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This book represents the third in a series of International Conferences related to Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's (PD) diseases. The first one took place in Eilat, Israel, in 1985; and the second one in Kyoto, Japan, in 1989. This book contains the full text of oral and poster presentations from the Third International Conference on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases: Recent Developments, held in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. on November 1-6, 1993. The Chicago Conference was attended by 270 participants. The Scientific Program was divided into nine oral sessions, a keynote presentation, and a poster session. The conference culminated in a Round Table Discussion involving all of the participants in the conference. The four and one-half day meeting served as an excellent medium for surveying the current status of clinical and preclinical developments in AD and PD. There were 59 oral presentations and 93 posters. This book incorporates a majority of both.

This book is the outcome of an international conference, held at the Aviya Sonesta Hotel in Eilat, Israel, on March 24-27, 1985. This was the 30th in a series of the annual OHOLO Conferences, sponsored by the Israel Institute for Biological Research. Participants in this Conference consisted of scientists from four­ teen countries; represented a broad spectrum of research interests; and included a well-balanced representation from academia, clinical institutions and pharmaceutical industry. The book includes talks, poster sessions, and a comprehensive general discussion, all from the proceedings of this conference. In the interest of assuring a rapid publication of the novel infor­ mation reviewed, this book has been prepared in camera-ready format. We are cognizant of the fact that several typographical errors may exist in the text, and that there are variations in style and typeface of the var­ ious chapters. This, we felt, was a reasonable compromise for the sake of speed and efficient transmission of valuable scientific information. No­ body is perfect. •••• The success of the conference, and hence the quality of this book are attributable to the extensive efforts of a large number of extremely capable individuals. These include members of the Scientific Organizing Committee, and the Technical staff of the OHOLO Organization. Of course, the conference could not have succeeded without the high quality of the presentations, and the enthusiastic participation of the contributing scientists.

Many extrapyramidal motor diseases result from underlying neurodegenerative processes, which however are very advanced at the time the clinical diagnosis is made. From animal experiments it seems likely that we may soon have several substances that provide neuroprotective effects, but that their therapeutic use must be as early as possible. This fact was the starting point for the meeting, held at Chiemsee, that formed the basis of this book. The idea was to develop in­ strumental methods that, first, permit an earlier diagnosis by drawing on the experience of experts and, second, provide a better resolution of successful therapy than the currently used methods. As early as 1886, Charcot tried to differentiate the tremor of polysclerosis and Parkinson patients by using a drum developed by Marey, a physiologist. Subse­ quently, many apparatuses were developed to better identify movement disorders, initially for diagnostic purposes. Most of these methods proved to be inferior to the skill of experienced observers. In the last two decades, however, both the technical advances made in measuring methods and the improvements achieved in methods of evaluation have led to marked advances in the quantification of motor dis­ turbances. An objective of the symposium held at Chiemsee and of this book is to provide an overview of the procedures that are currently commonly used for extrapyramidal movement disorders, and to identify their potential and limitations.