I. Riluzole may treat Alzheimer’s disease Riluzole is the main drug used to treat Alzheimer’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and recently researchers at the Rockefeller University in the United States have found that it can change the activity of genes related to cognitive deterioration in old rats. According to the study, published in the British journal Molecular Psychiatry, riluzole may reverse the genes responsible for the worsening of Alzheimer’s disease, the progression of which is linked to the accumulation of glutamate in the brain that can lead to neuronal necrosis. The researchers say that if older rats are given the drug, changes in the expression of the EAAT2 gene, which is linked to the ability to remove excess glutamate from nerve fibers in Alzheimer’s disease, can be found. Because this gene becomes less expressed as the animals age, the EAAT2 gene expression activity in rats given the drug was not comparable to that of younger rats. The drug is currently approved by the FDA for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and researchers are conducting clinical trials to test its effectiveness in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Second, often take aspirin can reduce the risk of brain cancer, the United States interesting science website reported that the latest research observed that often take aspirin may reduce the risk of a certain kind of brain cancer. The researchers found that people who took aspirin regularly had a nearly 34% lower risk of glioma compared to those who took aspirin infrequently. The researchers compared about 4,000 people with glioma to the same number of healthy people and used a questionnaire to collect data on each person’s history of taking painkillers. They found that the longer a person took aspirin regularly, the lower their risk of developing glioma. Rose Ley, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Southern California who led the study, said the observation is consistent with the risk of developing glioma by taking aspirin. Lay said the observation is similar to the findings of a study on the relationship between aspirin use and the risk of colon cancer. Aspirin is an anti-inflammatory drug that inhibits a compound in the body called cyclooxygenase-2, which causes inflammation in the body, according to Lay. Lay noted that cyclooxygenase-2 may play a role in the growth of gliomas, and that cyclooxygenase-2 may also promote tumor growth by helping blood vessels grow and by helping tumors avoid detection by the body’s immune system. In addition, Lay mentioned that previous animal studies have shown that aspirin can stop the growth of gliomas in animals.