Main description:

Society is showing increasing concern for disorders related to aging that lead to a loss of brain function. In view of the enormous proportion of elderly people in our society today, brain aging is more than ever subject to challenge to us all, not only politicians and health authorities, but every individual who is confronted with the difficult situation of watching the mental powers of apparently healthy elderly friends, neighbours, or relatives fail, often with alarming rapidity. This challenge is directed especially toward us scientists. As one of our colleagues succinctly put it 2 years ago at the close of our First International Symposium on Brain Aging: "Do something. We are not dealing here with just another disease; we are concerned with human dignity. " More than any statistics, these words convinced me that Tropon's decision to leave the field of classic CNS pharmacology and move into the field of gerontopsychopharmacology was the right one, even though we knew that success would be uncertain and that, even if it finally comes it will be many years hence. At this point, let me add a personal comment: each one of us is judged by his or her own success. We live in a competitive society where success counts. This applies not only to the businessman, but also to the scientist, in particular, to those in industry.

Contents:

Early Diagnosis of Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer Type.- I. Behavioral and Clinical Aspects.- Cognitive Function in Normal Aging and Early Dementia.- Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer Type: Diagnostic and Differential Diagnostic Features with Special Reference to Functional Assessment Staging.- Assessment of Cognition and Affective Symptoms in Dementia.- The AGP System: Assessment of Symptoms in Psychogeriatric Patients.- Cognitive Deficits in Parkinson's Disease.- Differential Diagnosis: Depression Versus Dementia.- Early Diagnosis of Dementia: Possible Contributions of Neuropsychology.- II. Brain Tissue Parameters.- EEG and Evoked Potentials in the Diagnosis of Dementias.- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Early Diagnosis of Brain Pathology.- Positron Tomography and the Differential Diagnosis and Pathophysiology of Alzheimer's Disease.- Investigation of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism in Dementia.- Novel Developments in the Neuropathology of Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer Type.- Are Neurons of the Human Cerebral Cortex Really Lost During Aging? A Morphometric Examination.- Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer Type: Morphological and Immunocytochemical Studies.- Neurotransmitter Receptor Alterations in Alzheimer's Disease.- Co-Localization of Aluminium and Silicon in Senile Plaques: Implications for the Neurochemical Pathology of Alzheimer's Disease.- Biochemical Changes in Alzheimer's Disease: A Comment.- The Nature of Neurofibrillary Tangles.- Brain Plasticity and Trophic Factors.- Trophic Factors in Brain Aging and Disease.- Melanocortin Peptides and Neural Plasticity.- Brain Plasticity and Aging.- Animal Models.- Parallels and Contrasts Between Scrapie and Dementia of the Alzheimer Type and Ageing: Strategies and Problems for Experiments Involving Life Span Studies.- Animal Models of Geriatric Cognitive Dysfunction: Evidence for an Important Cholinergie Involvement.- Animal Models of Jacksonian Dissolution of Memory in the Aged.- Mechanisms Underlying Pharmacologic Modifications of the Hippocampal Lesion Syndrome.- Lesions of the Nucleus Basalis in the Rat: Functional Changes.- AF64A Cholinotoxicity: Functional Aspects.- Novel Approaches in the Study of Brain Acetylcholine Function: Neuropharmacology, Neuroanatomy, and Behavior.- Immunologic Factors Related to Cognitive/Behavioral Dysfunctions in Aging.- Morphological Studies on Brain Structures of the NZB Mouse: An Animal Model for the Aging Human Brain?.