BMS MCS Joint Meeting - Keble College, Oxford

Dear all,

I would like to encourage you all to attend our next meeting in Oxford. This is a joint meeting with the BMS and MCS, and a good opportunity to celebrate our societies developing relationship, kicking off with a 4th July celebration! It  promises to be a great event in a really good setting, covering the topics that will appeal to many areas of microcirculation and vascular biology. There are grants available for BMS and MCS student members to attend. Please sign up to stay in the conference venue, Keble College. The cost represents a good deal for such an historical site within the city, and includes all meals as well as the conference dinner in a lovely old college. All speakers and officers of the societies will be staying there so it will be a good venue for networking. The BMS has had to underwrite cost of accommodation, meaning your society will have to pay for empty rooms, so please support your committee & local organisers and help to fill it!

The deadline for abstract submission is end of this month, one week to go, so there is still time to arrange your latest ideas and join the fun.

We are really excited about adopting Microcirculation as our nominated journal, and look forward to closer links between BMS and MCS as a result. Breaking news! I have just learned that the Australia and New Zealand Microcirculation Society are joining us as co-sponsors of the journal, so our international family continues to expand!!

As another busy term draws to a close, I hope you manage to have a restful break. Happy Easter!

Stuart Egginton

Update on the Joint BMS and MCS Meeting

We are very pleased to announce that each of the major lectures to be delivered at the upcoming Joint Meeting of the British Microcirculation Society and the Microcirculatory Society, Inc., in Oxford, UK from 4-6 July 2012 will be compiled into a Special Commemorative Issue of Microcirculation. Each of the outstanding investigators listed below has agreed to submit a review article based on their lecture, and we believe that this represents an excellent opportunity to highlight not only the joint meeting, but also the new partnership between our two societies and their official journal. Listed below are the invited speakers and their lecture titles.

DMT Plenary Lecture
David D. Gutterman, MD; Medical College of Wisconsin, USA

‘Mechanisms of Flow-Induced Dilation in the Human Coronary Microcirculation: A Novel Pathway Linking TRP Channels, Reactive Oxygen Species and Potassium Channels’

Wiley-Blackwell Plenary Lecture

Dorian O. Haskard, MD; Imperial College London, UK

‘Fine Tuning the Regulation of Inflammation and Thrombosis at the Blood-Tissue Interface.’

PromoCell Plenary Lecture

Giovanni E. Mann, PhD; King’s College London, UK

‘Impaired Redox Signaling in Fetal Endothelial Cells in Pregnancy-Associated Diseases’

Keynote Symposium Lectures

Keith Channon, MD; University of Oxford, UK 

‘Coupling NO with Vascular Dysfunction.’

Timothy Curtis, Ph.D.; The Queen’s University of Belfast, UK 

‘Ca2+Signalling and the Control of Arteriolar Myogenic Tone.’

Kim Dora, Ph.D.; University of Oxford, UK

‘Endothelial Cell Microdomains and Conducted Vasodilatation.’

Michael A. Hill, Ph.D.; University of Missouri – Columbia, USA

‘Regional Variation in Arterial Myogenic Responsiveness and Links to Ion Channel Diversity/Function Conducted Responses in the Microcirculation.’

Mark T. Nelson, Ph.D.; University of Vermont, USA 

‘Astrocytic Control of the Brain Microcirculation.’

Steven S. Segal, Ph.D.; University of Missouri – Columbia, USA 

‘Intercellular Coordination of Blood Flow Control.'

Rhian M. Touyz, MD, Ph.D.; University of Glasgow, UK

‘Between TRP Melastatin Channels and NOXs – Implications in Vascular (Patho)biology.

Arthur Weston, Ph.D., D.Sc.; University of Manchester, UK

‘Role of Perivascular Adipose Tissue in the Regulation of the Microcirculation.’

We all look forward to seeing you in Oxford in July, 2012! 

Merry Christmas Coronary: Maintaining the Festive Flow

greenseeds.org.uk

With Christmas just around the corner do you wonder the effects of the festive season on your microcirculation? Whilst Santa Claus appears to manage a mince pie and glass of sherry at each of the 1.6 billion households he visits worldwide, it has become apparent that our arteries might not be quite so tolerant. In 2004 Phillips and colleagues published a study in Microcirculation showing an increase in cardiac deaths during the holiday season, they describe two discrete peaks in cardiac death—one at Christmas and one at New Year. So what causes this coronary Christmas phenomenon? There are many possibilities, for example the colder weather associated with this time of year, increased emotional stress or even reduced levels of healthcare. Perhaps the most obvious cause is overindulgence. Christmas is often associated with calorific gluttony – Christmas pudding with ample supplies of sherry, chocolate by the bucket load and of course the customary Bucks fizz at breakfast poses the question: is all this food leading us towards a microvascular meltdown? Well it appears not all Christmas customs are bad for you. Brussels spouts, fabled as a mother’s way of getting even with her children during the festive season, are a cruciferous vegetable. They are reputed to have anti-cancer properties in addition to being rich in fiber, folic acid and vitamins A and C. Furthermore, a 1998 study by Staack and colleagues identified an influence of Brussels sprouts on phase II detoxification enzyme up-regulation. So whilst it appears that much of Christmas could be bad news for your coronary vessels, Brussels sprouts should be more than just a mother’s revenge.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15596560

