<p>This sounds like something from “The Corrections”–don’t we wish?</p>
<p>It may be true that the helmet stimulates the growth of cells in the brain (or it may not – I haven’t seen the data personally), but unfortunately the adult mammalian brain seems to have limited regenerative capacities except for some very specialized types of neurons. </p>
<p>It is not enough to make new cells be born; they must also migrate to appropriate areas and integrate into existing circuits. Migration and integration certainly do seem to be possible, but so far only on a limited scale.</p>
<p>mollieb-
Quit being logical!! This helmet thing is ridiculous. Not only can the cells likely not regenerate, but how could it be possible that cells specifically using Acetylcholine as their neurotransmitter (necessary to replace those affected by the disease, not to mention the neurofibrillary tangles) be stimulated to grow by this gizmo!?!?!?!</p>
<p>So this is how Radiohead have remained so amazing…</p>
<p><a href=“http://youtube.com/watch?v=GoLJJRIWCLU&feature=related[/url]”>http://youtube.com/watch?v=GoLJJRIWCLU&feature=related</a></p>
<p>The company is real. The doctors are real. But I don’t see any mention of the gizmo in the university web site or the company web site. </p>
<p>It doesn’t look kosher to me.</p>
<p>Virulite as a company looks sketchy too.</p>
<p>They have this other product that looks weird. Some cold sore machine…</p>
<p><a href=“vcs.eu.com - vcs Resources and Information.”>vcs.eu.com - vcs Resources and Information.;
<p>If I had known this, I would have started a thread on something a little more real.</p>
<p>Sorry about that.</p>
<p>No need to apologize, dstark. Plenty of “real” companies sell bogus nonsense (see the link Bunsenburner posted). Think about all the absurd diet products and infomercial stuff “endorsed” by doctors. This has been very entertaining!! Thanks for the laugh!! Seriously!</p>
<p>
Haha, yes, I was going out of my way to be fair in my previous post.</p>
<p>The neurons that the human brain regenerates particularly well by itself are olfactory neurons (those that help you detect smells) and hippocampal neurons (those that live in the “memory recorder” of the brain, the hippocampus). Other than that, there’s no evidence that any other cell types can regenerate, including the acetylcholinergic neurons that die in Alzheimer’s disease.</p>
<p>mollieb-
When I posted the link to the British tabloid article on one of my professional listservs, someone posted back with a link to this journal article
</p>
<p>So, while there are some studies being done with infrared lights, I don’t think the mice in the study wore little Jetson’s looking helmets!! A few other people asked about how they gauged the mice “looking anxious” (we guessed that they had little furrowed brows 
and how they were “more considerate in the their decision-making” (“after you… no please, I insist, after you”…)</p>
<p>^jym, that reminds me of the Yellow Pages ad years ago about “Civil Engineers”! </p>
<p>This test is a metaphor for the college search… The young ones are anxious and the middle-aged mice are the helicopter parents who begin to analyze the process and learn from it. (BTW, the MA mice are female and get a slight pass due to the effects of child-bearing and rearing.)</p>
<p>“Middle-aged mice” - I love that!!!</p>
<p>
I don’t think that’s regeneration. From what I understand, treatment on the order of a few weeks that produced that response (or treatment for 10 days and a break of a few weeks) would be more consistent with actual regeneration and integration of new neurons.</p>
<p>I would be okay, at least in theory, with the idea that IR causes progenitor cells in the dentage gyrus to divide and produce progeny that integrate into the hippocampus. That would make sense, since the DG progenitors are known to divide through adulthood anyway. I would be really surprised if IR caused other types of neurons to be produced. So while IR could, in this line of thinking, produce a better hippocampus, it wouldn’t go too far for regenerating the neurons that die in Alzheimer’s.</p>
<p>(Speaking of middle-aged mice, I’m going to have to put down one of my old man mice on Monday – he’s almost a year and a half old and is one of my best breeders. 
Poor guy. But he at least has spent his last few months in a Hugh Hefner-esque existence with lots of cute young female Balbc’s in his cage.)</p>
<p>mollie: Well, as they say, “what a way to go.”</p>
<p>Aww, mollie, at least he lived a very happy and productive life! By any chance, were those BalbCs nude? ;)</p>
<p>Can you give him a chance to swim in the Grotto with those nubile females before he goes to mousey heaven?</p>
<p>Sounds bizarre to me, too, but I found that the National Institutes of Health lists a human trial about to start in Vancouver, BC:</p>
<p>[Far</a> Infrared Treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease - Full Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov](<a href=“ClinicalTrials.gov”>ClinicalTrials.gov)</p>
<p>mollieB-
Awww, let that poor fella die a natural death, like Nelson Rockefeller–“coming and going” (that’s probably before your time…)</p>
<p>When I did my undergrad research, I took a photo of a bunch of the little rat pups all standing up with their paws at the top of the plexiglass cage-- looking oh so cute. The holiday card was entitled “greeting from the family”.</p>
<p>And Washdad-
Good find-- I am going to post that on my professional list serv and see if anyone knows anything about it. I guess stranger things have happened… But I agree, sounds wild to me.</p>
<p>
Ha! No. (Aren’t nude mice cute? Don’t you want to knit them a little teeny sweater?)</p>
<p>EDIT: And jym, I’m going to have to euthanize him because I think he’s developed a condition for which our vets require him to be put down, but I left a note for the vets to check him so I’ll know for sure. I definitely don’t want to put him down, but if I’m right about his condition, it will be better for him.</p>
<p>^^^ so sad… What does he have??? Foot in mouse disease? (sorry… bad pun )</p>