A commonly-used epilepsy drug has brought hope for multiple sclerosis sufferers as it may help prevent nerve damage.

The University College London study found that the drug phenytoin slowed the progress of optic neuritis, a symptom leading to blurred vision, and scientists believe it could have a similar protective effect throughout the brain.

Currently there are no neuroprotective drugs available for MS sufferers, whose nerve fibres are attacked by their own immune system.

In the study, 86 people with acute optic neuritis were either given phenytoin or an inactive placebo "dummy drug" for three months and at the end of the trial, the group who received the genuine drug had on average 30 percent less damage to the nerve fibre layer at the back of the eye.

Lead researcher Dr Raj Kapoor said that these are promising results and if the findings are confirmed by larger, Phase III trials, could lead to a new treatment that protects nerves from the damage caused both in optic neuritis and throughout the central nervous system in other attacks of MS.

The findings are reported in the journal The Lancet Neurology.

A drug used to treat high blood pressure has been found to reduce cell damage often linked to Alzheimer's disease, reports a new study.

The researchers explored the effect of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug candesartan for the early treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

"Our findings make sense in many ways. Hypertension reduces blood flow throughout the body and brain and is a risk factor of Alzheimer's disease," said the study's senior author Juan Saavedra from Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) in Washington, DC.

The findings were published online in the journal Alzheimer's Research and Therapy.

Using neuronal cultures, the researchers explored the action of candesartan on the neurotoxic effects of exposure to excessive glutamate, a demonstrated injury factor in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.

The scientists found that candesartan prevented glutamate-induced neuronal death.

They conducted in-depth gene analyses of the laboratory results, demonstrating that candesartan prevented neuronal inflammation and many other pathological processes, including alterations in amyloid metabolism, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

"We hypothesise that candesartan, or other members of the ARB (Angiotensin receptor blockers) group, may not only slow progression of Alzheimer's but also prevent or delay its development," Saavedra noted.

Angiotensin receptor blockers form a class of medications used to treat high blood pressure.

A recent study says that leafy vegetables such as lettuce, spinach and kale and nitrate-rich vegetables are associated with lowering the risk of primary open-angle glaucoma by 20 to 30 percent.

Glaucoma is a condition which can affect sight, usually due to build up of pressure within the eye because fluid cannot drain away.

This new study found people who ate a nitrate-rich diet had lower levels of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), a rare condition which involves chronic or acute sudden painful build-up of pressure in the eye.

The researchers followed up participants biennially in the prospective cohorts of the Nurses' Health Study (63,893 women; 1984-2012) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (41,094 men; 1986-2012). Eligible participants were 40 years or older, were free of POAG, and reported eye examinations. Information on diet was updated with questionnaires.

During follow-up, 1,483 incident cases of POAG were identified. Participants were divided into quintiles (one of five groups) of dietary nitrate intake (quintile 5, approximately 240 mg/d; quintile 1, approximately 80 mg/d). The researchers found that greater intake of dietary nitrate and green leafy vegetables was associated with a 20 percent to 30 percent lower POAG risk; the association was particularly strong (40 percent-50 percent lower risk) for POAG with early paracentral visual field loss (a subtype of POAG linked to dysfunction in blood flow autoregulation).

The study has been published in JAMA Ophthalmology.

A recent US study has found that teenagers who continue to text on their phones after turning off the lights for bedtime have poorer sleep and poorer grades than those who text with the lights on.

The new study, by Rutgers University, is the first of its kind to find an association specifically between nighttime texting and the sleep quality and school performance of American teens.

Led by Xue Ming, professor of neuroscience and neurology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, the team surveyed students at three diferent New Jersey area high schools.

A total of 1,537 surveys were completed and analyzed by the team to look at the length of text messages sent by respondents, whether messages were sent before or after the lights were turned off and the participants' school grades.

Results showed that students who stopped texting when the lights went out, or who texted for less than 30 minutes after the lights went out, slept for longer, felt less sleepy during the day, and performed better academically than those who continued to text for longer than 30 minutes.

When comparing boys to girls however, the study found that although girls text more and felt sleepier during the day than boys, they still outperformed then in school studies, which Ming believes is due to girls texting primarily before and not after turning off the light.

Ming explained that the negative effect on sleep once the lights go out is due to the effects of the "blue light" emitted from smartphones and tablets being intensified in the dark. This blue light delays the release of melatonin, the hormone that makes you feel sleepy and which is normally released around 9pm, meaning instead of going to bed and dropping off, you stay awake for longer. This blue light can also affect the release of melatonin even if it is emitted from the phone when eyelids are closed.

The delay in melatonin release could also be a factor in poorer school performance. "If a person keeps getting text messages with alerts and light emission, that also can disrupt his circadian rhythm", explained Ming, "Rapid Eye Movement sleep is the period during sleep most important to learning, memory consolidation and social adjustment in adolescents. When falling asleep is delayed but rising time is not, REM sleep will be cut short, which can affect learning and memory."

Ming suggested that not only should schools recognize the importance of sleep for teens and find a way to incorporate education on sleep into the school curriculum, but also noted that a later school start time could be beneficial.

The results of the study were published in the Journal of Child Neurology.

Aged Garlic Extract can stop heart disease from progressing and in some cases, even reverse artery plaque accumulation, according to a new study.

The research, conducted at LA BioMed, found a reduction in the amount of low-attenuation plaque, or "soft plaque," in the arteries of patients with metabolic syndrome who took Aged Garlic Extract. Metabolic syndrome is characterized by obesity, hypertension and other cardiac risk factors.

This study is another demonstration of the benefits of this supplement in reducing the accumulation of soft plaque and preventing the formation of new plaque in the arteries, which can cause heart disease, said lead researcher Matthew J. Budoff.

Budoff noted that they have completed four randomized studies and they have led them to conclude that Aged Garlic Extract can help slow the progression of atherosclerosis and reverse the early stages of heart disease.

The study is scheduled for publication in the Journal of Nutrition.