ABSTRACT
Brain diseases are one of the most frightening sets of conditions that exist. Mention of these diseases usually conjures up images of either retirement homes full of aging people lost to the world in the haze of dementia or debilitating conditions that strip away the very fabric of who we are. Dementias are truly dreadful conditions as not only are they mostly fatal but they are diseases of attrition and still, to this day, quite incurable. Brain diseases are usually neurodegenerative, in that they result in the loss of brains cells, especially neurons, the cells with which we think and hold the essence of our conscious selves. While there are brain diseases that are not neurodegenerative such as cancers like gliomas or tumors of children such as primary neuroectodermal tumors, this book will consider only neurodegenerative diseases.
