The 7th German Congress of Health Services Research will take place from 16th - 18th of October 2008 in Cologne.

You may access the conference website via http://www.dkvf2008.de.
The abstracts are published on the GMS website at http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dkvf2008/.

The 92nd Annual Meeting of the Southwest German Association of Otolaryngologists will be held in Neckarsulm on September 26th to 27th, 2008 chaired by Prof. Dr. Burkard M. Lippert (Klinik für HNO-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Halschirurgie der SLK-Kliniken Heilbronn).

Themed "Innovation from Tradition" the meeting will cover the following topics:

• Pediatric ENT-diseases
• Current concepts in oncology
• Chronic rhinosinusitis
• Traumatology
• Allergology
• Ambulatory surgery
• Free topics

Details and the complete program are available on www.hno-suedwest.de.
The abstracts of the scientific programme are now available online at http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hnosw2008.

The annual meeting of the German Medical Library Association (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Medizinisches Bibliothekswesen e. V. – AGMB) will be held in Magdeburg, Germany from September 23rd to 25th, 2008. Focal points of this year's meeting are life-long learning, the new educational structures resulting from the Bologna Process, new techniques for networked working processes, and the effects of the new German copyright law. In addition there will be a poster session, workshops, product reviews and a commercial exhibition.

⇒ The conference programme and more information are available on the AGMB website http://www.agmb.de/.
⇒ The abstracts of the scientific programme are now available online at http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/agmb2008.

The 53rd conference of the German Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology Society will be held in Stuttgart on September 15th to 18th, 2008. Keynotes and presentations will cover topics from

• Medical Informatics and Biomedical Technology
• Instrumenting the Healthcare Enterprise for Discovery Research
• IT-Trends in Medicine
• Health technology assessment
• The European Randomised Screening for Prostate Cancer Trial (ERPC)
• Trends in E-Learning
• Epidemiology of chronic diseases and
• Occupational Health

Our society encourages students to join the meeting and offers specific sessions where students will present first results of their work. Moreover, numerous workshops, tutorials, and industrial presentations will take place during the conference.

⇒ The conference program is available on our congress site www.gmds2008.de.
⇒ The abstracts of the scientific programme are now available online at http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/gmds2008 .

The German Medical Science team will be involved in organizing the ZB MED satellite symposium "Open Access in der Medizin: Stand und Ausblick" ("Open access in medicine: status quo and outlook") taking place November 12, 2008, 9-11 a.m. in Düsseldorf, Germany within the framework of the Berlin 6 Open Access Conference (November 11-13, 2008, see http://www.berlin6.org/). For more information on the program of the satellite symposium, please see http://www.berlin6.org/?page_id=38 (in German). Following the satellite symposium, the annual German Medical Science editorial meeting will take place.

Please note that the lectures and discussions of the satellite symposium and the editorial meeting will be held in German language, while the overall language of the main Berlin 6 conference will be English.

We cordially invite anyone interested in the future of open access in medicine to participate in the discussion. If you would like to attend, please write an e-mail to eppelin@zbmed.de.

The main topic of the jubilee congress is "Newborn Hearing Screening - New Requirements for the Phoniatrics and Pediatric Audiology". Several studies from different German states highlight the diverse aspects of the universal newborn hearing screening comprising tracking, follow up, quality assurance and the constitution of networks. Different methodical approaches are presented in pilot projects.
Further articles deal with causal research and differential diagnoses of the different subtypes of sensorineural hearing loss, developing concepts in hearing and speech habilitation and the treatment of auditory processing disorders. The aim of the studies is to guarantee a highly normal development of hearing and speech by early specific diagnostic and therapeutic activities.
A further common topic of the presented articles is the communication disorder in orofacial malformations and after defect care in the oral and maxillofacial area.
Studies concerning computer-assisted parameters of the voice, the voice in old age and special aspects in the treatment of vocalists and musicians emphasize the broad spectrum of the speciality phoniatrics and pediatric audiology.

The contributions of the congress are available online at GMS: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgpp2008/

The International Society of Ocular Trauma and the German Retinal Society invite you to a joint meeting in Wurzburg, June 19 - 22, 2008. The presentation will cover epidemiology and prevention of ocular injuries, their triage and adequate surgical intervention. The results of new strategies in the treatment of age related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, vascular occlusions and retinal detachments will be discussed as well.

The abstracts are now available on the GMS website: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/rg2008/.

We have changed the German Medical Science homepage to make it even tidier: The three pillars of the portal – Journals (among which GMS German Medical Science – An Interdisciplinary Journal), Meetings and Reports – are now accessible through the three sections in the middle of the page. We hope you will find the publications of your interest even better and are grateful for any comments to info@egms.de !

This year's annual meeting of the German Society of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery has as a motto early detection of diseases of the head and neck. Early detection of diseases is an important factor which influences the prognosis in many diseases especially in cancer. Even the development of young children is dependent on the early detection of hearing impairment, which affords special rehabilitation. In the head and neck there is a wide variety of possibilities of early detection of diseases. These are malignant diseases, allergic diseases, sleep related disorders and hearing impairment which are discussed during the conference. Further main topics are tissue engineering and tissue replacement, skull base surgery as an interdisciplinary approach and computer assisted surgery. Beside these main topics management of acoustic neuromas, navigated surgery of paranasal sinuses, skull base surgery, treatment of skin tumors of the head and neck and adjuvant tumor therapy are subjects of scientific sessions. The abstract publication contains 671 summaries of all scientific presentations. The reader will get an overview about the different topics and also will get important information about the scientific activity in Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery.

