Proceedings of the VIIIth Conference of the International Society for Trace Element Research in Humans (ISTERH), the IXth Conference of the Nordic Trace Element Society (NTES), and the VIth Conference of the Hellenic Trace Element Society (HTES), 2007

Current state of knowledge and gaps in experimental evidence related to the physiologic role and toxicity of trace elements in human health were presented and discussed at an international joint conference in Hersonissos, Crete-Greece, in October 2007. The conference (ISTERH/NTES/HTES '07) constituted the VIIIth Conference of the International Society for Trace Element Research in Humans (ISTERH), the IXth Conference of the Nordic Trace Element Society (NTES), and the VIth Conference of the Hellenic Trace Element Society (HTES). The focus of the conference is put on the topics:

• Trace minerals as modulators of arterial function
• Zinc nutriture and the fetal origins of disease
• Health consequences of trace element deficiencies
• Copper in neurologic and neurodegenerative diseases
• Health effects of low dose exposure to toxic metals
• Environmental stress and mineral homeostasis
• Molecular mechanisms of metal induced disease
• Advances in analytical detection of trace elements in biological tissues
• Mineral elements and molecular signaling as it relates to human disease
• Is copper involved in carcinogenesis/carcinostatics?
• Zinc and the common cold
• The role micronutrients (iodine, iron and zinc) in intellectual development.