GUIDELINES FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
Maximum care should be given to writing your abstract. Please read carefully the following guidelines, designed to standardize the abstract submission procedure. Abstracts that do not meet these criteria will not be accepted.
ABSTRACT PREPARATION
Format
Studies in all areas of Plastic Surgery Research – basic science and translational science will be considered suitable for presentation: all types of cell therapies, nanotechnology, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, stem cell biology, adipose tissue and fat grafting, scars, microsurgery, breast, lymphedema, virtual reality and 3D medical printing, wound healing, composite tissue allografts, skin oncology, immunology, and peripheral nerves, and other interesting ideas for the development of plastic surgery.
To achieve a balanced final program, papers will be divided into categories. The purpose of the investigation should be clearly stated, and results must be supplied.
Abstracts should be uniformly written giving a title and using the following headings for the body text:
- Introduction
- Materials/Patients and Methods
- Results
- Conclusion
Names, addresses, institutions must not appear in the text, penalty the exclusion.
Maximum length 300 words.
Example
Title:PERIPHERAL NERVE REPAIR: MULTIMODAL COMPARISON OF REGENERATIVE POTENTIAL OF ADIPOSE DERIVED CELLS IN A BIODEGRADABLE CONDUIT
INTRODUCTION
Tissue engineering is a popular topic in peripheral nerve repair. Combining a nerve conduit with supporting cells appears to offer an opportunity for improved clinical outcomes, which have been poor to date. e aim of this study was to provide a broad overview over the most interesting and promising transplantable cells under equal experimental conditions over a long term period.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
1 Mio. of each of the following cell types were introduced into biodegradable fibrin conduits: rat adipose-derived stem cells (rASCs), Schwann cell (SC)-like differentiated rASC (drASC), rat SCs (rSCs), human (h-)ASCs from the superficial and deep abdominal layer as well as human stromal vascular fraction (SVF). e sciatic nerve injury model was used creating a 10mm gap in the le nerve of female Sprague Dawley rats (7 groups of 7 animals, 8 weeks old) and was bridged through this conduit. As a control we re-sutured a 10mm cut nerve segment backwards as an autograph. Long-term evaluation was carried out after 12 weeks in a multimodal manner comprising walking track and morphometric, as well as MRI analysis. e Sciatic Function Index (SFI) was calculated with the help of a functional evaluation tool. Moreover, cross-sections of the nerve proximal, distal and in between the two sutures, corresponding to the former gap, were analyzed. Furthermore gastrocnemius muscle weights between groups were compared and in addition imaging analysis (MRI) was performed.
RESULTS
MRI revealed muscle atrophy across all groups and proved biodegradation of the fibrin conduit. Correlating trends throughout the different evaluation techniques could be shown: Superficial human ASC supported regeneration better than deep, in line with published in vitro data. SC-like drASC had the best regeneration potential when compared to the other adipose tissue derived cells.
CONCLUSIONS
We compared the most interesting transplantable cells in peripheral nerve repair, analyzing them in a multimodal manner comprising functional and morphometric, as well as MRI analysis. In conclusion, particularly differentiated ASCs could be a clinically translatable route towards new methods to enhance peripheral nerve repair.
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
Submitters
Abstract submission is open to all plastic Surgeons, residents in training in Plastic Surgery and fellow researchers.
Language and Format
Abstracts must be submitted in English, correctly spelled and carefully checked. Text must be single-spaced, and not exceed 300 words. If accepted for presentation, the original text of the submitted abstract will be printed without any changes or corrections in the final abstract book.
Submission
Abstracts must be submitted online via the ERC website by 15.10.2024.
ACCEPTANCE POLICY
Review
After submission, the ERC Committee will perform an anonymous evaluation and review of the abstracts. Emphasis in the review process will be put on the originality and innovativeness, the scientific use or translational clinical use, following by the quality of the research, the analysis of the data, and the well documented and structured abstract.
Abstracts that meet the requirements are accepted for presentation at the Annual ERC Meeting. Information regarding acceptance/refusal of the abstracts will be sent by the end of December.
Accepted Abstracts
The person whose name appears as “first author” will be presenting the submitted abstract. Onsite substitution of absent first authors by co-authors, or other participants to the meeting, will not be possible.
Multiple Submissions
EURAPS RC website accepts up to two (n=2) abstracts per first author, however in case both abstracts pass review and make it to the final program, the author will choose one of the two abstracts. The second abstract will be automatically presented by the next co-author available. Attempts of submission after 2 abstracts will be rejected.
ETHICS
EURAPS RC has a strict policy against plagiarism and has implemented software that verifies authenticity and originality of papers. Multiple submissions of the same abstracts with different authors, different titles, in different categories, submission of abstracts with similar texts, are strictly forbidden and will be immediately identified and lead to complete exclusion of the abstract(s) from further evaluation and complete exclusion of the author(s) from future ERC Meetings.
In accordance with EURAPS by-laws, authors are requested to be sensitive to, and show respect for, ethnic, cultural, religious, and gender diversity.
PRESENTATION
Format
For the 13th ERC annual meeting, authors of accepted abstracts are asked to submit their presentation in powerpoint or keynote format, the slide center at least two hours prior to their session. The use of personal computers/mac is not permitted.
In case of any videos embedded within the presentations, authors are requested to bring the original source files in addition to their presentation. The slides should be prepared in 16:9 format, and ERC recommends the use of the international system of units (si) as the official measurement system.
Authors are invited to come to the preview as soon as they arrive, to verify the correct functioning of their presentation and videos upfront and avoiding unnecessary time pressure.
Time
There will be two types of presentations. The reviewing committee will decide which type of presentation the accepted abstract is suited for. The presentation will have either the classical scientific type with 7 minutes time for presentation followed by a 3 minutes time fort he discussion, or the ERC Talk, which will explore a fast lane type of communicating in science, using just 2-3 slides, with a 3 minutes presentation time followed by 2 minutes discussion – prepared as a visual abstracts. Time of presentations and discussion will be announced at the final program. Speakers must adhere to the given minutes, as the presentation will be stopped as soon as the time is up.