This volume contains the proceedings of the symposium Pathochemical Markers in Major Psychoses, held in Vienna in July 1983. The development of biological markers in psychiatric diseases, par ticularly in the field of neurochemistry, has made substantial progress during recent years although the multiple mechanisms of mental illness are still not fully understood. The greatest contribution has come through the development of new therapeutic agents that not only pro vide invaluable help for psychiatric patients but also serve as chemical tools for the investigation of the biological mechanisms...

The scientific work of Walther Birkmayer is grounded on his ability to turn what was often a mass of clinical details into the basis for a hypothesis for a new therapeutic approach toward solving the problems of a patient's illness. Birkmayer first became known when, during the Second World War, he built up a clinic for brain injuries in Vienna, in which over 3000 patients were treated. The study of changes in the autonomic functions of the nervous system in these patients as well as the problems of rehabilitation were published in a monograph, "Hirn- verletzungen". Consequently, this was his...

Zu den haufigsten Alterserkrankungen zahlen heute die Parkinson sche Erkrankung sowie Demenzen. Eine Reihe neuer Erkenntnisse der Grundlagenforschung sowie die Entwicklung neuer Neuro-Psychopharmaka fur die genannten Indikationen machten eine Neubearbeitung des Bandes erforderlich. In den vergangenen zwei Jahren wurden unter den Parkinson-Mitteln neue Dopamin-Agonisten, COMT-Hemmer sowie NMDA-Antagonisten zugelassen. Zur Behandlung der Alzheimer-Demenz wurden Antidementiva (Cholinesterosehemmer) entwickelt, weitere medikamentose Therapieeinsatze befinden sich im Stadium der klinischen Prufung...