This book details how "Alzheimer Disease" went from being an obscure neurologic diagnosis to a household word. The words of those responsible for this revolution are the heart of this book. Dr. Robert Katzman and Dr. Katherine Bick, leaders in Alzheimer research and policy making, interview the people responsible for this awakening of public consciousness about Alzheimer
Disease from 1960 to 1980. They speak with the scientists, public health officials, government regulators, and concerned relatives and activists responsible for taking this neurodegenerative disease out of the "back wards" through the halls of Congress, and on to the front page. The reader will learn how the explosive increase in research funding and public awareness came about, how physicians and psychiatrists established diagnostic criteria, how drugs were developed that offer hope for sufferers, and how the Alzheimer's Association was born.
* Written in the words of those responsible for the widespread recognition of this neurodegenerative disease
* The authors are recognised as leaders in Alzheimer research and policy making

This volume contains the proceedings of a symposium which took place in Toulouse on April 24,1989. The Fondation IPSEN pour la Recherche Therapeutique organized this meeting for the purpose of gathering the most current ideas concerning biological markers of Alzheimer's disease. The papers presented may be roughly subdivided into three groups: The first one deals with the markers of Alzheimer's disease at the level of the brain itself. They are studied either by examining the CSF or by using techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance. These approaches are aimed at demonstrating cerebral changes as shown by the debris resulting from the disease or, as is the case with nuclear magnetic resonance, by studying the possible neurochemical abnormalities that occur in earlier stages of Alzheimer's disease. The second series of papers deals with possible extraneuronal changes in the blood, in the skin or in other organs of Alzheimer's disease patients. The third group addresses the most current research on the genetic abnormalities which may be found in individuals suffering from Alzheimer's disease. The contributions compiled in this volume provide a unique view on the state of the art of these aspects of Alzheimer's disease and their relation to both pathogenesis and in vivo diagnosis of the disease."