BSI Newsletter (November, 2008)

News from the BSI:

The Breast Surgery International stands committed to carry on with its efforts to assist “Developing quality breast cancer care in the Developing countries”. The BSI international guest faculty contribute to this cause with their philanthropic gestures, and have been participating and actively contributing to success of numerous surgical workshops and CME’s. The BSI would welcome any proposals for supporting future workshops and postgraduate courses, especially in the developing countries.

Information about BSI activities and programs is available on the BSI home page: http://www.breast-surg-intl.org. which can also be accessed through the link for integrated societies on the ISS-SIC web-site www.iss-sic.ch. Any suggestions and feed back on the best possible use of the BSI web-pages are welcome from the BSI members as well as the wider membership of the ISS-SIC, and may be submitted to the web-master.

BSI program at ISW-09, Adelaide Australia:
Preparations are on for the next major meeting of the ISS and BSI to be held at Adelaide Australia September 06th to 10th 2008. The BSI scientific program will start on Sunday with the Ultrasound course, which will be run by Jay Harness, BSI president –elect and Dr Beverly Barraclough from Sydney Australia. A full day long BSI Postgraduate course is planned for Monday 7th September 2008, which would be moderated by Raimund Jakesz, Past-President BSI. Interested participants would have to register separately for the Ultrasound course and the BSI Postgraduate Course, and are urged to register early as the number of registrants would be limited at both these courses. Scientific program on rest of the three days of the congress will include the Umberto Veronesi Lecture by Professor Emiel Rutgers from Netherlands, the presidential lecture, morning educational sessions, symposia, free papers and poster sessions. The details of scientific program are available on the BSI web-site, as well as congress web-site. Further updates would be provided on these sites in due course. Jim Kollias- an Adelaide local and BSI member has graciously volunteered to help us with choosing the BSI hotel, as also charting out an interesting BSI dinner and wine tasting on Tuesday evening.

Breast Surgery International (BSI)- Call for Abstracts
Abstracts based on original unpublished clinical or basic research in the field of Breast Surgery and Oncology are invited for consideration for presentation as posters or oral papers at the BSI scientific program during the ISW 2009 at Adelaide, Australia September 06-10, 2009. All abstracts must conform to the abstract submission guidelines, and be submitted online through the ISW 2009 abstract center before the deadline of January 04th, 2009. Authors submitting abstracts for presentation as oral papers, if successful, should be willing to submit full length original article for publication in the World Journal of Surgery. For detailed guidelines for the submission of Abstracts, please refer to the ISW 2009 abstract submission site.

It is recommended that the abstracts be prepared, uploaded on the ISW 2009 abstract center, and be validated at an early date. The validated abstracts can still be modified and up-dated at this stage of process. The validated abstracts would have to be finally submitted before the deadline, i.e. January 4, 2009. Only such abstracts that have been validated and submitted before deadline will be evaluated. Maximal length of abstract text has been set to 2'500 characters including blanks. Information regarding acceptance of Abstracts will be published on ISW 2009 web-site as well as the BSI web-site by the end of March 2009.

Presenting Authors must have fully registered and paid for congress participation by April 30, 2009. Abstracts of Presenting Authors who have not correctly registered may not be included in the Final Congress Program.

Information on the exact day and time of presentation will be communicated to the Presenting Author at the given e-mail address by the end of June 2009. Additionally, these information will be published on the ISW 2009 web-site as well as the BSI web-site.

Presenting authors of all abstracts accepted for presentation as oral papers (including those chosen for best oral paper prize session) will have to submit a full length manuscript to the World Journal of Surgery through its online submission system at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/wjs latest by April 30, 2009, failing which the presenter may be prevented from presenting the paper at ISW 2009. All manuscripts must fully conform to the guidelines for submission of original articles to World Journal of Surgery.

Presenters of posters too are encouraged to submit full length manuscripts of their work to World Journal of Surgery for publication.

BSI Best Free Paper (Oral) Prize
Six abstracts in the field of Breast Surgery based on unpublished original work submitted for presentation as oral papers will be selected for presentation in the BSI Best Paper Award Session. Individuals interested for their abstracts to be considered for the award will need to check the appropriate box in the Abstract Submission form. The selected presenters will be intimated of the decision by March 31, 2009. They will be asked to fully register for the Congress and submit a full length manuscript of the paper to be presented, conforming to the format of original articles in World Journal of Surgery WJS through its online submission platform https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/wjs latest by April 30, 2009. These manuscripts will be published in the BSI issue of WJS after undergoing a fast track review process. Failure to register and submit the full length manuscript in time may preclude the selected abstract from being presented in the Congress.

All six selected papers will be presented in the “Best paper competition session” on Thursday September 10, 2009. The Presenting Author of the best BSI paper in the award session as adjudged by a panel of eminent breast surgeons will be awarded a Certificate and USD 500.- Cash Prize. All other presenters will be awarded a Certificate of Presentation in the award session.

BSI Best Poster Prizes
All posters displayed at the BSI program at ISW 2009 would be evaluated by a panel of eminent experts during the poster viewing session on Tuesday September 08th 2009. Prizes consisting of certificate and USD 300 and USD 200 respectively would be awarded to those adjudged as the best and second best posters. The presenters will be asked to fully register for the Congress latest by April 30, 2007. Failure to register in time may preclude the selected abstract from being presented in the Congress.

The Presenting Authors, on their discretion may consider submitting a full length manuscript of the paper to be presented, conforming to the format of original articles in World Journal of Surgery through its online submission platform https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/wjs. These manuscripts will be published in the BSI issue of WJS after undergoing a fast track review process.

BSI Travel Awards 2009:
Breast Surgery International would award a travel award of USD 600 each to a minimum of five young (less than 45 years of age) Breast Surgery International (BSI) member surgeons from developing countries who have an abstract accepted for presentation in the BSI program, in order to help them participate in the ISW 2009 at Adelaide and present their work. The BSI travel award is meant to provide partial financial assistance, and it will be the recipient's own responsibility to organize rest of funds for participation in the Congress.

The travel awardees would be given:

1. Certificate of BSI travel award

2. A cash award of USD 500.- as cash towards registration and accommodation costs in Adelaide to attend the Congress

3. USD 100.- towards registration for the BSI Postgraduate Course on Monday, September 07, 2009

A cheque for award money and a certificate will be awarded during the BSI Business meeting on Wednesday, September 09, 2009.

Interested eligible BSI members are requested to apply with their CV and letter of recommendation from the chairman of their department or from a senior BSI colleague by June 1st, 2009 at the latest. The application may be sent as e-mail or letter to the secretary BSI at the address below. Applicants will be intimated of outcome by June 15th, 2009.

Application to:
Dr Gaurav Agarwal, MS FACS
Secretary BSI
Dept. of Endocrine & Breast Surgery
SGPGIMS
Raebareli Road
Lucknow 226 014, India
Fax: +91 522 266 80 17
E-mail: gaurav@sgpgi.ac.in or GauravBSI@gmail.com

With the very best wishes, on behalf of the BSI council