• German Abstracts: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hnod2008/
• Virtual Poster Exhibition: http://www.egms.de/en/journals/cpo/

The 125. Congress of the German Association of Surgery will be organized from 22.04.08 - 26.04.08 in the ICC of Berlin. The German society of surgery is the stabil roof of nine scientic associations of surgery, and they all will present the actual topics and the main topics given by the president. Nearly 300 scientific, clinical, occupational and organizational sessions will be held. The abstracts of the scientific contributions are available online via the portal German Medical Science http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgch2008/.

In Febuary 2008 the conference on "evidence based primary medicine and healthcare" takes place in Witten, Germany. The annual meeting of the German "Deutsches Netzwerks Evidenzbasierte Medizin (DNEbM)" was organized together with the conference of the "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Pflegewissenschaft (DGP)" at Witten/Herdecke university. Both organizations want to demonstrate that there are many common topics and questions to be answered concerning evidence based healthcare.

The abstracts are now available on the GMS website http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/ebm2008.

For the first time, the congress of the Southwest German Association of Otolaryngologists on September 28 and 29, 2007 in Kaiserslautern was held jointly with the traditional ENT-Saar-Lor-Lux-conference (13ème Rencontre Regional d'ORL).
The congress focused on current diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for head and neck tumors. Experts from Germany, France and Luxemburg held lectures and discussed different aspects of modern tumor treatment in ENT.
The interesting and rewarding program comprised approximately 70 presentations, lectures and posters (http://www.hno-suedwest2007.de/).
The abstracts are published on the GMS website http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hnosw2007

The 14th conference of the German Drug Utilisation Research Group (GAA, e.V.) will take place in 15th and 16th of November 2007 in Frankfurt/Main. The meeting place is the Regional Association of SHI Accredited Physicians (KV Hessen, Georg Voigt Str. 15, 60325 Frankfurt/Main). This year the conferences has its special focus on primary health care. Each session will be introduced by an invited speaker:

• Quality Assurance and Drug Prescribing (Session I)
• Drug Utilisation Research (Session II)
• Multimorbidity and Medication (Session III)

A special evening session on Thursday, the 15th of November 2007 will address the topic of different concepts to measure prescribing quality. Research results will be presented by colleagues from the University of Groningen (L. Martirosyan, Prof. Haaijer-Ruskamp). The theoretical scientific approaches will be contrasted with experiences in decision making of the Federal Joint Committee. Dr. B. Pietsch (G-BA) will introduce the function of the committee and provide the conference with some examples.

The reviewed abstracts will be available online on the following website: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/gaa2007/

The complete HTA reports of the German Agency for Health Technology Assessment of the German Institute of Medical Documentation and Information (DAHTA@DIMDI) currently have their own citable ISSN 1864-9645 (scientific journal series of Health Technology Assessment). You find the reports in gms now in the category "research reports" as well as in the DAHTA database

» Research Reports in GMS
» DAHTA-Database

The 1^st Scientific Meeting of the German Society on Eating Disorders (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Essstörungen e.V. - DGESS) in cooperation with the National Professional Association on Eating Disorders (Bundesfachverband Essstörungen e.V. - BFE), the Austrian Society on Eating Disorders (Österreichische Gesellschaft für Essstörungen -ÖGES) and the Swiss Network on Eating Disorders (Essstörungsnetzwerk der Schweiz - ENES) on eating disorders takes place from November 8th – 10th, 2007 at the Roseneck-Clinic in Prien on Chiemsee.
The meeting will present abundant contents of scientific works on the topic in 11 symposia, 6 state-of-the-art lectures, 3 vip lectures, 4 free paper sessions and numerous poster contributions.

The programme is available from: http://www.dgess.de/.
The abstracts are published online on http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgess2007/.

On October 18-19, 2007 the 8th Symposium of the German Agency for Health Technology Assessment of the
German Institute of Medical Documentation and Information (DAHTA@DIMDI) is being held in Cologne.
The focus is on "Decision-making in Medicine": One matter of discussion amongst others is: To what extent the theory - HTA Reports - already affects or can affect practice. Authors of HTA reports, as well as renowned experts, are stating their views about it.

The programme is attainable under: http://www.dimdi.de/static/de/hta/symposien/2007/flyer.pdf.
The Abstracts are available online on http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hta2007/

The Joint German Congress of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery 2007, which integrates the 93rd Annual Meeting of the German Society of Orthopaedics and Orthopaedic Surgery (DGOOC), the 71st Annual Meeting of the German Society of Trauma Surgery (DGU) and the 48th Annual Meeting of the Professional Association of Orthopaedic and Traumatologic Specialists (BVOU), will take place from 24th - 27th of October 2007 in Berlin.

You may access the conference website http://www.orthopaedie-unfallchirurgie.de/2007/index.html.
The abstracts are published on the GMS website http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dkou2007/.

The 124^th Congress of the German Society of Surgery has been successfully concluded in Munich after 271 scientific, clinical, occupational and organizational sessions. The abstracts of the scientific contributions are now available online via the portal German Medical Science: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgch2007/

The Conference "Medizin und Gesellschaft" (medicine and society) will take place from September 17th to 21st 2007. Nine scientific societies will meet for one week in order to discuss the interaction of topics like politics, modern medicine as well as the role of the society concerning health care, health maintenance, health promotion and prevention and distributive justice, and costs.
Within a scope of about 700 speeches and 300 posters the main topics of medical informatics, biometry and biostatistics, epidemiology, medical documentation, public health, social medicine, health economics as well as environmental medicine will be discussed. About 2000 participants from all over Germany will be expected.

