Chronic Diseases calls for papers / meetings & conferences

Call for Abstracts: Controversies and Advances in the Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease: The Twelfth in the Series

September 21–22, 2012 Beverly Hills, California

Abstract submission deadline: August 24, 2012

We are proud to be celebrating the twelfth annual Controversies and Advances in the Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease symposium this year! The two-day scientific program will offer realistic views on many controversial topics, inlcuding coronary artery and left main disease, atrial fibrillation, valvular heart disease, mitral valve disease, chronic heart failure in the elderly and obese, adult congenital heart disease, and atrial septal defect.

The scientific program will consist of sessions focused on treatment options for specific cardiovascular disease states. Each session will include a combination of case presentations, cross-fires, discussion panels, and question and answer periods. A faculty of internationally known leaders in the field has been invited to share their knowledge and experiences with complex and controversial cases.

This conference is designed for cardiologists, cardiovascular and thoracic surgeons, interventional cardiologists, perfusionists, nurses, technologists, and those involved in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of individuals with controversial and complex cases of cardiac disease.

Submission of original abstracts are being accepted and will be considered for oral, poster and video presentation.

Call for Abstracts: ACP 2012--American College of Phlebology 26th Annual Congress

November 15-18, 2012 Hollywood, Florida

Submission deadline will be June 29, 2012.

26 Years of Venous Education

The ACP recognized the need for quality venous education twenty-six years ago and continues to fulfill on its mission of providing original education for an advancing specialty.

The ACP’s 26th Annual Congress will provide vein health practitioners with the latest techniques, innovative and engaging content, interaction with respected faculty from around the world and opportunities for all levels of skill and knowledge to gain the tools needed to improve patient care.

Join us November 15-18, 2012 at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, FL for this important program.

If you have questions about the 2012 ACP Annual Congress, please contact the ACP Meetings Department at:

Phone: 510.346.6800
Fax: 510.346.6808
email: meetings@acpmail.org

Address:
101 Callan Avenue
Suite 210
San Leandro, CA 94577

Call for Abstracts: 14th International Congress on Schizophrenia Research

Sunday 21 through Thursday 25 April 2013 Orlando, Florida. Satellite Meetings will be held Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 April 2013.

Abstracts submission deadline: 12 September 2012. All abstracts must be submitted online.

Call for Abstracts: Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer 27th Annual Meeting

October 26-28, 2012 North Bethesda, Maryland

The SITC 27th Annual Meeting allows for scientific exchange of the most cutting-edge preclinical and clinical data on immunotherapies and biological therapy of cancer. The program included dynamic presentations, interactive panel discussions and scientific posters on the most timely topics in cancer immunotherapy as well as vital information on clinical trial design and regulatory issues to advance collaboration and translation of cancer immunotherapies.

SITC is ideally positioned to meet the identified needs of our attendees. SITC’s strength lies in its history of organizing successful scientific conferences that gather clinicians and scientists from around the globe to interact and discuss the most important issues in cancer immunotherapy. By addressing these needs, SITC advances effective, efficient research and interaction on promising cancer therapies with biological and immunological agents. Through its integrated programs, SITC promotes productive collaboration among scientists and with other organizations in the field. Ultimately this scientific exchange and collaborative environment will lead to better cancer patient outcomes with novel cancer immunotherapies.

The SITC 27th Annual Meeting program format and content is designed to address identified needs/practice gaps and promotes:

Exchange between basic and clinical researchers, thus improving the caliber of the science and promoting translation
Discussion on potential hurdles in cancer immunotherapy from the trial design and regulatory perspective
Integrated understanding of the state of cancer immunotherapy research in today’s environment, identification of potential funding opportunities, and mentoring of junior investigators
Discussion of novel therapies and applications based on the research presented
Interactions with industry to promote access to novel agents for clinical development

Intended Audience

The audience for this program is basic and clinical investigators from academic institutions, industry and regulatory agencies, including clinicians, basic and translational researchers, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and allied health professionals involved in cancer research.

