The meeting organized in Prague last June by the Czech EU presidency in order to develop new plans to fight malnutrition across Europe gathered health ministries from EU memeber states, medical experts, ESPEN, ENHA. They all agreed to sign a declaration which summarizes the problems that we are facing in our daily practice and to propose a series of action points which are being sent to the incoming Swedish EU presidency to be implemented. Take a look at these statements and try to implement them in your local or national environment.

The Institute of Scientific Information has just released the 2008 IF of scientific journals. Confirming the trend observed in the previous years, Clinical Nutrition increased its IF, reaching a fantastic 3.203 from last year’s 2.878! This achievement highlights the leading role of ESPEN in the scientific arena of clinical nutrition research, and is a confirmation of the excellent job done by the Editor-in-Chief, prof. Deutz, who is leading a “magic” team of associate editors, reviewers and editorial collaborators.

The Czech Presidency of EU assumed the auspices over the international seminar “STOP malnutrition of patients and diseases resulting from malnutrition” held in Prague on 11-12 June (in the picture, left to right, Frank de Man, ENHA; Stanislava Pànovà MuDr, Director Ministry of Health, Czech Republic; Olle Ljungqvist, ESPEN; Markéta Hellerovà MuDr, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Heath, Czech Republic; Lubos Sobotka, ESPEN) . At the same time, the Presidency called upon leading EU experts in the area of healthcare and health policy to address the issue of poor nutrition in healthcare institutions and adopt relevant measures for preventing threats to quality of life, unnecessary mortality and morbidity in the EU. ESPEN has played a major role in this seminar, and our Chairman, Olle Ljungqvist, addressed in his speech the issue of the excess costs related to malnutrition. This is another follow up of the Fighting Against Malnutrition campaign launched by ESPEN during last year’s congress in Prague. To read the press release of the event, please log in http://www.eu2009.cz/en/news-and-documents/press-releases/stop-malnutrition-of-patients-and-diseases-resulting-from-poor-nutrition-25164/

Dieticians are critical resource for ESPEN. To attract more dieticians to the ESPEN congresses and to enhance their active participation to the debates occurring at our annual meetings, the Educational and Clinical Practice Committee, in agreement with the Executive Committe, has devised a new structure for the Dieticians’ Session. Read more on this new exciting agenda, and we are sure that you will find it a great opportunity to learn more and share your experiences with your colleagues and the other health-related professionals.

Are you interested in the ESPEN LLL courses? Are you willing to become an ESPEN teacher and give and organize a LLL session in your country? Then, do not miss the opportunity to become a certified ESPEN LLL teacher by attending the TTT course which will be organized during the next ESPEN congress in Vienna. Read more on the procedures needed to participate.

Nutrition remains a key factor in preventing diseases and contributes to restore healthy status. The mechanisms underlying these effects are mainly derived from experimenatl data whose translation into the clinical setting should be enhanced. Know more on the clinical application of scientific knowledge by attending the First International Congress of Translational Research in Human Nutrition (Clermont-Ferrand, France, March 19-20, 2010). Download the first announcement and book the agenda. Check regularly www.clermont.inra.fr/crnh for updates.

In Clermont-Ferrand, between June 27 and June 28, 2009, the highly appreciated ESPEN Intensive Course in Tracer Methodology in Metabolism will take place. This is a “must attend” course for all those interested in tracer methodology in metabolic research. Read the details and how to contact the organizers of this successful course by downloading the  flyer. You may also download the registration form.

After the great success of last year’s edition, the Medical Nutrition International Industry (MNI) Grant for the Best Initiative to Fight Malnutrition is ready to award with a 30,000 € check the national PEN society endorsing the most atttractive and effective project to fight malnutrition. Take a look at the call for applications for more details on the requirements needed. The deadline for sending application to the MNI Office is June 29, 2009.

As of today, the ESPEN community can count on more than 2000 members. Actually, we are 2050 and it is very likely that in the next weeks some more will join or renew their membership to ESPEN. This is good news not only for ESPEN, but more importantly for building the case of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism against the political institutions and the media, in order to increase awareness and support. Thank you for your continuing support to ESPEN and try to convince more and more colleagues to join our society. 

Abstract submission is now closed. See you in Vienna to present and discuss exciting new findings in the field of clinical nutrition and metabolism.