ESA News

ESA Newsletter: April 2002

Annual Scientific Meeting 22–25 September 2002

The Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) will be one of our best yet, again held in conjunction with the Society for Reproductive Biology (SRB). The ASM will be held 22–25 Sept 2002 at the Adelaide Convention Centre which has excellent AV and technical facilities, plenty of space for posters, trade and functions, and provides a quality service to make travelling more enjoyable. Attractive residential rates for delegates have been negotiated, and these can be extended for those looking to sample South Australia’s features before or after the event.

The ASM will boast an impressive and broad selection of plenary speakers. Topics will include clinical implications of cortisol metabolism, the discovery of ghrelin, structure of growth factor receptors, and PPARs. Some of the plenary lecturers will also participate in the Clinical Weekend. More details are provided in the Registration flyer.

New for 2002

1. Poster sessions will be unopposed, so your poster will receive maximum exposure at the meeting.
2. Sessions on male and female reproduction will be held jointly with SRB. Oral presenters will be selected by representatives of both POCs. This will allow you to present your work to both societies.
3. A ‘Late-Breaking Science’ session will be held jointly with SRB on Wednesday afternoon. This is a chance to present your up-to-the- minute exciting work that is not presented elsewhere in the meeting. Abstracts for this session will be accepted until Thursday September 12. You will be notified as to whether your abstract is accepted by Thursday September 19. Submit your abstract directly to A/Prof Leon Bach (l.bach@unimelb.edu.au) with a covering note explaining why your abstract is suitable for presentation in this session. Presentations are limited to 7 minutes.
4. There are new instructions for abstract submission this year. Please read them carefully.
   

ESA Plenary Lecturers for 2002

• The Harrison Lecturer is Dr George Chrousos, National Institutes of Health, USA.
• The Taft Lecturer is Prof Paul Stewart, University of Birmingham, UK.
• The Japan-Australia Lecturer is Prof Masayasu Kojima, Kurume University, Japan.
• Dr Colin Ward, CSIRO, Melbourne. Dr Bart Staels (ADS plenary speaker), INSERM, France.
• The SRB Founders Lecturer will be Prof Alan Trounson, Melbourne.
  

Symposia will be held on:

• Fetal programming of adult disease.
• Thyroid update.
• Growth factors and cytokines (held jointly with ADS).
• Hormones and reproduction (held jointly with SRB).
• Nuclear receptors and signaling (held jointly with ADS).
• Neuroendocrinology of stress (held with the Neuroendocrinology Interest Group on Wednesday afternoon).
  

Joint Meetings and Symposia

• ESA Clinical Weekend
• ADS Meeting
• ENSA Symposium

Specifically for Clinicians

Oral and poster sessions will be devoted specifically to clinical endocrinology. Clinical members are invited to submit cases for the Clinical Case Review Session (a very successful session in the past) as well as abstracts for the scientific sessions. Please contact the Chairman, POC, A/Prof Leon Bach for further information, email: l.bach@unimelb.edu.au.

Orals and Posters

Both types of presentations will be used this year. Presenters will be notified as to the type of presentation allocated when they receive their acceptance of abstract. Instructions for each format will be provided at that time.

Call for Abstracts

The abstract deadline is MONDAY MAY 13 2002. This year, there will be NO hardcopy submissions. Abstracts can be submitted by email only. (See below for details). As well as the instructions below, the meeting homepage has details for abstract submission.

Abstracts should be e-mailed as an attachment to: ESA-SRB@ asnevents.net.au. Late abstracts will not be accepted.

A subcommittee of the Endocrine Society of Australia will independently review all abstracts. Scientific abstracts should include brief aim, methods, results, discussion and conclusions. There should be sufficient information for referees to evaluate the material as sufficiently sound.

Clinical reports are especially welcome. They can be of great value to the clinician and scientist if presented well. More time will be allocated to this session as it has been so well attended at recent meetings. Please avoid abbreviations for clinical tests, diseases, etc. Above all make sure that you actually say what has been discovered or learnt from the cases. These reports will also be refereed.

Travel grants

Applications are called for travel grants to the ASM 2002. These grants are intended to assist junior members of the society to attend the ASM, and generally amount to an Apex Airfare from the applicant’s city. An application form outlining the process of application and selection is included in the ESA newsletter, and may also be found at the ESA website. Five copies of the applications must reach Dr Ben Canny, Honorary Secretary, Endocrine Society of Australia, 145 Macquarie Street, Sydney NSW 2000, by mail (email applications will not be accepted) by 5:00 pm Monday 13th May 2002.

