In testimony, Dr. Lipicky didn't cite any unusual risk factors for this patient. The general public can now obtain NIMH announcements and publications from this service, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Users must call from either a fax machine that is equipped with a telephone handset or a computer with both a modem and telephone handset. Documents currently available include NIMH grant announcements for the scientific community, research reports, Calendar of Events, Consensus Development Conference statements, description of NIMH studies needing patients, and the text of NIMH publications for the general public about mental disorders and the brain. Brain Mapping Research in UCLA Dr. John Mazziotta wants to chart the terrain of the human brain, creating a map that doctors can use someday in diagnosing illness and perhaps unlocking the mysteries of thought.
Trouble is, there's no compass.
Using the latest imaging technology, like MRIs and PET scans, he and fellow researchers hope to eventually illuminate mysteries of thought, movement and the progression of disease. Sometime in the future, doctors will use a combination of gene mapping and brain mapping to determine whether someone has a genetic predisposition to a disease and then monitor the brain regions where changes are anticipated. However, researchers must first chart the brain, no two specimens of which are alike. A consortium of federal agencies is funding the project with a five-year grant that runs out in 1998. Once researchers nail down the brain's anatomy, they'll move on to map the processes associated with movement, speech, sensation, thought and memory.