The brain decade in debate: III. Neurobiology of emotion

This article is a transcription of an electronic symposium in which active researchers were invited by the Brazilian Society of Neuroscience and Behavior (SBNeC) to discuss the advances of the last decade in the neurobiology of emotion. Four basic questions were debated: 1) What are the most critical issues/questions in the neurobiology of emotion? 2) What do we know for certain about brain processes involved in emotion and what is controversial? 3) What kinds of research are needed to resolve these controversial issues? 4) What is the relationship between learning, memory and emotion? The focus was on the existence of different neural systems for different emotions and the nature of the neural coding for the emotional states. Is emotion the result of the interaction of different brain regions such as the amygdala, the nucleus accumbens, or the periaqueductal gray matter or is it an emergent property of the whole brain neural network? The relationship between unlearned and learned emotions was also discussed. Are the circuits of the former the underpinnings of the latter? It was pointed out that much of what we know about emotions refers to aversively motivated behaviors, like fear and anxiety. Appetitive emotions should attract much interest in the future. The learning and memory relationship with emotions was also discussed in terms of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli, innate and learned fear, contextual cues inducing emotional states, implicit memory and the property of using this term for animal memories. In a general way it could be said that learning modifies the neural circuits through which emotional responses are expressed

The brain decade in debate: II. Panic or anxiety? From animal models to a neurobiological basis

This article is a transcription of an electronic symposium sponsored by the Brazilian Society of Neuroscience and Behavior (SBNeC). Invited researchers from the European Union, North America and Brazil discussed two issues on anxiety, namely whether panic is a very intense anxiety or something else, and what aspects of clinical anxiety are reproduced by animal models. Concerning the first issue, most participants agreed that generalized anxiety and panic disorder are different on the basis of clinical manifestations, drug response and animal models. Also, underlying brain structures, neurotransmitter modulation and hormonal changes seem to involve important differences. It is also common knowledge that existing animal models generate different types of fear/anxiety. A challenge for future research is to establish a good correlation between animal models and nosological classification

Proveeduría farmacéutica en la Universidad de Carabobo: propuesta para su creación Valencia Venezuela 1998 / Supply pharmacy at the University of Carabobo: proposal for creation Valencia Venezuela 1998

En la Universidad de Carabobo, entre 1996-1997, fue realizada una investigación que demostró la factibilidad de crear un establecimiento tipo PROVEEDURÍA FARMACÉUTICA, propiedad de la institución, como una salida viable para enfrentar el elevado egreso que representa para la U.C., la obligación contractual de cancelar el 50 por ciento del valor de los medicamentos adquiridos en farmacias privadas, al personal adscrito al Plan de Salud de la institución. Por otra parte, la tendencia alcista del precio de los medicamentos a un ritmo diferente al de los índices de inflación, compromete seriamente a futuro, el mantenimiento del beneficio. Las autoras investigaron la posibilidad real de establecer una PROVEEDURÍA FARMACÉUTICA-U.C. En una primera etapa, se realizó un estudio económico-financiero, que demostró la factibilidad de realizar el proyecto, proyectándose que el GASTO TOTAL ESTIMADO PARA 1998, alcanza UN MILLARDO de Bs. y el COSTO EVITADO para la institución, de ejecutarse este proyecto, sería de unos 429 millones de Bs/año (para 1997), con una mínima inversión inicial, calculada en 128 millones de Bs., en una segunda etapa, se indagó la opinión y el criterio de usuarios acerca de los mecanismos actuales de concesión del beneficio del subsidio en medicamentos y la posibilidad de sustituirla por la creación de un establecimiento tipo proveeduría farmacéutica, así como también la inclusión del beneficio, en la cobertura del Plan Administrado de Salud de la UC, obteniéndose una opinión altamente favorable, por parte de los beneficiarios