Program Goals

Exchange information on the most recent advances in tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy
Convey recent advances in biology and immunotherapy as they relate to specific cancers and various immunotherapy modalities, cell subsets, animal models, and aspects of negative regulation in the tumor microenvironment
Identify promising research opportunities, new techniques and clinical applications incorporating these advances
Establish dialogue between academia, industry and government on these advances

Expected Learner Outcomes

Upon completion of this program, the participants will be able to:

Summarize the most recent advances in tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy
Integrate recent advances in cancer immunology and immunotherapy into basic, clinical and translational research
Incorporate new research and techniques into clinical applications for cancer immunotherapy
Establish and solidify collaborations among the various members of academia, industry, government and clinical practices to promote clinical evaluation of these advances in more efficient trials

Abstracts

Each year, SITC has an open call for abstract submission for the SITC 27th Annual Meeting.

Submitting an abstract is free to members and non-members alike, so all are encouraged to submit. By submitting an abstract, you will be eligible to present a poster during the SITC 27th Annual Meeting and will be in consideration for one of the oral abstract presentation slots available in the plenary and concurrent sessions each day of the program. In addition, should you meet the criteria, you may be eligible for a Young Investigator Travel Award and possibly in contention for the SITC Presidential Award.

The deadline to submit an abstract is July 11, 2012.

Abstract Categories

Adoptive T Cell Transfer and Cell Therapy as Cancer Immunotherapy (CARS)
Combining Immunotherapy and Other Therapies
DC Subsets / Cancer Vaccines
Immunity of Oncolytic Viruses
Immunotherapy Combinations *
Innate Immunity in Cancer *
Single Cell High Throughput Technologies Immune Monitoring
T Cell Manufacture and Potency Testing
T Cell Modulating Strategies
Targeted Therapies and Anti-Tumor Immunity *
Targeting Immune Suppression
Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibodies in Cancer *
Tumor Microenvironment *
Tumor Vasculature, Chemokines and Lymphocyte Trafficking to the Tumor *

* Denotes poster only category. Abstracts submitted in these categories will be eligible for poster presentation only. However, abstracts submitted in these categories and noted eligible for Young Investigator Awards will be considered for both poster and oral presentations.

Abstracts submission for the SITC 27th Annual Meeting runs May 7 - July 11, 2012 through the SITC website.

Call for Annual Meeting Research Abstracts: National Hemophilia Foundation

The National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF) is pleased to announce its Call for Research Poster Abstracts for its 64thAnnual Meeting, “Mapping Our Future,” in Orlando, FL, November 8-10, 2012.

We encourage all physicians, researchers, nurses, physical therapists, social workers, chapter organizations and other collaborators engaged in research to submit poster abstracts for the premiere educational conference of the U.S. bleeding disorders community. The submission deadline is Friday, June 8, 2012.

A unique benefit of submitting your research poster abstract is that authors of the highest-rated abstracts will have an opportunity to give an oral presentation of their research during a special session of NHF's Annual Meeting Medical Track for Physicians and Researchers.

Please address general questions to: posterabstract@hemophilia.org or call Zuiho Taniguchi, NHF Program Manager: 212.328.3756 or ztaniguchi@hemophilia.org.

Call for Abstracts: 7th International Pediatric Intestinal Failure and Rehabilitation Symposium

September 6-8, 2012 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

We invite you to submit original research relating to pediatric intestinal failure, adaptation, intestine rehabilitation, and transplantation for the 7th International Pediatric Intestinal Failure and Rehabilitation Symposium.

Abstracts will be reviewed by the scientific organizing committee and the top 2 "highest ranked" abstracts will be awarded a travel grant up to $1,000.

Specific topics of interest include but are not limited to infection and immunity in intestinal failure and transplant, long term outcomes, parenteral nutrition and morbidities, intestinal adaptation, surgical techniques, cellular and tissue engineering, immune and genetic monitoring, immunosupression, acute and chronic rejection, and management of the sensitized patient.

