ECE2005 UPDATE
Approximately 1300 have already registered for the Gothenburg congress and 1100 abstracts have been submitted. 21 travel grants have been awarded and there are six EFES Young Investigator Awards.

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.eje-online.org/

If you are a member of any of the European national endocrine societies, you should receive a free copy of EFES News (http://www.euro-endo.org/news.htm) each spring and autumn. If you are not receiving this and would like to, please send your full name and address to: jo.thurston@endocrinology.org

Brussels feels pressure on gender-bending chemical ban
Over 100 experts on endocrine disrupters have presented Brussels with a declaration calling for further regulation of a whole raft of gender-bending chemicals.

The scientists from the Cluster of Research into Endocrine Disruption in Europe (Credo) met in Prague last month to discuss their growing concerns about the chemicals, their impact on the environment and on humanity itself.

EU supports testing for children's drugs
BMJ news reports that European health ministers are giving strong backing to moves to encourage pharmaceutical companies to research and develop medicines specifically for children. The initiative is being supported by the British government, which has made securing an agreement on the necessary legislation one of the priorities of its six month presidency of the European Union, which begins on 1 July.

http://www.druginfozone.nhs.uk/Record%20Viewing/vR.aspx?id=550911

Next EU funding round to release EUR 658 million for health and food research
With the next calls for proposals for research activities funds of the European Union for the areas of life sciences, genomics, biotechnology, food quality and food safety amount to EUR 658 million. These large calls within the EU's Sixth Research Framework Programme (FP6, 2002-2006) are the last major research funding round before the next Framework Programme (FP7), which is to be adopted in 2006. At the occasion of its participation at the international BIO 2005 International Convention (19 to 22 June, Philadelphia, USA) the European Commission gives an outlook on the forthcoming areas of research funding.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/press/2005/pr2006en.cfm

http://www.ukro.ac.uk/public/rtd_insight/ei0506.doc

New EU health data published
The first set of EU-wide health data from the European Community Health Indicators (ECHI) project has been published on the Commission's Public Health website. The aim of ECHI is to produce better and more comparable data that will enable policy makers to track developments in the health status of EU populations. The ECHI indicators aim to cover the 25 MS, the EU Candidate Countries (Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey), the West Balkan Countries, the USA, Canada and Japan and the data they contain is available in English, French, German and Spanish. The ECHI pages on the Public Health website will be developed over the coming months and updated on a regular basis.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph_information/dissemination/echi/echi_en.htm

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

Glucocorticoids do not influence the effect of radioidine therapy in Graves' disease
BE Jensen, SJ Bonnema and L Hegedus

For a number of years patients with Graves’ disease have been treated with radioiodine either as the initial treatment or following a course of anti-thyroid drugs (ARD). Some data indicates that in those patients receiving radioiodine therapy, 15-33% may develop eye disease, or pre-existing opthalmopathy may worsen. This may be the result of thyroid antigens being released, which triggers an autoimmune response. As some thyoid antigens are shared by the orbital tissues an inflammatory reaction may result. Glucorticoids have been shown to significantly reduce this risk and it is now recommended that patients with Graves’ disease or at risk of developing this complication should be treated with glucorticoids during radioidine therapy. There is, however, further evidence indicating that glucorticoids may protect against DNA damage, and therefore lessen the effect of the radioiodine therapy on the thyroid.

In the present study, Jensen and co-workers retrospectively evaluated whether glucocorticoids, when given during radiodine therapy, did indeed affect the final thyroid function. This was the first large scale study to investigate the effect on outcome of glucocorticoids, and included more than 200 patients between the ages of 21 and 82 years. Nearly half of those were treated with prednisolone for 30 days, starting 2 days prior to the radioiodine therapy. The authors found that after one year, thyroid function was not affected by prednisolone therapy and that although the overall cure rate was suboptimal, this could be attributed to the dose of radioidodine administered. Only 7% of the patients experienced worsening of their ophlamopathy, which was comparable to those in the non-steroid group.

Jensen and co-workers conclude that treatment with glucocorticoids does not inadvertently affect the final thyroid function in patients receiving radioidine therapy. They suggest that factors such as age, thyroid gland size and serum TSH levels are more significant when predicting the failure of treatment.

EJE 153-1 15-21

Call for Tender - Proficiency Testing Program for WADA-Accredited Anti-Doping Laboratories
This is an open call to all interested eligible entities to submit a tender proposal to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). This call for Tender is to provide a proficiency testing (PT) scheme to the WADA-accredited anti-doping laboratories. The purpose of the WADA Proficiency Testing scheme is to ensure ongoing monitoring of the laboratory performance and their compliance with the International Standard for Laboratories. The PT scheme involves preparation of biological samples and their worldwide distribution to the global anti-doping laboratory network.

The due date for the proposals to be submitted is Friday, 15 July 2005.

For further information go to: http://www.wada-ama.org/en/newsarticle.ch2?articleId=3115142

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

Call for proposals for Marie Curie Training Networks

Budget : € 220 million
Closing Date : 28 September 2005 at 17.00 (Brussels local time)
OJ Reference : OJ C147 of 17.06.2005
Specific programme : Structuring the European Research Area
Activity areas: Human resources and mobility

To submit a proposal, and for further information, go to:

http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6/call_details.cfm?CALL_ID=210

ESF-EMBO Symposia 
Second call for proposals
The European Science Foundation (ESF) is developing a new high-level Conference Scheme in partnership with national and international organisations. The new Scheme will be known as ESF Research Conferences. Topics will be at the forefront of scientific research and interdisciplinary when appropriate. The Scheme will provide the opportunity for the world’s leading scientists and other participants, including young researchers, to meet informally for discussions at the highest level on the most recent developments in their fields of research. Furthermore, it will act as a catalyst for creating new synergistic contacts throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

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-Sc8-Secretar 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

Current NIH grants

Exploratory Grant Program in Diabetes Endocrinology and Metabolism Details
http://www.rdinfo.org.uk/queries/ListGrantDetails.asp?GrantID=7214

Secondary Analyses in Obesity, Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases Details
http://www.rdinfo.org.uk/queries/ListGrantDetails.asp?GrantID=7966

Proteomics: Diabetes, Obesity, and Endocrine, Digestive, Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases Details
http://www.rdinfo.org.uk/queries/ListGrantDetails.asp?GrantID=6841

Translational Research for the Prevention and Control Of Diabetes
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-DK-05-011.html

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