Further information and the complete meeting program at: www.med-ges-2007.de.
The abstracts are published on the GMS website at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/gmds2007.

From today you will find the contributions for the combined Scientific Meeting of the German Society of Phoniatrics and Pedaudiology (24th Scientific Annual Meeting), the Phoniatric Section of the Austrian society of ENT, Head Neck Surgery and the Swiss Society of Phoniatrics online on German Medical Science. The congress with the main topic "Occupational Voices " and "Neurorehabilitation in the field of Phoniatrics and Pedaudiology" will take place from September 28-30, 2007 in Innsbruck/Austria.

» www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgpp2007/

The GMS Manuscript Operating System for the management of the submission and review process of journal manuscripts has been completely revised and improved. According to the user's profile the tool operates in German or English language.
Each author may upload his manuscript to the new MOPS via the button "Submit a paper / Artikel einreichen" on the right hand navigation menu (www.egms.de).
As already submitted manuscripts must be processed in the old system, the "Login" button will lead you to an intermediate website from which you may access both systems. Your profile and access data have been transferred to the new MOPS, but you are cordially invited to control and complete these data in your "profile".

Aesthetic plastic and functional surgery of the nose, the ear and the face in general belongs to the most exciting and fulfilling surgical tasks in the field of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. While restoring a normal physical function has always been a natural aim for surgeons, the cosmetic aspect, however - especially in rhinoplasty - only step by step gained the importance to ENT professionals that it has had to the people concerned for a long time. Under the motto "aesthetics meets function", plastic and reconstructive surgery of the face is in the centre of attention at the 78th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery taking place at Munich's Gasteig Kulturzentrum from May 16 to 20, 2007.

Steady progress and changes in diagnostics and therapy require continuous discussions about the state of the art - this is true not only with regard to deformities of the nose and ear, but to all many-sided aspects of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology. The necessity of both aesthetics and function is given in various sites of our field, therefore the meeting offers a fascinating insight into a great variety of present and future developments with a broad scope of topics - reaching from oncology to neuro-otology and even complementary medicine, among many others.

For more information please have a look at the Scientific Programme: http://www.hno.org/2007/programm.html.
The German abstracts and the posters submitted in time are now available online via the portal German Medical Science:

» German Abstracts: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hnod2007
» Virtual Poster Exhibition: http://www.egms.de/en/journals/cpo/

We hope that this offer will be accepted intensively - ultimately to the benefit of our patients!

The 58th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery will be held in Leipzig from April 26 to 29, 2007. Some 400 scientific papers will discuss up-to-date and innovative aspects of the main topics: traumatic brain injury, computer-assisted neurosurgery, spinal tumours as well as other important topics of neurosurgery. In addition, there will be presentations and discussion rounds about research of clinical studies and procedures in terms of patient self-determination.

Abstracts of the congress are available online on the GMS homepage: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgnc2007/

The abstracts for the scientific programme at the 8th Annual Meeting of the German Network for Evidence-Based Medicine (DNEbM) are now available online at www.egms.de/en/meetings/ebm2007/.
The main topic of this year's meeting held on March 22-24, 2007 will be "EbM in quality management and operative medicine".
The organizers of the meeting have arranged an interesting program which offers 4 plenary sessions, 38 lectures, 9 workshops and 8 poster sessions with 42 posters to be presented.
Besides the main topic the participants are thus given the opportunity to discuss a wide range of topics.
Issues as for example the role and value of EbM in research supply, quality management, guidelines and health technology assessment will be discussed.
Furthermore lectures on the role of EbM concerning patient information and applicated participation will be part of the discussions.

The complete program is available for download on our congress site www.ebm-kongress.de.
The abstracts are available at www.egms.de/en/meetings/ebm2007/.

During June 28th until July 1st 2006 the 33rd International Congress on Electrocardiology combined with the 47th Symposium of Vectorcardiography took place in Cologne, Germany, KoelnMesse, Centrum Nord. This meeting is the annual conference of the International Society of Electrocardiology which is back to Germany after 18 years (1988 Wiesbaden). The conference is held under the auspices of the German Society of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Research and the German Society of Paediatric Cardiology. Main topic are cardiac electrophysiology from bench to bedside, from computer based imaging to complex inverse solutions of cardiac signal processing.

The abstracts are available online http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/ice2006/.

The European Group for the Research into Elderly and Physical Activity (EGREPA) held its 10th International Conference "Physical Activity and Successful Aging" at the German Sport University (DSHS Köln) in Cologne, September 14th - 16th, 2006.
300 participants from 30 countries discussed a wide variety of topics including:

• fall prevention
• physical activity in very old age
• exercise physiology and training
• sensory aspects
• vascular aging
• mental health
• motives and barriers for exercise
• health promotion for elderly people

The abstracts are now available on http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/pasa2006/.

The 13th conference of the German Drug Utilisation Research Group(GAA, e.V.) will take place on the 2nd and 3rd of November 2006 in Berlin at the Kaiserin Friedrich Stiftung (Robert Koch Platz 7, 10115). The main topic of the conference is on Patient Safety and Pharmacovigilance. Papers presented will demonstrate the contribution of pharmacoepidemiology to this topic and focus on prerequisites and methodological problems for example to analyse medication errors or to validate risk and benefit of drugs.

