neuroscience

Experts evaluate DSM-5

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(This article is an introduction to a special report on the DSM-5 that appeared 30 May 2013 on SFARI.org. You can view the special report here. For the report, I conceived the idea, commissioned and edited the articles, and worked with the web producer on the images and presentation.)

It’s been nearly 14 years in the making, with heated debate for at least 2, but finally it’s here: The American Psychiatric Association published the DSM-5, the newest revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, on 18 May.

For this special report, we asked several experts to review the DSM-5 criteria for autism — and their reactions are surprisingly positive overall.

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Two Alzheimer’s drugs show promise

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(This story was #18 in Discover magazine’s top 100 stories of 2008.)

Two unconventional treatments for Alzheimer’s disease show promising early results. Both Rember (methylthioninium chloride) and Dimebon (dimebolin hydrochloride) appear to slow the mental decline associated with the illness.

No effective medicines exist for Alzheimer’s, which is estimated to afflict more than 4 million people in the United States alone. The disease is characterized by a decline in cognition and function and usually strikes after age 60. Most Alzheimer’s treatments have targeted amyloid, the main protein component of the associated plaques that form in the brain; Rember is the first to target the tangled, abnormal fibers of a protein called tau. At an Alzheimer’s conference in Chicago, the drug, made by TauRx Therapeutics, was reported to slow the progress of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease by 81 percent over the course of a year. In a phase 2 trial of 321 people with mild to moderate disease, those on the drug stayed at about the same cognitive level for up to 19 months, while those on the placebo got worse. A final trial is expected to begin in 2009.

The second drug, Dimebon, is an allergy drug used in Russia 20 years ago. A Lancet article in July reported that over 26 weeks of treatment, Dimebon significantly improved memory, thinking, and overall functioning in 68 Alzheimer’s patients, compared with a 66-member control group. Although researchers don’t know exactly how Dimebon does this, it may work by protecting mitochondria—the powerhouses of cells—from injury, says Rachelle Doody, the study’s lead author and a neurology professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. A phase 3 trial for the drug began recruiting participants in June.

SfN: Drop in numbers

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(This post originally appeared on Nature’s news blog. It’s now part of the “In the field” conference blog.)

The Dalai Lama was a big draw at last year’s conference.

There are 25,651 people at the Society for Neuroscience conference this year. Sounds like a lot. But it’s actually a solid drop from last year’s 35,000 attendees—and it shows.

The normally overflowing conference halls are emptier. The lines at the food stalls are a bit shorter. Even in the press room, there are fewer journalists banging away at their keyboards.

Why? Last November’s meeting in Washington DC “was in a different location, it was a different time of year, and the Dalai Lama was a big draw. You can’t discount that,” says Joe Carey, the society’s senior director of communications.

A whopping 14,000 people listened to the Dalai Lama, who last year inaugurated the special Science & Society series. This year’s speaker, architect Frank Gehry, attracted considerably fewer people. And Atlanta is no match for the attractions of San Diego or New Orleans, where past meetings were held.

But that’s not the whole story. Judging by the most common refrain in the hallways here, the real reason is obvious: money. The NIH pay line just dropped to an abysmal 7% and most scientists simply can’t afford to be here.

The average age for someone to win their first independent grant is now 44, prompting the society’s president to announce rather dramatically (at the press breakfast on Sunday), “If the young people don’t get the grants, all of us will get old and there’ll be no science.” Still, the 25,651 here does include a lot of young grad students and postdocs.

SfN: Location, location, location

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(This post originally appeared on Nature’s news blog. It’s now part of the “In the field” conference blog.)

Atlanta was never the first choice. The SFN annual meeting has met in New Orleans every three years, and 2006 was again New Orleans’ turn after San Diego and Washington DC.

But then, Katrina struck, and the society decided last year to move the 2006 meeting to Atlanta. Fair enough.

But the society won’t be returning to New Orleans any time soon, instead meeting in November 2009 in Chicago. Weather considerations aside (they don’t call Chicago the Windy City for nothing), some say the society has rashly abandoned New Orleans just when it needs the economic boost large conferences can bring.

A few enterprising young scientists here took matters into their own hands and began handing out stickers saying “New Orleans for 2009”, which they urged attendees to affix to their badges. Sadly, they don’t seem to have made much headway. Few attendees have seen them and even fewer are wearing the stickers. Looks like it will be blues, not jazz, in 2009 after all.