By Melissa Gammons

FOOD AND MICROCIRCULATION: Anything with a pulse!

www.thedailygreen.com

Although it has long been recognised that different foods may affect the microcirculation it is only relatively recently that studies have begun to dissect the different mechanisms by which this occurs and take this information forward into clinical trials.  Such foods include Cranberries and Blueberries, consumption of which results in absorption of both vitamins and anthocyanins, powerful anti-oxidants, into the blood stream. These anti-oxidants trigger relaxation of coronary arteries helping to prevent coronary heart disease, act as vascular protective agents in part by stabilising membrane phospholipids and help to maintain normal capillary structure in diabetic patients. Similarly, current research suggests that anti-oxidant vitamins and phytoestrogens found in soy can reverse impaired vascular relaxation in patients with diabetes and coronary heart disease. 

Another group of plant anti-oxidants are the catechins, which are also found in blueberries and cranberries, as well as grapes, apples, red wine, tea and cocoa.  Studies investigating consumption of cocoa rich in these anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory catechins have demonstrated a significant increase in blood flow in cutaneous and subcutaneous tissue after both a single dose and regular consumption due to a vasodilatory effect. A greater number of studies have been carried out on green tea catechins, and especially epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is not present in black tea due to the differences in the manufacturing process. In contrast to the vasodilatory effect of catechins previously mentioned, these studies have shown that EGCG has anti-angiogenic activity inhibiting endothelial cell proliferation, chemotaxis and invasion, via inhibition of the VEGF pathway both by inhibiting VEGF production and by disruption of the VEGF-R2 complex. EGCG also has anti-tumour effects in animal studies, but has yet to be tested in a clinical trial in humans.

www.sisterearthorganics.wordpress.com

A relative new comer to this increasing list of beneficial foods is the Brazil nut.  These nuts have a complex composition different to other nuts and contain bioactive substances such as the anti-oxidant, Vitamin E; selenium, which acts as a co-factor for the anti-oxidant enzyme glutathione peroxidas;, mono and poly unsaturated fatty acids, which help to lower low density lipoproteins in the blood; magnesium; potassium; calcium; phenolic compounds and proteins. Following previous studies demonstrating a beneficial effect on endothelial cell function, a randomised control trial published this year in Nutrition and Metabolism has demonstrated that consumption of 3-5 Brazil nuts per day results in improved lipid profile, oxidative stress and microvascular function in obese adolescents.

In summary, many different food types, especially fruit, beans, nuts and green tea, have beneficial effects on the microcirculation and although knowledge of the mechanisms by which these benefits are achieved are increasing, clinical trials are necessary to fully maximise their potential in patients with microcirculation defects. After all, consumption of food or drink may well be easier for many patients than taking prescribed medication.


By Dr Carolyn Staton

ESM in Munich: An update on Microcirculation

Dear all,
Last week saw a number of our members attending the European Society for Microcirculation meeting, organised by Professor Ulrich Pohl and held at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich (a lovely city, still recovering from the annual Oktoberfest). The BMS sponsored an very interesting symposium on microRNAs in the microcirculation (ably organised by Richard Siow and Geraldine Clough). The ESM (http://www.esmicrocirculation.eu/) consists of individual members, and those who are members via their national society, and aims to meet every 2 years and provide an update on the latest advances in the filed: the next one will be in Birmingham in 2013 so do plan on being there! As with all meetings, there is a great opportunity to mix with other microcirculationists and share ideas with those using different approaches to your own (can I avoid using the horrid phrase 'networking'?). At the organisational level, as well, it was very helpful to be able to meet with those heading up other societies, in this case exploring ways of getting better support
for the 2013 meeting. Tiring, but useful. And, yes, the beer was nice!
Best wishes,
Stuart

Welcome from the BMS President - Stuart Egginton

Welcome! I'd like to start by thanking Melissa for her efforts in setting up the BMS networking opportunities. We hope this will be helpful in encouraging personal contacts, help solve problems, facilitate exchange of useful information/ideas, and provide a mechanism for sharing items of immediate interest or 'late breaking' news. I'll add my brief communications whenever appropriate. I chaired my first BMS committee meeting last week, and thought we had a productive time (more about that in the newsletter) with a great bunch of people full of ideas and desire to help the society develop. One issue I'm keen to pursue during my term of office is increasing the profile of the BMS (we have just submitted a response to the REF consultation document; thanks to Dave Bates for taking a lead on that) and working more closely with like-minded societies (we agreed closer cooperation with the MCS, look for an email to all members about that!). 

Best wishes for the new academic year,

Stuart Egginton

http://www.microcirculation.org.uk/