Inhalation Specialty Section of SOT

Greetings All from Harry Salem and the Technical Committee of ISS:

Hope you all had a great summer and are planning to attend the SOT meeting in Salt Lake City.  I look forward to seeing you there and invite you to attend the Technical Committee Meeting that will be held on Tuesday morning March 11 from 7:00 to 8:00 AM in the Solitude Room at the Marriott.  We need to discuss any progress in our two assignments or lack of progress, and plan the way ahead.  We also need to prepare a report for the business meeting to be held Tuesday evening.  if I missed anyone who has been attending the Tech committee meetings, please invite them.  Refreshments will be served.  Please attend even if it's your first time at the Tech meeting.  Email Harry if you plan on coming: harry.salem@us.army.mil

 

Winter 2003

Dear ISS Member:
It’s hard to believe that almost a year has gone by since our last SOT meeting in Grand Old Opry Land.  I guess that as we mature, time appears to go much faster.

I trust that you all had a happy, healthy and enjoyable summer, and are looking forward to the upcoming meetings in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Consistent with the past, the program is packed with exciting state-of-the-art activities starting with the continuing education Sunrise Mini Course on Sunday March 9, at 7:00 AM,  followed by more courses on Sunday, and then scientific sessions during the week and ending at noon on Thursday March 13.  There will be a Plenary Lecture by Dr. Donald Henderson, Office of Public Health Preparedness, HHS, who will discuss “Smallpox: The Death and Resurrection of a Virus”.  Dr. Henderson is noted for his leadership of the World Health Organization’s Global Smallpox Eradication Program.  He is also a founding director of the Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  Dr. Henderson also served a Dean of the School of Public Health from 1977 to 1990. 

There will be a general welcoming reception for all SOT attendees in the Salt Palace Ballroom on Sunday evening March 9 from 6:30 to 7:30 PM.

The Inhalation Specialty Section Reception and Business Meeting will be held on Tuesday Evening March 10 from 6:00 to 7:30 PM at the Salt Palace (151ABC).  Please check the program.

The Technical Committee will meet on Tuesday morning from 7:00 to 8:AM at the Marriott Downtown Solitude Room.

Although the Inhalation Specialty Section does not appear to be endorsing any of the continuing education courses this year, we are endorsing 3 symposia and 2 workshops.

 As in the past, this newsletter includes a message from our current president, Terry Gordon, the corrected and approved minutes of the Business, Executive Committee, and Technical Committee meetings conducted at the SOT meetings in March of 2002.

I look forward to seeing you all in Salt Lake City in March 2003. 

Harry Salem

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Greetings fellow Inhalation Toxicologists.  This is a quick update (before the upcoming Salt Lake City meeting) on a few issues that may be of interest to the ISS membership.  First, we continue to struggle with the problem of membership numbers.  The official 2002 tally for ISS listed 184 members.  The current 2003 membership list has 123 members.  This could indicate a drastic decline in interest in our Specialty Section, but hopefully it is the result of wide-spread late payments of annual dues.

SOT has officially instituted a new and improved method for funding the Specialty Sections so that we’ll receive sufficient money to operate.  In addition, the membership won’t be charged exorbitant rates for joining multiple Specialty Sections.

On a final note, the SOT leadership has begun to take some action to address the problem of poor attendance on Thursday, the final day of the annual meeting.  The Salt Lake City meeting will end on Thursday at noon.  Within the next couple years, Thursday will be eliminated and the meeting will start on Sunday afternoon. 

 It’s not clear what effect this will have on the Continuing Education Programs which have traditionally taken place on Sunday.

Good luck to you all, and see you in Salt Lake City.  Feel free to bring up new issues at the ISS business meeting on Tuesday night in Room 151 ABC at 6 PM.  For example, we still have no real presence on the SOT website and we should decide if an effort to create a useful site is worthwhile (maybe a new subcommittee is necessary).