Further topics of the meeting will be:

• Drugs Utilisation Research in the Institutional Setting: Hospital and Nursing Homes
• Self-medication and Drug Use of Children
• Drug Treatment for Patients with Chronic Diseases

The abstracts are now available on: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/gaa2006/

The main topic of this year's conference of the "Gesellschaft für Medizinische Ausbildung" (Society for Medical Education) will be the "educational training as general practitioner / dentist". The conference has been organised by the Arbeitskreis für Didaktik und Wissensvermittlung in der Zahn-Mund und Kieferheilkunde (research group for didactics and knowledge transfer of dental, oral and maxillary medicine) as well as by the Gesellschaft der Hochschullehre in der Allgemeinmedizin (society of academic teachings in general medicine).

In this regard I would like to refer to our "political round table", a meeting regarding this topic which is set for Friday evening and to which several important persons have been invited to. For further information, please visit our site www.gma2006.de.

By now, more than 250 participants have already been registered. We would therefore ask you to shortly take advantage of the registry on our homepage - which is still low priced - on which you may sign in for a workshop of your choice and to book your accomodation.

The abstracts which have been reviewed are now available on the following website: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/gma2006.

We would like to welcome you in Cologne from 10th to 12th November 2006

The 7th HTA symposium will take place on the 19th and 20th of October 2006 in Cologne. It is organised by the German Agency of Health Technology Assessment at the German Institute of Medical Documentation and Information (DAHTA@DIMDI). This year's focus is "Medical Care and HTA", as the evaluation of medical procedures for all participants of health care is of increasing importance. Experts and users will highlight HTA from their particular perspective.

The programme can be found: http://www.dimdi.de/static/de/hta/symposien/2006/programm.htm . The abstracts of the meeting are online available: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hta2006/ .

The Joint German Congress of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery 2006, which integrates the 92^nd Annual Meeting of the German Society of Orthopaedic Surgery (DGOC), the 70^th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Trauma Surgery (DGU) and the 47^th Annual Meeting of the Professional Association of Orthopaedics Specialists (BVO), will take place from 2^nd - 6^th of October 2006 in Berlin.

You may access the conference website via http://www.orthopaedie-unfallchirurgie.de/ .
The abstracts are published on the GMS website at http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgu2006/ .

The 104^th Annual Meeting of the DOG (German Society of Ophthalmology) will take place in Berlin, at the Maritim Congress Hotel. The main topic "Ophthalmology in the Ageing Society - Challenge and Chance" announces discussions about the fact that in ophthalmology one has to do mainly with diseases related to ageing.
In addition to the medical aspects, the expected 4000 participants will also be informed through various courses, symposia and lectures about socioeconomic aspects and costs as well as about screenings of ageing diseases.
For the first time, in order to support young scientists, some courses for career management, on how to write grant proposals, scientific publications and presentations will be on the programme.

The Abstracts about the congress are online on the GMS website: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dog2006/

From today you will find the contributions for the 23. Scientific Annual Meeting of the German Society of Phoniatrics & Pedaudiology online on German Medical Science. The congress with the main topic "Conditions for the Speech Developement" will take place from September 15-17, 2006 in Heidelberg.
http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgpp2006/

The GMDS 2006 will take place from September 10th to 14th in Leipzig
The main theme of the Annual Meeting 2006 of the GMDS will be "Networking of Clinical Research". In addition to current topics from the sections of medical informatics, biometry, epidemiology and medical documentation the meeting will focus in a series of special sessions on the successful interdisciplinary research projects of our medical society.
Please find the complete meeting program at http://www.gmds2006.de/Programm/Wissenschaft.html.
The abstracts are published on the GMS website at http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/gmds2006/.

In 2005, the German Society of Hospital Hygiene organized together with the German Society of Wound Healing and Wound Therapy and the German Society of Phlebology the first conference on "The infected problem-wound". The topic of this conference was chosen to be the leading theme of the first issue of the online-journal "GMS Krankenhaushygiene Interdisziplinär". The editors have tried to summarize the conference presentations into a coherent text using many original images of presented wounds and detailed application use of modern wound dressings in the context of problem-oriented wound management. The journal's issue focuses on therapeutic and preventive, nursing as well as hygienic-microbiological aspects with special emphasis on alternative treating options like water-filtered infrared A (wIRA), photodynamic therapy using photosensitizes, antibacterial medical honey, maggot therapy, or positive and negative polarity high voltage pulsed current. In addition, modern trends of prevention of wound infection are presented such as vacuum assisted closure (VAC) of wounds, closed suction-rinse drainage, hand hygiene, staff protection and immediate measures after accidental contamination, aseptic techniques, antiseptic impregnated suturing material, and possibilities for skin care. Finally, the journal's issue also covers legal aspects as well as information on advanced training curses like the certified wound manager®, the Network for Quality Control in Nursing, or the training program for reprocessing of medical devices.
http://www.egms.de/en/journals/dgkh/.

GMS Current Topics in Computer- and Robot-Assisted Surgery (GMS CURAC) is an annual journal of the German Society of Computer- and Robot-Assisted Surgery (CURAC). The journal is dedicated to publish state-of-the-art articles based on contributions of the annual meeting of the society.

