Newsletter 69November 2006
NEWSLETTER / 69 / November 2006letter from the Central Office
Dear Member
This Newsletter is of necessity brief but it gives important information and comes with the invoice for your 2007 membership fees and instructions for their payment; with the formal notification of the Extraordinary General Meeting on February 17, 2007; and, for those members in good standing, with the ballot paper for voting for approval of the proposed change to the Articles of Association.
- Please pay as promptly as possible your membership fees for 2007. The fee for Ordinary members is $125, composed of $65 for a subscription to Climacteric for 2007 at the special members’ rate and $60 for Society funds. Senior members (those aged 65 years and over who have been members for at least 10 years) pay the special fee of $80. If you receive an invoice for the Ordinary rate but think you qualify for Senior membership, please contact me. Please remember that you will only receive your copies of Climacteric when payment of your fees has been made! There are three papers enclosed that are connected with the Extraordinary General Meeting: the formal convocation of the meeting and the reason for its convocation, the Agenda, and the ballot paper by which you can vote for the approval, or not, of the change to the Articles of Association. The Officers and Board strongly recommend that you vote for approval of the change. Please make every effort to vote! Put your completed ballot paper in the envelope supplied and post it to me, so that I receive your vote by January 15, 2007. The result will be announced at the Extraordinary General Meeting.
- Directly following the 7th IMS Workshop in Budapest, February 17–19 2007, Professor Martin Birkhäuser will chair the Educational Slide Kit Workshop, planned to develop a set of educational slides based on the IMS book Health Plan for the Adult Woman. A panel of Editors and Experts has been working on the development of slides in their own particular areas of interest and these slides will be updated to take account of the discussions in the 7th Workshop Subsequently, a team will work on the finalization of the slides and it is hoped that the set will be ready to place on the IMS website by April 2007 for free download. The slides will be used for Educational Workshops world-wide – more news on this in later issues of the Newsletter.
- I have also enclosed with this Newsletter a copy of the new leaflet about the IMS and the benefits of membership. Please give it to one of your friends or colleagues and encourage them to join the IMS!
Call for applications for
Editors-in-Chief of Climacteric
The two current Editors of Climacteric have indicated that they will retire from their positions over the next 20 months. The Executive Board of the IMS is therefore looking to appoint a replacement for Dr David Sturdee as Editor responsible for contributions from Europe, to take over during a phased transfer during the last few months of 2007, and a replacement for Professor Alastair MacLennan with responsibilities for the Rest of the World, who will be appointed to start after the Madrid World Congress on Menopause in May 2008.
The Editors are the key figures in the publication process, which is a collaborative venture with the authors, the Editorial Board and the publishers. They are responsible to the IMS Executive Board but have editorial freedom within the Articles of Association and aims of the IMS and the journal mission statement. Climacteric was started in 1998 as the new independent journal of the Society and, after rapidly gaining recognition and citation by Index Medicus, Medline and Current Contents, it received its first Impact Factor in 2005 of 1.932. This placed it 15th out of 52 journals in the field of Obstetrics and Gynecology. In 2006, the Impact Factor was 2.299, with a ranking of 11th. There are six issues per annum, a strong international expert Editorial Board and an increasing number of articles being submitted. All articles are peer-reviewed, most require revision, and currently about 40% are rejected.
Further details of the posts can be obtained from either Editor:
; Tel: +44 121 424 5390
; Tel: +61 8 8161 7619
It is expected that applicants would already be members of the IMS and have a proven interest in the field of menopause and climacteric medicine. Previous editorial experience and publications would be an advantage. A good command of the English language is important. Applicants can be from any discipline related to the field of menopausal medicine and women’s health. Applications should include a brief curriculum vitae and an outline of how the future of the journal can be best advanced. They should be sent to Mrs Jean Wright, IMS Executive Director, by e-mail (), to be received by February 2nd, 2007.
The 7th IMS Workshop
Update on Menopause Management
Budapest,Hungary, February 17–19, 2007
Plans are progressing well for the 7th IMS Workshop whose primary aim is to review the new data that have been published since December 2003 and to update the IMS Position Statement. In addition to the international faculty of speakers and key opinion leaders, representatives from over 55 national menopause societies from all around the world will be participating. The programme is given in brief below.
