Call for nominations forthe EFLM Executive Board2018­2019

The EFLM Newsletter n. 1/2017 2

Late in 2016 the EuropeanCommunity Confederation ofClinical Chemistry and LaboratoryMedicine (EC4)’s Foundation Boarddissolved the foundation with thesupport of its board of governors,the EU­based national societiesaffiliated to EFLM. The decision waswidely welcomed as a way ofstrengthening the project toachieve recognition of Specialists inLaboratory Medicine (EUSpLM)under the EU Commission’sDirective 2013/55/EU (Therecognition of professionalqualifications). The leadership forachieving recognition of specialistpractice now transfers to EFLM, itskey opportunity being thepresentation of a Common TrainingFramework with 10 EU memberstates to the EU Commission.Achieving a Common TrainingFramework that reflects specialistpractice not only opens the door tounhindered professional migrationacross European Communityborders for specialists but also helpsraise awareness of the contributionof laboratory medicine to betterhealth and best care For the immediate future theincentive turns to adding weight tothe case for recognition byincreasing the numbers ofspecialists on the EC4 Register. Thiscan happen in 2 ways:1. By contributing to the work ofEFLM’s new Working Group“Register” which has beenestablished under the ProfessionCommittee. The new working groupinvites up to 3 holders of EUSpLMto join them as Full Member of theWorking Group. Applications from

individuals able to support auto­registration (which has already beenestablished in UK and theNetherlands) will be particularlywelcomed. There is also anopportunity to continue tocontribute to the work previouslycarried out by EC4’s RegisterCommission by joining as acorresponding member. Theapplication form can be obtained bycontacting the office in Milan(silvia.cattaneo@eflm.eu).Applications must be receivedas national society nominationsand should be submitted by28th February 2017.2. By individual application from EUmember states who are holders of‘Equivalence of Standards’ that havepreviously been recognised by EC4.For further information on theprocess please contact theRegistrar, Jean Philippe Brochet(jp.brochet@exalab.fr), Inez AnneHaagen (i.a.haagen@olvg.nl) orGilbert Wieringa (gilbert.wieringa@boltonft. nhs.uk)Building on legacy achievementssuch as a common syllabus forlaboratory medicine, the Register ofspecialists, codes of conduct forregistrants, a pro­active strategy toforge communication lines to theEU Commission requires theparticipation from individuals forwhom raising awareness oflaboratory medicines’ contributionand creating opportunities for thecurrent and the next generation ofspecialist practitioners is animperative and an incentive. Welook forward to hearing from asmany individuals as possible.

A new era dawns for achieving recognition ofSpecialists in Laboratory

by Gilbert Wieringa, Chair of the EFLM Profession Committee

NEWS FROM EFLM COMMITTEES

THE EFLM EXECUTIVE BOARD INFORMS

The EFLM President is delighted to advise that the recentproposed amendments to the EFLM Articles of Associationhave been agreed by EFLM Member Societies, hence the nextelection of the Executive Board Members will follow the newEFLM Articles of Association and the transitional provision willbe applied, therefore Officers of the EFLM Executive Board2018­2019 will be elected at the next EFLM General Assemblyto be held in Athens (GR) on Sunday 11 June 2017 (14.00 to18.15h CET) on the occasion of the 22nd IFCC­EFLMEuroMedLabCongress.Nominations from National Societies are invited for thefollowing positions to serve for the term of office 2018­2019:

• President­Elect (then to automatically serve as President for 2020­2021)

• Secretary • Treasurer • Two Members­at­Large

Nominations have to be submitted electronically to the EFLMOffice (silvia.cattaneo@eflm.eu) using the form circulated tothe National Society’s representatives and accompanied by:­ Letter from the candidate explaining why she/he wants to

take the position;­ Letter from the National Society listing the reason/s of the

nomination;­ Curriculum vitae of the candidate (including relevant

publications).The deadline to submit nominations is 31 March 2017 (23.59h CET).The current EB officers (term ending on 31 December 2017) are:­ President: Prof. Sverre Sandberg (NO) to become Past­

President on 1 Jan 2018­ President­Elect: Prof. Michael Neumaier (DE) to become

President on 1 Jan 2018­ Past­President: Prof. Mauro Panteghini (IT) to retire on 31

Dec 2017­ Secretary: Prof. Ana­Maria Simundic (HR) 2nd term ­ Treasurer: Dr. Huibert Storm (NL) 2nd term ­ Member­at­Large: Prof. Grazyna Sypniewska (PL) 2nd term ­ Member­at­Large: Prof. Tomáš Zima (CZ) 2nd term According to the EFLM bylaws, any outgoing EB Members(except for the President positions) can be re­elected for thesame position two further times (so 3 terms in total), providedthey wish to continue along with the official nomination fromtheir National Society. For any further information contact Ms Silvia Cattaneo at theEFLM Office, at silvia.cattaneo@eflm.eu

