1st Congress of Fatty Liver and Metabolic Syndrome - From Basic Science to Clinical Praxis November 11, 2009

On the behalf of Organizing Committee and as the president of the Hungarian Association for the Study of Liver it is my great pleasure to invite you to participate in the 1st International Congress of Fatty Liver and Metabolic Diseases, which will be held in Budapest, Hungary, from November 12-14, 2009.

The theme is: Fatty Liver and Metabolic Diseases, From Basic Science to Clinical Praxis. You will learn about the latest advances in all biomedical aspects and therapeutic modalities of hepatic steatosis, steatohepatitis, progression of fibrosis in the liver, concommitant hepatitis B or C virus infection, hepatocellular carcinoma and will discuss them with a select group of scientists in the field from all over the world.

In the western countries, the most common causes of fatty liver are alcoholism, toxins, certain drugs, hereditary metabolic disorders, and metabolic abnormalities, such as excess body weight, insulin resistance, and high cholesteerol and triglyceride levels in the blood. The latter is called the metabolic syndrome. The increased intake of dietary fat is one of the most important environmental factors explaining the increased prevalence of obesity in western societies and diseases associated with obesity, i.e. inflammatory and chronic diseases like hypertension as well as in the host immune response. Obesity is also the most significant single risk factor for the development of fatty liver. Fatty liver, or steatosis, refers to a histopathological condition characterized by an excess accumulation of lipids, primarily tricylglycerols within hepatocytes. The clinical significance of fatty liver is generally thought to be a benign process. However, simple steatosis may progress to advanced fibrosis and to cryptogenic cirrhosis through steatohepatitis, and ultimately to hepatocellular carcinoma.

In one part of the cases this fatty liver can be associated with chronic hepatitis B or C viral infections causing more severe progression of the disease, both in case of fibrosis and heaptocellular carcinoma development. The use of experimental models derived from common small laboratory animals has provided new insights into the knowledge of lipoprotein metabolism. The topics of the congress involve all these above mentioned themes, as the etiology, pathogenesis and the therapeutic modalities of the disease.

I do especially invite you to visit the WEB site of the meeting at www.fattyliver.hu to register, and to find more about the topics and the program. Bring your young collaborators and students, who are the future scientists of fat metabolism (see special offer on registration page).

At the congress there will be plenary sessions with invited speakers from the countries of Europe and rest of the World, furthermore special synmposia as well as you have the possibility to give a lecture or to demontrate a poster in one of the topics of the congress.

Register early and submit your abstract on the WEB site.

Conference information provided by konferenciakalauz.hu

Official Website: http://www.akcongress.com