“Alzheimer's 101”

o i d ( n h W l n The year 2007 marks the beginning of “Alzheimer’s 01,” a renewed campaign to conquer all forms of dementia nd memory disorders. As the celebration of the 100-year anniversary of Alzeimer’s research comes to a close, patients with cognitive mpairment remain frustrated by the lack of effective interentions. Ever-increasing life expectancy and the pending xponential rise in the prevalence of dementia together nderscore the urgency of the public’s concerns about stratgies to accelerate the discovery of cures for brain diseases uch as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and Lou ehrig’s diseases. The public’s impatience with the slow ace of progress in developing therapies for dementia is nderstandable. We must remember, however, that there are umerous hurdles associated with such progress, whether hat progress takes the form of launching a new national nitiative of research or redirecting the focus of an already ell-established program. Although research on brain disorders has a long history, he current profusion of knowledge on the neurobiology of hese brain disorders was only recently acquired. Only 30 ears ago, conventional wisdom regarded Alzheimer’s disase as a hopeless and untreatable condition. In academia, he disease generated little interest in research except for a andful of plucky investigators. Federal expenditures on esearch were virtually zero. Twenty-five years ago, the linical infrastructures essential for systematic longitudinal tudies of well-characterized patients were not available. wenty years ago, the concepts of “cure” and “prevention” ere inconceivable. Crucial clinical tools such as diagnostic riteria, standardized assessment instruments, cadres of speialized professionals, memory disorder clinics, family suport groups, or outreach programs—all of which are taken or granted now—did not exist. Fifteen years ago, informaion on genes and/or biologic pathways involved in the evelopment of the disease was limited at best. Ten years go, animal models of the disease did not exist. Five years go, persons at high risk for the disease could not be idenified, and the idea of clinical trials for prevention or for