[Mitworld] Smith and Sweig on the US and Cuba, Cools on Dopamine and Cognition

[MIT World]

MIT World Newsletter

Volume 9, Number 8 |  October 13, 2009

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U.S.-Cuba Relations: The Beginning of a Long Thaw?
September 23, 2009

To the dismay of these seasoned Cuba specialists, the Obama administration is not pursuing a rapid 
thaw in relations with the Castro regime. While there appears no speedy end to 50 years of icy 
antipathy toward Cuba, the speakers detect a few hopeful signs of warming in recent times.


http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/713

Speakers:
Wayne Smith
Senior Fellow and Director, Cuba Program, Center for International Policy

Julia Sweig
Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow, and Director for Latin America Studies, Council on Foreign Relations


Event Host:
Center for International Studies

"This glacial, almost like walking through peanut butter pace of change that we have in bilateral 
relations suits each government just fine.
"
-Julia Sweig

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Imaging the Human Striatum and its Modulation by Dopamine 
May 7, 2009

Researchers have known for some time that the neurotransmitter dopamine is centrally involved in 
learning and working memory, Roshan Cools tells us, and that dopamine-responsive circuits connect 
these parts of the human brain to other structures like the striatum, which also helps orchestrate 
motor control. Cools has been investigating in detail how dopamine acts within these 
cortico-striatal circuits to influence different types of cognitive processing.

http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/708

Speaker:
Roshan Cools
Principal Investigator, Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour 


Event Host:
McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT

"We and others have put forward a dopamine overdose hypothesis to account for the contrasting 
effects of dopaminergic medication on Parkinson's Disease patients."
-Roshan Cools

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In The Pipeline:

Newton
 and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist

Presented By:
MIT Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies

Speaker:
Thomas Levenson
Professor
Director, MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing

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MIT Conference on Systems Thinking for Contemporary Challenges
Addressing Complexity in Health Care, Energy, Space, and the Environment<BR><BR>October 22-23, 2009 at MIT						

http://sdm.mit.edu/index.php?fileName=conf09/sdm_conference.html

Sponsored by the MIT System Design and Management Program, John Deere, and MITRE

Register now to join MIT faculty and industry
leaders who will discuss best practices for applying systems thinking to some of the most 
complex challenges facing today's world.
http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=742938



<p>
<b>Special Focus: Heath Care</b><br><br>
On October 23, MIT experts and industry experts will cover the following topics: framing health
care systems challenges; a Lean Enterprise
systems approach to transforming health care 
systems; re-engineering U.S. health care with 
health care information technology (HCIT); 
clinical systems issues in stroke care; a systems-based approach to high-risk operations; 
and aging and health care.

http://sdm.mit.edu/index.php?fileName=conf09/sdm_conference.html


http://sdm.mit.edu/index.php?fileName=conf09/sdm_conference.html

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