Vacancies in EFLM functional units

Today, health and laboratory medicine areconfronted with an important transformation,fed by the explosion of knowledge inbiomedical science and by the increasingavailability of technologies like genesequencing. The data generated, collectedand stored during the course of patient care

or, on occasion, their private life, are currently massive andincreasing exponentially. The era of big data in health is well andtruly underway. Coupled with progress made in informationtechniques, this evolution will become a revolution, keyinnovations are considerable, a boon for health research for whichbig data is an almost inexhaustible source of new knowledge,indispensable to innovation and medical progress for: companies,for­profit and nonprofit research organizations, scientists,physicians, industrialists, etc; Big Data involves a large number ofplayers in the health world. Managing these data directly leads tothe emergence of the medicine of the future: Predictive/Preventive,Personalized, Participatory, Pertinent, and with Precision: • predictive medicine to identify patients at risk and better target

preventative actions. • personalized medicine to collect a large amount of data of

various origins about a patient that will permit adopting the mostappropriate treatment strategy, particularly throughpharmacogenomics:

• participatory medicine: the patient becomes an actor for theproduction of their own health data by connected objects(quantified self) with the objectives of prevention, early detection,monitoring and so on.

• pertinent medicine for the most appropriate care. Big data willhelp decision making. Crossing multiple data points from varioussources will be a tool for aiding decision­making on theappropriate therapy for the best cost­effectiveness and willpermit optimizing the course of care by collecting data frompayers and healthcare providers.

• precision medicine: Big Data will permit optimizing the search fortargets from genomic sequencing and multiplying thepossibilities for analysis of treatment combinations withoutnecessarily resorting to long and costly clinical trials.

Thus, multidimensional data (medical administrative, genomicdata, data from e­health) collected long term in large populations,will permit accessing a new classification of pathologies andidentifying risk factors for certain chronic diseases such as cancer,diabetes, asthma or even neurodegenerative diseases. Thesefactors will then serve to construct prevention messages and setup programs aimed at at­risk populations.Big Data will also permit the development of systems for aidingdiagnosis, for personalization of treatment and verification oftreatment efficacy. These systems are based on the processing oflarge masses of individual clinical data. In this vein, IBM'ssupercomputer, Watson, permits analyzing the results of cancerpatient genomic sequencing in a few minutes, comparing the dataobtained to those already available, and thus proposing apersonalized strategy. Without this tool, the analysis would requireseveral weeks.Thanks to Big Data, we can have access to a large amount ofinformation on the health status of individuals in a given region,permitting an increase in disease incidence or at­risk behaviors to

Transforming big data into collective knowledgeby Bernard GOUGET, President, Human Health Section Committee­COFRAC, Counsellor for Public Health FHF, lFCC, ChairNominations Committee, General Secretary of the International Francophone Federation (FIFBCML)

The EFLM Newsletter n. 1/2017 3

New EFLM Working Group “Register” – deadline to sendnominations: 28 February 2017

Following on from the integration in 2016 of EC4 into EFLM, anew Working Group “Register” of the Profession Committee hasbeen formed under the chairmanship of Dr. Inez­Ann Haagento take on many of the functions of EC4’s Register Commission.Nominations are invited from EFLM National Society Membersfor 3 Specialists in Laboratory Medicine (EUSpLM), to act as FullMembers and Corresponding Members.The key priority for this group will be to grow the Register ofspecialists as a standard bearer of high quality practice hencewe will welcome nominations for individuals who shareambitions to promote the Register and increase the number ofregistrants.

EFLM Working Group “Congress and PostgraduateEducation” – deadline to send nominations: 31 March 2017

The Committee of Education and Training (C­ET) plays themajor role in development and support of educational activitiesin Laboratory Medicine for all members of EFLM. Throughoutits working groups, C­ET provides many educational, teachingand consultative services and has general responsibility for theorganisational aspects of scientific and educational events. Dueto an internal reorganization of the Working Group onCongresses and Postgraduate Education, a vacancy arose andwe are calling nominations for: 1 Full Member position.

EFLM Working Group “Promotion and Publications” –deadline to send nominations: 31 March 2017

The EFLM Communication Committee has the main goal toestablish and maintain efficient communication channels betweenEFLM and its member societies and other professional institutions,individuals and other targeted audience. Due to the change of position of one member inside the WorkingGroup Promotion & Publications, some vacancies arise and we arecalling nominations for 1 Full Member and 1 Full Member­YoungScientist (≤35y).The terms of reference for each WG are available at www.eflm.eu.For all the above mentioned positions, the term of office will befor 2 years ending on 31 December 2018. The position could berenewable for other two more terms upon advice of theCommittee Chair and continuing support from the NationalSociety. The work is mainly conducted by e­mail andteleconferencing, the WG usually meets once per year.Procedure for applications: each EFLM National Society Memberin good standing with the membership fee can submit onenomination using the form circulated to the National Society’srepresentatives to be sent back to silvia.cattaneo@eflm.eu. A briefplan of the applicant’s contribution to the aims and objectives ofthe relevant Working Group has to be included in the form.Together with the application, a short CV should also besubmitted underlining the qualifications and prior experience andpublications in the relevant area. Candidates have to be officiallyrecommended by their National Society through a formal letterof support. Applicants who are not selected as full members maybe eligible for corresponding membership.