Abstracts of unpublished research presented recently at other meetings will also be considered. Abstracts should be 250 words or less with no more than one figure. The deadline for submission is July 1, 2012.

Questions? Please contact Sharon Mastro at sharon.mastro@chp.edu

Call for Abstracts: 12th International Symposium on Myelodysplastic Syndromes

May 8-11, 2013 Berlin, Germany

Abstract submission deadline: February 6, 2013

The scientific program is designed to meet the aims of The MDS Foundation, which are “to provide an ongoing exchange of information relating to MDS and provides patients with referrals to Centers of Excellence, contact names for available clinical trials, sharing of new research and treatment options between physicians, and extension of educational support to both physicians and patients." The format will include plenary sessions (including a nursing symposium), debates, case-based discussion, topical workshops, oral and poster presentations.

This 12th symposium will again promote the clinical application of existing knowledge and the acquisition of new knowledge by bringing together clinicians, scientists and educators from around the world who deal with MDS.

Clinical Management: General
Diagnosis (including morphology, flow cytometry, molecular)
Epidemiology (including demographics, quality of life, co-morbidity)
Pathogenesis (including molecular, immunological, cellular, animal models, other)
Childhood MDS
Prognostic Factors and Models
Supportive Care including Iron Chelation Therapy
Stem Cell Transplantation
Therapy (including high-risk MDS, low-risk MDS, other)
Other

Call for Papers: Joint Meeting of the American Pancreatic Association and the International Association of Pancreatology

October 31 - November 3, 2012 Miami, Florida

Deadline: June 25 at Midnight CST

The 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Pancreatic Association (APA) to be held jointly with the International Association of Pancreatology (IAP) will take place at the Eden Roc Renaissance in Miami Beach FL from Oct 31-Nov 3. The meeting will include several mini-symposia in addition to abstract driven sessions including a symposia on Pancreatic Stem Cells and Stellate Cells (organized by Minoti Apte and Diane Simeone on Saturday Nov 3) and a consensus conference open to all participants to update the 2002 IAP Evidence-Based Guidelines on the Management of Acute Pancreatitis (on Wednesday October 31).

Abstracts must be received no later than June 25th to be considered for presentation at the meeting. Abstracts can be submitted electronically. The submission fee for each abstract is $60 and is required for each abstract, whether published or not. When you have submitted your abstract electronically, you will be able to pay the abstract fee with a credit card through PayPal. Alternatively, you may also mail a check, payable to American Pancreatic Association, for each abstract submitted.

Call for Papers: 2012 Quetelet Seminar--Adult Mortality and Morbidity

December 5-7, 2012 Research Centre in Population and Societies, Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Numerous demographic studies have been focusing on mortality and range from analysis of age-specific mortality to cause-of-death analysis or risks factors analysis. In countries with a long statistical tradition, mortality levels by sex, age and cause of death are easily obtained. Epidemiologists as well as demographers took interest in identifying risks factors and markers by age, sex and cause. Although these factors and markers remain the same for morbidities and the resulting mortality, little is known about morbidity levels, be it in terms of prevalence or incidence, except for pathologies that are recorded in specific registrars or for which large surveys are conducted. In countries with incomplete demographic data, both mortality and morbidity are little or badly documented except when subjected to specific surveys such as under-5 mortality or, to a lesser extent, morbidity. The need for medical diagnosis and assessment of severity of illness makes morbidity data collection especially challenging. Morbidity data collection is especially challenging as it involves. In addition, in armed conflict, post-conflict or natural disaster situations, evaluating the number of victims is crucial to assess needs as well as to ease the reconciliation process.

The 2012 Quetelet Seminar will focus on adult age morbidity and mortality analysis from the data collection and measurement perspective. It will be organised in collaboration with the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (UCL-CRED/WHO) and International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH). Communications will cover existing or in-the-making tools for data collection and measurement that serve to estimate adult-age morbidity levels in countries with good-level statistical data and adult-age morbidity and mortality levels in countries with incomplete data. Particular attention will be devoted to papers that deal with estimating mortality and morbidity in crisis or post-crisis time. Studies analysing interactions between mortality and morbidity as well as the role of health monitoring systems in situations conducive to potentially high public health risk are encouraged.

