oa Editorial

Central Nervous System Agents in Medicinal Chemistry continues with its objective of bringing together the different perspectives of scientists with diverse backgrounds in chemistry, biology and pharmacology with the common goal of fostering the development of medicinal chemistry and its integration with growing disciplines in the field of medical sciences. With a careful selection of subjects and up to date reviews, Central Nervous System Agents in Medicinal Chemistry intends to remain as the reference journal in the area of medicinal chemistry reviews. We are confident that the fulfilment of this objective is clearly benefited by the inclusion of CNSA-MC in the widely used Medline/PubMed database. This evolution is made possible thanks to the efforts of all the persons that contribute to the different stages of the journal, from the authors and reviewers to the dedicated technical staff that takes care of the whole elaboration process. I would like to express my gratitude to all of them and assure that we will continue working and doing our best to promote the quality of the journal and to keep its upfront position with growing scope and impact in current science. In this March issue, a panel of leading experts provides overviews about different fields of interest focused on different aspects related to the central nervous system and its pathologies. The important field of cancer in the CNS is addressed by Drs. F. Meriggi and A. Zaniboni with respect to the new avenues for the treatment of leptomeningeal carcinomatosis and by Drs. T. de Cresci, M.T. Serrao, S.R. Rogatto, R. Kaneno, C.H. Braga, P. de Medeiros with their update on the genetic factors involved in the risk of brain tumors. Moving to a different theme focused on the advances of new treatments for CNS pathologies, Drs. P. Singh, J. Jain, R. Sinha, A. Samad, R. Kumar and M. Malhotra discuss the potential of thiosemicarbazone derivatives as anticonvulsant agents; Dr R. Bartzatt reviews the current situation of the small molecule agents for the treatment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections in the CNS; Drs. V. Pizza, V. Busillo, A. Agresta, A. Bisogno and A. Capasso assess the ability of levetiracetam for the treatment of migraine in elderly patients; Dr. M. Fornaro makes an in-depth review of the pharmacological management of catatonic syndromes; Drs. F.H. Ebner, E. Darra, S. Mariotto, H. Suzuki and E. Cavalieri describe the potential of STAT1 inhibitors for the treatment of different neurodegenerative diseases and, last but not least, Dr. P. Taupin makes a brief report about the situation of neurogenic drugs and Drs. S. Yasuda, H. Sugiura, H. Tanaka, S. Takigami and K. Yamagata address the ability of p38 MAPK inhibitors to treat a wide variety of neural diseases. I am very grateful to all the above contributors for their excellent reviews and I hope readers will enjoy this issue which represents deep insight and excellent understanding of these CNS related pathologies.