Neurodegenerative Diseases: Mechanisms and Therapies

Neurodegenerative diseases are amongst the most costly and devastating diseases, both to patients as well as to their families. This year will mark the 100th anniversary of the first case description of what we now call Alzheimer's disease, the most common neurodegenerative disease. This special time provides a unique opportunity for us to reflect on how much we have learned and yet to also appreciate how much more is left to do to solve this enormous health and social problem. Indeed, there has been an exponential increase in our knowledge of disease mechanisms especially during the past decade: the old doctrine was rejected while new ones arose from its debris. This is a fascinating and, we believe, critical period for novel findings and new ideas to quickly and globally change our understanding of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. At this historical time, in this issue of the Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, we have been fortunate to gather some of the foremost thinkers in the field to discuss up-to-date information concerning new developments in this exciting area of research as well as their therapeutic implications. This area of research has attracted some of the most innovative research groups in the field and, as Editors, we are truly privileged that many of these investigators have contributed to this issue. We express our sincerest gratitude to the contributing authors as well as to the vision of the Editor-in-Chief, Dr Abdelali Haoudi, for the opportunity provided by the Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology. Mark A. Smith George Perry Xiongwei Zhu