July 1997
Volume 61 |
Number 7
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| 1,139 Papers Selected
for 1997 Scientific Program |
Thomas W. Feeley, M.D., Chair
Committee on Scientific Papers
The selection process for scientific papers to be presented at
the 1997 ASA Annual Meeting is complete. For the first time in
ASA history, there will be no oral presentations of scientific
papers at the Annual Meeting. The Committee on Annual Meeting
Review decided to eliminate oral presentations entirely at this
year's Annual Meeting. Scientific papers will be presented in
either a poster format or a poster-discussion format.
There will be 28 poster sessions of 30 posters each; presentations
are arranged based upon the subcommittee they were sent to in
the selection process. There will also be 36 poster-discussion
sessions of eight posters each, again based upon the subcommittee
to which they were originally submitted. There will again be the
Journal Symposium, which will discuss an additional 12 papers.
Scientific papers will be presented on Monday through Wednesday,
October 20-22, at the San Diego Convention Center.
Scientific Paper Selection Process
This year, there were 2,206 scientific papers sent to the ASA
Executive Office by the April 1 deadline, and all were reviewed.
Of those reviewed, there was room to accept 1,139, or 52 percent
of the papers submitted. This means that 48 percent of papers
submitted had to be rejected, not because of poor quality, but
simply because there was insufficient space to present any more
than 1,139 papers at this year's meeting. This means that there
were some excellent papers that could not be accepted. Only those
papers that received the highest ratings from the review subcommittees
were selected for presentation at the 1997 Annual Meeting.
The peer review process for selection of papers for presentation
begins when an author selects the subcommittee that he or she
thinks is the most appropriate according to research topic. ASA
has 14 subcommittees to review papers: Ambulatory and Geriatric
Anesthesia chaired by Joseph F. Johnson, M.D.; Clinical Circulation
chaired by Lee A. Fleisher, M.D.; Clinical Neurosciences chaired
by Jane Matjasko, M.D.; Critical Care and Trauma chaired by M.
Christine Stock, M.D.; Drug Disposition/Anesthetic Action chaired
by Steven L. Shafer, M.D.; Equipment/Monitoring/Engineering Technology
chaired by Jan Ehrenwerth, M.D.; Experimental Circulation chaired
by Paul M. Heerdt, M.D.; Experimental Neurosciences and Biochemistry
chaired by Alex S. Evers, M.D.; Local Anesthesia and Pain chaired
by James C. Crews, M.D.; Neuromuscular Transmission chaired by
Chingmuh Lee, M.D.; Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology chaired
by Andrew Malinow, M.D.; Patient Safety/Practice Management/History/Education
chaired by Susan L. Polk, M.D.; Pediatric Anesthesia chaired by
Steven C. Hall, M.D.; and Respiration chaired by Karen B. Domino,
M.D. Each subcommittee is composed of 11 ASA members.
On April 7, 1997, blinded abstracts were sent to each subcommittee
member for review without revealing who the authors are or from
what institutions the papers were submitted. Subcommittee members
reviewed and graded each paper with a numerical score. Papers
were graded based upon originality, methods, analysis, results,
conclusions and the overall composition of the work. Individual
subcommittee members were asked to score each paper as 80 (high
acceptance), 77 (low acceptance), 73 (probable rejection) or 70
(definite rejection). Those scores were faxed to the subcommittee
chairs by April 22, averaged and then forwarded to the ASA Executive
Office.
By the end of April, all the scores of all papers were sent to
the Chair of the Committee on Scientific Papers for allocation
into the 36 poster-discussion sessions and the 28 poster sessions.
Minimal cut score was determined for each subcommittee based upon
the number of submissions and the number of available sessions
for presentation. The mean cut score this year for all subcommittees
was 76.1. The list of abstracts was then returned to each subcommittee
chair for allocation of presentations into specific poster sessions
or specific poster-discussion sessions.
The subcommittee chairs also selected a moderator and two discussants
for each poster-discussion session and poster facilitators for
each poster session. This information was sent back to the ASA
office where a computer checked for conflicts that presenters
might have with other sessions they would be presenting during
the Annual Meeting. When all conflicts were suitably resolved,
the program was finalized, and notices were sent to each first
author announcing the committee's decision.
Poster and Poster-Discussion Sessions
Poster sessions will be held on Monday and Tuesday in seven partitioned
areas at one end of the Exhibit Hall in the San Diego Convention
Center. Each day, there will be a morning session and an afternoon
session in each of the seven locations in the Exhibit Hall.
The 36 poster-discussion sessions will be held Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday with 12 poster-discussion sessions scheduled each
day. Each poster-discussion session will be 90 minutes in length
and will be held in rooms 15, 16 and 17 on the mezzanine level
of the San Diego Convention Center. Each poster-discussion area
will have room for registrants to examine the posters plus seating
for 125 to hear the discussions of each selected poster.
Journal Symposium
The 1997 Journal Symposium will be held on Tuesday from 9 a.m.
to 12:30 p.m. in Room 6C of the Convention Center. Gary R. Strichartz,
Ph.D., is organizing this year's Journal Symposium. The topic
will be "The Toxicity of Volatile and Local Anesthetics."
Twelve abstracts have been selected for presentation at the Journal
Symposium.
Residents' Research Essay Contest
The three winners of the 1997 Residents' Research Essay Contest
also will present their work as posters during the meeting.
The first-prize winner is Christian W. Hoenemann, M.D., for his
paper titled "Influence of Sevoflurane and Halothane on Thromboxane
A2 Signaling." Dr. Hoenemann will present his
work in a poster-discussion session on drug disposition and anesthetic
action on Wednesday morning in Room 16A of the San Diego Convention
Center.
The second-prize winner is Peter K. Zahn, M.D., for his paper
titled "Effects of Intrathecal (IT) Non-NMDA Receptor Antagonists
in a Rat Model of Postoperative Pain." He will present his
work in a poster session on experimental neurosciences on Monday
afternoon in Room E in the Exhibit Hall.
The third-place winner is Zhiyi Zou, M.D., Ph.D., for his paper
titled "Inhibition of Excitatory Neurotransmission-Nitric
Oxide Signaling Pathway by Inhalation Anesthetics: A Mechanism
of Anesthesia?" Dr. Zou will present his paper in a poster
session on Monday morning in Room D of the Exhibit Hall.
Thomas W. Feeley, M.D., is Professor and
Head of the Division of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the
University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
E-mail the author.
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