"Navigation, Sensors, Robotics and Simulation - The new dimension in surgery" was the motto of the CURAC annual meeting 2005. The importance and the clinical use of computer-based assistance systems is increasing and reaching new application areas. The first issue of the journal represents a broad spectrum of these systems and clinical applications:

Computer Assisted Surgery is characterized by its essential need for interdisciplinary exchange between different surgical disciplines and between physicians, engineers, computer scientists, physicists, medical technicians and developers. The editors try to support this exchange by urging the authors to write their contributions in a way, that all people of this interdisciplinary community can read and understand them.

For more information see:
http://www.egms.de/en/journals/curac/
http://www.curac.org

The 57th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery will take place together with the Joint Meeting of the Japanese Neurosurgical Society from 11th to 14th of May, 2006 in the Essen Congress Center. The main topics will address treatment options for the named lesions. Also, we hope our efforts to set up procedures in terms of patient self-determination will be successfully rewarded by the choice of outstanding speakers.
Abstracts for the congress are available online on the GMS homepage:
http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgnc2006/
http://www.dgnc.de/dgnc2006/.

"Chirurgie - Schnittstelle in der Medizin" ("Surgery - a medical interface") is the topic at the 123^th Congress of the German Society of Surgery which takes place in May 2-5, 2006 at the International Congress Center (ICC) in Berlin. Aspects such as new developments in research, general conditions, formation of centers and professionalism in the field of surgery will be discussed in several sessions. The abstracts of the congress are now available online via the portal German Medical Science: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgch2006/.

The 15^th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Thoracic Surgery takes place from April 27 to 29, 2006 in Weimar. The abstracts of the meeting are now available online via the portal German Medical Science: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgt2006/.

The 77^th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery will take place from 24^th to 28^th May 2006, Congress Center Rosengarten Mannheim; the Congress-Topic themed: "Tomorrow is now - the presence of modern concepts of therapy".

Today's otolaryngologists meet indications, therapeutic concepts, techniques, scientific challenges, and reimbursement systems unknown to our predecessors. Guidelines, DRGs, and rapid transfer of scientific knowledge into our daily practice will nevertheless imprint on our specialty. Globalisation will exhibit visible results of international experimental and clinical research in short time frames, as exemplified by the internet. For the future, speed and intensity of our aptitude to innovation and interdisciplinarity in research, development and clinical cooperation will thus be of extreme importance. This conference will be an appropriate way of celebrating the momentous changes and improvements that have occured in all subspecialities.

The Meeting represents an ideal opportunity for all German Otorhinolaryngologists and their international colleagues to come together in a relaxed friendly environment for the sharing of ideas and expertise.

For more information please have a look at the Scientific Programme: http://www.hno.org/2006.html.

Four weeks before the congress the German abstracts and the posters submitted in time are now available online via the portal German Medical Science:
German Abstracts: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hnod2006/
Virtual Poster Exhibition: http://www.egms.de/en/journals/cpo/

The 27th German Cancer Congress will take place from March 22 to 26, 2006 in Berlin.

The number of people getting cancer has been rising for years, as has the proportion of deaths caused by it. 395,000 people now get cancer every year, and around 210,000 die of it. Fighting cancer is without doubt a mighty task, which can only be tackled through joint action. The German Cancer Society aims through this cancer congress to offer the need for joint action a platform for constructive discussion and developing joint plans. In the process, sufferers, non-sufferers and those from the ancillary medical professions will have an opportunity to air their views. The complete program is available on http://www.krebskongress2006.de.

The abstracts are published via egms online under http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dkk2006/.

The first article with multimedia attachment on the GMS Portal is named "Systematic Video-Assisted Mediastinoscopic Lymphadenectomy (VAMLA)". The article written by Martin Hürtgen et al. is published within the current volume of GMS Thoracic Surgical Science and includes several video sequences which show several phases of a video assisted mediastinoscopy. Thus the article makes consequent use of the advantages of the electronic medium which expand the authors' illustration facilities implying pictures, movies, sounds, and complete databases. The article can be found here. To view the movie, please scroll down to the bottom of the document and open the attachment through double clicking. Please make sure you have installed a valid MPEG player.

Since 23. 09. 2005 selected articles from the print version of "medizin - bibliothek - information" are published online on the gms internet platform. The journal publishes information, communication and papers of the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Medizinisches Bibliothekswesen" (AGMB). This is the biggest association of medical librarians in Germany with about 500 institutional members comprising medical university libraries, hospital libraries and pharmaceutical company libraries.
The journal was launched in 2001 with a frequency of three issues per year. From 2006 onward it will be published electronic-only as "GMS Medizin - Bibliothek - Information". It covers subjects from the field of librarianship to information technology with a strong focus on topics relevant to medical libraries. As before and well-established each issue will feature a particular theme.
Dorothee Boeckh (AGMB's chairwoman) und Bruno Bauer (chief editor since 2002) welcome contributions and papers in German or English for publication in "GMS Medizin - Bibliothek - Information".

The German Society of Phoniatrics & Pedaudiology publishes again all contributions of its 22. Scientific Annual Meeting online in German Medical Science. In this anniversary year (100 Years Phoniatrics in Germany) the conference with the main topic "Genetics of Communication" takes place in cooperation with the Union of the European Phonitricians (UEP) and the International Association of Physicians in Audiology (IAPA).
The contributions to the meeting are available on German Medical Science: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgpp2005/

The 50^th conference of the German Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology Society will take place from September 12^th to 15^th, 2005 in association with the 12^th annual conference of the German Committee of Epidemiology (DAE, September 14^th to 15^th) at the University of Freiburg.

