The heart drug that may help to fight dementia
SCIENTISTS believe they have found a drug which could prevent Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
They say rolofylline may slow down the rise of dementia which affects more than 850,000 people in Britain alone.
The drug was taken out of manufacture after doubts were cast over its effectiveness for treating acute heart and kidney disease.
Now researchers from the Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Bonn, Germany, have discovered it may prevent memory loss diseases.
Dr Frank Dennissen said his team’s work found evidence the drug could increase the activity of brain cells.
“We hypothesise that rolofylline could be used as a treatment by increasing bona fide neuronal activity.
“In turn, this should delay the onset or the progression of these neuro– degenerative diseases.”
The Bonn team looked at the behaviour of a protein called tau which is present in the central nervous system of animals. When a patient is healthy, their tau samples form clear parallel lines, but when degenerative brain disease sets in they become entangled.
Dr Dennisen said the tau protein “appears in multiple neurodegenerative diseases” but its “mode of toxicity
honey halts germs
A HONEY loved by celebrities for its heath-giving qualities could help to keep medical devices free of infection, research claims.
Scientists at the University of Southampton found that even small amounts of Manuka curb the growth of microbes.
The findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Pathology, may lead to patients using devices such as catheters, with a high infection risk, using the honey. is poorly understood” and no effective drug treatments have been found.
His team carried out research on 30 mice over a period of four years, feeding them food injected with rolofylline.
The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr Dennisen said further research and eventually clinical trials could be carried out on the drug. But he said a study on mice “didn’t have all the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s, making it extremely difficult to predict if and how it would work” on humans.
And Dr James Pickett, Head of Research at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “It’s still early days for this drug.”