 Terry Gordon, President

Meeting of Technical Committee of ISS

March 20, 1002, Nashville, TN

(Minutes prepared by Rogene F. Henderson, PhD)

The meeting was called to order by Harry Salem, chair.  Also present were Jack Harkema, Rogene Henderson, Rudi Jaeger, Jim McGrath, Richard Parent, Dale Porter, Richard Schlesinger, and Dave Warheit.
        The first point of discussion was a logo for ISS. Harry said he had received varying comments on the logo suggested by Jack Harkema.  The group agreed that some discussion of the logo should occur at the annual meeting to be held that night.
        Two information papers have been planned for ISS.  One is on low dose extrapolation and is headed by Richard Schlesinger.  One is on the testing regimen recommended by the EPA for hazardous air pollutants (HAP) and is headed by John Morris.
        The group discussed the low dose paper first.  Michelle Schafer should be contacted about the paper on low dose extrapolation  that the ACGIH is writing.  Rich Schlesinger asked that someone else take over the chair of this subcommittee but he is willing to help with the writing.  Rogene Henderson agreed to chair the group. Dale Porter, Jim McGrath and Harry Salem would like to be on the subcommittee. Others suggested Bill Griffith,  Michelle Schafer and Bobby Scott. The group would like to get together in a small working group at the SOT headquarters this summer.
        The paper on the HAP testing is concerned with the large amount of acute toxicity required, when the main concern is the chronic toxicity of low levels of HAP in the environment. Mary Jane Selgrade is the contact person at EPA and the details are given in 40CFR 799.1350. The HAP working group will have John Morris, David Warheit, Rudi Jaeger and others who show
interest. The group next discussed program material from ISS for SOT in 2003.  Charles Plopper is the program chairman for ISS next year.  Suggestions must be in by April 15th.  Rogene Henderson will re-submit she suggested symposium
on reducing harm from cigarette smoking.  Dave Warheit suggested a symposium on bioterrorism, but others thought that was already being submitted by another group. A symposium on low dose extrapolation would be appropriate after the white paper is written.  A suggestion was made for a workshop on integration of epidemiology and toxicology information on the toxicity of particulate matter in the air.  Rich Schlesinger will look into it after the upcoming HEI meeting.

 Minutes of the Inhalation Specialty Section Business Meeting 

The Annual Business Meeting was held on Wednesday, March 20^th, 2002, at the Opryland Hotel. The meeting began with a social period at 6 PM.

The meeting was called to order by President Jack Harkema at around 6:30PM. Harkema welcomed the members to the meeting and introduced the Secretary/Treasurer Ilona Jaspers to give the Secretary and Treasurer’s report. 

Jaspers presented the Treasurer’s report. She noted that as of January 31^st, 2002, the ISS had a paid membership of 166, compared to 221 during the previous year. However, Jaspers noted that this number might not be correct, since several ISS members were not on the membership list, and other ISS members were listed under different Specialty Sections. Jaspers indicated that she would follow up with the SOT Specialty Section Officer to get an updated list of ISS members. With these incomplete numbers at hand, Jaspers reported that the estimated total revenue for the current year was $3,407 (membership fees plus interest). Similarly, the expenses for the previous year had to be estimated since the cost for last year’s reception, symposia, ballot, and several other items were still missing. However, Jaspers reported that the estimated total expenses for the previous year were about $3,900 (awards $500, plaques $242, reception $3,000, and other expenses). The estimated deficiency over revenue was $493. With a transfer from the SOT general fund of $2,500, the estimated balance as of March 2002 is $2,000. However, Jaspers noted that SOT would no longer transfer money from the general fund to the Specialty Section budget. Thus, next year, the ISS cannot overspend beyond its income.  

Harkema introduced Harry Salem, to give his report on the Technical Committee. He started by confirming that his tenure as chair of the Technical Committee was renewed. Salem solicited input from the ISS members for the ISS newsletters, which appear twice a year and are distributed electronically to ISS members. Salem continued by reporting on past and present technical papers generated by the ISS. The first paper entitled Intratracheal Instillation as an Exposure Technique for the Evaluation of Respiratory Tract Toxicity was presented to EPA and very well received. Dale Porter confirmed the value of this information paper and added that this paper has been used as a resource and review by industry, government, and academia. The two current initiatives for information papers are Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAP), including acute toxicity and histopathology and the requirement for bronchoalveolar lavage and macrophage activity, and Low Dose Extrapolation. The subcommittees on HAP and Low Dose Extrapolation are chaired by John Morris and Rogene Henderson, respectively. James McGrath suggested an initiative on PM research, which would integrate the current knowledge on epidemiology and toxicology. 

VP Terry Gordon gave the report from the Program Committee. This year the ISS submitted 9 proposals for symposia, out of which 4 were approved for symposia and one was modified into a workshop. Terry encouraged ISS members to submit proposals for next year’s SOT meeting and that these proposals should be addressed to Steven Kleeberger. Terry reminded everyone that the deadline for proposal submission is April 15^th, 2002. He also noted that the selection and scheduling policies of the SOT program committee have changed and that representatives of the individual specialty section may no longer have any influence over the scheduling of symposia submitted by their specialty section. 

