[Neurology at the border of centuries: achievements and prospects]

A significant role of neurology for medicine and society is caused by severity of clinical presentations and consequences of the nervous system diseases, as well as by huge economic burden related to neurological pathology. The paper presents a review of the current state and prospects for the development of socially most important fields of modern neurology, among which one can list studies of cerebrovascular, neurodegenerative, demyelinating and hereditary disorders, discovery of molecular mechanisms of their pathogenesis, and improvement of the methods of treatment, neurorehabilitation and prophylaxis on the basis of new medical technologies. An essential link between clinical and basic research in expanding the existing knowledge about the structure/functions of the brain in normal conditions and different-type pathological processes is stressed.