There is nothing funny about Alzheimer's disease. Despite some movies' exploitative depictions of the illness and people who unfortunately have to live with it, the fact remains that this fatal ailment has no cure. It wreaks havoc on the patient's life and those of his or her family and loved ones.

The Alzheimer's Association (www.alz.org), a leading voluntary organization in working for Alzheimer care, support, and research, says that the disease, named after German physician Alois Alzheimer, is a progressive and fatal disease. The most common type of dementia (or loss of memory), it currently has no cure.

Alzheimer's disease destroys the patient's brain cells, like a computer virus erasing a PC's data and files. As more and more of the brain's estimated 100 billion nerve cells are destroyed, the patient starts exhibiting memory loss, changes in the ways he or she thinks, speaks, and acts.

The disease adversely affects the patient's quality of life, relationships with other people, and productivity and ability to earn a living. Oftentimes, it also puts the patient's life at risk.

Wireless and Health

While some studies reveal that patients are becoming younger, the disease affects mostly older people. And as the world tackles the issue of graying populations, some are worried that the disease is quite likely to affect an increasing number of people.

Naturally, scientists and advocates are frantically searching for a cure, as well as trying to determine its causes and risk factors. And one of the factors being considered closely is wireless communications systems – mobile phones and their network infrastructure, in particular.

For quite some time now, scientists have been studying claims and counterclaims about the mobile phone and its radio signal causing damage to the human brain. Laboratory studies have shown that, indeed, wireless radiation can have an effect on the brain.

However, some studies equally disprove this seemingly obvious conclusion.

Some years ago, studies revealed that mobile phones can damage brain cells and might be a trigger factor in the early onset of Alzheimer's disease.

A study conducted on laboratory rats revealed that mobile phone signal damages areas of the brain associated with learning, memory, and even movement.

The scientists surmised that similar effects of wireless signals might be possible on humans.

Mobile Cures

Researchers, however, warned that further studies need to be conducted before any definitive conclusions could be made. In fact, later experiments showed that mobile phones do not cause harm to the human brain.

A few years later, as if the controversy was not convoluted enough, along comes a group of scientists claiming that mobile phones can be enlisted in the fight against Alzheimer's disease.