Alzheimer's disease costs: what we know and what we should take into account.

Background/objective: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a very costly pathology. Total costs of AD result from the sum of direct and indirect costs. Intangible costs represent an additional burden that is difficult to quantify.

Effectiveness of nootropic drugs with cholinergic activity in treatment of cognitive deficit: a review.

Nootropics represent probably the first "smart drugs" used for the treatment of cognitive deficits. The aim of this paper is to verify, by a systematic analysis of the literature, the effectiveness of nootropics in this indication. The analysis was limited to nootropics with cholinergic activity, in view of the role played by acetylcholine in learning and memory.