Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 103 Part 1.djvu/180

 103 STAT. 152 PUBLIC LAW 101-58—JULY 25, 1989 Public Law 101-58 101st Congress Joint Resolution July 25, 1989 ^^., , ,. fH T Rp—174-1 ^° designate the decade beginning January 1, 1990, as the "Decade of the Brain". Whereas it is estimated that fifty million Americans are affected each year by disorders and disabilities that involve the brain, including the major mental illnesses; inherited and degenerative diseases; stroke; epilepsy; addictive disorders; injury resulting from prenatal events, environmental neurotoxins and trauma; and speech, language, hearing and other cognitive disorders; Whereas it is estimated that treatment, rehabilitation and related costs of disorders and disabilities that affect the brain represents a total economic burden of $305,000,000,000 annually; Whereas the people of the Nation should be aware of the exciting research advances on the brain and of the availability of effective treatment of disorders and disabilities that affect the brain; Whereas a technological revolution occurring in the brain sciences, resulting in such procedures as positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, permits clinical researchers to ob- serve the living brain noninvasively and in exquisite detail, to define brain systems that are implicated in specific disorders and disabilities, to study complex neuropeptides and behavior as well as to begin to learn about the complex structures underlying memory; Whereas scientific information on the brain is amassing at an enormous rate, and the field of computer and information sciences has reached a level of sophistication sufficient to handle neuro- science data in a manner that would be maximally useful to both basic researchers and clinicians dealing with brain function and dysfunction; Whereas advances in mathematics, physics, computational science, and brain imaging technologies have made possible the initiation of significant work in imaging brain function and pathology, modeling neural networks and simulating their dynamic inter- actions; Whereas comprehending the reality of the nervous system is still on the frontier of technological innovation requiring a comprehen- sive effort to decipher how individual neurons, by their collective action, give rise to human intelligence; Whereas fundamental discoveries at the molecular and cellular levels of the organization of the brain are clarifying the role of the brain in translating neurophysiologic events into behavior, thought, and emotion; Whereas molecular biology and molecular genetics have yielded strategies effective in preventing several forms of severe mental retardation and are contributing to promising breakthroughs in the study of inheritable neurological disorders, such as Hunting- ton's disease, and mental disorders, such as affective illnesses; Whereas the capacity to map the biochemical circuitry of neurotransmitters and neuromodulators will permit the rational

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