2002 Novartis Junior Scientist Award

The Novartis Junior Scientist Award is given for the best presentation at the ASM by an advanced trainee or a person enrolled for a higher degree (PhD, MD, FRACP). Nominees must be members of the Endocrine Society of Australia. Applicants will be judged initially on the basis of their abstracts and a short list of applicants will be chosen to present in a special session. Applicants will be informed of the session in which they are to present when acceptances of abstracts are sent out.

In addition to submitting their abstract to the above address (ESASRB@asnevents.net.au), applicants should email their abstract, a brief CV and a supporting letter from their supervisor as attachments to A/Prof Leon Bach, Chair, POC at l.bach@unimelb.edu.au. Please type ‘Novartis award application’ in the subject line. Additionally, a hard-copy declaration that the work is the applicant’s own must be signed by both the applicant and supervisor and sent to A/Prof Leon Bach, University of Melbourne, Department of Medicine (Austin Repat Med Centre), Austin Campus, Studley Rd, Heidelberg, Vic, 3084. Applications must be received by the abstract deadline (MONDAY MAY 13 2002).

Submission of Abstracts

INSTRUCTION TO AUTHORS

1. Members or introduced speakers may present only one paper, although there is no restriction on co-authorship.
2. Only original scientific information relevant to some aspect of endocrinology is acceptable. As far as possible, this should not have been published or presented at another major meeting. If previously presented, the author(s) must indicate where and when. This instruction does not apply to clinical cases for the Case Presentation Session.
3. The abstract, without subheadings, should be in the following form:
   1. Brief statement of aims.
   2. Appropriate identification of methods.
   3. Results, which should occupy the body of the abstract and be presented in sufficient detail to justify the conclusions. Absolute values and statistics should be included where appropriate.
   4. Brief conclusion.
4. References can be cited by number in the text and listed at the end of the abstract in the following form: Authors, year, journal, volume number, page numbers.
5. Abbreviations should be those used in scientific journals. When not in general use they should be defined when first used in the text. Abbreviations are not acceptable in the title. Generic names of drugs should be used and followed by a reference number to detail the proprietary equivalent and origin.
6. Incorrectly typed abstracts will be retyped and a fee charged to the presenting author. No revisions other than the correction of layout or typographical errors will be allowed after the submission date.
7. Clinical cases suitable for the case review session must include information to describe the specific features of the case to be reviewed. Please specify that your abstract is a clinical case review.

ABSTRACT PREPARATION

Please read the following instructions carefully before preparing your abstract. All abstracts must be prepared according to the guidelines provided. Abstracts must be submitted as an MS Word document. The font used must be Times New Roman. Characters must be inserted into the document using the INSERT SYMBOL function. Please do not use document styles. The abstract needs to include the following:

1. Paper Title—(CAPITAL CASE, Times New Roman, font size 12 Bold)
2. Full Author List—(Title Case, Times New Roman, font size 10 Bold) with the presenting author’s name underlined
3. List of Author affiliations and country (if not Australia)—(Title Case, Times New Roman, font size 10 italics)
4. Descriptive text including tables—(Sentence Case, Times New Roman font size 10).
5. Cite references in numeric order in parentheses according to first mention in the text (Times New Roman font size 10).
6. Overall word count, including titles and affiliations must not exceed 400 words.
7. Figures are NOT acceptable.
8. Please do not insert blank lines.
9. Name the Abstract file “ABSTRACT—ESA02—Surname of first Author”. For example “ABSTRACT—ESA02- Bach”.
10. Incomplete or incorrect submissions will be returned to the author and must be re-submitted correctly by the deadline to be considered for presentation.

When abstract is completed, e-mail as an attachment to: ESASRB@asnevents.net.au.

Once the POC receives the abstract you will receive a confirmation that it was received. You must also complete the electronic CHECKLIST that is on the webpage. This CHECKLIST will ask you to type yes/no answers to each of the following:

1. I am presenting only one abstract and my name is underlined on that abstract.
2. My abstract is a clinical case review.
3. My abstract should be considered for the joint ESA/SRB Male Reproduction sessions.
4. My abstract should be considered for the joint ESA/SRB Female Reproduction sessions.
5. I am also submitting an abstract to SRB.
6. I am applying for a travel grant.
7. I am applying for the Novartis Junior Investigator Award.

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