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High Blood Pressure Research Council of Australia |
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HBPRCA Email Newsletter
June 2008
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Welcome to the mid year
e-news. Many of you will be travelling to Berlin next week for the ISH
meeting, which promised to be a great venue and meeting. In view of the
interest in Germany that this event brings, Markus Schlaich has written a
wonderful feature article on cardiovascular research in Germany, which I am
sure you will find of great interest. Thanks Markus! The final conference program for Hypertension 2008 is now available
online and for download at www.hypertension2008.com. ISH 2008 –
Australian Dinner
The Eiffel
Restaurant has been booked for Tuesday 17 June 2008 at 7.30pm. Cost to attend is AUD
85 per person and includes a three-course meal and drinks. Partners are
welcome. If you would like to
attend, you can register by contacting meetings first by Tuesday 10
June 2008. Late bookings will not
be accepted. From our own meeting
last year we are pleased to announce that the abstracts (only those authors
who agreed to have them published) will appear in the July issue of Hypertension
(Volume 52, Number 1, July 2008). December this year will be quite busy with Fred Mendelsohn's Festschrift on the 1st and 2nd
December HBPRCA Workshop on the 3rd December HBPRCA Annual Scientific Meeting on the 4th and 5th
December the 2nd Cardiovascular Control Conference in India
on the 9th and 12th December 2008 (Details for each of these are below) See you in Berlin.
Associate Professor
Geoffrey A Head |
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE from Stephen Harrap This email comes in advance of the Berlin ISH/ESH
meeting at which there will be a very healthy presence indeed. The Berlin
meeting has received just over 2500 abstracts (close to Melbourne ISH 1994)
and has about 7000 people pre-registered at this stage. The numbers might
reach 10,000.
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MEETING NEWS from Kate Denton I hope to see many of you at the
up coming Berlin ISH meeting and certainly at the ISH Australian Dinner. It
is coming up too fast! Plans are well underway for the
2008 HBPRCA Annual Scientific Meeting to be held in Melbourne 3-5 December
this year, at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. This year is our 30th birthday celebration. Take a look below
at the special events planed for our celebration! Get your details in for both the HBPRCA family tree and student
introduction, and get your entries in for the competitions. For example – Which fellow member was
foolish enough to accept accommodation from a tout and end up locked and
barred in an office with no windows overnight? As previously announced the special lecturer’s are: RD Wright Lecturer –
Professor Carlos Ferrario (MD FAHA, FASA, FACC) from Wakefield University in
the USA. His research spans basic and clinical investigations, focusing
on hypertensive vascular disease with a particular interest in the vascular
actions of angiotensin peptides and the recently discovered ACE2. Austin Doyle
lecturer is expatriate, Associate Professor David Sinclair,
Harvard Medical School. David did his PhD with Prof Dawes in Sydney. His research
focuses on ways to prevent and treat the major diseases of society by
manipulating genes that control how fast we age. Colin Johnston
lecturer is Assoc
Prof Bruce Neal, has been at the forefront of moving away from basing
treatment decisions purely on the level of blood pressure per se to basing
them on total cardiovascular risk. This has extended the indications
for treatment to include blood pressure lowering in individuals with high
cardiovascular risk, but with blood pressure in the “normal range”. The program for the Human and Animal Devices Workshop Clinical and Basic Research to be
held on the Wednesday is in progress- preliminary plans are outline below. I hope to see many of you at the up coming Berlin
ISH meeting and certainly at the ISH Australian Dinner. Finally, keep a look
out for the call for Abstracts! |
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WORKSHOP NEWS from Markus Schlaich, Kate Denton, Arduino Mangoni and Geoff
Head Human and Animal
Devices Workshop: Clinical and Basic Research The preparations for the human and animal devices
workshop to be held as a full day workshop on December 3, 2008 are well under
way. The morning sessions will focus on human devices and
we are planning to cover various aspects related to blood pressure measurement
and assessment of cardiovascular function both in a research and a more
clinical environment. Devices we plan to cover include the EndoPat System, a
novel device to non-invasively assess “endothelial function” and augmentation
index, the BaroCor System to assess baroreflex sensitivity, the Finometer
Pro, a device to measure beat-to-beat blood pressure and others. The
principal idea is to give workshop participants an unbiased view of the pro’s
and con’s of each device and their performance in a research and clinical
setting. The afternoon sessions will focus on animal research
with particular attention to the use and application of telemetry devices.
