Larry Young on animals and autism clues, environmental impact on hormone brain function

Main Category: Autism
Article Date: 20 Jul 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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Young began studying voles for their monogamous behavior, then investigated molecular mechanisms in species behavior differences.

Now researchers are gaining insights into human disorders with social impairments like autism. Keynoting an APS conference on oxytocin/vasopressin Young points to studies confirming their roles in social cognition and suggesting a developmental role for oxytocin in shaping normal adult social behavior.

He strongly advocated observing nature for new animal behavioral and physiological models to further research.

"Oxytocin, vasopressin and social cognition: Implications for Autism," was presented as the closing keynote address by Larry Young.

Sponsorships. The American Physiological Society thanks the following sponsors for their generous support of the conference: Astellas Pharmaceuticals Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, NIH/NIDDK, Wyeth Research and Olympus America Inc.

Three APS Journals call for papers. In conjunction with the conference, three American Journal of Physiology (AJP) editions - AJP-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, AJP-Endocrinology and Metabolism, and AJP-Renal Physiology - have called for related papers for publication. The deadline for all editions is October 1, 2005.

The American Physiological Society was founded in 1887 to foster basic and applied bioscience. The Bethesda, Maryland-based society has more than 10,000 members and publishes 14 peer-reviewed journals containing almost 4,000 articles annually.

APS provides a wide range of research, educational and career support and programming to further the contributions of physiology to understanding the mechanisms of diseased and healthy states. In May 2004, APS received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM).

The full press releases are available on the APS Press Room conference website: the-aps.org/press/conference/index.htm

The American Physiological Society
http://www.the-aps.org

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