ECE2005 UPDATE
Almost 1000 abstracts were submitted for the Gothenburg congress, of which 72 will be presented as oral communications and 828 as abstracts. 21 travel grants have been awarded and there are six EFES Young Investigator Awards.

We look forward to seeing you in Gothenburg - if you have not already registered, we suggest you do so without delay. The congress web site is at http://www.ece2005 .com/

EFES General Council meeting
The General Council meeting will take place during the ECE on 5th September. All member societies have been invited to submit nominations for Vice-President and Executive Committee members. Details of nominees will be circulated to all societies shortly.

European Society of Endocrinology
Consultation documents were sent out in April to invite views about the proposed new statutes. The deadline for replies was 23rd May. Once the Executive Committee have reviewed the feedback and made any necessary changes, the final statutes will be circulated and will then be voted on at the General Council meeting in September. The documents can be viewed at

EJE takes off with HighWire
EJE has been on HighWire since January 2005 and latest figures show that the numbers of 'hits', which was already substantial under the old system, has increased by 50%, meaning that EJE is substantially used by endocrinologists all around the world. See http://www.ej e -online.org/

EU’s new Research Framework Programme (FP7) 2007-2013
On 6 April the European Commission adopted a proposal for a new EU programme for Research. Information can be found at: http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressRele asesAction.do?reference=MEMO/05/114&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLa nguage=en

Cancer risk and the environment
New EU network for environmental cancer research
A Launch event for the new European research Network of Excellence on environmental cancer (ECNIS) and workshop on EU-funded research on environmental cancer risks and regulation, took place in Warsaw, Poland between 23rd - 26th May. For more information go to

http://europa.eu.int/comm/researc h/press/2005/pr1205en.cfm

EU Bookshop Open for Business
The EU’s Publications Office recently unveiled a new on-line repository of publications. With a range of search and order options, the new EU Bookshop offers a faster, more streamlined service to an ever-widening readership.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/researc h/headlines/news/article_05_05_13_en.html

Chemical pollutants in food focus of EU-backed network
A network of scientists will meet in Sweden on 8th July to discuss endocrine disrupting chemicals. Organised by the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) CASCADE network, the event aims to provide information on, and discuss, the Scandinavian and EU standpoints and strategies on European integrated research, and policies concerning environmental pollutants in food.

http://www.foodnavigator.com/news/ng.asp?id=60246

Is the regulation of endocrine disrupters within REACH?
The Proposed European Regulation concerning the Regulation, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Endocrine Chemicals (REACH), provides for substances with properties of very high concern about their effects on health or the environment to be subject to an authorisation process. Ragnor Pedersen and Andreas Kortenkamp look into the fact that EDCs, amongst other substances with properties considered to be of equivalent concern, are not specified in the proposed regulation, and that there are no clearly defined criteria to objectively identify with endocrine disrupting properties.

http://www.credocluster.info/docs/newsletter/ credonews4.pdf

EU puts squeeze on animal testing
The EU's scientists are facing a challenge to think up ways of reducing the animal testing element in the biggest piece of legislation to pass through Brussels in a decade.

REACH (registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals) proposes to register, label and authorise the 30,000 chemicals used by industry in the production of goods today, from children's clothing to mobile phones, television sets to wellington boots.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/ 2005/05/16/animal_testing/

NEW! WEBSITE FOR EJE: www.eje-online.org/

Octreotide in insulinoma patients: efficacy on hypoglycaemia, relationships with Octreoscan scintigraphy and immunostaining with anti-sst2A and anti-sst5 antibodies

D Vezzosi, A Bennet, P Rochaix, F Courbon, J Selves, B Pradere, L Buscail, C Susini and P Caron

European Journal of Endocrinology, 152 (5) pp 757-767

People with insulinomas often experience severe hypoglycaemia and until the tumours can be surgically removed, or if surgery is not possible, patients may be treated with somatostatin analogues to normalise their blood glucose levels. Vezzosi and co-workers report here on the efficacy of octreotide (a synthetic somatostatin analogue) treatment on hypoglycaemia in patients with insulinoma, and how patients’ responsiveness to treatment may be assessed.

The authors studied the efficacy of octreotide on patients using a short octreotide test and/or octreotide treatment. All patients received Octreotide scintigraphy (a radiolabelled somatostatin analogue) to visualise somatostsin receptors on the insulinomas. Vezzosi and co-workers report that a positive response to the short octreotide test was most predictive of the efficacy of octreotide treatment and that 57% of the patients were responsive to octreotide treatment, in accordance with other published work. Octreotide proved to be more successful in treating patients with sst2A-positive- than in sst2A negative benign insulinomas. Disappointingly, Octreoscan scintigraphy only detected 24% of insulinomas, but was a useful resource for detecting ectopic insulinoma.

