The human mind: building bridges between neuroscience and psychiatry.

This essay proposes the existence of four unique behavioral characteristics that distinguish Homo sapiens from its nearest evolutionary kin, the great apes. These are inventiveness, capacity for language, curiosity, and self-reflection or self-analysis. Some would counterargue that none of these features are "unique" to humans.

Antipsychotic drugs block IP3-dependent Ca(2+)-release from rat brain microsomes.

Cellular Ca(2+)-dysregulation has been proposed as an important mechanism in certain diseases such as bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) and malignant hyperthermia. Recently it has been found that in BPAD, the plasma membrane Ca(2+)-channel blockers verapamil and nimodipine are useful substitutes in Li(+)-treatable patients. We have investigated the effects of these drugs and the antipsychotic drugs (clozapine, fluspirilene, and haloperidol) on IP3-induced Ca(2+)-release from Ca(2+)-loaded rat brain microsomes.

The relations between neuroscience and human behavioral science.

Neuroscience seeks to understand how the human brain, perhaps the most complex electrochemical machine in the universe, works, in terms of molecules, membranes, cells and cell assemblies, development, plasticity, learning, memory, cognition, and behavior. The human behavioral sciences, in particular psychiatry and clinical psychology, deal with disorders of human behavior and mentation. The gap between neuroscience and the human behavioral sciences is still large.