Finally, NGS may bridge the divide between evidence-based medicine and patient-oriented care and help rehumanize clinical medicine. In an era in which physicians are being encouraged to see ever more patients using a formulaic, protocol-driven approach within a predetermined timescale, NGS reminds us of the unique biology of our patients and the need to treat each of them as an individual. “
“Age-related dementia, check details an irreversible condition resulting in progressive cognitive decline, has emerged as one of the leading health problems of our time. Advances in prevention and healthcare have increased life expectancy and produced a shift in the burden

of disease worldwide. Thus, noncommunicable diseases, including dementia, have been recognized for the first time as the major threat to the world population (World Health Organization, 2012). The World Health Organization estimates that 35.6 million people live with dementia, a

number that is anticipated to triple by 2050 (World Health Organization, 2012). Every year 7.7 million new cases of dementia are diagnosed, imposing a tremendous burden on families and the primary caregivers, as well as a financial cost to society. Although recent data suggest a decline in prevalence (Matthews et al., 2013), dementia remains a devastating and costly disease. In the US Proteasome inhibitor such cost has already surpassed that of cancer and heart diseases (Hurd

et al., out 2013). The realization of its paramount public health impact has led nations, including the US, to develop national plans to cope with dementia and attempt to reduce its devastating effects (National Alzheimer’s Project Act; Public Law 111-375). Vascular dementia, a heterogeneous group of brain disorders in which cognitive impairment is attributable to cerebrovascular pathologies, is responsible for at least 20% of cases of dementia, being second only to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (Gorelick et al., 2011). Recent clinical-pathological studies have highlighted the role of cerebrovascular disease, not only as a primary cause of cognitive impairment, but also as an adjuvant to the expression of dementia caused by other factors, including AD and other neurodegenerative pathologies (Gorelick et al., 2011, Schneider et al., 2007a and Toledo et al., 2013). At the same time, new experimental findings have revealed a previously unrecognized functional and pathogenic synergy between neurons, glia, and vascular cells (Iadecola, 2010, Quaegebeur et al., 2011 and Zlokovic, 2011), providing a new framework to reevaluate how alterations in cerebral blood vessels could contribute to the neuronal dysfunction underlying cognitive impairment. These advances call for a reappraisal of the role of vascular factors in cognitive health.