LATEST EJE IMPACT FACTOR 2.941
NEW! WEBSITE FOR EJE: www.eje-online.org/

Royal College of Physicians
SAMUEL LEONARD SIMPSON FELLOWSHIPS IN ENDOCRINOLOGY

Applications are invited for Samuel Leonard Simpson Fellowships in Endocrinology.  Their purpose is to enable endocrinologists to learn new techniques and acquire new experiences, ideas and stimulation by travel and exchange of views; in doing so they will honour the name of Dr Samuel Leonard Simpson, a pioneer of British endocrinology.

Applications will be considered from suitably qualified people in the UK wishing to make visits abroad or from those abroad wishing to visit the UK.  Up to £20,000 is available for 2005, which may be awarded to one or more candidates.

There will be an opportunity for trainees engaged in a flexible training programme to continue their research on a similar basis.

Closing date for applications is 1 September 2005
Application forms are available online at:
http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/college/conf_fellowships.htm#fellowships or from:
Conference Department, Royal College of Physicians,
11 St Andrews Place, Regent's Park, London NW1 4LE
Tel: 020 7935 1174 Ext. 436   Fax: 020 7224 0719
Email: conferences@rcplondon.ac.uk

ESF/EMBO call for symposia proposals for 2006 and 2007
A Call for Proposals is now open for up to five Symposia, co-sponsored by ESF and EMBO, which will take place in each of calendar years 2006 and 2007. The Call is addressed to leading European scientists for Symposia to take place in Europe. Topics should be at the forefront of scientific research and should be interdisciplinary, focusing on Biology at the interface with other disciplines. The deadline for 2006 proposals was 10 May 2005. For 2007 proposals the deadline is 1 October 2005. See: http://www.esf.org/esf_genericpage.php?section=10&language=0&genericpage=2231

Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER) are inviting submissions for an opinion with regards to "The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) Report on a non-animal testing approach for endocrine disrupting chemicals". Post or email submissions to:

Gigliola Fontanesi
Scientific Secretary to the Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks
European Commission - Health & Consumer Protection Directorate General Directorate C
Unit C7: Risk Assessment
Office: G1--01/53,
B-1140 Brussels
Email: Sanco-Sc 8 -Secreta r iat @ cec.eu.int

Euroscience Open Forum 2006 – call for proposals
ESOF2006 is the second pan-European General Science Meeting to be held in Munich from July 15th-19th, 2006. ESOF seeks to showcase European achievements right across the scientific spectrum and serves as an open forum for debates on science-related issues. ESOF are now seeking proposals for this conference; the deadline is 15 June 2006, for more information see:

http://www.esof2006. org/news_detail.php4?ID=19

Fourth IOF-SERVIER Young Investigator Research Award
The IOF-SERVIER Research Award is a grant of 40,000 Euros awarded every 2 years to a project within the field of osteoporosis. The award is aimed at encouraging young scientists and therefore is limited to applicants up to 40 years of age.

The Award is officially granted during the IOF World Congress on Osteoporosis to which the winner is invited.

Deadline for submission of completed applications: 1 December 2005
http://www.servier.com/pro/osteopor ose/general/bourseiof_2.asp

The Fogarty “International Research Collaboration- Basic Biomedical” Sciences Research Award (FIRCA-BB) facilitates collaborative basic biomedical research between scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and investigators in developing countries.
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-05-072.html

Preclinical Study of Efficacy in Animal Models of Diabetic Complications
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-DK-05-008.html

Beta Cell Regeneration for Diabetes Therapy
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-DK-05-007.html

Novartis Wins EU Approval to Acquire German Hexal
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Swiss Novartis AG won conditional approval from the European Commission on Friday to buy unlisted German firm Hexal and its U.S. sister company Eon Labs, creating the largest European producer of generic drugs.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8627302

Protelos® (S12911, strontium ranelate), significantly reduces the risk of hip fractures in osteoporotic postmenopausal women.
http://inewswire.com, 05/05/05
The TRreatment Of Peripheral OSteoporosis ( TROPOS ) study, a large international randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trialpublished on-line in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, found that Protelos® reduced the risk of hip fractures, the most debilitating form of fracture, by 36 per cent ( P=0.046 ) in postmenopausal osteoporotic women over a three-year period.

http://i-newswire.com/pr18668.html