Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a devastating and dehumanizing illness affecting increasingly large numbers of elderly and even middle-aged persons in a worldwide epidemic. Alzheimer’s Disease: A Physician’s Guide to Practical Management was written by selected clinicians and scientists who represent some of the world’s leading centers of excellence in AD research. The editors are proud and grateful for their profound contributions. This book is particularly designed to assist physicians and other health-care professionals in the evaluation, assessment, and treatment of individuals with AD. At the same time, by illuminating the basic scientific background, we hope to provide state-of-the art information about the disease and possible future therapeutic strategies. The recent psychiatric treatment aspects of AD are also clearly presented. Because the early diagnosis of the dementia process is now considered of increasing importance, we focus particularly in several chapters on early changes and preclinical conditions, such as mild cognitive impairment and predementia AD.

Glaucoma is one of the main causes of blindness throughout the world. It is characterized by death of the retinal ganglion cells, which is associated with loss of the axons making up the optic nerve. Recent studies have demonstrated support for the classification of glaucoma as a degenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS), leading researchers to look at identifying neuroprotection strategies for the treatment of this disease, like those used for other degenerative diseases of the CNS. This book will provide an in-depth examination of the most recent findings regarding glaucoma, including risk factors, diagnosis, clinical monitoring, treatment, and above all, the need for treatment based on the concept of neuroprotection. A large part of the book is devoted to research related to this new approach to the treatment of glaucoma. - Describes the most recent developments on neuroprotection of the optic nerve, including experimental models now used and clinical protocols - Discusses new strategies for the prevention of neuronal injury in glaucoma patients - Focuses on evidence-based risk factors, innovative diagnostic aspects and advanced medical/surgical treatment of glaucoma

Vision is the most important sense in higher mammals. The retina is the first step in visual processing and the window to the brain. It is not surprising that problems arising in the retina lead to moderate to severe visual impairments. We offer here a collection of reviews as well as original papers dealing with various aspects of retinal function as well as dysfunction. New approaches in retinal research are described, such as the expression and localization of the endocannabinoid system in the normal retina and the role of cannabinoid receptors that could offer new avenues of research in the development of potential treatments for retinal diseases. Moreover, new insights are offered in advancing knowledge towards the prevention and cure of visual pathologies, mainly AMD, RP, and diabetic retinopathy.

This book will contain the proceedings of the XIV International Symposium on Retinal Degeneration (RD2010), held July 13-17, 2010, in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada. The volume will present representative state-of-the-art research in almost all areas of retinal degenerations, ranging from cytopathologic, physiologic, diagnostic and clinical aspects; animal models; mechanisms of cell death; candidate genes, cloning, mapping and other aspects of molecular genetics; and developing potential therapeutic measures such as gene therapy and neuroprotective agents for potential pharmaceutical therapy.

The editor of this volume, having research interests in the field of ROS production and the damage to cellular systems, has identified a number of enzymes showing ·OH scavenging activities details of which are anticipated to be published in the near future as confirmatory experiments are awaited. It is hoped that the information presented in this book on NDs will stimulate both expert and novice researchers in the field with excellent overviews of the current status of research and pointers to future research goals. Clinicians, nurses as well as families and caregivers should also benefit from the material presented in handling and treating their specialised cases. Also the insights gained should be valuable for further understanding of the diseases at molecular levels and should lead to development of new biomarkers, novel diagnostic tools and more effective therapeutic drugs to treat the clinical problems raised by these devastating diseases.