WELCOME MESSAGES
THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL ORGANISING AND SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE OF THE CONFERENCES
Welcome to Paphos, Cyprus, EU, host town of the 29th ICOC, 11th RAHMS, 8th ICOAR and the 1st Post-Covid international conferences in 2023. Major developments have taken place in Cyprus since the previous conference in 2019 and just before the COVID-19 pandemic, with the introduction of the state own national health system (GESY). Within this change, the vast majority of people, as well as the hospitals and physicians of Cyprus are now incorporated in this unique national health system.
Papho’s history spans through thousands of years and has many natural, cultural and ancient attractions. In particular, Paphos has been known in ancient times as the birthplace of Aphrodite or Venous, the goddess of love, who was born from the foam of the sea waves. Conference participants will have the opportunity to visit the ancient sites, museums and other areas, which are of cultural and natural sightseeing interest.
The venue of the conference is situated on a beach area on the seafront, not very far from the centre of Paphos. As in previous conferences the tranquillity of the venue and the excellent Cypriot cuisine and hospitality will be stimulating for a successful conference in relaxing surroundings. The local organising committee hope that all participants will have stimulating scientific sessions, memorable experience and an enjoyable and relaxing time in Cyprus.
Dr Theodora Karafyllidou MD
General Practitioner, Blue Cross Hospital and Postgraduate Research Institute, Paphos, Cyprus.
THE HONOURARY PRESIDENT OF THE 11th RAHMS
Greetings! It is my privilege and honor, and on behalf of the Scientific and Organizing Committees, to extend a warm welcome to all participants and guests to the 11th Recent Advances in Health and Medical Sciences (RAHMS) Conference in Cyprus. This conference brings together a number of leading scientists presenting cutting-edge advances in a broad range of Medical and Research disciplines.
The 11th RAHMS will take place in conjunction with the 29th International Conference on Chelation (ICOC); the 8th International Conference on Oncology and Anti-cancer Research (ICOAR); and the 1st Post-Covid-19 joint International Multidisciplinary Conference. There will be ample opportunity for scientific exchange between groups and open discussions with colleagues – biologists, chemists, physicians, allied health professionals, and importantly, students.
The platform for scientific exchange will take place in this pleasant, comfortable, and relaxed atmosphere. I am also confident that your participation will be a rewarding experience – advancing our knowledge, generating new ideas in the pathophysiology of different diseases that afflict man, and initiating new collaborations.
Again, welcome and I look forward to meeting each of you and discussing our common scientific interests, here in Cyprus.
Dr Homer S. Black
Professor Emeritus, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
THE PRESIDENT OF INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF CHELATORS AND METALS (ISOCAM)
As the inaugural and continuing President of the International Society of Chelators and Metals (ISOCAM), I would like to warmly welcome you to the 29th International Conference on Chelation for the treatment of thalassaemia, cancer, and other diseases.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this conference has not been held since 2019, and its tremendous that it can be held again together with the 11th International Conference on Recent Advances in Health and Medical Sciences and the 8th International Conference on Oncology and Anticancer Research.
For the first time, Professor Kontoghiorghes has also proposed the organization of the 1st Post-COVID-19 conference to supplement the broad reach of the meeting.
The conference will be held in Paphos at the Athena Beach Hotel in early-mid November, a fantastic time of year when the weather has slightly cooled to a very comfortable expected maximum of 22°C. Apart from the excellent and broad scientific program, sightseeing tours of the wonderful vistas of Cyprus and social events will be available.
I very much look forward to greeting you and enjoying the science and hospitality!
Dr Des. R. Richardson
Professor and Director, Cancer Cell Biology and Drug Discovery, Griffith Institute of Drug Discovery, Griffith University, School Environment and Science, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
THE PRESIDENT OF THE 11th RAHMS, SECTION OF FREE RADICALS AND OXIDATIVE STRESS
Welcome to Cyprus, the attractive country with a rich history, where ancient castles, churches and museums are visited by millions of tourists every year. Cyprus has a warm climate all year round, a friendly population, and beautiful scenery with the sandy beaches, and the forests in the mountains.
I am grateful to Prof. Kontoghiorghes and his staff for being able to organize new meeting in Cyprus after a long break caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, the meeting will combine three traditional conferences (29-th International Conference on Chelation, the 11-th International Conference on Recent Advances in Health and Medical Sciences, and the 8-th International Conference on Oncology and Anticancer Research) as well as the 1-st Post-Covid-19 conference, which will cover all scientific and medical aspects of the pandemic including other topics such as the post-Covid-19 effects, as well as prevention measures and policies for future pandemics. The topics of these conferences cover a wide range of issues including topics related to the role of metal ions and free radicals in living systems.
