Welcoming Address from the Conference Chair

Proceedings of the 9 th International Multidisciplinary Conference «Stress and Behavior» Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 16–19 May 2005. Editor: Allan V. Kalueff, PhD. Welcoming address from the Conference Chair DEAR COLLEAGUES, Yes, we are living in a challenging time — with many stresses evoking sometimes very interesting behavior. Is stress bad or good? How can we properly model stressors? — these are the questions that are often asked, but not yet fully understood. Importantly, several behavioral mechanisms seem to exist to minimize the negative impact of stress. Hedonic behaviors clearly represent one of them. Maternal behavior is another important endogenous source of stress reduction, in both animals and humans. Creativity and inspiration, as we showed in 1998, also reduce anxiety in some subjects — after all, a good reason to have creative and brainstorming conferences on stress. Memory and cognitions, as you will read in this abstract book, also actively interplay with stress, enabling pharmacological or neurobehavioral interventions (e. g., Kalueff and Nutt, 1997) targeting the cognitive domain — perhaps the main pathogenetic pathway in stress related pathogenesis. With all this in mind, we are heading at yet another brainstorming «Stress and behavior» conference to be held in St. Petersburg. Needless to say, we value the diversity in science. That is why, following traditions, we try to make our meetings different every year. This year conference will be more focused, compared with our much broader 2004 meeting. It is expected that such disease oriented structure of the conference will allow us to concentrate on some very important issues of biological psychiatry of stress. A few words about the geography of our conference this year. Again, following our traditions, there is good diversity here — thanks to many outstanding scientists from almost 20 countries worldwide — Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, USA, Finland, Sweden, Israel, Iran, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, Australia, Germany, Armenia, France, Latvia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Serbia and Montenegro. Therefore, we will be able to discuss our researches with many foreign colleagues, be inspired by their own findings, and inspire them in return. Notably, a special symposium on experimental behavioral models of stress will be dedicated to the memory of Professor Margarita A. Deryagina — a prominent Russian neuroethologist and primatologist, a reliable and good friend, who was with us since the beginning of our Conferences. As a tribute to her, we will have an interesting and informal symposium — the way Margarita would have liked it to be. Do animals and humans really differ in their stress related behavioral responses? What are the behavioral symptoms of stress, and their biochemical, genetical and immunological correlates? How can these basic findings fit numerous clinical and neuropsychological observations? — all these questions will be discussed in detail during the meeting. On behalf of the Conference Organizing Committee, I welcome you to the 9 th Annual International «Stress and behavior« Conference. Clearly, there will be many stresses to discuss, and many behaviors to enjoy, for our delegates during these four days. After all, it is the creativity atmosphere, active discussions, and the moments of insights that really matter. Welcome to St. Petersburg! Allan V. Kalueff, PhD Conference Chair

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