The 2012 Quetelet Seminar will be organised along the following three axes:

1. Morbidity Analysis

What are the existing data collection and measurement tools to estimate incidence and prevalence of diseases, including chronic diseases? What are their limits?

What morbidity data collection and registration tools are most effective? What are the most reliable data to collect for the measurement of functional and cognitive abilities in a population so as to evaluate dependency ratios? What health monitoring systems should be developed to detect and prevent infectious disease?

2. Adult mortality in countries where data are incomplete

What are the latest developments in the estimation of adult mortality in countries where civil registration data are incomplete or non-existent? How has adult mortality changed recently in developing countries, more than three decades after the onset of the HIV epidemic and in a context of increased access to antiretroviral treatment? Beyond mortality levels, how are inequalities in adult mortality analysed (by sex, according to educational or poverty levels)? What are the lessons to be learned from demographic surveillance sites, particularly in terms of causes of death, as reflected by verbal autopsies and associated tools?

3. Demographic impacts of armed conflicts and natural disasters

What impact armed conflicts and natural disasters have on adult morbidity and mortality? How is this impact measured? What different forms of resilience develop and how are they captured? What early warning systems can be put in place to limit the impact of disasters?

Instructions for submitting paper
Abstracts (1 page including tables) should be submitted by email before 8th June, 2012 to Isabelle Theys (Isabelle.Theys@uclouvain.be). The abstracts should include a description of the paper’s objective, background, data and research methods, as well as expected findings. Authors of accepted papers will be notified by 29th June.

Paper
The completed papers, either in English or French, should be sent before 15th November, 2012. The final version should not exceed 20 single-spaced pages, including tables and references.

Language
Papers will be presented in French or English, without simultaneous translation.

Publication
A selection of publications will be published in the proceedings of the Chaire Quetelet 2012.

Deadlines
Deadline for submission: 8th June, 2012
Author notification of accepted paper abstract: 29th June, 2012
Deadline for complete paper: 15th November, 2012
Quetelet Seminar: 5th-7th December, 2012

Call for Abstracts: International Society for Disease Surveillance Annual Conference

The ISDS Annual Conference is the premier event dedicated to the advancement of the science and practice of biosurveillance. This year’s theme, Expanding Collaborations to Chart a New Course in Public Health Surveillance, will highlight the importance of working together across agencies, sectors, and disciplines to improve surveillance methods and population health outcomes. The conference will be held at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina in San Diego, CA, December 4-5, 2012, with Pre-Conference Workshops on December 3rd.

The ISDS Conference draws professionals from a broad range of disciplines— epidemiology and computer science to mathematical modeling and health policy—to learn and contribute the latest achievements, methodologies, best practices, conceptual frameworks, and technical innovations in the rapidly evolving field of biosurveillance. This year's conference will provide fertile ground for cultivating new ideas and partnerships with roundtable discussions, panels and other opportunities to collaborate.

The scope of this conference includes all of the components, policies, methods, practices, infrastructure, research and evaluation related to timely surveillance of communicable diseases, chronic diseases and injuries. This includes notifiable conditions, adverse events and emerging/novel threats; biological, chemical, and radiological health threats; plant, animal, and food surveillance; and environmental monitoring.

Questions regarding the Call for Abstracts may be sent to Tera Reynolds, ISDS Program Manager.

Submission deadline: September 6, 2012 (11:59pm Eastern Daylight Time)

Authors notified of acceptance: October 3, 2012

Pre-Conference Workshops: December 3, 2012

Annual Conference: December 4-5, 2012

Submission Types

Note: All abstracts for the ISDS Conference will be submitted using ScholarOne. There is a limit of 4810 characters for the text of your submission. The character count includes spaces. The character count WILL include title, authors, institutions, tables, and images, but WILL NOT include presenting author brief biographical summaries (bios) or the abstract summary that will be used in the conference program.