It is going to be an impressive double-conference with more than 1000 expected participants. The main thematic emphases comprise scientific width as well as current challenges of German public health care system, like:

• health telematics, electronic health cards, management of health care utilities,
• data exchange and interfaces in medical documentation, DRGs,
• the new German Medicines Law, public registration of clinical studies, economical evaluation in therapy research, statistical methods in molecular medicine,
• epidemiology of overweight, epidemiology of aging, prevention research

Moreover, numerous workshops, tutorials, and industrial presentations will take place during the conference. Top-class national and international guest speakers will complete the program. (The complete program is available on http://www.gmdsdae2005.de)

All abstracts are published via egms online under "meetings".
[http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/gmds2005/index.shtml]

Freiburg as attractive meeting place in the beautiful Breisgau-region promises a diverting and comfortable stay.

A national symposium for innovations in medical teaching
The new approbation terms for medical practitioners have led to a considerable increase of teaching tasks - very often with the same human resources. E-learning is: "A desirable change, supported by information and communication technology, in the individual's capabilities" (Wallin 2004). How can E-learning support the education and the advanced training in general practice?

E-learning shall be tested for its didactic applicability in general practice, chances and limitations will be discussed to provide a suitable perspective in the frame of education, advanced and continuing training. On July 8 / 9, 2005 this topic will be debated at a symposium with national and international speakers, hosted by the Institute for General Practice at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt (director: Professor Ferdinand M. Gerlach, MD, MPH) in cooperation with the German Association for General Practice (DEGAM) and the universities of Marburg, Ulm and Witten-Herdecke. "A professional exchange with colleagues and experts shall be initiated and the manifold activities shall be brought together", says Jochen Gensichen, MD, MPH, MSE, Senior Researcher at the Institute for General Practice in Frankfurt and one of the hosts of the symposium.
The abstracts of the meeting are now available here on German Medical Science.

"Patient Safety - Primum Nil Nocere" was the guiding theme of the 122. congress of the German Society for Surgery (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie) from the 05. till the 08. of April 2005 in the International Congress Center Munich. Within many lectures, forums and video sessions possibilities of specialisation were discussed as one way to reach perfection within surgical technique. Additionally approaches of further education and quality assurance were presented. The abstracts of the meeting are now available here on German Medical Science.

The association of northern German orthopaedics (Norddeutsche Orthopädenvereinigung e.V. - NOV) organizes its 54^th annual meeting from the 16^th till the 18^th of June 2005 in Hamburg. The meeting is entitled "Knee-joint and spine - state of the art" and concentrates on the comprehensive presentation of these two subjects including innovative technologies, long-term progressions of established procedures and new results of basic research. The abstracts of the meeting are available on German Medical Science here.

The medical University of Hannover organizes the 4^th international symposium "Objective Measures in Cochlear Implants" from the 1^st till the 4^th of June 2005 in the International Neuroscience Institute Hannover. The symposium will focus on recent advances of objective measures in cochlear implants. Both clinical applications and research issues will be covered. State-of-the-art lectures by leading experts in the field will provide a solid basis for discussion and an introduction to the sessions featuring contributed presentations. The pre- and post-conference workshops will be organised by the cochlear implant manufacturers who will provide an update on their latest product development in relation to objective measures.

The 56^th annual meeting of the German society of neurosurgery (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirugie - DGNC) as well as the 3^rd annual meeting of the French society of neurosurgery (Société Française de Neurochirurgie - SFNC) takes place in the Palais des Congrès in Strasbourg from the 7^th till the 11^th of May 2005. During the first joint meeting of these two european societies additionally to collective sessions each society will organise its meeting as usual. The abstracts of the meeting are available on GMS from now on.

http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgnc2005/index.shtml
http://www.nch2005.org

Seminar of the "Arbeitskreis Sportmedizin der Akademie für ärztliche Fortbildung und Weiterbildung der Landesärztekammer Hessen". Bad Nauheim, June 05, 2004.
Objective of the seminar was to present for the common illness backache from the sports orthopaedic, traumatologic, sports medical, from the internal, from the pain therapeutic, neurosurgical and from the physiotherapeutic point of view new ways of looking at, based on physiologic, pathophysiologic knowledge, with relevance for prevention and therapy of the common problem backache.
The report describes the low back pain most probably as a result of static disorders caused by length differences of the legs and as a result of a hardening of musculature with decreased blood flow and hypoxia and thereby an energy deficiency in the muscle tissue. Therapy approaches can be stretching of shortened musculature and the partial compensation of differences of leg length, matrix rhythm therapy, water-filtered infrared A, physical activity to improve local oxygen supply, and anti-acidification procedures, conservative, interventional and operative pain therapeutic and neurosurgical procedures and several forms of back school for primary, secondary and tertiary prevention including behavior orientated training programs.

http://www.egms.de/pdf/meetings/ruecken2004/04ruecken1.pdf
http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/ruecken2004/04ruecken1.shtml
http://www.egms.de/xml/meetings/ruecken2004/04ruecken1.xml

Since April the 7^th 2005 the scientific journal of the German Society for Medical Informatics, Biometrics and Epidemiology (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie - GMDS) is released on the German Medical Science platform. "GMS Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology" publishes multidisciplinary topics based on medical informatics, biometrics and epidemiology. The journal aims at health professionals as well as at computer scientists, biometricians, epidemiologists, biologists, statisticians and documentation officers. Its editorial focus lies on the publication of theoretical and practical orientated research and review articles. Additional columns are "case reports", "letters to the editor" and "retrospective and prospective view". A printed edition will also be provided. With the decision to publish on German Medical Science the MIBE articles will be available worldwide and free of costs. The editorial office guided by Prof. Dr. W. Köpcke appeals to the members of the GMDS to make rich use of the new online journal in order to contribute to its rapid prosperousness.

