DANUBE NEUROLOGY NEWSLETTER

Newsletter No. 7. October, 2003

 

INTERNATIONAL DANUBE SYMPOSIUM

FOR NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCES AND CONTINUING EDUCATION

Collaborating Society of the EFNS

Central and East-European Association for Neurology (CEEAN)

 

Honorary President: Prof. Dr.Dr.h.c. Franz Gerstenbrand (Vienna); Secretary General: Prof. Dr. László Vécsei (Szeged);

Deputy Secretary General: Prof. Dr. Zbigniew Stelmasiak (Lublin); Scientific Secretary: Prof. Dr. Gerhard Ransmayr (Linz);

Coordinator: Assoc. Prof. Dr. János Tajti (Szeged); Head of Office: Erika Grossmann (Szeged)

 

Head Office:

University of Szeged, Department of Neurology * H-6725 Szeged, Semmelweis u. 6., Hungary

Tel.: + 36 62 545-348 ¬ Fax: + 36 62 545-597 ¬ E-mail: vecsei@ nepsy.szote.u-szeged.hu

http://www.szote.u-szeged.hu/neur/danube

 

Contents:

1. 35th International Danube Symposium

(11-14 September 2003, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro)

2. Management Committee Meeting of the IDS (September 2003)

3. Present and Future Activities of the International Danube Symposium

4. History of the INTERNATIONAL DANUBE SYMPOSIUM II. (by Prof. H.A.F. Schulze)

5. Danube Neurology Fellowship

6. Danube Clinical Neurology Training Course (27-28 May, 2004, Szeged, Hungary)

7. Preliminary Scientific Programme of the 36th International Danube Symposium

(September 2004, Sofia, Bulgaria)

8. Preliminary Scientific Programme of the 37th International Danube Symposium

with the Memorial Lecture Dr. Janez Faganel (2005, Ljubljana, Slovenia)

9. Future Meetings of Danube Symposium

10. Web-site of the International Danube Symposium

 

1. 35th International Danube Symposium

(11-14 September 2003, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro)

The 35th International Danube Symposium for Neurological Sciences and Continuing Education was held in the ancient city in Belgrade, between 11-14 September 2003, under auspices of EFNS, the patronage of Ministry of Health (Republic of Serbia), the Minsitry of Sciences and Technology and the City of Belgrade.

The old and beautiful city lies in place where two international rivers, the Sava and the Danube meet. Professor Kostic, the Chairman of the Organizing Committee stressed in his welcome address: "For centuries, the two rivers were the boundaries of different civilizations.This time, through the Danube Symposium, Belgrade has the role of connecting neurologists from different regions."

To give an idea of the scientific spectrum of the meeting, here are the main topics of the Symposium:

  • Teaching Course on Multiple Sclerosis

  • EUREPA Teaching Course on Epilepsy

  • Headache Symposium: Recent Findings and Therapeutic Perspectives

  • Symposium: TCD

  • Symposium: Neuroprotection: From Laboratory Bench to Clinical Practice

  • Symposium: Neurogenetics

  • Young Neurologists' Meeting

  • Workshop: Practical Aspects of Botulinum Toxin Injection in Post-stroke Spasticity

  • Symposium: Botulinum Toxin Treatment I-II.

  • Symposium: What is New in Movement Disorders? (I-II.)

  • Symposium: Neuroethics

  • Symposium: Craniocerebral Trauma

  • Symposium: Epilepsy I-II.

  • Poster Session I-II.

The Danube Lectures were held by Professor Amos Korczyn (Tel Aviv) with the title "Why is Alzheimer's disease not the most common type of dementia?" and by Professor Ian van Gijn (Utrecht) with the title "Cerebral venous thrombosis". Altogether, 55 speeches and lectures were held and 194 posters were presented and published in the Book of Abstracts.

It should not be forgotten to mention the thoroughly and perfectly organized social programmes as well, with sightseeing programmes, gala dinner, culture and folk art-performance and other events. All of the participants and the Head Office of the International Danube Symposium in Szeged would like to express cordial thanks towards Professor Kostic and Professor Apostolski (Chairman and Co-Chairman of the Organizing Committee), and all other Members of the Organizing Committee, moreover the colleagues in Belgrade, involved in the perfect organization of this Symposium.

2. Protocol of the Management Committee Meeting of the IDS (September 2003)

The Management Committee Meeting was held during the 35th IDS in Belgrade. We would like to express our cordial thanks to Professor Johan Aarli and Professor Leontino Battistin (Vice-presidents of the World Federation of Neurology) for their attendance at the conference and at the IDS Management Committee Meeting as well.