Harkema introduced VP-elect Steven Kleeberger for the awards committee report. Kleeberger thanked the awards committee and continued by introducing the winners of the best paper award K.A. Brenneman, B.A. Wong, M.A. Buccellato, E.R. Costa, E.A. Gross, and D.C. Dorman for their paper entitled “Direct Olfactory Transport of Inhaled Manganese (⁵⁴MnCl₂) to the Rat Brain: Toxicokinetic Investigations Using a Unilateral Nasal Occlusion Model” Published in Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 169: 238-248, 2000. Fred Miller introduced this year’s winner of Young Investigator award, Julia Kimbell from CIIT, whose work in nasal deposition and dosimetry and development of models for risk assessment have been used and acknowledged by other agencies, including EPA. Kleeberger continued by introducing this year’s Student Award winner, Jeffrey W. Card from Queens University, Kingston Ontario with Thomas E. Massey, Ph.D. as his mentor for his study entitled “Anti-Fibrotic Activity of Pirfenidone in a Hamster Model of Amiodarone-induced Pulmonary Toxicity”. The award was presented by a representative of Taylor-Francis. Kleeberger turned the microphone over to Michelle Fanucchi, who presented this year’s winner of the Career Achievement Award, Dr. Charlie Plopper from UC Davis. 

Harkema, who stood-in for Michelle Schaper from the Nominating committee, thanked the committee and introduced the new officers for the ISS, Steve Gavett and Matthew Reed as Councilors, and Charlie Plopper as Vice President-elect. Jack then turned the meeting and the president’s gavel over to the incoming President, Terry Gordon. 

Terry thanked the outgoing officers, councilors Kent Pinkerton and Patricia Weideman (certificates of appreciation) and President Jack Harkema (gavel of appreciation),for their efforts on behalf of the ISS.  Gordon continued by introducing new business.  He introduced James Dayo from the American Chemistry Council (ACC).  Dayo made the ISS aware of the Early Career Award sponsored by the ACC for $100,000 to conduct research along the ACC guidelines to refine risk assessment and identify susceptible subpopulations to inhaled chemicals.  The deadline for applications is September 1^st, 2002. Gordon reviewed the motion accepted by the ISS Executive Committee that the ISS awards committee, composed of the present and incoming president, the vice president, and vice-president elect, will recommend the top 3-5 applications from the ISS to the SOT awards committee, which will make the final decision on the award. David Warheit agreed to be the ACC representative of the ISS to review the proposals. 

Terry noted that the ISS currently has no presence on the worldwide web and encouraged ISS members for suggestions as to what should be included in the ISS website. The ISS bylaws and the newsletter will be the initial items on the website. Further suggestions for ISS website entries should be forwarded to the President, who reviews and passes them on to the Secretary/Treasurer, who will send them to the SOT webmaster. Simple entries are charge-free, while development of larger entries, such as databases, will be charged on an hourly basis by the SOT webmaster. Another item to be displayed on the ISS website is the ISS logo developed by Jack Harkema, which was approved by an e-mail vote.  

Terry reiterated that there is a lack of nominations for the individual awards and that the Executive Committee has developed a strategy to increase student nominations by identifying ISS student members, marking SOT abstracts submitted by student members, and encouraging the individual students to be nominated by their respective mentor or another SOT member. A potential approach to increase nominations for the best paper award involves scanning all inhalation-related abstracts in SOT journals and sending them to the councilors for a vote. Dan Costa noted that this had been done successfully in the past. However, Fred Miller noted that nominations for the awards should be done by ISS members and not by the ISS executive committee. Terry asked if there was any new business. None being raised, Gordon adjourned the meeting at 7:40PM. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Ilona Jaspers

2001-2002 Secretary/Treasurer

Minutes of the Inhalation Specialty Section Executive Committee Meeting 

The Executive Committee meeting was held on Wednesday, March 20^th, 2002 at Rachel’s Restaurant in the Opryland Hotel, Nashville, TN. Present were Terry Gordon, Kevin Dreher, Jeff Everitt, Steven Kleeberger, Harry Salem, Ilona Jaspers, Jack Harkema, Charlie Plopper, and Matthew Reed. The meeting was called to order by incoming president Terry Gordon at 11:30AM. 