Oral

All abstracts submitted for oral presentation are automatically considered for poster presentation as well. Include the following components when submitting an abstract for oral presentation:

· Title (85 characters MAX)

· Objective

· Introduction

· Methods

· Results

· Conclusions

· Acknowledgements

· References

· Names and affiliations of authors

· Brief bio of lead author/intended presenter (450 characters/75 words)

· Brief summary (600 characters/100 words) of submission to be used in conference program

Poster

Include the following components when submitting an abstract for poster presentation:

· Title (85 characters MAX)

· Objective

· Introduction

· Methods

· Results

· Conclusions

· Acknowledgements

· References

· Names and affiliations of authors

· Brief bio of lead author/intended presenter (450 characters/75 words)

· Brief summary (600 characters/100 words) of submission (for potential inclusion in conference program)

Panel *New for 2012*

Panel topics should be a specific aspect of design, theory, application, or experience pertaining to the science or practice of biosurveillance. Suggested panels should be comprised of no more than four participants and a moderator. A typical panel session will consist of four 15 minute presentations, each followed by 5 minutes of questions, with 10 minutes for closing discussion (presentation lengths will be subject to change based on final agenda). When submitting an abstract for a panel, include the following components:

· Title (85 characters MAX)

· Objective

· Introduction

· Panel description

· How the moderator intends to engage the audience in discussions on the panel topic

· Names of panel presenters, moderator and affiliations

· Brief bios for each panel presenter and moderator (450 characters/75 words each) for abstract reviewers to assess appropriateness to serve on the panel for the described topic

· Brief summary (600 characters/100 words) of panel to be used in conference program

Roundtable *New for 2012*

Roundtables can have up to three facilitators to briefly introduce the topic of interest and facilitate active discussion among attendees. Roundtables must be discussion-oriented rather than didactic, lecture-driven sessions. Roundtable discussions will be 60-90 minutes (depending on final agenda). When submitting an abstract for a roundtable, include the following components:

· Title (85 characters MAX)

· Objective

· Introduction

· Roundtable description

· How the facilitator intends to engage the audience in the roundtable discussion, including sample questions

· Names of facilitators and affiliations

· Brief bios for each facilitator (450 characters/75 words each) for abstract reviewers to assess appropriateness to lead a discussion on the described topic

· Brief summary (600 characters/100 words) of roundtable to be used in conference program

System Showcase Demonstrations *New for 2012*

System showcase demonstrations will be presented during the evening poster session on the first day of the conference. A typical demonstration will illustrate one or more aspects of an innovative population/public health surveillance system that is in use or under development. Demonstrations of open source and/or free products are strongly encouraged. System showcase demonstrations are not intended to be marketing or sales presentations and such submissions will be rejected; those interested in supporting the ISDS conference with an exhibit booth should contact Tera Reynolds at ISDS for more information. When submitting an abstract for a system showcase demonstration, include the following components:

· Title (85 characters MAX)

· Objective

· Introduction

· Description, highlighting benefits to public/population health surveillance and how this demonstration will be a unique addition to the ISDS conference

· Conclusions, including lessons learned and design principles from this demonstration that attendees can take away, even if not using or intending to use the system demonstrated

· Names of demonstrators and affiliations

· Brief summary (600 characters/100 words) of showcase to be used in conference program

Track Descriptions

I. Analytical Methods

a. Analytical Methods: Applied

b. Analytical Methods: Research & Development

This theme is focused on important and novel advances in the field of surveillance methodologies and analytical approaches. Abstracts in the Applied sub-track should describe methods or processes routinely used in a production-type environment. Abstracts in the Research and Development sub-track should describe methods and processes still under development or tested within a research or pilot setting. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

· Analytic evaluation of surveillance components

· Decision support

· Estimating morbidity and impact

· Evaluation of algorithms and systems through epidemic simulation

· Geospatial analysis

· Innovative use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology

· Integrating evidence from multiple sources

· Integration of mathematical modeling and statistical analyses

· New algorithms and evaluation of existing algorithms for cluster and event detection

