Recently, the Faculty of Sciences of Tetouan organised the third Neuromed Days on "Neurosciences and drug addiction behaviours" led by specialists from several European universities. "The training of young researchers, particularly doctoral students from several Arab and African countries, is one of the objectives of the Euro-Mediterranean programme (EUROMED) funded by the European Union and bringing together Moroccan, Algerian, Egyptian, Turkish, Spanish, French and Italian universities," said the Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, Dr. Mohamed Errami.

It is through this type of programme that young generations of scientists receive high-quality multidisciplinary training in the field of neurosciences. Through the convergence of these fields, we can understand the normal functioning of the brain and how various pathologies alter this normal functioning.

Doctor Serge Ahmed and Angelo Cantanimo, from the University of Bordeaux, and Doctor Marcello Salinas, from the University of Poitiers, highlighted the different pathologies that can alter the functioning of the brain, the mechanisms of interaction, dependencies such as stress, and psychological syndromes in people who are dependent on drugs in all their forms. With the help of pharmacology, drug recipients can eliminate the shock effects, while the reaction of the organ will always remain under the effect of cardiovascular diseases.

Drug dependence or addiction is a real societal issue since humans have always used, for therapeutic or reactive reasons, substances that alter the normal functioning of the brain and which made them dependent on these substances. It is only in recent decades that neuroscientists have begun to "pierce" certain mechanisms through which these substances act on the brain and how these substances quickly become destructive and, in various situations, deadly.

Thanks to new advances in brain imaging and other technologies, as well as the use of animals, we know that addiction is a disease characterised by the disruption of certain neural circuits, particularly those involved in the learning and reward process. During these important medical days, important questions were scrutinised by doctoral researchers, such as the contribution of genetic and environmental factors and stress to neural disturbances that increase the risk of addiction. Also, various aspects related to addictive behaviours were treated, such as current theories of addiction and recent advances in the understanding of the phenomenon in relation to neural systems, stress and their relationship to drugs, drug abuse and psychiatric and societal consequences, therapies for the treatment of drug abuse and toxicology.

Doctor Mohamed Errami, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences of Tetouan, recalled that all members of the teaching and administrative staff left nothing to chance to ensure the success of these important Neuromed days held in the city of the "White Dove", after Blida and Alexandria. About thirty young doctoral students, who are pursuing their studies at the Faculty of Sciences of Tetouan, come from Arab and African countries and are about to obtain their doctorate in neurological sciences.

In addition to conferences, meetings and theoretical communications, the researchers spend several hours in the labs to harmonise their university studies with the practices they may encounter in their future professional life.