Today the first issue of the 22nd volume of GMS Zeitschrift für Medizinische Ausbildung - German Journal for Medical Education (GMS Z Med Ausbild; http://www.egms.de/en/journals/zma/index.shtml) is online, the journal of the Gesellschaft für Medizinische Ausbildung (GMA), Deutsche Sektion der European Association for Medical Education e.V. (http://www.gesellschaft-medizinische-ausbildung.org). For the first time, an electronic German language journal with text, graph, image and voice documents is launched. A global, open-access forum for information and communication is now available using the most advanced tools of the digital world to advance medical graduate and postgraduate education. This journal continues the tradition of German medical education publishing initiated by Dietrich Habeck in 1984 with the periodical "Medizinische Ausbildung" and later with the supplement "Medizinische Ausbildung" of the journal "Das Gesundheitswesen" by Florian Eitel beetween 1998 and 2004. The joint venture with the portal "German Medical Science (GMS)" and its founders "Arbeitsgemeinschaft Wissenschaftlicher Medizinischer Fachgesellschaften (AWMF)", "Deutsches Institut für Medizinische Dokumentation und Information (DIMDI)" und "Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Medizin (ZB MED)" as publisher brings to the GMA (a member society of AWMF) partnership with the largest medical electronic data host in Europe and the second largest medical library worldwide. The cooperation with DIMDI opens almost unlimited and sustained storage space and search functions. GMS Z Med Ausbild also will be immediately indexed in MEDLINE and will soon generate an impact factor by frequent citations. There will also be a print edition. Papers in English are welcome.
Contact: hahn@gesellschaft-medizinische-ausbildung.org (Editor of GMS Z Med Ausbild)

Every author now has the opportunity to upload his manuscript directly into the Manuscript Operating System via the button "Submit a paper / Artikel einreichen" on the right hand navigation menu of gms (www.egms.de). The editorial process as well as the complete review process can then be done online in MOPS. All registered users have access to MOPS via the "Login" button, which can also be found on the right hand navigation menu on the gms pages.

With over 156,000 hits in November 2004, gms has finally established itself in the premier group of german scientific open access e-journals.

The 68th Annual Conference of the German Traumatology Society will take place from 19th - 22th of October 2004 together with the 90th Conference of the German Society for Orthopaedics and Orthopaedic Surgery (DGOOC 21th - 23rd of October 2004) and the 45th Conference of the Professional Association of Orthopaedic Specialists (BVO 21th - 23rd of October 2004) in the ICC Berlin. The contributions will be published via gms online under the rubric "Meetings".

The 121st Congress of the German Society for Surgery which took place from 27 to 30 April 2004 in Berlin under the guidance topic "surgeon and surgery between requirement and reality" is now published in gms.

Thoracic Surgical Science (TSS) was started on 1. October 2004 as the second scientific journal on the gms platform. It is edited by the German Society for Thoracic Surgery. TSS offers all scientists working on the field of Thoracic Surgery the possibility to publish their research online. Only high-ranking and quality reviewed articles are accepted for publication. All accepted articles are published in English or German. They are available online for anyone interested: immediately, permanently and free of charge. Editor-in-Chief Lothar Swoboda and Assistant Editor Godehard Friedel encourage scientists working on the thoracic surgical field to submit their manuscripts to TSS.

The German Society of Phoniatrics & Pedaudiology publishes again all contributions of its 21. Scientific Annual Meeting, which takes place under the main topic "Neurolaryngology" from 10. to 12.9.2004 in Freiburg/Breisgau, in GMS.

Psycho-Social-Medicine (p-s-m) was started on 1 July 2004 as the first specialty journal on the gms platform. It is edited on an interdisciplinary level by ten German scientific societies from the areas of behavioral medicine, medical psychology and sociology, psychiatry, psychosomatic medicine, and psychotherapy. P-s-m offers all scientists from the field of psychosocial medicine the possibility to publish their research online. Only high-ranking and quality reviewed articles are accepted for publication. All accepted articles are published in English. They are available online for anyone interested: immediately, permanently and free of charge. Editor-in-Chief Christoph Herrmann-Lingen and the co-editors-in-chief Jürgen v. Troschke and Wolfgang Gaebel encourage researchers from the psychosocial specialties in medicine to submit their manuscripts to p-s-m. (p-s-m authors' guidelines)

GMS launched a new column "Reports", in which reports can be published concerning current and final research work.

From 8 to 11 May 2004 about 200 researchers met one year after first breaking out of the "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrom (SARS)" to a world-wide congress in Lübeck. Conference president was Professor Dr. rer. nat. Rolf Hilgenfeld, director of the institute for biochemistry of the university to Lübeck. The conference pointed out the current conditions of the study of the virus and the perspectives of its fight.

German Medical Science has released a first version of its new web-based manuscript operating system (MOPS) for the twenty-first annual convention of the German society of Phoniatrics & Pedaudiology. Via the MOPS medical societies can establish a comfortable and fast peer review of all congress submissions.

The presentations of the fourth symposium for health technology assessment - evaluation of medical technologies - from 13th to 14th November 2003 in Krefeld are now online. The main focus of the meeting have been the demands on HTA viewed by health policy, industry, science, clinicians, and patients, cross-border issues of HTA as well as use of a HTA report on infection prophylaxis for hospitals and the public health service. The proceedings in print are going to be available at the end of May.

