22. Symposium of the AGNP, Nuremberg,
September 26^th to 29^th, 2001

The present issue of Pharmacopsychiatry contains the abstracts of all contributions to the 22^nd Symposium of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Neuropsychopharmakologie und Pharmacopsychiatrie (AGNP), to be held from September 26^th to 29^th 2001 at Nuremberg, Germany.

The scientific organization of this meeting has somewhat changed in comparison to former symposia due to an initiative of the council of the society. Whereas in earlier times it has been the council who selected topics of particular interest and initiated the organization of symposia, it has been decided for this meeting to make an official call for symposia, workshops and free communications. There has been a very favorable echo to this call, and the program committee, composed of the society’s council and a number of ad hoc members (Susanne Ehrenreich, Wolfgang Fleischhacker, Klaus Lieb, Norbert Müller, Thomas Pollmächer and Franz-Xaver Vollenweider), received 34 proposals for symposia and workshops. Following a thorough evaluation, 20 out of these excellent proposals have been selected for realization, covering a broad range of hot topics and areas of interests (see table 1).

Table 1 Symposia and workshops Title Organizer New diagnostic techniques and therapeutic approaches for Alzheimer’s Dementia and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Jens Wiltfang Neurobiology of serotonergic transmission and impulsive behavior Andreas J. Fallgatter New approaches in the treatment of affective disorders Ulrich Voderholzer Weight and weight regulation in psychiatric disorders Thomas Pollmächer Cue-reactivity in alcoholism Lutz G. Schmidt Therapeutic approaches to psychiatric disorders in women Mario Lanczik Animal models in psychiatry Dan Rujescu New strategies for detection of target proteins for drug development Wolfgang Maier Immunopathology in psychiatric diseases - pathophysiological and clinical relevance Helmut Vedder In vivo neuropharmocology in psychiatric disorders Michael Soyka Sensorimotor gating (PPI) in schizophrenia Franz-Xaver Vollenweider Symptom-provocation tests in psychiatric disorders Klaus Wiedemann Dopamine in psychiatry. In honour of Arvid Carlsson Eckart Rüther New developments in pharmacotherapy of alcoholism Karl Mann Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and functional imaging in psychiatry Gerhard Eschweiler Imaging in schizophrenia: Recent concepts and therapeutic implications Ralf Schlösser Phase-IV studies in scientific journals Ralf Kohnen Standards for early interventions in psychiatric disorders Hans-Jürgen Möller The role of glutamatergic neurotransmission for pathogenesis and therapy in chronic alcoholism Stefan Bleich Oxidative stress and neurodegenerative disorders Gunter P. Eckert

In addition, 143 free communications have been received. About ⅓ of these will be presented as oral communications, whereas the remaining ones will be presented as posters. 26 AGNP travel awardees of the years 2000 and 2001 in addition have been asked to present their work in poster form (contributions of the year 2000 are marked with ▴, those of the year 2001 with ▾).

It is a particular honor for the society that Wolfgang Maier, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Bonn, agreed to give the opening plenary lecture entitled “Genetics, genomics and beyond - new chances for basic research and therapy in psychiatry?”. During the meeting the AGNP-Prize for Psychopharmacological Research 2001 will be awarded, and the awardee from 1999, Johannes Kornhuber, will report on the progress of his work. Moreover, the Anna-Monika-Prize will be awarded and the winner will give a plenary lecture.

Prior to the official opening of the congress, there will be two satellite symposia and two educational programs on biostatistics and drug monitoring. We believe that the present meeting will continue the tradition of well-structured, science-oriented meetings of the AGNP, and we would like to wish all participants an agreeable stay at Nuremberg.