Dementia is an acquired disorder of higher cerebral functions and cognition. Because of increasing life expectancy dementia poses a major health and socio economic problem. Alzheimer's disease accounts for 70-90% of mental decline in the elderly. Degenerative non-Alzheimer's dementi as are responsi ble for 7-30%. These include a variety of disorders clinically characterised by progressive cognitive dysfunction often combined with focal neurological def icits, e.g. Parkinson-plus syndromes, Lewy body dementia, lobar and multisys tem atrophies, other neurodegenerative disorders, and prion...

Alzheimers Disease (AD), the most frequent cause of mental decline in the elderly represents one of the major health problems facing modern society. Despite considerable progress in the clinical diagnosis, epidemiology, structural basis, biochemistry, molecular genetics, and pharmacological aspects of AD, its etiology, molecular backgrounds, and treatment challenges are still poorly understood. This volume based on the 2nd International Symposium of EBEWE Research Initiative in October 1993 in Salzburg, Austria, is conceived as a review of our current knowledge of morphology, diagnostic...