The agenda and protocol of the Meeting was as follows:

1. Introduction (by Prof. F. Gerstenbrand)

2. Report of the present activities of the International Danube Symposium (by Prof. L. Vécsei)

2.1. Danube Neurology Newsletter No. 5 (in October 2002) and No. 6 (May 2003) posted to 600 addresses per surface mail + e-mail

2.2 All available e-mail addresses of members of national Neurology Associations are requested to be sent to the DS Head Office in Szeged, Hungary

2.3. Web-site of the DS, with all Danube Newsletters, other important information, e.g.: future meetings, Management Boards, symposia, etc (http://www.szote.u-szeged.hu/neur/danube)

3. To the memory of the lately deceased colleague Dr. Tschabitscher, the Danube Neurology Fellowship and Exchange Programme (under coordination and management of the DS Head Office, Szeged, Hungary) will be referred to in the future as "Friederika Susanne Tschabitscher Danube Neurology Fellowship".

Dr. Jasna Zidverc-Trajkovic (Institute of Neurology - Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade) was the fourth

colleague taking part in the Danube Fellowship programme in April, 2003.

4. A brief report was presented (evaluation, finances, etc.) of the present Danube Symposium in Belgrade by Prof. Kostic. The Local Organizers in Begrade offered to finance the registration fees of the next congress for authors of the six best posters. We would like to express our cordial thanks towards the Organizers!

5. The proposed scientific topics of the following future meetings of the Danube Symposium were discussed, and further proposals were passed by the Management Committee members.

5.1. 36th DS in Sofia, Bulgaria, 2004 (by Prof. S. Yancheva)

5.2. 37th DS in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2005 (by Ass.Prof. Z. Pirtošek)

6. The venues for the future meetings of the Danube Symposium were discussed and passed by the Management Committee members:

6.1. 38th DS in 2006: Brno, Czech Republic (by Prof. I. Rektor)

6.2. 39th DS in 2007: Würzburg, Germany (by Prof. P. Riederer)

6.3. 40th DS in 2008: present applicants: Bucuresti, Romania and Linz, Austria - further applicants are welcome!

7. Financial sources of the DS were discussed and passed as follows: 70:30 between the Local Organizers and the permanent International Danube Symposium Head Office in Szeged, Hungary or to transfer the amount of min. EUR 2,500 to the Head Office (deadline for the presentation of finances and the transfer of present DS: December, 2003)

8. Future Danube Symposium activities (Prof. L. Vécsei)

8.1. The "Danube Clinical Neurology Training Course" (27-28 May, 2004, Szeged, Hungary) will be organized by the Head Office of the International Danube Symposium, Szeged, Hungary.

9. Publication of Frontiers in Clinical Neuroscience in Ábel Lajtha's Honour (by Kluwer, New York). The event was a mutual organization of the ESCNP and the International Danube Symposium, Szeged, Hungary).

10. Cooperation with EFNS, other organizations

11. Varia - discussion of the following topics:

11.1. Resident programme

11.2. Harmonization of the continuing medical education

11.3. Comparing and coordination the criteria of scientific qualification

11.4. Clinical excellent centers

12. Closing remarks (Prof. F. Gerstenbrand)

3. Present and Future Activities of the International Danube Symposium

  • The Danube Symposium fosters and coordinates fellowship programs for young neurologists from Danube Countries (see Danube Neurology Fellowship);

  • Coordination of future Danube Symposia;

  • The Danube Neurology Newsletter is posted to more than 600 surface addresses, and the electronic version is available free of charge on Internet as well;

  • We also consider as our task to help with the activity of the EFNS in the Danube-countries, therefore it is very important to strengthen our contact with the EFNS.

4. History of the INTERNATIONAL DANUBE SYMPOSIUM II. (by Prof. H.A.F. Schulze)

As one of the founding members of the International Danube Symposium, Professor Schulze (Berlin, Germany) gave us further interesting information about the history of the IDS. Professor Schulze illustrated the high quality and progress of scientific research by presenting the main topics of the Symposia, as follows:

1976 Belgrade: Advances in diagnosis and therapy of neurological disorders; 1977 Vienna: Inflammatory diseases; 1978 Budapest: Increase of intracranial pressure increase of CSF pathology; 1979 Innsbruck: Pain, brain death; 1980 Weimar: Temporal region, peripheral nervous system; 1981 Vienna: Epilepsy and the visual system; 1982 Bucuresti: Cerebral and spinal Ischemia; 1983 Innsbruck: Neurotransmitters and neuromodulators, brain tumour; 1985 Innsbruck: Cerebellum, vasogene headache; 1986 Heidelberg: Epilepsy, limbic system; 1987 Innsbruck: Mesencephalon, neuroimmunology, cerebrovascular diseases; 1988 Varna: Myelon, cerebral ischemia, motility disorders and spasticity; 1989 Innsbruck: Basal ganglia disorders, brain trauma; 1990 Berlin: Chronic hypoxia and vascular dementia; 1992 Budapest: Importance of neurophysiological investigations for neurological diagnosis, MRI-diagnosis; 1993 Innsbruck: Neurogenetics, dementia and ageing;

1994 Krems: Headache, neuroimaging.

5. Danube Neurology Fellowship

In April, a colleague from a Danube country (Dr. Jasna Zidverc-Trajkovic from the Institute of Neurology, Clinical Center of Serbia/Belgrade, Serbia and Monte Negro) participated in the fellowship-programme founded and coordinated by the Head Office of the International Danube Symposium in Szeged, Hungary. Enclosed, you find the report of her fellowship-pogramme:

"On invitation of Professor László Vécsei, I spent one month (April 2003) as observer at the Department of Neurology, University of Szeged, Hungary. Since my field of interest in neurology is headache, the purpose of my stay was to exchange the experience and knowledge with the colleagues at the Department of Neurology.