Since May 2004 the AWMF reports appear as e-journal within German Medical Science. The editorship is with the AWMF office in Duesseldorf; medical societies can submit their own contributions.

The 55. annual meeting of the German Society for Neurosurgery, which takes place in Cologne, 2004, April 25-28th, is published online via gms. Main topics are right, ethics, investigation in neurosurgery, monitorings, picture giving and geriatric neurosurgery. The printed version of the complete meeting can be ordered online.

As preparation for the coming releases of the first Scientific Medical Societies - Journals some modifications were made on the Website. In addition, the user friendliness was improved and the site layout has been optimized.

The 47^th Annual Conference of the German Traumatology Society will take place from 11^th - 14^th of November 2003 together with the 89^th Conference of the German Society for Orthopaedics and Orthopaedic Surgery (DGOOC 13^th - 16^th of November 2003) and the 44^th Conference of the Professional Association of Orthopaedic Specialists (BVO 13^th - 16^th of November 2003) in ICC Berlin. The contributions will be published via gms online under the rubric "Meetings".

For the first time in the course of the conferences two days are arranged together: The 13^th and 14^th of November will serve all three organisation for the interdisciplinary exchange of information.

Todays secured standard of knowledge on the recognition and treatment of frequent injuries and injury effects is depicted and discussed in interactive meetings, expert seminars, courses, lectures and debates. In addition, visions of innovative programs, techniques and procedure systems will be introduced. Comprehensive issues form frameworks for the topic tables:

• Possibilities of adequate treatment of complex mono injuries
• Which patient-oriented co-factors affect the recovery?
• Flexible health care structures fair to the patients
• Presentations with examples of worst case

At the same time meetings of working groups and sections on current topics take place. Beyond that, the annual conference also serves as discussion platform for basic political and social conditions.

"Competence for quality of life" is the motto of this years orthopaedic congress which serves as the orthopaedic contribution to overcome health problems of the supporting and motor organs: Possibillities of prevention, treatment and rehabilitation will be pointed out within the congress.

In courses, seminars, symposiums, working groups, sections, disputes, pro and contra lectures, expert rounds, dissertation panels, as well as live transmissions of operations and an abundance of lectures, it is a matter of clinical progress, the newest research results, the exchange of experience in fundamental and special orthopaedic problems, and also political health trends that concern the patients and the daily practice, as well as the newest orthopaedic operation techniques, instruments and implants.

You can order a printed version of the complete congress volumes online. The online contributions will be labelled "temporarily" until the comparison with the final printed version is concluded.

The "Meetings" field of the gms-portal is especially available for conference publications of expert medical societies. The next publications are already in preparation.

The 10th annual scientific meeting of the German society for drug research and drug epidemiology (10. Wissenschaftliche Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Arzneimittelforschung und Arzneimittelepidemiologie (GAA) e.V.) which takes place in Bonn 2003, October 16-17th, is published online via gms. 22 contributions in English language are immediately available via 'Meetings' on the homepage.

Main topic I: Analysis from data of the statutory health insurance (SHI) for market transparency and health economics.
Main topic II: Strategies for assuring quality of therapy by drugs - methods of further vocational training.
Main topic III: Off-label use.
Main topic IV: Use of drugs with pregnant women, children and old people - pharmaceutical research.

The printed version of the complete volume can be ordered online.

The section 'Meeting' of the gms portal is especially at disposal of publications of meetings of medical societies. The next publications are already in preparation.

Follow the link 'Meetings' and you can find a new report by Gerd Hoffmann (Frankfurt am Main): "Improvement of performance in sports - reasons, methods, assessments, solutions" about a meeting of the "Arbeitskreis Sportmedizin der Akademie für ärztliche Fortbildung und Weiterbildung der Landesärztekammer Hessen" and the "Hessisches Ärzteblatt" in collaboration with other associations, held on 9 - 10 May, 2003 in Bad Nauheim.

The 20. Wissenschaftliche Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Phoniatrie und Pädaudiologie e.V. is online via gms! 104 conference contributions are now accessible by the 'Meetings' link on the gms homepage.

The conference is held from 12. to 14.09.2003 in Rostock/Germany.

In addition, a print version of the complete congress proceedings can be ordered online. The online publications are indicated as 'preliminary' (vorläufige Fassung) until a cross check with the final version of the conference proceedings has been made.

With this release, the gms portal opens a new information section. Several conference publications of other Scientific Medical Societies are already in preparation.

We will keep you informed on further progress in this area.

With gms an interdisciplinary e-journal that addresses all those who work on and with scientific publications emerges for the entire field of medicine. Original papers and surveys that have passed through a peer review are published therein. Medical publications are available worldwide and free of charge in no time at all.

The AWMF and their expert associations supply the Editoral Board, the Scientific Committee as well as the experts for the peer review procedure. The editorial work and the workflow is in the hands of the ZBMed. DIMDI is responsible for the entire technical realization (hardware and software) of German Medical Science, i.e. for the standardization and implementation of workflows as well as the long-term archiving of electronic documents.

Starting July 1, 2003 the first publications of gms will be available on the internet under www.egms.de. With the start of the new journal the three cooperation partners have successfully put a publication procedure into practice that was recommended by the universities and other higher education institutions e.g. in November 2002.

In the third quarter of 2003 both the first electronic journals of member associations of AWMF and the first scientific conferences are to appear under the umbrella of gms.