NEWEST FINDINGS ON BRAIN CHANGES TO BE FEATURED AT SCIENTIFIC GATHERING
MMADISON, Wis. -- For the first time, researchers studying how the brain changes in the face of life's most basic and often difficult experiences will gather to discuss their latest findings. The venue is the Fifth Annual Wisconsin Symposium on Emotion, April 23-24, in Madison, WI.
Information presented will run the gamut from state-of-the-art molecular biology involving genes responsible for behavior to imaging techniques that show with unprecedented precision how the living brain changes over time. The advances to be discussed provide new insights into drug abuse, treatment for depression and long-ranging effects of deprivation in children. The data point to new options for people whose depression has not responded to standard treatments.
Dr. Mark George of the Medical University of South Carolina will talk about a promising new treatment that may be highly effective for a variety of psychiatric disorders. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) uses magnetic energy to alter the way cells function in different regions of the brain, providing important clues about how new drugs to combat depression and anxiety may work.
Dr. Charles Nemeroff of Emory University will discuss how depression affects the heart. He will describe unpublished data showing that depressed people have stickier platelets that are more likely to clot and cause cardiovascular problems than non-depressed people.
Dr. Terry Robinson of the University of Michigan will discuss novel findings showing that cocaine has a long-term effect on structures in specific brain cells, an important understanding that helps clarify how addictions can develop and relapses can occur.
Dr. Dennis Charney of Yale University will describe new research showing that people who have suffered severe trauma have reduced volume in a brain structure known as the hippocampus. Other work has also shown that anti-depressants can reverse this shrinkage.
Dr. Michael Meaney of McGill University will present new data from studies in animals showing that the way mothers interact with infants determines how the baby's brain will develop and how it will respond to stress later in life.
Dr. Mary Carlson of Harvard University will present similar data from studies in humans, demonstrating that early experiences between infants and mothers affect levels of stress hormones in the children and may influence how they will interact at school and with family members and peers.
In conjunction with the symposium, Dr. Steven Hyman, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, will present a talk on "The Worrisome Question of Whether there is a Worry Gene, and Other Investigations of Genes and Behavior." The talk will take place at 4 p.m., Thurs., April 22, at the State Historical Society main auditorium the day before the symposium begins. Dr. Hyman focuses on genes that may predispose people to anxiety and depression. He will also discuss the promise of mental health research and the importance of funding in this area.
Hyman will also be available to meet the media immediately following his talk.
Reporters are invited to attend the symposium, Hyman's talk and his media session. For more information, contact Dian Land at [email protected] or 608/263-9893.
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