According to a new study published in the October 27th issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, valproic acid - an anti-seizure drug - was shown to reduce brain lesions and improve memory in mice who had a condition similar to Alzheimer's disease.
Weihong Song, of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, led the research and discovered that the disease demonstrably shrank the brain plaques that appear in people with the dementia condition, after valproic acid was administered, while damaged nerves began to repair themselves.
"Most importantly, the drug improved the animals' performance in a variety of memory-related tests," the article noted.
This was because the drug was able to block the enzymatic reactions that leads to the accumulation of a protein called beta-amyloid, which is present in toxic levels in Alzheimer's patients.
Meanwhile, Ann Falsey, an infectious diseases specialist at Rochester General Hospital, has claimed that a high dose of the flu vaccine can boost the immune systems of over 65s.
© Copyright