Neurosciences and Ethics

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XII

   PDF

2. Opening Address

   1. Opening Address

      • Heinz A. Staab

      Pages 1-3

3. Opening Speech

   1. Opening Speech

      • Helmut Kohl

      Pages 4-6

4. Basic Research in the Neurosciences

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 7-7

      PDF

   2. Session I

      1. Introduction

         • François Gros

         Pages 9-10

      2. Molecular Biology of Neural Signaling — Structure and Function of Ionic Channels

         • Shosaku Numa

         Pages 11-23

   3. Session II

      1. Introduction

         • Masao Ito

         Pages 24-24

      2. Principles of Neural Network Construction

         • Sydney Brenner

         Pages 25-36

   4. Session III

      1. New Insights About Chemical Transmission in the Brain

         • Jacques Glowinski

         Pages 37-55

   5. Session IV

      1. Introduction

         • David Roy

         Pages 56-56

      2. Huntington’s Disease: An Example of Advances in Genetics Posing Ethical Problems

         • Henry Begg Dinsdale

         Pages 57-70

5. Clinical Neurosciences

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 71-71

      PDF

   2. Session V

      1. Introduction

         • Franco Angeleri

         Pages 73-73

      2. Intensive Care, Vegetative State, and Brain Death

         • Jan M. Minderhoud

         Pages 74-89

   3. Session VI

      1. Introduction

         • Henry Begg Dinsdale

         Pages 90-90

      2. Functional Neurosurgery and Psychiatric Neurosurgery

         • Jan M. Gybels

         Pages 91-108

6. Mental Health

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 109-109

      PDF

   2. Session VII

      1. Introduction

         • Anna N. Taylor

         Pages 111-111

      2. Epidemiology of Depression

         • Daniel Widlöcher

         Pages 112-114

      3. Epidemiology of Depression, Alcohol, and Drug Abuse

         • Tómas Helgason

         Pages 115-128

The human brain occupies a unique position among the organs of the human body. With its 1010 nerve cells and the innumerable interconnections, it is the most complex living system we know. It is the prerequisite for all though~, feeling, and action and hence for the awareness of ourselves. In many religions and philosophies it was and is considered to be the seat of the immortal soul. For centuries some individuals looked upon the mentally ill with holy reverence, and others responded with shock and radical social ostracism. In the neurosciences, too, the brain is not just one organ among many. As with the genome, it is considered to be an information storage unit. But whereas the genetic information cannot be influenced by the individual carrier, the brain can learn; that is, it is capable of storing information from the life history of its carrier, and it can pass this information on. The neurosciences are an area of research that has cut across the boundaries of the classic disciplines and now includes a broad spectrum ranging from basic research to clinical medicine. These sciences have developed remarkable momentum since they have taken an interdisciplinary approach and made use of experimental techniques and concepts developed in the fields of physics, biochemistry, molecular biology, behavioral physiology, experimental psychology, and computer science.

• biology
• neural network
• neuroscience
• neurosurgery
• psychiatry

• Max-Planck-Institut für Ernährungsphysiologie, Dortmund, Germany

  Benno Hess

• Max-Planck-Institut für Psychiatrie, München 40, Germany

  Detlev Ploog

• Tübingen, Germany

  Uwe Opolka

Policies and ethics