These sessions will be sponsored by data Sciences International. We would be very interested
to hear from potential workshop participants whether they would like to have
other devices covered in the workshop. Please forward your ideas to: the
secretariat, hbprca@meetingsfirst.com.au. |
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HBPRCA 30TH BIRTHDAY
CELEBRATIONS Student
introductions Getting to know and encouraging
the next generation of leaders in BP research is a major goal of the Council.
Therefore, we thought that it would be a good idea to “introduce” our
students at this year’s annual dinner. We would like to do this in the form
of a power point presentation that will loop for most of the night. We are
requesting that students provide the secretariat with their photo and some
salient points about themselves (no more than 50 words). This will help put
names and interests to student faces and facilitate convivial conversations. Our Family Tree
Competitions We would like to open the
following four competitions – 2 written and 2 photographic:
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MEMBERSHIP NEWS from Doug McKitrick Membership information for 2008
will be finalised shortly and it is clear that membership in the HBPRCA has
continued to grow, and it is a great time to be part of a vibrant, changing
and growing scientific society. The helpful reminders for those of you who
haven’t renewed your subscription will soon cease. Of course your ability to
renew will not cease and may still be done by mail, fax or internet. If you
have internet access go to the HBPRCA website and follow the
link for access to the secure payment site, or to download a form for return
by fax or post. If you don’t have internet access, can’t remember if you have
paid, or just need a bit of help, contact the Secretariat by phone, fax or
post (details below). Remember to encourage the participation of your
graduate students, and provide them with the career-building opportunity to
take advantage of free HBPRCA membership. |
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JUNE FEATURE ARTICLE
BY MARKUS SCHLAICH Clinical Cardiovascular Research in
Germany With the upcoming joint meeting of the European
and International Societies of Hypertension (ESH/ISH) in Berlin, Germany from
June 14-19, 2008, we thought it may be a good idea to a provide a brief
overview of the “hypertension scene” in Germany and highlight some of the
country’s most respected cardiovascular research centres and their work. You
may find some interesting aspects relevant to your own work and we would be
thrilled if this brief article could help to facilitate collaborations
between Australian and German Researchers. The “Deutsche Hochdruckliga
(DHL)” The “Deutsche Hochdruckliga” could be considered as the
German counterpart of the High Blood Pressure Research Council of Australia.
The German Hypertension League – German Hypertension Society has been founded
in 1974 as a scientific medical society by the renowned pharmacologist Franz
Gross. The society nowadays has to meet the needs of scientists, clinicians
as well as hypertensive patients by having memberships for professionals,
patients and a board of trustees. Currently, the society represents a total
of 6.000 physicians/scientists and 3.100 patients.
The aim of the society is to improve the medical care
given to some 30 million hypertensive patients in Germany. Several sections and
committees are devoted to this goal. National treatment guidelines are
updated regularly in close cooperation with international societies such as
the ISH and ESH. Treatment recommendations for practicing doctors are
published in the 20th edition.
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FRED MENDELSOHN'S
FESTSCHRIFT from Siew Yeen Chai, Patrick Sexton and Andrew Allen 1st and 2nd of
December, 2008
The scientific program will
encompass the fields that have attracted Fred’s interest and endeavour and
will include Neuroscience and neurological diseases, Cardiovascular regulation
in health and disease, Endocrinology and G-protein-coupled receptors. The
program of basic and clinical science presentations promises to be an
informative and current discussion of the research areas supported by Fred. The meeting will be held in the
lecture theatre of the Howard Florey Institute on the 1st and 2nd
of December, 2008. This is immediately prior to the scientific meeting of the
Australian High Blood Pressure Research Council. A dinner will be held on the evening of the 1st of
December. Further information regarding
registration and details of the scientific program is available at the
following web address http://fredschrift.florey.edu.au.
Expressions of interest in attending the conference can be emailed to fredschrift@florey.edu.au.
All are welcome to attend. |
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2nd
CARDIOVASCULAR CONTROL CONFERENCE 9 – 12
December 2008, India
Scientific theme: Neural, hormonal
and renal interactions in cardiovascular control. If you are interested in
attending you can register and book rooms at the conference hotel (Temple Bay
Resort) on the conference website http://cccindia08.florey.edu.au We have received funding support
from Data Sciences International and Telemetry Systems to provide travel
stipends of $1000 to young investigators who submit abstracts for the
meeting. We will shortly be sending out an email asking for applications.
