Research Updates in Kidney and Urologic Health

Upcoming Meetings

Depression in Chronic Disease

A workshop will be held January 29 to 30 in Bethesda, Maryland, to consider the problem of depression and other mental illnesses in the context of the chronic diseases within the purview of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). The clinical focus will be on diabetes mellitus, chronic renal disease, and obesity and eating disorders.

The conference will consider the epidemiology of depression in patients with these chronic illnesses, the effects coexisting mental illness may have on outcomes, mediators through which depression may interact with disease mechanisms, and pitfalls and opportunities related to treatment. For more information, contact

Sanford A. Garfield, Ph.D.
Senior Advisor for Biometry and Behavioral Research
Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases
NIDDK
6707 Democracy Boulevard, Room 685
Bethesda, MD 20892–5460
Phone: 301–594–8803
Email: garfields@ep.niddk.nih.gov

NephroAsia 2001

The National Kidney Foundation Singapore (NKFS) and the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) will be holding an international nephrology meeting in Singapore—NephroAsia 2001—this summer from June 13 to 16. An international panel of speakers will address an expected 2,000 health care professionals. More than 60 speakers have been recruited from America, Europe, Australia, Japan, and Asia. Speakers scheduled to appear include Drs. William Couser, Eli Friedman, William Henrich, Kiyoshi Kurokawa, Nathan Levin, Robert Narins, and Theodore Steinman.

The theme of NephroAsia 2001, "Conquering Current Challenges in Nephrology," emphasizes the importance of having physicians, nurses, technicians, social workers, dietitians, and industry leaders work together to solve problems. NephroAsia 2001 will focus on three areas:

• Identifying and abrogating progressive renal disease.
• Managing complications associated with chronic renal failure and end-stage renal disease.
• Exploring novel issues in renal replacement therapy by hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and renal transplantation.

More information is available at www.nephroasia.com on the Internet.

For registration and inquiries on program details or exhibit opportunities, please contact NKFS, phone: 65.3515.853, fax: 65.299.3164, or email: nephroasia@nkfs.org.

Renal and Urologic Genomics Meeting

NIDDK's Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases (DKUHD) is starting an initiative that will assemble a genomics toolbox—a set of tools for performing genomic analysis of tissues of interest to DKUHD investigators. The initiative includes investments in genomic technology through requests for proposals that will support development of the research infrastructure. However, investigators may need training to recognize when these techniques might be useful and to perform them efficiently.

DKUHD is planning a workshop for late spring or early fall of 2001 to address

• Experimental design issues
• Maximizing data yield
• Biostatistics
• Quality control
• Pooling RNA as a control
• Signal amplification
• Image analysis
• Public databases
• Emerging technologies

More information will become available as plans are made. Check the NIDDK web site at www.niddk.nih.gov or contact

Robert Star, M.D.
Extramural Senior Scientific Advisor
NIDDK
Building 31, Room 9A35
31 Center Drive, MSC 2560
Bethesda, MD 20892–2560
Phone: 301–594–7715
Fax: 301–496–2830
Email: Robert_Star@nih.gov

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