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<WelcoMe To The firST regular update from the eSPe Team. We will be delighted to provide you with an update in each issue of the eSPe newsletter from now on. We are based in Bristol, UK, and work with lars Sävendahl, eSPe Secretary general, and the members of the eSPe council to continually improve and further develop eSPe as an ever-growing membership society. We oversee all day-to-day eSPe activities and projects. you can always contact us on [email protected] if you have any queries about the Society and your membership. There are many reasons to join the Society, whether you want to network with an international community of paediatric endocrinologists or further your career through the many different grants and awards on offer. There is something for paediatric endocrinologists at all stages of their careers. This year eSPe has an additional membership category: nurses & allied health care Professionals. This will help eSPe better represent all professionals working in the field. Please recommend eSPe membership to any of your colleagues who you feel would benefit. refer them to the website: www.eurospe.org. at the annual Business Meeting held during the 9th Joint Meeting in Milan, members agreed upon the formation of two new council committees: a Scientific committee and a communications committee. These will allow the Society to develop effective member communications, as well as ensuring eSPe remains at the forefront of scientific knowledge sharing. This will help eSPe achieve its mission: to advance excellence in paediatric endocrinology and diabetes through research, education and medical practice. lastly, please don’t forget to have your say! if you want to give us feedback about your Society please contact us via [email protected], or find us on facebook and Twitter – we are always more than happy to hear from you. Hannah Bonnell Tracey-Leigh Meadowcroft ESPE Team
eSPe iS eSTaBliShing a diabetes/obesity School, which will be held
for the first time in Tel aviv, israel, on 24–26 april 2014.
The eSPe diabetes/obesity School will provide up to date teaching
in diabetes and obesity and promote discussion and interaction
between younger and more senior paediatric endocrinologists, in order
to develop the next leaders in paediatric endocrinology.
The course will run for 2.5 days. it will include interactive lectures by
experienced eSPe members, with the aim of covering all the main topics
in diabetes and obesity. These lectures will be supplemented by small
group sessions to discuss teachers’ cases, and case presentations by the
students. The course also includes an introduction to clinical research,
with presentation by students of research proposals and projects in small
groups, and presentation of selected work to the plenum.
in addition, a symposium on frontiers in Paediatric
endocrinology will take place in Petah Tikva in the vicinity of
Schneider children’s Medical center of israel on 23 april 2014.
Students attending the diabetes/obesity School are invited to take
part in this symposium.
for more details and to apply for a place, see www.eurospe.org/
education/education_diabetesandobesity.html. The closing date for
applications is 20 december 2013.
ESPE welcomes its 1000th member! dr elizaBeTh leMoS Silveira lUcaS is eSPe’s 1000th member, and we are delighted to welcome her to the Society. That our 1000th member is from outside europe is good evidence that eSPe is now truly an international society. elizabeth, who is from Porto alegre in Brazil, trained in paediatrics and medical genetics and achieved a Phd in endocrinology before focusing on children whose endocrine disease has a genetic cause. on a day-to-day basis, she deals with disease prevention and the counselling and treatment of children and families with congenital birth defects, rare diseases and special needs. She is part of the group that pioneered newborn screening for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (cah) in Brazil: the newborn Screening State Program of goiás (nSSP-goiás). her work is closely associated with that of other eminent researchers from the Universidade federal do rio grande do Sul and the Universidade de São Paulo, including Berenice Mendonça, regina elnecave and Tânia Bachega, amongst others. This group has published papers on the incidence of cah in góias, Brazil, and on the application of molecular biology to neonatal screening for cah. elizabeth feels privileged to be associated with this group, and is proud to have played her part in the inclusion of cah in the national Programme of newborn Screening of the Brazilian Ministry of health. elizabeth is also interested in studying growth deficiency disorders. recently, together with forge canada (finding of rare disease genes in canada), which investigates rare disease aetiology, she took part in a molecular study in children with floating-harbor syndrome, a rare autosomal recessive condition of extreme short stature. We met up with elizabeth in Milan – she was obviously thrilled to learn about the landmark membership. We asked her why she joined eSPe and how it felt to be a ‘special’ eSPe member. She replied, ‘i have been fascinated by eSPe meetings where there is so much scientific exchange with other researchers from all over the world. i really enjoy the emphasis on clinical endocrinology based upon sound scientific evidence.’ We wish elizabeth and all other new eSPe members the very best in their careers. We hope that their association with eSPe will enrich the lives of many children with endocrine disorders from around the world. aS The lUcKy 1000Th MeMBer of eSPe, elizaBeTh Won a year’S free MeMBerShiP and an online SUBScriPTion To HORMONE RESEARCH IN PAEDIATRICS. NEWS FROM MILAN ESPE Annual Business Meeting The eSPe annUal BUSineSS MeeTing took place during the 9th Joint Meeting of Paediatric endocrinology in Milan. at the meeting, Jan lebl was elected for a second term as chair of the eSPe education and Training committee, and gary Butler was elected for a second term as chair of the eSPe clinical Practice committee. it was agreed that eSPe 2018 will be held in athens, greece, under the Presidency of george chrousos. it was also decided to establish two new eSPe committees for communications and Science. The communications committee will be chaired by george chrousos, and ordinary members are yet to be appointed. Both the newsletter editorial Board and the Website editorial Board will feed into the overall communications committee. The Science committee chair and ordinary members also have yet to be appointed ESPE prizes and awards 2013 andrea Prader Prize - anneTTe grüTerS-KieSlich reSearch aWard - loUrdeS iBáñez oUTSTanding clinician aWard - Sergio BernaSconi inTernaTional aWard - ron roSenfeld The folloWing PrizeS were awarded during the 9th Joint Meeting in Milan. We congratulate all the recipients! Andrea Prader Prize • Annette Grüters-Kieslich (Berlin, Germany) Research Award • Lourdes Ibáñez (Barcelona, Spain) Outstanding Clinician Award • Sergio Bernasconi (Parma, Italy) International Award • Ron Rosenfeld (Portland, OR, USA) President's Poster Awards • Leo Dunkel (London, UK) for 'fgf21 causes gh resistance in human chondrocytes through activation of SOCS2 and inhibition of IGF-1 expression' (P1-d1-466) • Maria Garcia-Rudaz (Clayton, Australia) for 'excess of ovarian nerve growth factor causes a polycystic ovary-like syndrome in mice, which closely resembles both reproductive and metabolic aspects of the human syndrome' (P1-d1-531) • Masaki Takagi (Tokyo, Japan) for 'novel mutations in PAX6 cause congenital hypopituitarism with or without ocular malformation' (P1-d1-504) • Manuela Cerbone (Naples, Italy) for 'clinical and biochemical risk factors in children with untreated long-term idiopathic subclinical hypothyroidism' (P1-d1-592) • Heike Hoyer-Kuhn (Cologne, Germany) for 'Brittle bones caused by mutations in WNT1 - new gene, new therapeutic approach?' (P1-d1-282) Hormone Research in Paediatrics Prizes • Satu Pirilä (Helsinki, Finland) for 'Breastfeeding and determinants of adult body composition: a prospective study from birth to young adulthood' (original Paper) • Julia von Schnurbein (Ulm, Germany) for 'leptin substitution results in the induction of menstrual cycles in an adolescent with leptin deficiency and hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism' (novel insights from clinical Practice) Henning Andersen Prizes • Best abstract in basic science Nicolas de Roux (Paris, France) for ‘rabconnectin-3α is a synaptic protein that controls pubertal onset and reproduction’ • Best abstract in clinical science Jesús Argente (Madrid, Spain) for ‘new molecular mechanism for severe familial isolated growth hormone deficiency type 1 due to mutations in the RNPC3 gene encoding the minor spliceosome 65kda protein’ E
The dSd WorKing groUP meeting in Milan focused on information
and communication in the context of dSd.
christa flück gave a comprehensive overview of the biochemical
information necessary to reach a diagnosis in the assessment of a child
with dSd. genetic investigations were discussed by Ken Mcelreavey,
and faisal ahmed gave an outline for communication around the dSd
patient, based on experiences from the clinical setting in glasgow. Julia
Marie Kriegler gave her view as a parent on what the parents want, or
need, to hear. We heard several helpful suggestions for communication
with children and adolescents about their dSd from psychologist Tom
Mazur (Buffalo, ny, USa).
Updates on the active collaborative projects were delivered by
Jillian Bryce (the i-dSd registry; www.i-dsd.org) and Birgit Köhler (the
dSd-life study; www.dsd-life.eu). olaf hiort presented the work for a
future european research network (ern) and the coST (co-operation
in Science and Technology) action for dSd.
The eSPe dSd Working group is now in its seventh year. its aims
include bringing together basic scientists and clinical physicians
involved in this field to promote active research and collaboration,
to develop and maintain the registry as a resource for research, to
promote knowledge and education, and to set standards of holistic care
of patients with dSd.
The Board of the Working group comprises anna nordenström
(co-ordinator), Paul-Martin holterhus (Secretary), faisal ahmed, olaf
hiort, charmion quigley and christa flück. The Working group does
not have a membership list and its annual educational meetings at
eSPe are open to everybody, usually attracting about 500 people.
Anna Nordenström, co-ordinator, [email protected]
The 2013 Pag WorKing groUP SyMPoSiUM in Milan took place
with much enthusiasm and was attended by more than 800 delegates.
The symposium was dedicated to ‘hyperinsulinaemic androgen excess
(polycystic ovary syndrome, PcoS) in adolescents’ and was chaired by
reiko horikawa (Tokyo, Japan), charles Sultan (Montpellier, france),
Jean-Pierre Bourguignon (liège, Belgium) and Warren lee (Singapore).
francis de zegher (leuven, Belgium) presented data on early
development and prevention of PcoS. he summarised recent results
suggesting that PcoS is a disorder of adipose tissue hyperexpansion
that may originate in early life, develop across childhood and puberty,
and advance into end-stage disease (with ovulatory dysfunction and
androgen excess) by adolescence. The early prevention of PcoS should
become a focus of paediatric attention.