HOT TOPICS IN LABORATORY MEDICINE

EFLM­RocheScientific Award forLaboratory Medicine2017

EFLM AWARDS

be identified, and alerting healthauthorities. Likewise, the analysis oflong­term data from cohorts orhealth economic databases alreadypermits identifying serious adverseevents and alerting of somepandemic risks.Moreover, the expected advantagesfor health guidance and theimplementation of more preciseand targeted medicine raises manytechnical and human challenges,and also poses ethical questions:should we keep all the data? Shouldwe pool them? Who should managethem and under what conditionsshould they be shared? How do wereconcile collective interest andindividual protection? How do weprotect against any commercial orfraudulent use? How do we makesure that Google, Apple, Facebookand Amazon do not appropriateany part of them? The stakes aresignificant: risk of disclosure of

private information andconsequences for social life, loss oftrust in public authorities andresearch confidentiality, etc. This iswhy it is vital to promote amultidiscipline approach to thesequestions with laboratory medicinespecialists, clinicians, bioinformaticsspecialists and ethicists. A rich, openand fruitful reflection on these issuescould be conducted thanks to theexpertise present within the EFLM.Exchanging ideas and improvingcommunication is also thechallenge of this new e­EFLMnewsletter. This newsletter seeks tosupport its membership as acting asa central resource on the fullmember activities and scientific andeducational developments acrossthe EFLM. We would like tocongratulate the EFLMCommunication Committee chairedby Maria Stella Graziani for thisdynamic initiative and happy 2017!

The fourth meeting will be held on24­25 March 2017 in Amsterdam.The conference is organized by theEuropean Federation of ClinicalChemistry and Laboratory Medicine(EFLM) and sponsored by BD LifeSciences, Preanalytical Systems.Previously organized biannually inParma, Zagreb and Porto, it is thelargest conference in Europe withthe focus on the preanalyticalphase of clinical laboratory work.The Chair of the ConferenceScientific and OrganizingCommittee is Prof. Dr. Ana­MariaSimundic who is also Chair of theEFLM WG­PRE (Working Group onthe Preanalytical Phase).The conference offers an excellentprogramme with up­to­date topicson the quality of preanalyticalphase to be presented by renow­ned speakers, promising an open

forum for interactive discussions inthe field. For the detailed scientificprogramme visit: http://www.prea­nalytical­phase.org/go/programmeA poster area is foreseen during theevent. The Conference Organizershave announced that two posterawards will be given during theconference, one by the decision ofthe Scientific Committee and theother voted by the audience. Theaward is a free registration for thenext conference in 2019.Reduced registration fee is offeredfor young scientists (<35 years ofage).Please save the date and don't missthis scientific event in Amsterdam. Check out the Conference websitefor further information:h t t p : / / w w w . p r e a n a l y t i c a l ­phase.org/index/home

EFLM EVENTS

AnnouncementThis award has been createdto honour an individual, whois a member of an EFLMNational Society and hasmade unique contributionsto the promotion andunderstanding of clinicalchemistry throughout Europeor has made one or morecontributions that have had amajor impact on laboratorymedicine.The award consists of anamount of EUR 7.500 and willbe presented at the 22st IFCC­EFLM EuroMedLab Congressto be held in Athens (GR) from11 to 15 June 2017.

CriteriaThe nominee’s contributionsto promoting laboratorymedicine at European leveland/or promoting Europeanlaboratory medicineinternationally should be wellknown and demonstrated bymeasurable outputs thatmade significant impact atscientific/clinical/educational/quality/organisational/policy/public level.

Application procedure• The nominated individual

must be from a NationalSociety which is a memberof EFLM who fulfils thecriteria and purpose of thisaward.

• of the officers of the EFLM(i.e. members of theexecutive board andcommittee chairs) areeligible for the Awardduring their term of office.

• Nomination must be made

through a formal lettersubmitted by a NationalClinical Chemistry andLaboratory MedicineSociety which is a fullmember of EFLM. The EFLMExecutive Board encouragesnominations of individualsfrom a country differentfrom that one of thenominating person.

• Applications must include astatement with the reasonsfor the nomination,highlighting theaccomplishments of thecandidate along the lines ofthe listed eligibility criteria.

• Each nomination must beaccompanied by curriculumvitae of the nomineeincluding a bibliographydemonstrating theindividual’s scientific orprofessional achievements.

• The nominee needs not beaware that a nominationhas been made.

• The nomination mustcontain a statement that theindividual was notnominated in the same yearfor any other EFLM or IFCCaward.