Please contact me if you are interested and are not on the conference email
list. For any further information
contact Clive May clive.may@florey.edu.au |
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AUSTRALIAN BUDGET
2008-2009: MEDICAL RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS from ASMR $326.2 million over four
years to fund new Future Fellowships to attract and retain Australia's
mid-career researchers. This will help support Australia's research and
innovation capacity and the development of new knowledge, products and
services in areas of national importance. The Future Fellowships program will
offer four-year fellowships valued at up to $140,000 a year to 1,000 of
Australia's top researchers in the middle of their career. In addition, each
researcher's institution will receive up to $50,000 per annum to support the
purchase of related infrastructure and equipment for their research project. The Government will provide
$209.0 million over four years to double the number of postgraduate
scholarships available to higher degree (PhD and Masters) research students
from 4,800 to 9,600 by 2012. This will result in nearly 25 per cent of
commencing higher degree research students having access to income support. The Government will provide
$500.0 million in 2007-08 to Australian universities as a contribution
towards capital investment in five priority areas including IT communications
in research and teaching, laboratories, libraries and places to study,
teaching spaces, and critical student amenities. The measure will begin to
address past capital under investment in these priority areas. Funding will
be distributed among universities through grants taking into account each
university's share of funds under the existing Institutional Grant Scheme and
its share of total domestic students. The Government will
reallocate funding of $304.0 million from the Higher Education Endowment Fund
in 2008-09 for disbursement from the new Education Investment Fund in
2009-10, bringing total funding in that year to $608.0 million. The Higher
Education Endowment Fund will be closed and its
assets subsumed in the Education Investment Fund. The funding has been
reprofiled in order that allocations can be directed following the completion
of the Higher Education Review. The Education Investment Fund will fund
capital expenditure in Australia's higher education institutions. $625.8 million
will be provided to encourage more students to study maths and science and
take up related occupations. The Government will provide $625.8 million to
encourage more students to study maths and science and pursue related
careers. From 1 January 2009, HECS for commencing maths and science students
will be reduced from $7,260 to $4,077 (the national priority rate). This
reflects the national importance of maths and science and aims to encourage
more students to study these disciplines. New maths and science graduates
will also be eligible for a 50 per cent reduction in their HECS repayments if
they pursue a career in the field, including teaching. This will help ensure
that more graduates stay in maths and science professions following
graduation. Students graduating from the second semester 2008 will be
eligible for the reduction. The Government
will provide $238.6 million over four years from 2008-09 for the Scholarships
for a Competitive Future program, to increase the number of higher education
graduates in areas of skills shortages. The measure will double the number of
students receiving Commonwealth Scholarships from 44,000 to 88,000 by 2012.
Further, two new scholarship categories will be created: o
The National Priority Scholarship will be available for students
enrolled in undergraduate degrees in identified priority areas such as
nursing, teaching, science and engineering; and o
The National Accommodation Scholarship will be made available
for students who have to relocate interstate to study specialist courses not
available in their home state. $37.8 million over five years to
establish the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative. Funding
for this measure will be provided from the redirection of funds from the
Research Quality Framework. The ERA will assess research quality using a
combination of metrics and expert review by committees comprising
experienced, internationally-recognised experts. It will enable Australia's
academic achievements to be more readily measured against peers around the
world. The Health and Hospitals Fund will
finance the renewal and refurbishment of the nation's hospitals and health
facilities and fund major medical research projects with $10 billion. Government research funding
·
Largely due to the 3.24% efficiency dividend |
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Athina Patti at Meetings First
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HBPRCA would like to acknowledge the support of the
following companies: CORPORATE MEMBERS
CORPORATE SPONSORS
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MEETINGS IN 2008 |
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ISH 2008 – The 22nd Scientific Meeting of the
International Society of Hypertension 14 – 19 June 2008 Click here for meeting website |
13th International SHR Symposium 20 - 22 June 2008 Prague, Czech Republic |
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Heart and Mind Psychogenic Cardiovascular
Disease Conference 3 – 5 September 2008 Prato, Tuscany Click here for meeting website |
2nd International Symposium on Pheochromocytoma 17 – 20 September 2008 Click here for meeting website |
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Annual Scientific Meeting of the British
Hypertension Society Click here for meeting website |
Japanese Society of Hypertension Annual Scientific
Meeting, celebrating it's 30th anniversary ***HBPRCA members receive discounted
registration fees*** 9 - 11 October 2008 Click here for meeting website |
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4th AH & MR Congress
16 - 21 November
2008 |
HBPRCA 2008 Annual Scientific Meeting 3 – 5 December 2008 Melbourne Exhibition Centre Click here for
meeting website. |
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