per individual, while the corporations can sue you instead.
I cite the RIAA and the sony rootkit incident.

Anyway, I see your point, but it's a two way street. Those with money can, and some do, abuse the system. In doing so, they ruin its reputation.

Re:Sunlight?

[noidentity]

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.

The difference is that Virulite (the company who makes the helmet) doesn't get paid when you just walk around in the sun.

Re:a lot harder than it sounds

[Wizard Drongo]

Oh, and your google-fu is lacking, Sir, because a brief search of my normal LED suppliers gave me this: http://www.roithner-laser.com/LED_diverse.htm [roithner-laser.com] which admittedly is 1070nm (2.5mW) nominal output rather than 1072nm. However, given that it's minimum is 1020 and it's maximum 1120 i'd say you're gonna be getting a fairly hefty amount of 1072nm light out of it. I notice they also do a high-power (like 150mW) LED panel which radiates at 1050nm (peak 1000~1100nm), which again isn't right on the money but is gonna give you enough to trial, given that they were talking about this clinical trial dosing patients with about the same amount of IR as regular sunlight. Granted these diodes don't come cheap, with the quoted price for the 1070nm LED being about $20 each, which given the number you'd want could get pretty expensive. But then, what cost is health?

Re:Skeptical and yet...

[Kreigaffe]

No, actually, the mcdonald's coffee case WAS entirely frivolous and a complete mockery of the court system

Coffee is supposed to be brewed HOT. It is supposed to be served HOT. You spill HOT SHIT on you, and you GET BURNT.

That woman was sold a cup of coffee that was somewhere between 180-190 F. That's hot, sure. Starbucks sells hotter coffee -- actually the crap sold by starbucks is FAR too hot to drink and tastes like it's been overroasted and brewed too hot and kept too hot for too long, but nobody goes to starbucks to buy a cup of drip coffee. That's another rant.

Coffee is ideally brewed at 200 F. It's best served very soon after brewing. That means.. it's going to be hot. Very hot. Ideally, again, somewhere between..

oh god, how can this be? Somewhere between 180-190 F.

Here's a question. Do you think a reasonable person would expect to be burnt if they spilled coffee on themselves? Hey I'll give you the answer. It's "yes". If there was a reasonable expectation that coffee would NOT burn you, the woman would have a case.

Fact of the matter is that the coffee was brewed and served correctly and the best thing to do is NOT FUCKING SPILL COFFEE ON YOURSELF AND BLAME SOMEONE ELSE.

A bit optimistic

[tgibbs]

The wide publicity given to this report is probably unfortunate, given how many people are desperate for a cure.
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.