Nominations and allsupporting documents mustbe in English and submittedelectronically to the EFLMoffice (eflm@eflm.eu) by31 March 2017. Applicationswill be assessed by a panel ofindependent judgesappointed by the EFLMExecutive Board.For any further informationplease contact the EFLMOffice at eflm@eflm.eu

The EFLM Newsletter n. 1/2017 4

EFLM Bursary Programmes for Young Scientists

Report by Elena Aloisio, M.D., Clinical Pathology Unit, “L. Sacco” UniversityHospital, University of Milan, Italy

The 4th EFLM­UEMS Congress heldin Warsaw from the 21­24th ofSeptember 2016, had as it’s mainfocus, and as it’s title suggests, theimportance of collaborationbetween laboratory and clinicalprofessionals in order to offer to thepatient the best healthcare possible.Since in routine clinical practice thiscollaboration is often overlooked byboth sides, it is really important,

from my point of view, that this topic is discussed in meetings of thiskind. Sessions and plenary lectures covered a really wide range of topics,all extremely interesting, and this sometimes rendered the choice ofwhat to follow somewhat difficult (but this is a good thing!). I really enjoyed the opening lecture by Professor Dennis Lo, “PlasmaDNA: Driver of a revolution in molecular diagnostics for the clinic”,since it treated about a topic that is exceptionally innovative and atthe same time very popular and which may revolution, in the nearfuture, pre­natal and cancer diagnostic algorithms. The session more closely related to my line of work was the onetitled “Point­of­care testing: methodology and quality”. During thissession, Professor Sverre Sandberg talked about how performancespecifications for POC instruments should not necessarily be thesame of those for laboratory instruments, but should be definedbased on how the test is specifically used in the POCT setting, alwaysin the perspective of improving patient outcome. Then, professor Chris M. Florkowski talked about how it is importantto have evidences of usefulness of POCT, before it’s introduction ina clinical setting. Since POCT usually has a greater cost than routinelaboratory testing and requires strict monitoring, in order to assure

Reports from EFLM bursary recipients at the 4th EFLM­UEMS Congress “Laboratory Medicine at theClinical Interface” ­ Warsaw, 21­24th September 2016

The EFLM Newsletter n. 1/2017 5

EFLM Bursary Programme for Young Scientists attending the IFCC­EFLM European Congress in Athens

This is to inform you that EFLM is promoting a bursary program foryoung scientists attending the 22nd IFCC­EFLM European Congressof Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine – EuroMedLab 2017to be held in Athens on 11­15 June 2017http://www.athens2017.org/The bursaries will cover the cost of travel and 4­nightaccommodation for a maximum of EUR 900. EFLM Bursary recipientswill also receive free congress registration, kindly offered by theCongress Organizer Committee, and a free on­line yearlysubscription to the journal CCLM, kindly offered by Walter deGruyter. Eligible candidates must come from an EFLM Member Society andmeet both the following criteria: ­ Young participants (≤35 years at the date of the conference); ­ Having a poster abstract accepted as First Author (deadline for

abstract submission Nov. 6, 2016). Applications must be submitted through the proper applicationform (downloadable from www.eflm.eu under EFLM Bursaries) andaccompanied by the following documentation: ­ Copy of government issued ID or passport; ­ Document proving the membership of the National Society; ­ Notification of poster acceptance (sent by the congress organizers). Applications have to be sent to silvia.cattaneo@eflm.eu by15 February 2017.

EFLM bursary programme for Young Scientists attending the 4th

EFLM­BD Conference on Preanalytical Phase in Amsterdam

The EFLM bursaries programme to attend the 4th EFLM­BDConference on Preanalytical Phase (Amsterdam, 24­25 March2017) received the attention of a great number of YoungScientists. 31 applications were received from 11 different EFLM countries.30 applications were eligible for selection according to the EFLMcriteria for admission.Application were evaluated by a dedicated internal panel ofexperts and the following 4 applicants have been selected toreceive the EFLM support consisting in a free conferenceregistration and the coverage of the travel and accommodationexpenses:• Eline VAN DEN HAGEN from The Netherlands• Sophie HEPBURN from UK• Valery BRUNEL from France• Ali YAMAN from TurkeyBursary recipients will also received a free annual on­linesubscription to the Journal “CCLM”, kindly offered by W. deGruyter.

To keep updated with EFLM initiatives addressed to YoungScientists, join the EFLM mailing list from at the websitewww.eflm.eu