The current thinking regarding the genetics of PcoS was summarised
by Ken K ong (cambridge, UK). he gave data from a recently published
large genome wide association study (Shi et al. 2012 Nature Genetics 44
1020–1025). ethel codner (Santiago, chile) focused on hyperinsulinaemic
androgen excess in patients with type 1 diabetes and reviewed the
clinical data, physiopathology and treatment of abnormal androgen
levels in these patients. Preeti dabadghao (lucknow, india) discussed
PcoS in girls from india, concluding that indian girls with PcoS are
mostly lean, but have abdominal obesity. The abnormalities in glucose
metabolism and the prevalence of additional metabolic abnormalities do
not differ according to body mass index.
The treatment of PcoS in obese girls was covered by hala Tfayli
(Beirut, lebanon). Weight loss, oral contraceptives and/or insulin
sensitisation have all been used in these adolescents with inconclusive
results. lourdes ibáñez (Barcelona, Spain) discussed the treatment of
PcoS in non-obese adolescents and presented data on successful
outcomes with low-dose pioglitazone–flutamide–metformin as
compared with an oral contraceptive containing ethinyl oestradiol–
cyproterone acetate.
in 2014, the Pag Working group symposium is likely to focus on
new markers of ovarian function, premature ovarian failure, usefulness
of oestradiol and testosterone assessment in ovarian function, rare
gynaecological disorders (e.g. breast disorders, risk for bleeding) and
contraception – including public health perspectives. We feel that these
are interesting topics which have yet to be covered, and have many
aspects to discuss. you are cordially invited to attend!
you are also invited to suggest topics that you would like to see
covered in forthcoming symposia.
last, but not least, the Working group also considers that there is a
definite need for a consensus meeting on PcoS in adolescence, to fill
the gaps that still exist on the subject. The process of preparation will
soon be underway.
Bringing you recent highlights from the world of research
The eSPe SaBBaTical leave PrograMMe began 20 years ago, in close collaboration with lilly, to enable eSPe members to undertake a sabbatical to perform research in another institution. it has been supported by lilly ever since. The programme’s aim is to provide an opportunity for scientific renewal, new research development and establishment of collaborative links. each year a total of €50 000 is available, and two or three sabbatical research positions can be funded (a maximum of €25 000 per recipient). The sabbatical leave will typically extend for between 3 and 12 months. The name ‘sabbatical’ may sound as though it is associated with professors with a long-standing academic career, but in fact the programme is open to any eSPe member who wishes to boost his/her career by spending a period in another department. Previous recipients of a stipend from the programme have described the big impact their sabbatical has had on the rest of their career, as you can see from the reports posted on the eSPe website (www.eurospe.org/awards/awards_sabbatical.html), excerpts from some of which are also shown here. The deadline for applications is set in March of each year, so that applicants receive a response in time to start a sabbatical at the beginning of the next academic year. Unfortunately, in 2013 we had to postpone the deadline to 15 november, because the administrative aspects of securing funding took more time. however, we anticipate that the 2014 deadline will be 15 March. application and other information can be found at www.eurospe.org/awards/awards_sabbatical.html. if you have additional questions, please contact me ([email protected]). applicants must be eSPe members with an active research commitment in paediatric endocrinology. Preference will be given to those who have not taken sabbatical leave within the past 5 years. on return, the applicant should not be within 3 years of retirement. While the committee appreciates the constraints which often prevent lengthy stays away from base, it will not be permissible to undertake a sabbatical in one’s own institution. The host institution should be of known excellence in the field of research selected by the candidate. it should deliver a statement indicating acceptance of the candidate, and confirm that appropriate facilities will be made available to undertake the research. it is expected that collaborative work will continue after the sabbatical leave is completed. The grant is meant to serve as a financial contribution towards the cost of travel, housing, academic and other items related to the sabbatical leave. i look forward to receiving your applications. Jan-Maarten Wit, chair, Sabbatical leave committee Comments from previous recipients ‘My host’s lab provided me with the necessary infrastructure, equipment and experienced personnel to help me achieve my objective ... I was able to participate in a stimulating ambience of scientific discussion. I believe we have established a long-standing and fruitful collaboration between our teams.’ ‘The new academic environment was very stimulating ... It was an excellent learning experience to meet a large number of new patients with a variety of underlying conditions and see how much an experienced group of specialists with varying backgrounds can accomplish by combining their skills and interests ... I am grateful to ESPE for this wonderful opportunity at this stage of my career to learn new clinical and research skills, to expand my collaborative network and to get new and fresh ideas for research. I am confident that the year will leave a permanent positive mark on my career.’ ‘I had a great chance to increase my experience in different molecular techniques in transgenic animals and cell culture studies with support of the ESPE Sabbatical Leave Programme. This collaboration is very important for me because it showed me the yield of the combination of clinical knowledge with experimental animal models and molecular biology studies.’
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