Announcement | 18. 12. 2005

Travel grants for active participants at the FENS Forum 2006

SiNAPSA, Slovenian Neuroscience Association, announces 3 travel grants for active participation of young neuroscientists at the FENS Forum 2006.

The applicant should be:

- a member of SiNAPSA (Ph. D. student or a postdoc),

- no older than 35 years

- presenting author on an abstract submitted to the FENS Forum.

The application should contain the following documents:

- 1 page CV

- list of publications

- copy of the submitted abstract

- a letter of recommendation.

The stipend will be given after the Forum on receipt of a certificate of attendance.

The deadline for application is February 1, 2006.

Please submit your application in a form of an e-mail with appropriate attachments to: [email protected]

All details on the meeting in Vienna can be found at the FENS Forum official web pages.

Event | 18. 12. 2005

Next General Assembly Date Announcement

The "annual" general assembly of SiNAPSA will take place early next year. This paradox is due to an overwhelming pressure exerted on our schedules by the events of the "Merry December". Another major meeting was quite unlikely to be successful in the remaining days of 2005.

The mandate of the current members of the Management Board, the Supervisory Board and the Honorary Arbitration Board is about to expire. The elections at the upcoming general assembly make a good turnout of the membership of particular significance.

In addition, a good turnout is most welcome for the second, informal part of the assembly, when we shall celebrate the first quite successful two years of SiNAPSA, with food, drinks and a lottery with some valuable prizes.

Make a note in your calendars for Thursday, January 12, 2006.

Details will follow soon!

News | 4. 12. 2005

New Chair Elected for IBRO Central and Eastern Europe Regional Committee

Pavel M. Balaban, Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Cellular Neurobiology of Learning at the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has been elected Chair of IBRO?s Central and Eastern Europe Committee (CEERC). He will take over from Leszek Kaczmarek, Professor and Head of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Nencki Institute, Warsaw, Poland, on 11 November 2005 after the meeting of IBRO?s Executive Committee in Washington, DC.

CEERC IBRO, innitially run by prof. dr. Tamas Freund and subsequently by prof. dr. Leszek Kaczmarek has been the major external source of encouragement and financial support for SiNAPSA and it facilitated the successful realization of all our projects since the establishment of SiNAPSA in 2003.

We wish all the best to Dr. Kaczmarek in his new endeavors and hope to have a very fruitful relation also with prof. dr. Balaban.

Event | 4. 12. 2005

Continuum Movement disorders

Correction:

The next Continuum meeting in Neurology, planned for December 6, has been moved to the beginning of January 2006. Due to the subject volume, there will be 2 meetings followingh each other in a short sequence.

Exact time, date and program will be announced shortly.

News | 4. 11. 2005

Sinapsa announces a roundtable on the importance of neuroscience

Role of brain research for the quality of life of an individual and the society is the title and topic of a roundtable discussion, scheduled for November 18, 2005, at 7 p.m., at the Medical Faculty in Ljubljana.

To illustrate the value of neuroscience research contribution to quality of life, we provide the following examples of recent neuroscience research achievements:

An EEG study showed that meditation significantly increases synchronicity in neural firing between frontal and parietal brain regions. The synchronisation reflects the specific mental activity during the meditation which can be the basis of short-term and long-term changes in the neuronal system. Similar findings could help us understand some of the ancient wisdoms better.

A study in which the participants assessed the emotional state of individuals expressing either congruent or incongruent facial and bodily emotional expressions revealed a dominance of body posture in assessing emotional states. Interestingly, the integration of information from both sources occurs as early as 115 ms since the presentation of the stimulus.

Development of new technologies allows research of virtual brain injury. The authors of a recent study used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to temporarily disable the function of the primary visual cortex and generate the phenomenon of blindsight.

Mechanical injury of nervous tissue is frequently followed by inflammation, which is one of the main causes of secondary injury. A study tested the protective effects of two substances, used in clinical studies of neuronal injury due to their antiinflammatory effects, and revealed negative effects of joint use of both substances, erythropoietin and methyprednisolone sodium succinate.