an adequate quality of results, it is necessary to assess weather theimplementation of such tests aids clinical decision making in at least a noninferior way than laboratory testing. Finally, professor Ellis Jacobs talked about how recent advancements inMolecular Diagnostics technologies at the Point of Care will allow, in theimmediate future, to take molecular tests outside specialty laboratories,bringing great advantages to patients that don’t have easy access to qualityhealthcare.Listening to this session benefited me greatly because in our hospital we arecurrently going through a radical reorganization of POCT, which has beencompletely put under the control of the central laboratory, so that now wehave the direct responsibility of guaranteeing quality of POCT results. Bothdefinition of performance specifications and assessment of usefulness, basedon objective clinical evidence, have been major challenges during the wholereorganization process and lectures by professors Sandberg and Florkowskiconfirmed that our approach on these subjects is correct and, most likely, theone that benefits patients the most.At the end of the session, I was given the opportunity to give a shortpresentation about my work and, in particular, I talked about the validationof hemoglobin and hematocrit measurements on the GEM Premier 4000blood gas analyzer. During the whole congress, a substantial number of young scientists wereallowed to present their work in short oral presentations or during poster walks,and I would really like to thank the EFLM very much for all it’s efforts in this sense.Concluding, I really much enjoyed participating at this congress because itgave me the opportunity to learn about topics that aren’t necessarily part ofthe every­day laboratory working routine, but at the same time to deepenmy knowledge about classic laboratory medicine subjects. I am very grateful to the EFLM for granting me with a bursary to participateto such an outstanding scientific event.

Report by Jorge Diaz –Garzon, Departments of Laboratory Medicine, Hematology andHemotherapy and Microbiology, Genetics, University Hospital La Paz, Madrid, Spain

I had the chance to attend the 4th Joint EFLM­UEMS Congress ‘LaboratoryMedicine at the Clinical Interface’ in Warsaw and learn about some of thefields such as cardiac markers, POCT quality assurance, harmonization, Lipidsetc, fields in which I am really interested. Furthermore, I participated in themeeting of the Biological variation Working Group that took place at HotelBoss on Wednesday, as a member of the Task and Finish Group onBiological Variation; in this meeting the group could introduce the newmembers, share our work progress, set new targets and last but not leasthave an enriching lunch with colleagues.One of the sessions that caught my attention was ‘Laboratory biomarkersof cardiovascular disease’ that was very useful after my 3 month rotationwith Dr. Fred Apple in Minneapolis in the cardiac biomarkers field, especiallycardiac troponins. A meticulous revision was made by different experts inthis topic; I try to sum it up below.The first speaker (Dr. Marek Koziński) talked about the High sensitivitytroponin (hs­Tn), showing the analytical characteristic of the current hs­Tnassays (precision, LoD etc), how to calculate the 99th percentile (study design:CV, population). He also explained that hs­Tn has a better diagnosisperformance when compared with contemporary assay, basics algorithmsthat help us to know when to test the patient and how to interpret the result(adequate training and clinical experience are necessary).Subsequently, Dr. Rudolf de Boer spoke about heart failure (HF) and themain and most useful biomarker for this pathology, the natriuretic peptides(NTPro­BNP and BNP). He showed some studies of the diagnostic accuracy.ESC and AHA states these biomarkers have potential usefulness for riskstratification but no treatment recommendations could be based onbiomarkers levels. He mentioned other potentially useful biomarkers for HF management, such

as Galectine­3, ST2, GDF­15, miRNA, renal markers etc. Finally,he commented what we should wait for the new HF Guidelines.The third in presenting was Maciej Kostrubiec. His topic wasthromboembolic disease (TD) and the most useful marker tomanage the TD is D­Dimer. He talked about cutoffs (differentsensitive assays) and the decrease of the test sensitivity afteranticoagulation (AG) treatment, exposing a study that uses thed­Dimer to monitor TD patients; When D­Dimer is normal noAG, when elevated randomize No AG or AG (VKA, INR 2­3). He concluded that D­Dimer is recommended to reduce theneed for imaging and irradiation, preferably using a highlysensitive assay. Other proposals such as potential markers forrisk stratification were the hs­Tn, and NTpro­BNP. Finally, three short oral presentations were sustained; I am justgoing to mention the last one, as the speaker, Dr. WouterMeijers, made a really good presentation based on aninteresting topic ­ the biological variation of cardiac biomarkerson heart failure patients.I would like to highlight the ‘Should performance specificationsbe different for point­of­care instruments’ session exposed byDr. Sandberg who made a comprehensive review on how toselect and what criteria we should use to set our performancespecification in POCT, which was closely related with my Postertopic.Poster walks were a great scenario to share knowledge aboutdifferent interesting topics, such as the POCT field.Furthermore, there, I had the opportunity of explaining ourexperience to other colleagues within this activity.I kindly appreciate the support of EFLM for giving me thisbursary and the opportunity of attending the congress. I amdeeply grateful to my Spanish colleagues for helping me toachieve this objective, especially to the Laboratory Director Dr.Antonio Buno, to my PhD supervisor and Quality DepartmentManager Dr. Pilar Fernández – Calle and to the POCTCoordinator Dr. Paloma Oliver, as well as to all La Paz UniversityHospital staff; I would also like to express my gratitude towardsDr. Sverre Sandberg and Silvia Cattaneo.

