Editorial [ Progress of ‘Current Alzheimer Research’ and Update on Roles of Lipids, Estrogen,Neurotrophins and Cytokines in Alzheimer's Disease ]

Current Alzheimer Research has successfully completed four years of publication-reporting novel findings and reviewing major accomplishments in the field of Alzheimer's disease (AD). With this confidence, Current Alzheimer Research is presenting its fifth volume to pursue, without interruption, the journal's core mission of disseminating new knowledge about AD. During the last year, the journal has published five issues in its fourth volume in a timely manner, as promised [1]. The fourth volume alone (including five issues) has featured a total of 78 articles and 4 editorials. These articles, comprising ‘research’ and ‘review’ studies have succeeded in capturing the most recent advances in AD research. Briefly, various leading experts from different sub disciplines of AD have articulated on a wide range of topics such as potential disease-specific molecular markers, cholinesterase inhibitors, vaccination, oxidative stress, tauopathy and obesity and dementia as related to AD. Several unique and controversial topics have been presented in order to encourage ground breaking research in novel directions. These articles discuss basic science questions reported from neuronal cell culture and animal studies as well as human-based clinical studies. Moreover, the fourth volume published three ‘hot topics’ issues, which have comprehensively updated some interesting themes related to AD. The fourth volume of Current Alzheimer Research is enriched by international contributors hailing from at least 16 countries: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Spain, Sweden, UAE, UK and the USA. The articles, beginning from the first volume (and the first issue) of the journal, have been listed in Pub- Med/MEDLINE. In addition, the journal is indexed in the ‘Alzheimer Research Forum’, ‘Current Contents’ and PsycINFO databases. Current Alzheimer Research has also been selected for coverage in the Thomson Scientific products and services, such as ‘Science Citation Index Expanded’ (also known as SciSearch®),‘Neuroscience Citation Index®’, ‘Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition®’, ‘BIOSIS Previews’ and ‘BIOSIS Reviews Reports and Meetings’. The Bentham Science publisher is providing free online Abstracts of each article and the complete Editorial on the journal's website (http://www.bentham.org/car/). The main thrust in this year's, the fifth, volume of Current Alzheimer Research remains reporting both mechanismoriented and translational-based research in the field of AD and other dementias. Drug target developments, brain imaging, morphometeric studies and pharmacological research will be other areas of discussion in the journal. Furthermore, Current Alzheimer Research will continue to report results from clinical drug trials that will also consist of properlyjustified, evidence-based negative data. AD is an active and fast emerging field of research, as exemplified by the fact that an ‘Alzheimer's disease’ search captures over 4,100 citations on PubMED/MEDLINE during the last year, alone. Therefore, in addition to timely dissemination of this knowledge, it is a great necessity to collate the vast literature and extract its essence in thorough review articles. By discussing research studies from both primary research and presenting review articles, Current Alzheimer Research will continue to make an important contribution and provide a valuable resource to the AD field. In the fifth volume, Current Alzheimer Research plans to present six different issues describing different areas of AD research as critical review and original research articles. This work should address the mechanism of neurodegeneration and neurobiological aspects of AD, investigate potential new drug targets and analyze novel therapeutic approaches. Current Alzheimer Research will cover research topics that employ behavioral, cellular, genetic and in vivo models. The fifth volume will continue to publish the widely popular ‘Hot Topic’ issues, which are based on a particular theme of AD research and are written by a group of renowned experts in the field. Indeed, the next issue of the journal will be a special ‘Hot Topic’ issue entitled “Production and fate of amyloid peptides: Recent advances and perspectives” (Guest Editor: Dr. Frederic Checler). Another ‘Hot Topic’ issue lined up for future publication is related to “Structurefunction implications in Alzheimer's disease pathology” (Guest Editors: Drs. Hermona Soreq and Ehud Gazit). Such important contributions are the key to success and progress for Current Alzheimer Research. The first issue of the 5th volume of Current Alzheimer Research presents eleven selected articles that describe some of the most exciting and emerging topics in the field of neurodegeneration and their potential utility to develop drug targets for the treatment of AD..........