Summary: Publisher Summary 1 The February 2004 meeting that leant its name to this volume was the fifth event in a series of Solvay Pharmaceuticals Research Conferences held under the motto: "Industry meets leading academia in a search for novel therapies." It addressed pharmacologic and other biological approaches to cognitive impairment. The editors (of Solvay Pharmaceuticals, the Netherlands, and Vanderbilt U. School of Medicine, US) present 12 papers from the conference, opening with the keynote lecture on the meaning of cognition in our society and health care systems. The remaining chapters address such topics as age-associated memory impairment, cognition in Alzheimer's disease and related disorders, cognitive deficits as a core feature of schizophrenia, cognition in depression and mania, linking pre-clinical and clinical approaches to therapy for cognitive dysfunction in neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, modulation of n-methyl-d-aspartate receptor function as a novel approach for development of antipsychotic agents, mechanisms of plasticity in molecular and cellular cognition, and functional imaging of cognition related brain circuitry in health and schizophrenia. Annotation 漏2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)   Publisher Summary 2 "100 Years after the discovery of Alzheimer's disease, neurological diseases and psychiatric disorders represent the largest and fastest growing unmet medical market with 2 billion affected people worldwide. Life expectancy of humans continues to increase, and the world population is aging. Advanced age may lead to deterioration of cognitive functions of the brain. There seems to be consensus that on the background of aging, several factors may render humans prone to dementia. Psychiatric and neurological disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or Parkinson's disease may contribute to development of dementia. More people today are looking for help regarding their learning and memory capabilities. Although increasing knowledge on neuronal networks is transforming our view of the human brain and its function and we understand psychiatric and neurological diseases better today than ever before, novel therapies are needed to respond to the growing demand of patients for assistance with memory loss and learning impairment. In fact, it is expected that novel therapies aiming at the processing of amyloid, or at activation of glutamatergic or nicotinergic systems will demonstrate adequate efficacy in improving learning and memory disturbances. This publication stands as a comprehensive overview of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the development of cognitive impairment. It integrates discoveries concerning dementia, such as mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease associated dementia, vascular dementia, retardation syndromes, and psychiatric and neurological disorders related cognitive impairments. This book will be useful to physicians, biologists, and those pursuing an interest or concerned with memory impairment."