Report by Anna Wolska, Lipoprotein Metabolism Section, NationalHeart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH, Bethesda, USA

The report from “Dyslipidemia: new clinical concepts anddiagnostic tools” session. The 4th Joint EFLM­UEMS Congressheld in the capital of Poland ­Warsaw­ on the 21st – 24th ofSeptember was a full success. The level of scientific andorganizational side of this congress was very high. The scientificprogram covered a large range of medically important andscientifically innovative topics through plenary lectures,symposia, debates, workshops, and oral and posterpresentations. Moreover, the social program was excellent andvery much appreciated.I was honored to present a short communication during the“Dyslipidemia: new clinical concepts and diagnostic tools”session (showed below on the copied picture from the FinalProgram of the Congress).The first presentation was about the impact of triglycerides,remnant cholesterol and lipoprotein(a) on atherosclerosisstenosis, myocardial infarction and aortic valve stenosis. There isa strong suggestion that elevated results of triglyceride­richlipoproteins and lipoprotein(a) represent causal risk factors forcardiovascular diseases. The next talk was about postprandialeffects on altering lipid levels and their association withcardiovascular risk. It is recommended to use non­fasting lipidtests for routine clinical practice. Dr. Alan T. Remaley, mydistinguished supervisor, presented his recent invention ­apoC­II mimetic peptide­ that may have utility beyond the treatmentof apoC­II deficiency. He also discussed the different geneticcauses of hypertriglyceridemia, their potential clinical

The EFLM Newsletter n. 1/2017 6

Updates on EFLM Publications

The EFLM Newsletter n. 1/2017 7

By MariaStella Graziani, Chair of the EFLM Communications Committee

An interesting opinion paper has been published in ClinicalChemistry and Laboratory Medicine recently.

Could accreditation bodies facilitate the implementation ofmedical guidelines in laboratories?Aakre KM, Oosterhuis WP, Misra S, Langlois MR, Watine J,Twomey PJ et al. from the EFLM WG on Guidelines. Clin ChemLab 2016 DOI 10.1515/cclm­2016­0577

The paper, after examining the results of a survey conductedamongst the national societies for clinical chemistry in Europeregarding the development of laboratory­related guidelines,

concludes that implementation of the recommendations that areavailable needs improvement for a number of reasons that arereported. The recommendation of the EFLM WG is that “.. theclinical relevance of the ISO standards would be strengthenedby the inclusion of sections describing the different aspects ofGL implementation by laboratories with respect to (national andinternational) medical guidelines providing recommendationson laboratory testing”

The full list of the EFLM publications is available on www.eflm.euunder EFLM Publications

Change of guard in EFLM National SocietiesFinnish Society of Clinical Chemistry

Dr Anna Linko­Parvinen (Dept of Clinical Chemistry, HaematologyLaboratory, Tykslab – Turku Univ. Hospital) is the new President ofthe Finnish Society of Clinical Chemistry replacing Dr Petra Anttila.A warm welcome to Dr Linko­Parvinen and a thanks Dr Anttila forthe collaboration during these past years.

Portuguese Society of Clinical Chemistry, Genetics and LaboratoryMedicine

Dr Henrique Reguengo (PharmD, MSc, EuSpLM ­ Clinical ChemistryService, Centro Hospitalar, Porto) is the new President of thePortuguese Society of Clinical Chemistry, Genetics and LaboratoryMedicine replacing Dr Tiago Guimarães. Dr Reguengo will continueto act also as EFLM National Representative. A thanks to Dr.Guimarães for the collaboration during these past years.

manifestations and laboratory methods of testing. The fourthpresentation was about the effectiveness of LDL and HDLsubfractionation in diagnosing dyslipidemia in Slovakian and Romanpopulation. Both subfractionations are important in diagnosingdyslipidemia in clinical practice. Dr. Tahir Pillay showed that theHattori formula is better than Friedewald, Chen and de Cordovaformulae compared to the direct measurements of LDL cholesterol.The study was performed on 10,000 lipid profiles. I explained thelipoprotein nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometry andour novel method of lipoprotein phenotyping for assessingcardiovascular disease risk. HDL phenotyping and completelipoprotein phenotyping by NMR, together with CT angiography,may be helpful prognostic tools for coronary artery disease.All presentations were very informative, interesting and inspiring.The session was very entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Ihave to give my sincere compliments to the speakers on thepresented materials and their superb presentation skills. The workof moderators was excellent and I was very nicely surprised andgrateful how wonderfully Prof. Grażyna Odrowąż­Sypniewska

presented me to the audience. It was my pleasure to personallymet Prof. Grażyna Odrowąż­Sypniewska who is my authority in theacademia. I was deeply moved and happy thanks to Prof. AndrzejSzutowicz, my great former supervisor, who came to listen to myspeech at the session.This congress has been valuable for me not only professionally butalso personally. I have learned a lot and met many outstandingexperts and made new colleagues.I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the EuropeanFederation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine forawarding me with the EFLM bursary to attend the 4th Joint EFLM­UEMS Congress. I wish to sincerely thank Mrs. Silvia Cattaneo fromEFLM office for all her tremendous help in organizing my comingto Warsaw. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Prof. GrażynaOdrowąż­Sypniewska, Prof. Andrzej Szutowicz and Dr. Alan T.Remaley for their continous support.