The Department of Neurology is settled on the 5th floor of New Clinic, wonderful building in the Center of old Szeged. The patients in the hospital and a lot of outpatients were treated by the excellent team of the Department, composed of young but experienced neurologists and residents. I was involved in the whole spectrum of clinical work: morning meetings, examination and discussion about hospitalized patients on every day rounds, as well as examination of the patients in the headache outpatient clinic.

Besides this clinical approach to headache, I had opportunity to take part in the research. The laboratories were created by neurologists from Szeged ten years ago. Neurodegenerative diseases and migraine are currently in studies on animal models using all modern technological approaches including immunohystochemistry. I took part in measurement of PARP provoked by the stereotactic electrical stimulation of the trigeminal (Gasserian) ganglion, regarded as an experimental migraine model. All previous results and details of the experiments were explained to me by extremely friendly colleagues from Szeged. We created a plan for migraine project, which, I hope, will start in September.

Nice weather, beautiful Hungarian nature with lazy Tisza River and friendly behaviour of my colleagues made an impression, which I still have in mind. I would like to express my gratitude to the staff of the Department of Neurology."

6. Danube Clinical Neurology Training Course

Venue: Szeged, Hungary - Date: 27-28 May, 2004

Preliminary topics of the Training Course: Multiple sclerosis, Headache and Parkinson’s disease

Organized by: Head Office of the International Danube Symposium

Contact address: Prof. László Vécsei

University of Szeged, Department of Neurology * H-6725 Szeged, Semmelweis u. 6., Hungary

Tel.: + 36 62 545-348 Fax: + 36 62 545-597 e-mail: vecsei@nepsy.szote.u-szeged.hu

 

 

7. Preliminary Scientific Programme of the 36th International Danube Symposium

Venue: Sofia, Bulgaria - Date: September 2004

Preliminary topics: 1. Cerebrovascular Disorders 2. Movement Disorders 3. Headache 4. Low Back Pain

5. Epilepsy and Nonepileptic Paroxysmal Disorders 6. Multiple Sclerosis 7. Dementia 8. Autonomic Nervous System Disorders 9. Brain Tumors 10. Neuropathies 11. Miscellaneous

Teaching courses: 1. Neurosonography 2. Autonomic Nervous System Disorders 3. Cognitive Disorders

4. Clinical Electromyography

Contact address: Prof. Stefka Yancheva, MD, PhD

University Hospital for Neurology & Psychiatry "St. Naum";

Tzarigradsko sh. blvd. 4 km, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria

e-mail: danube_sofia@yahoo.com

8. Preliminary Scientific Programme of the 37th International Danube Symposium

with the Memorial Lecture Dr. Janez Faganel

Venue: Ljubljana, Slovenia - Date: September 2005

Proposed topics:

I. The four ages of man: 1) Seizing into life: paroxysmal disorders; 2) Here and there, now and then: multiple sclerosis; 3) Trying to repair: neurorehabilitation; 4) Falling into oblivion: dementia.

II. Adapting organization to the patient's needs: 1) The 'hand over' joint clinics; 2) Specialist nurses in neurology; 3) Comprehensive care.

III. Nerve and muscle - among genes, electrodes and clinical signs: 1) Neuromuscular disorders;

2) Physiology of the motor system.

IV. Time is critical: Advances in intensive neurology.

V. The "off" period: Basal ganglia video dinner

Contact address: Assoc. Professor Zvezdan Pirtosek, MD, PhD

Neurology Clinic, University Clinical Centre; Ljubljana, Slovenia

e-mail address: zvezdan.pirtosek@kclj.si

9. Future Meetings of Danube Symposium

  • 2006: 38 th International Danube Symposium (Brno, Czech Republic: Prof. I. Rektor)

  • 2007: 39 th International Danube Symposium (Würzburg, Germany: Prof. P. Riederer)

  • 2008: 40th International Danube Symposium (present applicants: Bucuresti, Romania

and Linz, Austria) - further applicants are welcome!

10. Web-site of the International Danube Symposium

The home-page of the International Danube Symposium consists of:

  • the contents of Newsletter 1-2-3-4-5-6-7
  • Managing and Executive Board Members of DS
  • Detailed Programme of the 35th Danube Symposium (2003 September, Belgrade: Prof. V.Kostic - Chairman, Prof. S. Apostolski - Co-Chairman)
  • Future Symposia, Conferences
  • further important information.

Again, you are kindly requested to send your e-mail address to the following e-mail address:

vecsei@nepsy.szote.u-szeged.hu

We are looking forward for any pieces of important information to be published

in our Newsletter; furthermore all kinds of enquiries, comments are welcome as well.

 

Please feel free to visit our web-site at:

http://www.szote.u-szeged.hu/neur/danube