Saturday, February 17
Session 1: Introduction
OpeningA. Pines
Perspectives across the globeRepresentatives of the Regional Menopause Societies
Role of the epidemiologist in determining current clinical practice in menopause medicineS.Shapiro
The Women's International Study of long Duration Oestrogen after Menopause Alastair MacLennan
Session 2: Oncology
Pathobiological aspects of hormone-sensitive cancersW. Boecker
Breast cancer preventionJ. Russo
Hormone therapy and breast cancerM. Foidart
Endometrial safety, bleeding, hormone therapy and endometriumD. Sturdee
Session 3: Cardiovascular problems
Gender-specific characteristics of atherosclerosis in menopausal womenG.Rosano
Postmenopausal hormones and coronary artery disease R. Lobo
Menopause and stroke: special features and impact of HRT R. Lobo
Session 4: Coagulation
Effects of hormone treatment on hemostasis variablesC. Kluft
Session 5: Urogynecology
Lower urinary tract symptoms in the menopauseG. Samsioe
Session 6: Skin, cartilage and other connective tissues
Skin, the carotid artery and intervertebral discsM. Brincat
Articulated joints and the menopauseC. Christiansen
Sunday, February 18
Session 7:New hormonal therapies and regimens
Regulatory authorities’ statementsM. A. Lumsden
New products and regimens since 2003N. Panay
Route of administration and timing of initiationR. Sitruk-Ware
AndrogensW. Arlt
Session 8: New attitudes to sexuality in the menopause
Clinic evaluation/diagnosisR. Nappi
Overview of conclusions from 6th IMS WorkshopA. Genazzani
Session 9: Healthy lifestyle
Life style and exerciseA. Pines
DietE. Berry
Session 10: Osteoporosis
Hormonal therapyT. de Villiers
Non-hormonal therapyR. Rizzoli
Guidelines on osteoporosisD. Barlow
Session 11: CNS/psychiatry
CognitionV. Henderson
Neurology: Alzheimer’s disease/dementiaV. Henderson
Estrogen; effects on normal brain function, and neuropsychiatric disordersD. Murphy
Non-estrogenic approachesP.Albertazzi
Session 12: Gene fingerprinting
Gene fingerprinting – its role in HRTJ. Huber
Monday, February 19
Discussion and formulation of Position Statement
The IMS and FIGO
For some time, the IMS Officers with the assistance of Professor Santiago Palacios have been corresponding with the then President, Professor Arnaldo Acosta, of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), in order to arrange some form of cooperation between the IMS and FIGO. I am delighted to inform you that, at its meeting on June 10, the FIGO Executive Board passed a motion stating that ‘The Executive Board agrees to recognize the International Menopause Society as an organization approved for co-operation and mutual exchange of information’. At the recent FIGO World Congress in Kuala Lumpur, our General Secretary, Dr David Sturdee, our Treasurer, Professor Martin Birkhäuser, Professor Palacios and I met with the FIGO Officers – Professor Acosta, the new President, Professor Dorothy Shaw, the Vice-President, Professor Luis Cabero Roura, the Secretary General, Professor Arul Kumaran, and Bryan Thomas, Administrative Director. We discussed ways in which our two societies could work together in the future for the benefit of women’s health world-wide. An IMS Symposium took place at the FIGO Congress, chaired by Dr David Sturdee and Professor Cabero Roura, and with Dr Sturdee, Professors Birkhäuser, Palacios, Hermann Schneider and Delfin Tan as speakers. Further news will be given as our cooperation develops.
World Menopause Day, 2006
I have received reports from many national menopause societies of how they celebrated World Menopause Day this year. I would welcome further reports from other societies and hope to publish a summary of these in the next Newsletter.
Announcement of new members
We warmly welcome these new members to our Society and we look forward to counting them amongst our members for many years to come. Their full addresses may be obtained from the Central Office.
Israel: Amnon Brzezinski / Singapore: Chua YangJapan: Hideki Mizunuma / India: Dr Meeta
USA: Robert Rebar, Nancy Frankel / Turkey: Ayse Seval Erdinc
THE DAISY NETWORK
The Daisy Network is a national charity in the UK that offers support to women who have suffered a premature menopause. It has recently announced the launch of a new specialist Menopause Library in the Chelsea and WestminsterHospital, London. This new resource will offer a large and diverse range of books on all aspects of the menopause, from HRT, to complimentary therapies to dietary advice. For information on the Daisy Network, contact .
1