Preface

The book series, “Frontiers in Clinical Drug Research – Alzheimer Disorders” presents some important advancements in the field in the form of cutting edge reviews written by eminent experts.

Chapter 1 by Paul David Dash discusses the significant impact of cognitive impairment on a number of clinical matters. The author briefly explains the pros and cons of some of the numerous cognitive screens that can be utilized for screening purposes.

Chapter 2 Zaciragic et al. discuss the detrimental vascular changes that lead to consequent amyloid- β accumulation. This in turn leads to dementia. Moreover it provides a comprehensive insight into currently available evidence on molecular pathways and factors implicated in the above mechanisms. The findings from ongoing clinical trials and results from studies using novel pharmacological approaches to target endothelial dysfunction and chronic low-grade inflammation as pathophysiological events that contribute to the onset and development of dementia disorders are summarized.

Choo & Grubman in chapter 3 present an update on the prevailing mechanistic hypotheses, to explain AD pathogenesis, including the cholinergic, amyloid-cascade, inflammatory and metal dyshomeostasis theories. They present the recent clinical developments in therapies targeting each of the hypotheses, and highlight promising areas requiring further attention.

In Chapter 4, Mareii et al. highlight the recent thinking against the long standing amyloid cascade hypothesis as well as the major efforts in the experimental application of stem cell based therapies used as treatment options for AD. Demarin et al., in Chapter 5 emphasize on the early disease detection and delaying cognitive impairment via various lifestyle modifications.

In chapter 6, Matei et al. present the methods of extraction, identification and quantification of the active compounds from various vegetal products e.g. curcuminoids, ellagic acid, gallic acid, salvianolic acid B, resveratrol and epicagallocatechin-3-gallate that can target the causative agent of Alzheimer’s disease.

The 5^th volume of this book series represents the results of a huge amount of work by many eminent researchers. I am grateful to the authors for their excellent contributions. I would also like to express my gratitude to the editorial staff of Bentham Science Publishers, particularly Mr. Mahmood Alam (Director Publication), Mr. Shehzad Naqvi (Senior Manager Publications) and Ms. Fariya Zulfiqar (Assistant Manager Publications) for their hard work and persistent efforts.