Dyslipidemia: New clinical concepts and diagnostic toolsChairs: Michel Langlois (BE), Grażyna ‐ Odrowąż‐Sypniewska (PL)

08:30 ‐ 09:00 Triglycerides, remnant cholesterol and lipoprotein(a) for cardiovascular risk predictionBorge Nordestgaard (DK)

09:00 ‐ 09:30 Joint EFLM‐EAS consensus on nonfasting dyslipidemia testingMichel Langlois (BE)

09:30 ‐ 10:00 Apolipoprotein C‐II: Recent clinical and basic findingsAlan Remaley (US)

10:00 ‐ 10:10LDL and HDL subfractionation: new clinical concept in diagnosis of dyslipidemia in theEastern Slovakian majority and Roma populationBeata Hubkova (SK)

10:10 ‐ 10:20 New and old formulas for the calculation of LDL‐cholesterol: an evaluation Tahir Pillay (ZA)

10:20 ‐ 10:30 NMR lipoprotein phenotyping for assessing cardiovascular disease risk Anna Wolska (US/PL)

The EFLM Newsletter n. 1/2017 8

With more than 550 participants,the 58th National Conference of theHungarian Society of LaboratoryMedicine (HSLM58) was held inSzeged between 25­27 August2016 under the auspices of theInternational Federation of ClinicalChemistry (IFCC), the EuropeanFederation of Clinical Chemistryand Laboratory Medicine (EFLM)and the European Union of MedicalSpecialists (EUMS). This meetinggave a special opportunity for us tocelebrate the 70th anniversary ofour Society as well. The venue ofthe Conference was the AttilaJózsef Teaching and ConferenceCentre of the University of Szeged,which is Hungary’s first greenconference centre in the heart ofthe cityIn total, 129 abstracts wereaccepted for presentation.Seventy­one presentations wereorally delivered and 58 posterswere displayed and alsosummarized briefly in short oralcommunications. All abstracts werepublished in the journal of ClinicalChemistry and LaboratoryMedicine in the October issue (DOI10.1515/cclm­2016­0583, ClinChem Lab Med 2016;54(10):eA157–eA211.) The lectures werepresented in parallel sectionsincluding laboratory research,endocrinology, routine laboratorydiagnostics, case presentations,hematology­hemostasis and aspecial Clinician­laboratory doctorJoint Section. In addition, separatesections were organized for younglaboratory scientists (Youth forum

­ “You have the X factor”competition) as well as for theHungarian Society of LaboratoryProfessionals and for the nationalexternal quality control providerQualiCont that also celebratedtheir 20th anniversary in 2016. Special sections were designed tohonour the Silver Jendrassik Awardwinner Prof. László Muszbek(University of Debrecen) and SilverPándy Award winners Prof. GáborL. Kovács (University of Pécs) andProf. Andrea Rita Horváth(University of Sydney).We were delighted that ourinternational collaborators acceptedour invitation to the conference,and Prof. Maurizio Ferrari, thepresident of the IFCC, received theInternational Jendrassik Award,while Prof. Sverre Sandberg, thepresident of the EFLM, was awardedby the Honorary MembershipAward of HSLM.The exhibition for laboratoryinstruments providers wasorganized with more than 25(international) companiesintroducing their newestinstruments and laboratory tests.

Celebration of the 70th

anniversary of the foundation of the Hungarian Society of

Laboratory Medicine

NEWS FROM EFLM NATIONAL SOCIETY MEMBERS

NEWS FROM EFLM NATIONAL SOCIETY MEMBERS

Imre Földesi, President of the HSLM58Éva Ajzner, President of HSLM

News from the Spanish Societyof Clinical Biochemistry andMolecular Pathology (SEQC)Report on X National Clinical Laboratory Congress

The 10th National Clinical La­boratory Congress broughtover 1,500 experts togetherin Zaragoza from 19 to 21

October 2016. This is the most important scientific conferencein Spain on in vitro diagnosis, where the key issues of the pre­vious year are reviewed, organised jointly by the Spanish So­ciety of Clinical Biochemistry and Molecular Pathology (SEQC)and the Spanish Medical Biopathology Association (AEBM) andthe Spanish Associationof Pharmaceutical Ana­lysts (AEFA).Over 900 scientific paperswere presented at theevent. The programmeincluded 5 expert lun­ches, 10 symposia, 2 lec­tures (covering newdevelopments in mana­gement, quality, hepatitis,arteriosclerosis, geneticdiagnostic testing, neuro­degenerative diseases,the population status of iron deficiencies, intellectual disabilityand specialist training in the field of laboratory medicine),house­officer and tutor meetings and 4 practical pre­congresscourses on haematological cytology, risk management in thelab, biochemical urine studies and onconeural antibodies. Alsonoteworthy was the industry sponsorship of 11 workshops, ses­sions that combined training and the companies’ innovativeproposals in cutting­edge issues.Experts stress the importance of holding this conference everyyear due to the extraordinary contribution of clinicallaboratories to medical diagnosis. “We are committed toadvancing knowledge of new tests that increase sensitivity,specificity and positive and negative predictive values andreduce the cost­benefit ratio”, stated Dr. Francisco A. Bernabeu,member of the SEQC and the Congress Steering Committee.According to Dr. José Puzo Foncillas, member of the SEQC andthe Local Congress Committee, “laboratory medicinerepresents the single highest volume clinical activity in healthsystems, covering both primary and specialist care, and isundoubtedly the fastest, safest and most accurate diagnosticsystem available in medicine”.“In fact”, Dr. Bernabeu explained, “this has become a challenge:lab professionals must take on the role of clinical advisor andmake full use of their knowledge. Analysts have to work closelywith physicians in choosing the most appropriate tests anddesigning suitable profiles and protocols for each disorder. Allwithout forgetting that the analyst’s main mission is to providereliable results. Thus, we consider the best way of guaranteeingthis reliability is to obtain Standard UNE­EN ISO 15189accreditation”.

