British researchers are testing a helmet they say may be able to start to reverse the

symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in weeks -- if patients wear it for ten minutes a day.

It aims low levels of infrared light at the wearer's brain, and researchers believe that

may stimulate the growth of brain cells.

Dr. Gordon Dougal, director of medical research at medical research company Virulite,

developed the helmet, which doesn't have a name yet. He says it may be on the market

as soon as a year from now.

Tests at the University of Sunderland found that infra-red light can reverse memory loss

in mice.

Dougal explained t that, "How we hope it's going to work is that the infrared light will

be facing inside the helmet onto the actual person, onto their skin, onto their brain, and

 

 


 
actually goes on the frontal part of the bones, so it goes onto the actual front part of

 
the brain and the side of the brain. The side of the head and their skull are relatively

 
thin, so the light will penetrate the skull and treat the underlying brain tissue. And the

top of the head is also quite thin, and the light will penetrate the brain tissue at that

point.

"These are the crucial parts of the brain where your personality, memory and cognitive

function are carried out."The back part of the brain is more motor function and more

 
associated with vision, which perhaps is not as affected by age-related memory loss

than perhaps the front part of the brain."

Dougal says his stepfather has shown significant improvement since he began wearing

the helmet several years ago "for possibly six minutes twice a day and it took about a

month for us to notice an improvement. ... He was remembering things better. He

was being able to actually think better. He was able to articulate better. In effect,

you know, he could drive himself around better. He could do almost everything better."
Reverse/v/ : to turn something over or around, in order to show the back of it

Penetrate /v/: go through

Articulate/v/ : to express your ideas or feelings in words/to pronounce what you are saying in a clear and careful way