The current budget for the ISS was discussed. Terry Gordon reported from the presidents meeting that the current Specialty Section membership fees of $25 for full members and $10 for Student members are too high for SOT members to register in more than one Specialty Section, which might present a problem for some Specialty Sections. Ilona Jaspers pointed out that the current budget information is still incomplete, since the number of ISS members decreased significantly as compared to last year and the member list was clearly missing several people known to be members of the ISS. This seems to be a more general problem, since other Specialty Sections have been complaining about incomplete member lists. Furthermore, there will be no more transfer of money from the SOT general funds, which means that the Specialty Sections from now on have to stay within their own budget. Jack Harkema pointed out that with the membership dues being $25 and the costs for reception for the yearly business meeting are $19.50/person (which includes snacks and open bar), the revenues remaining in the budget for items such as student awards and plaques are very small. Jeff Everitt indicated that other Specialty Sections proposed to solicit industry sponsors to supplement their budget. In particular, he suggested that industry sponsors could donate money towards specific awards, such as student awards, rather than contributing to the total ISS budget.  Charlie Plopper indicated that it would be a useful strategy to approach Inhalation-related companies in the upcoming year and ask for donations to the ISS budget or specific awards. 

Based on the omission of known ISS members from emails send out by SOT, Terry Gordon suggested that we should get an updated list of ISS members from SOT headquarters, distribute that list, and assure that all members are on that list. 

Terry Gordon continued by pointing out that the ISS has no presence on the internet. Based on last year’s suggestions, Jack Harkema designed a logo for the ISS, which was distributed to ISS members for critiques and comments. This logo would go onto the ISS website. Suggestions for items to be displayed in the ISS website included the newsletter and the ISS bylaws. Terry Gordon indicated that small items can be added free of charge to the website through the SOT webmaster, however, to generate larger items for the ISS website, such as databases, the SOT webmaster would charge on an hourly basis. In general, additions to the website should be sent to the Secretary/Treasurer, who will forward it to the  president for approval and ultimately send it to the SOT webmaster. 

Steven Kleeberger reported from the Awards Committee. Similar to last year, there was a lack of nominations in most categories. The question arose as to whether the single nominee within a certain category should automatically receive the award without any competition or voting. Consequently, it was discussed how to increase the number of nominations. The problem should be brought to attention (again) at the yearly business meeting. It was suggested that for the student awards, the inhalation training centers should be directly addressed to nominate their students. In addition, Charlie Plopper proposed to find out the students within the ISS, go through the SOT abstracts, and choose students without nomination based on their abstracts. Once the students are identified, the individual students are encouraged to get nominated through their advisors or other SOT members. To increase the number of nominations for best paper, Terry Gordon reminded everyone that the ISS bylaws say that if there are no nominations for the best paper award, the incoming vice-president elect and the councilors can nominate manuscripts. Jeff Everitt suggested that in such as case there should be an awards committee that searches through all the abstracts published in SOT journals pertaining to inhalation toxicology. However, Terry Gordon felt that it is not the duty of the executive committee to nominate and choose the best paper award and that other options to increase the participation in the awards nomination should be explored. 

Terry Gordon summarized that so far this year’s attendance for symposia and continuing education courses has been fair to poor. He reminded everyone that the deadline for symposia suggestions for next year’s SOT meeting is April 15^th, 2002. Kevin Dreher suggested a symposia on bioterrorism combined with the inhalation-related data following the attack on the World Trade Center. Other suggestions for symposia were irritants, headed by Dan Costa, cigarette smoke, headed by Rogene Henderson, and mixtures, headed by Mike Madden and Jack Harkema. Jeff Everitt suggested organizing a continuing education course on Bioimaging. In addition, Steven Kleeberger suggested that ISS should solicit other agencies, such as American Lung Association, Health Effects Institutes, or Environmental Protection Agency to sponsor a symposium, similar to the NIEHS sponsored symposia on Environmental Influences on Childhood Asthma at this year’s SOT meeting. 

Jack Harkema presented the information on the newly established early career award sponsored by the American Chemistry Council. This award, in conjunction with the ISS, is a sizeable stipend for young investigators. It was discussed that the ISS executive committee would appoint an awards committee, composed of the present-, and incoming president, vice president, and vice president-elect, who would evaluate the applications for the early career award and recommend the best 3-5 applications for a final decision to the SOT Awards Committee. This motion was accepted.

 

Terry Gordon asked Harry Salem to continue serving as chair of the Technical Committee, which he accepted.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 1:00 PM.