I am sure that Prof. Kontoghiorghes and his team will organize a highly successful and pleasant meeting in Cyprus this year.
Dr Nikolay Polyakov
Professor, Institute of Chemical Kinetics and Combustion, Novosibirsk, Russia.
THE PRESIDENT OF THE 11th RAHMS
SECTION OF PLANT PRODUCTS IN DISEASE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
The continuous increase of communicable (CDs) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has been driven by a number of modifiable, behavioral risk factors, such as poor hygiene, unhealthy and unsafe diets, physical inactivity, exposure to tobacco smoke and the harmful use of alcoholic beverages, in addition to environmental (air pollutants), occupational (carcinogens, particulates, gases, fumes) and metabolic (hypertension, overweight/obesity, hyperglycemia, hypercholesterolemia) risk factors. Nowadays, the epidemics of CDs and NCDs pose devastating health consequences for individuals, families and communities, threatening to overwhelm health systems, particularly in low-income countries. Therefore, the urgent need for novel drugs to reduce the global burden of both CDs and NCDs has greatly stimulated the exploration of plant products as a source of novel and effective phytotherapeutic agents. Innovative therapeutic approaches are more than ever of paramount importance, including the use of natural products as adjuvant agents in combination with conventional therapeutics to increase their efficacy and/or reduce adverse effects, such as chemosensitizers or radiosensitizers in anticancer therapies, to improve the efficacy of conventional antimicrobials and reverse multidrug resistance, the latter being a global threat due to the genetic plasticity and environmental adaptability of pathogenic microorganisms. Plant products represent a nearly unlimited source of multitarget active ingredients, consisting in complex mixtures of hundreds of different compounds that may be synergistically active once administered. It is noteworthy that the rationale for using natural products relies on their multitarget mechanisms of action, which are of particular interest in the treatment of diseases with a multistage pathogenesis. Not least, selected phytochemicals can also be used as the lead compounds for drug discovery and templates for the development of new scaffolds for synthetic drugs.
In this complex scenario, it is our great pleasure to invite you to join us at the 11th RAHMS, much more than a congress. This Conference represents a unique opportunity for the scientific community of natural products to come together to present their innovative and valuable findings, learn, share ideas, and build relationships and friendships with colleagues from all over the world. We will examine and discuss recent trends in the biological activities of plant natural products and their applications in many different biomedical fields, confident that many new and exciting collaborations will emerge from this meeting.
We look forward to warmly welcoming you to Paphos.
Dr Marcello Iriti
Professor, Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Sciences, University of Milan, Italy.
WELCOME MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF
THE ICOC, RAHMS, ICOAR AND COVID CONFERENCES
On behalf of the Local and International Organising and Scientific Committees, I would like to welcome you to the 29th International Conference on Chelation (ICOC) for the treatment of Thalassaemia, Cancer and other Diseases of metal and free radical imbalance and toxicity, the 11th International Conference on Recent Advances in Health and Medical Sciences (RAHMS), the 8th International Conference on Oncology and Anticancer Rersearch (ICOAR) and the 1st Post-Covid-19 Conference, which will take place in Paphos, Cyprus, from the 9th - 13th November, 2023.
It is more than 40 years ago since the discovery of Deferiprone (L1) and the introduction of oral iron chelation therapy globally, which led to the transformation of thalassemia from a fatal to a chronic disease. The monitoring of this transformation through the years by the ICOC conferences highlights the importance of such meetings in medicine. However, the challenges never end in science and medicine. For example, the recent discovery of ferroptosis and its association to almost all diseases including all types of cancer, highlights once again the importance of iron metabolism and its potential modulation/control using chelating drugs for the control/treatment of diseases.
The ICOC/ RAHMS/ ICOAR/COVID joint conferences is an open platform event used for stimulating research and open discussions in many scientific and academic areas from chemistry to medicine. The conference will address the latest developments in medical and other sciences. Distinguished colleagues, scientists, medical practitioners, health professionals and students from all over the world will gather to present and discuss their scientific findings and theories.
It is our duty in this academic gathering to keep in mind the global perspective of health, disease and environmental issues. Most importantly we need to find solutions for the treatment of life threatening diseases affecting millions of patients including patients in the developing countries with scarce resources. Similar to previous conferences, we will try to organise social and other events and also a constructive, high standard scientific and medical meeting in Cyprus.
Dr George J Kontoghiorghes
Professor, Director, Postgraduate Research Institute of Science, Technology, Environment and Medicine, Cyprus.
