Preface

Abstract

The Joint Meeting of the Japanese Society of Biological Psychiatry (JSBP) and the Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology (JSNP) was held at Osaka International Center, July 6–8, 2005, where more than 1,500 colleagues gathered to discuss the recent findings in this field. The total of 481 papers were presented in the Meeting, which was, of course, the largest number of presentations in the history of both JSBP and JSNP. The logo of the Joint Meeting was ‘Science of Mind’, in which the organizing committee aimed for the goal of 1) integration of basic and clinical science in this field, 2) interaction with Asian countries, 3) dispatching message from Japan. We were honored to have 12 distinguished scientists in this field from European, American and Asian countries; Prof. Steven R. Hirsh (Imperial College, London), Prof. Peter-Gebicke-Haerter (Central Institute for Mental Health, Manheim), Prof. Paul M. Grasby (MRC Clinical Science Center, Hammersmith Hospital), Prof. Douglas Blackwood (Royal Edinburgh Hospital), Hans-Juergen Moehler (Ludwig-Maximilians University), Prof George Grossberg (St. Luise University), Prof Nancy A. Andreasen (University of Iowa), Prof. Ramon Cacabelos (Euroespes Medical Center, La Coruna), Prof. Mark S. Gold (University of Florida), Prof Onyou Hwang (University of Ulsan), Prof Stephen R. Marder (UCLA), and Prof. Wolfgang Fleischhacker (Medical University Innsbruck). The program of the Joint Meeting was composed of 9 plenary lectures, 12 symposia, 6 educational lectures, 16 satellite seminars, and 388 free communications, including 40 English oral and 80 Japanese oral and 268 poster presentations. The special feature of the Joint Meeting was Travel Award Program, through which we extended invitation to 100 participants from Korea, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other Asian countries. It was our regret that the 20 selected colleagues from Mainland China could not come to the Meeting because of the delayed paper work for seeking visa. However, more than 85 colleagues from Asian countries gathered to the Meeting, which was certainly the fruitful opportunity of active interaction among young researchers in Asian countries. Since we had this number of scientists from oversea countries, we had a session in which official language was English throughout the three-day meeting period. As the pre-meeting activity, we opened Site Visit Program for participants from abroad to show them the actual clinical and research settings in this country, in which 35 colleagues visited eight research/ clinical institutions in Osaka area. In the last day of the Meeting, we had Public Seminar opened to Osaka citizen and the Seminar for the pharmacists in this area. Both seminars were well attended and the organizer was so glad to tell you that the affiliated activity of JSBP and JSNP Joint Meeting had a great impact to the public in Osaka area. This supplement issue of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience was edited by the core program committee of the Joint Meeting. This issue was opened to the awardee of the best presentation award of the Meeting. The program committee selected 18 presentations listed in the table below. Unfortunately some of the awardees had already published their work in other journals or ready to submit their papers in other journals. We are grateful Dr. Ryota Hashimoto, Dr. Shinya Kasai, Dr. Francisco Diaz-Corrales, Dr. Begun Nurun Nessa for their contribution. Since the number of contribution was much less than we expected, the editor asked contribution of papers to this issue and compiled seven papers in this issue. The latter half of this issue was the collection of abstracts presented in the Joint Meeting. We hope this issue will be welcomed by participants to the Joint Meeting of JSBP and JSNP, BPNP2005OSAKA, and this publication will help to communicate our scientific contribution to colleagues all over the world. Lastly the editors would like to express our cordial thanks to all participants as well as many people who helped BPNP2005OSAKA because without their help, we could not have great success of BPNP2005OSAKA. Guest Editor Masatoshi Takeda, Norio Ogawa, Masao Iwase, Masato Asanuma