Announcement | 3. 11. 2005

Costly European Brains Revealed in a Study by the European Brain Council

European Brain Council reports:

Brain disorders (psychiatric, neurological and neurosurgical diseases together) figure amongst the leading causes of disease and disability. Yet, the knowledge of the epidemiological and economic impact of brain disorders has been relatively little researched in Europe. WHO data suggest, however, that brain disorders cause 35% of the burden of all diseases in Europe.

A recent study published in the European Journal of Neurology aims at estimating the economic cost of disorders of the brain in Europe based on the published epidemiological and economic evidence. A secondary objective was to identify gaps in both epidemiological and economic evidence on brain disorders thus providing focus for future research efforts.

For the whole study report and a concise summary factsheet on each of the studied disorders, please, see the attached zip file.

priponka: Cost of Brain Disorders in Europe.zip

Event | 3. 11. 2005

SiNAPSA Neuroscience Symposium '05

SiNAPSA and Medical Faculty in Ljubljana are happy to co-organize and announce the SiNAPSA Neuroscience Symposium '05. It will take place at the Medical Faculty, Korytkova 2, between November 18 and 20.

The official Symposium Website is: http://www.sinapsa.org/S05.

Welcome!

Event | 5. 5. 2005

37th International Danube Symposium for Neurological Sciences and Continuing Education

The symposium will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from October 5th to October 8th, 2005.

Further information at auditoria.si/danube2005

Event | 5. 5. 2005

7th European Federation of Autonomic Societies (EFAS) Meeting

You are cordially invited to the

7th European Federation of Autonomic Societies (EFAS) Meeting

Golf Hotel, Bled, Slovenia

Please find further info at www.efas.over.net

Event | 10. 3. 2005

Brain injury - Influence of comprehensive neurorehabilitation

Conference about impact of comprehensive neurorehabilitation approach to brain injured patient. Lecturers and rehabilitation team members from Slovenia, UK, Switzerland and USA will speak about their experiences and views on management in early stage after brain injury.

When: 18 - 19 March 2005

Where: Institute for Rehabilitation, Linhartova 51, SI-1000 Ljubljana

More info: www.mf.uni-lj.si/rehab/strokovno3.htm

Event | 10. 3. 2005

Brain Awareness Week 2005 - Public Lectures

17:00 – 18:00 Pain – What and Why Hurts? by Maja Bresjanac, Institute of Pathophysiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ljubljana

18:00 – 19:00 Alzheimer's Disease and the Story of Auguste D by Zvezdan Pirtošek, Neurology Clinic, University Medical Centre, Ljubljana

19:00 – 20:00 Astrocytes – from Brain Glue to Tripartite Synapse by Mojca Kržan, Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Ljubljana

Where: Geographical Museum Hall, Gosposka 16, Ljubljana

Event | 10. 3. 2005

Brain Awareness Week 2005 - Public Lectures

17:00 – 19:00 Depression by Mojca Z. Dernovšek and Rok Tavčar, Mental Health Clinic, Ljubljana

19:00 – 20:00 Brain Imaging by Blaž Koritnik, Institute of Clinical Neurophysiology, University Medical Centre, Ljubljana

Where: Geographic Museum Hall, ZRC-SAZU, Gosposka 16, Ljubljana

Event | 10. 3. 2005

Brain Awareness Week 2005 - Brain in Time and Space

Workshops and interactive presentations of brains, testing of memory and attention, and jigsaw puzzle competition with symbolic awards.

Where: Prešeren´s Hall, SAZU, Novi trg 4, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Event | 10. 3. 2005

Brain Awareness Week 2005 - Let's Do Brain Research

Opening of Brain Awareness Week 2005, featuring workshops on: Optical Illusions, Neuropsychology, Brain Imaging, Glia, Pain, Depression, Dementia. All led by scientists from Institute of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Mental Health Clinic and Neurological Clinic.

Where: Atrium of ZRC SAZU, Novi trg 2, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Announcement | 10. 3. 2005

Brain Awareness Week 2005

The Brain Awareness Week activities in Slovenia will be held from March 14th to March 18th, 2005.

Please find the activities at the worldwide events list of the European Dana Alliance for the Brain.

You are kindly invited to join us at the events!