The Season for Plums … and for Laser and Light-Based Device Meetings.

Abstract

A warm (but wet) welcome, literally, from Tokyo, where we are “enjoying” our annual “tsuyu” or rainy season. The term actually means “plum rain” because it is associated with the seasonal ripening of the green plum known here as “ume”. While still green, they can be layered in a suitable container with rock sugar crystals and covered in clear liquor with an alcohol content of around 37%, then left for a minimum of 6 months, although in general the longer it is left, the tastier is the resulting liquor. This is called “Umeshu”, or plum wine, and is enjoyed straight, on the rocks, or as a long drink with ice and soda which makes it a really refreshing summertime drink. When the plums start to turn orange-yellow, they are ready to be dried and pickled to produce the mouth-puckering but refreshing “umeboshi”, pickled plums. However, more importantly for Laser Therapy, this is also the season for a number of important meetings of societies for laser- and light-based medicine, who are also using Laser Therapy as their official organ. By the time you read this, the European Association for Laser Aesthetic Surgery (ESLAS) will have held their annual meeting under the banner of the European Laser Association and in cooperation with the Dutch Laser Association, in beautiful Athens (June 25th – 27th). I hope as many of as possible will have supported this meeting which had a very strong LLLT component. Then at the beginning of July, on the 9th and 10th, there will be the 6th meeting of the International Phototherapy Association (IPTA), in Nice on the French Riviera. The program of abstracts of this meeting is printed elsewhere in the journal, from which you can see there is a large variety of subjects covered by some of the acclaimed international experts in the field. Take a look at www.ipta6congress.international - it is probably too late to submit an abstract, but never too late to book for the warm and sunny venue of Nice and enjoy a strong scientific and excellent social program under the care of Professors Jean-Paul Roca, aided and abetted by Professors Carlo Fornaini and Leonardo Longo. In August, The 21st Congress of the International Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (ISLSM), will take place from the 20th to the 22nd of the month, in the Hotel Fortune Landmark, Indore, in the very heart of central India. The ambitious programme is developing nicely under the Congress President and ISLSM President-Elect, Dr Sharon Rau, and the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Prof Krishna Rau. Please visit www.islsm2015.com. As part of the run-up to the ISLSM in India, I had planned to make this a ”Focus on India” issue. However, because of a conflict with the number of refereed and accepted papers, other papers already in line for publication, and the necessity to publish the abstracts from the 6th IPTA meeting, this issue was called “Focus on India, Part 1”. Volume 2:3 will be Focus on India, Part 2, when we will publish some more papers from our Indian colleagues. Although it is not a meeting with roots in the journal, another interesting meeting for Laser Therapy readers to think about putting in their calendars is the 5CC (Five Continents' Congress) meeting in Cannes, France, September 3rd to 6th. This meeting attracts more and more attendees with a larger faculty each year, with R Glen Calderhead on faculty this year to represent the interests of the journal, the WFSLMS, ISLSM and IPTA. Dr Michael Gold is the Congress President, and details can be found by visiting http://www.5-cc.com/cannes-2015/home/. The Call for Abstracts has gone out, and abstract submission details can be found on the website in addition to the tentative programme.