APSN 1996 - Beijing, PR of China
7-10 October 1996 The APSN held its 3rd biennial conference recently. The Society, which was formed in Sydney at ISN XIII in 1991 as a feferation of Neurochemistry & Neuroscience Societies from the region, had previously held conferences in Nagoya, Japan (1992) & Hyderadad, India (1994). APSN #3 was jointly the 5th Meeting of the Chienese Medical Association. The host & chair of the local organizing committee was Prof. Qi-Ming Xue of the Capital Univ. of Medical Scieneces, Beijing. After a Welcome reception & Council meeting on the 7th, the scientific meeting was conducted over 3 days at a hotel in the North-East sector of the city. There was a single continuous oral session with 3 Plenary sessions, 5 Symposia, & 3 Round Tables, & time was set aside each day for Posters. Approximately 185 delegates had registered or indicated their intention to attend, about 150 from China & 35 from some 13 different overseas countries (including a number of expatriate Chinese scientists). However, several prospective delegates found themselves unable to attend without financial assistance. Unfortunately, APSN Council was able to provide just 2 million yen to the meeting, so financial resources were stretched very thinly. Ultimately, about 140 delegates made it to Beijing. Through the good offices of ISN, the abstracts of APSN conferences are published as a supplement to J. Neurochem. ; APSN #3 is in Vol. 67. The oral program schedule some 57 presentations & about 100 posters. With the dropouts, a few of the talks were lost, but free communications from the poster sessions were substitutes & the program was hardly affected. However, the poster session was quite reduced (one group of 3 no-show delegates had put it 15 abstracts), so that a total of 64 posters were displayed. 3 of these, from young scientists, were awarded prizes of 500 Chinese Yen plus a certificate for excellence: Dr Wei-Song Shan, Beijing Medical Univ. (Abstract #S15A); Dr Ting-An Chen, Guangzhou Medical College (Abstract #S36D); & Dr Li-Ping Dong, Beijing Neurosurgical Institute (Abstract #S29A). Major themes of the conference included ischaemia & stroke, Parkinson disease, apoptosis, gene expression, membrane transport, neurotoxicity, development & aging, & acupuncture. Several of the presentations featured studies on traditional medicine, among many other subjects. The conference was lively & interesting, allowing as it did the interchange of ideas between scientists from a range of countries with differing scientific cultures. Naturally the biggest number of papers came from China, & these highlighted the broad range & strangths of Neurochemistry there; especially impressive were some presentations from younger Chinese scientists, which had sometimes been carried out in quite difficult circumstances. The Japanese delegation was particularly strong, & they presented some beautiful work. Major presentations also came from Korea, India & Australia. APSN #3 demonstrated once again the vibrancy & rapid development of Neuroscience in our region. the hosts, led by Prof. Xue & the head of the Program Committee, Prof. Man-Ji Sun, are to be commended for their diligence & forbearance in putting together a very nice meeting. There staff were always most obliging & helpful. The venue was well gratifying that so many young scientists were able to attend. The 2 main social events, the opening & closing receptions, were very enjoyable, & the conference was well attended throughout. All who were present are now looking forward to APSN #4 in Seoul, Korea, 24-26 June 1998. This will be held jointly with annual Neuroscience Symposium under the auspices of the Korean Neuroscience Society, & hosted by Prof. Yoo-hun Suh. It is expected to be a somewhat larger meeting which will mark the consolidation of APSN. Sydney was chosen as the venue for APSN #5, in 2000. Peter Dodd, Australia |
