Neuropathology of Aging and Alzheimer's Disease

Dr. Rudy Castellani is a professor in the Division of Neuropathology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, the Program Director for the Neuropathology Fellowship Training Program, and the Neuropathology Core Director for the Northwestern University Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology. He is the recipient of the 2010 Alzheimer medal from the Journal of Alzheimer’s disease. He was formerly professor and vice chair of research, at West Virginia University and the Rockefeller Neuroscience institute, and a former tenured professor and director of neuropathology at University of Maryland, Baltimore. Dr. Castellani has authored or co-authored over 330 research articles, reviews, and chapters, with a focus on neurodegenerative diseases and neurotrauma, and has been quoted in the New York Times on issues related to Alzheimer’s disease treatment.

• Part I: Alzheimer and his contemporaries1. Alzheimer’s disease: a fortuitous beginning2. Alzheimer’s first case3. Alzheimer’s second case and the naming of Alzheimer’s disease4. Some early observations of Alzheimer’s contemporaries5. Early studies on senile dementia and aging6. The human elementReferences 000Part II: The dark ages7. The 1920s and 1930s8. The 1940s to the 1960sPart III: Beyond plaques and tangles: lewy bodies, vascular disease, and the rise of the acronyms9. Lewy bodies10. The role of vascular disease in Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology Atherosclerosis11. The rise of the acronym References12. Aging-related neuronal tau13. Aging and disease-related astrocytic tau14. TDP-43 in aging and Alzheimer’s disease15. Argyrophilic grain diseasePart IV: Alzheimer’s disease, dementia pugilistica, and the influence of neuropathology16. Introduction to the traumatic brain injury--neurodegenerative disease dichotomy17. Punch drunk syndrome: the first 30 years18. Clinicopathological analysis from the 1950s and 1960s19. 1970 to 2000: transitioning to an immunohistochemistry--only diagnosis20. The modern chronic traumatic encephalopathy era21. Postmortem of punch drunk boxers and chronic traumatic encephalopathyPart V: Familial alzheimer’s disease, down syndrome, and the amyloid cascade hypothesis22. Familial Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome23. The amyloid cascade hypothesisPart VI: Practical considerations in the diagnosis of alzheimer’s disease and aging24. Application of consensus criteria25. The diagnostic process