SEQC Team: J. Peña, S. Cuadrad, C. Merino and M. Ventura with the President I. Caballé.

Boost your brand and increase your company’s visibility through the EFLM Newsletter!EuroLabNews is the digital bi­montly newsletter of EFLM targeting more than 4,500 laboratory medicine professionals and is also publishedon the EFLM website. The Newsletter features information on EFLM initiatives and activities of its functional units, news from EFLM NationalSociety members and includes a calendar of the major events in the Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine field. The EFLM IVD partners are offered the possibility to advertise on EuroLabNews. The yearly price for a quarter A4 ads in six issues is Eur 1.500.Those companies interested in this opportunity can contact the EFLM Office at silvia.cattaneo@eflm.eu

Report on EQALM Symposium 2016 Barcelona

The EFLM Newsletter n. 1/2017 9

The Spanish Society of Laboratory Medicine (SEQCML) togetherwith the Spanish Society of Hematology and Hemotherapy(SEHH) have participated in the organization of the InternationalSymposium 2016 that annually holds the European Organizationfor External Quality Assurance Providers in Laboratory Medicine(EQALM).The symposium took place on the 13th and 14th October in thecity of Barcelona and brought together more than 105participants from 26 different countries.

This year's main theme has been "The Road to Perfect EQA". Thesymposium has lasted for 2 days where different speakers havedealt with Traceability and Commutability issues in reference tothe control material of EQA’s.In general the organization and the development of thesymposium has been a success, leaving the board of EQALM verysatisfied with the final result.

Do not miss the opportunity to have your event listed here. Apply for EFLM auspices! For more information, contact the EFLM Office at silvia.cattaneo@eflm.eu

9­10 March 20176th International Conference on Vitamin D, Nutrition and Human Health

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates www.meaconferences.com

10­11 June 2017Management of Inborn Errors of Metabolism:From Diagnosis to TreatmentEuroMedLab2017 ­ Satellite Meeting

Athens, Greece http://www.athens2017.org/

24­25 March 20174th EFLM­BD European Conference on Preanalytical Phase Biannual Conference organized by the EFLM Working Group on "Preanalyical Phase" in collaboration with BD

Amsterdam, The Netherlands http://www.preanalytical­phase.org/

11­15 June 2017EuroMedLab 2017 22nd IFCC­EFLM European Congress of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine

Athens, Greece http://www.athens2017.org/

30­31 March 2017XV Meeting of the SEQC Scientific Committee

Madrid, Spain www.seqc.es

15­16 June 2017Under Poseidon’s Eye ­ Symposium on Diabetes EuroMedLab2017 ­ Satellite Meeting

Sounio, Greece http://www.athens2017.org/

10­13 May 20172nd Conference of Romanian Association of Laboratory Medicine (RALM)

Timisoara, Romania http://www.raml­conference.ro

21­22 September 201713th EFLM Symposium for Balkan Region Laboratory Medicine Management: Leadership skills for effective Laboratory

Belgrade, Serbia http://www.dmbj.org.rs

11­13 May 2017VIII Baltic Transfusion Medicine Congress & I Latvian Congress in Laboratory Medicine

Riga, Latvia http://www.labtrans.org/

5­6 October 2017EFLM Symposium: Cutting Edge at Laboratory Medicine (CELME)

Prague, Czech Republic www.celme2017.cz

30­31 May 2017VI International Symposium “Clinical Laboratory And Quality”

Barcelona, Spain www.seqc.es

16­17 October 2017Journées Nationales 2017 de la Société Française de Biologie Clinique

Paris, France http://www.sfbc.asso.fr/

10 June 2017Metabolic Bone Disease: The Role of the Clinical LaboratoryEuroMedLab2017 ­ Satellite Meeting

Athens, Greece http://www.athens2017.org/

20­22 October 2017XIV International Congress of Pediatric Laboratory Medicine

Durban, South Africa http://www.icplm2017.org/

Calendar of EFLM events and events under EFLM auspices