· Pattern recognition algorithms

· Predictive disease modeling/predictive analytics

· Spatial cluster detection

· Statistical methods and tools for analyzing and interpreting data

· Time series analysis

II. Informatics

a. Informatics: Applied

b. Informatics: Research & Development

Abstracts in the Applied sub-track should describe methods or processes routinely used in a production-type environment. Abstracts in the Research and Development sub-track should describe methods and processes still under development or tested within a research or pilot setting. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

· Advances in methods for classifying data

· Approaches to building interoperable surveillance systems and components

· Borderless data exchange models (e.g. federated information sharing approaches)

· Cloud computing for public health surveillance

· Data integration – acquiring, moving, storing, processing, coding, normalizing, and preparing data for analysis between systems

· Data quality

· Data visualization methods

· Electronic health records and public health surveillance

· Health information exchange

· How clinical information systems can support public health surveillance efforts

· How public health information systems can support clinical efforts

· Informatics lessons learned

· Information and knowledge exchange

· Innovations in public health informatics

· Mobile technologies for public health

· Natural language processing

· Standards and Interoperability Framework (Public Health Reporting Initiative)

· Standards used in public health surveillance

· System architectures for limited connectivity environments and disaster surveillance

· System architectures for surveillance in low-resource environments

· System architectures to leverage HIE for public health surveillance

· System descriptions of real-world solutions to challenging integration problems

· Workforce requirements and training

· Use of social media for biosurveillance

III. Policy (at local, state, federal, international levels)

This theme is focused on sharing successes, challenges or approaches leveraged in the use or development of policy which affects biosurveillance operations and activities. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

· Creating successful surveillance partnerships

· Data sharing policies

· Federal policy agendas

· Funding strategies for surveillance

· How public health surveillance data have been used to inform policy

· International Health Regulations

· Legal/ethical/security/privacy issues in surveillance

· Meaningful Use responses by public health departments

· Policies around social media/leveraging social networks for risk communication, etc.

· Research collaborations to expand evidence-based health policy

· Workforce

IV. Public/Population health surveillance

a. Public/Population Health Surveillance: Practice

b. Public/Population Health Surveillance: Research

c. Public/Population Health Surveillance: Evaluation

This theme is focused on improving the daily processes of timely public/population health surveillance, including detection, signal validation, event characterization, investigation, and response. Abstracts in the Practice sub-track should describe practices routinely used in a production environment and/or deployed in field by public health departments or other agencies. Abstracts in the Research sub-track should describe research related to surveillance, health systems, etc. Abstracts in the Evaluation sub-track should describe evaluations of public/population health surveillance systems, workflows, protocols, etc. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

· Adverse drug events and pharmacovigilance

· Case studies

· Chronic disease surveillance

· Collaboration success stories

· Contact tracing and network analysis

· Disaster/event surveillance

· Disparities surveillance

· Evaluation of surveillance systems

· Infectious disease surveillance

· Influenza-like illness surveillance

· Injury surveillance

· Innovations in biosurveillance

· Integrating surveillance across multiple data sources

· Integrating surveillance systems, e.g. syndromic and reportable diseases

· Linking response with frontline health workers

· Meaningful Use and how it’s changing/not changing surveillance practice

· Measuring vaccine efficacy, coverage, etc.

· Messaging/risk communication (what to say to the public, politicians and media about syndromic systems alerts)

· Mobile technologies for public health

· Novel approaches to communicable diseases surveillance and reporting (e.g., notifiable conditions, MRSA, nosocomial infections)

· OneHealth

· Outbreak detection, characterization and outbreak management

· School and university surveillance

· Situational awareness

· Social media and surveillance

· Surveillance across borders

· Surveillance for refugees and recent immigrants

· Surveillance in resource-limited settings

· Surveillance using ambulatory care data

· Surveillance using inpatient data

· Vaccine-preventable disease surveillance