On March 20-25, 2022 the 12th Serbian Congress on Diabetes took place as virtual conference with more than 1300 participants. Professor Nebojsa Lalic, President of the Scientific and Organizing Committee, invited CEDA to have a joint symposium which was chaired by Professor Thomas Stulnig and Professor Nebojsa Lalic himself.
At the beginning of the symposium Prof. Thomas Stulnig (Austria) provided an introduction to CEDA and outlined international opportunities for diabetologists resulting from discussions and networking at CEDA meetings. He also invited participants to attend the next CEDA Congress which will held face-to-face in Vienna on June 23-25, 2022. The congress will involve about 40 plenary lectures from speakers from 16 CEDA countries. New formats will be exciting pros & cons battles on hot topics and rapid fire sessions to highlight new studies. The CEDA evening will include the award ceremony for the poster prizes. Abstracts are highly welcome (submission deadline April 17, 2022). All abstracts will be published in Diabetes, Stoffwechsel & Herz.
In the first scientific talk, Dr. Sofiya Gancheva (Germany) presented novel data on hepatic energy metabolism in liver disease and type 2 diabetes. Mitochondrial adaptation was operative even in obese people with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and possibly linked to NAFLD progression. In people with NASH and type 2 diabetes or hepatic fibrosis mitochondrial respiration was reduced. In type 2 diabetes, increased oxidative stress along with hyperglycaemia due to excessive glucose production likely contributed to the impairment of mitochondrial respiration. Data from the German Diabetes Study showed that individuals with type 2 diabetes developed a 2-fold rise in both liver fat content and prevalence of NAFLD during the very early course of diabetes. On the other hand, persons with type 1 diabetes did not develop steatosis, but displayed decreases in both hepatic ATP and Pi, possibly resulting from pharmacological insulin supply along with slightly impaired glycaemic control. Hepatic cATP tightly associated with hepatic insulin sensitivity, but not liver fat across both diabetes groups combined.
In the second scientific presentation, Dr. Roxana Adriana Stoica (Romania) focused factors involved in insulin resistance in women with thyroid pathology and prediabetes. First, she presented data from a cross-sectional study that evaluated the prevalence of insulin resistance, vitamin D deficiency and their association in women. Second, she discussed the role of chemokines in prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. IL-8 (CXCL8) levels were elevated in type 2 diabetes and subclinical hypothyroidism. CXCL11 levels were elevated in prediabetes and diabetes but not influenced by thyroid hormones. CXCL10 was elevated in prediabetes. Further studies including a larger number of patients, simultaneous determination of chemokines and their receptors and particularly prospective evaluations would be needed to better understand the role of this specific class of immune mediators.
The 12th Serbian Congress on Diabetes had many international speakers which included Professors Erifili Hatziagelaki (Greece), Christian Herder (Germany), Zdravko Kamenov (Bulgaria), Peter Kempler (Hungary), Nikolaos Papanas (Greece), Eberhard Standl (Germany) and Anca Pantea Stoian (Romania) from CEDA. CEDA is looking forward to a more intense cooperation with diabetologists in Serbia!
Prof. Dr. Christian Herder