You are invited to prepare and submit a scientific abstract to be considered for a poster presentation at the Joint BECON/BISTIC 2004 Symposium on Biomedical Informatics for Clinical Decision Support: A Vision for the 21st Century. This symposium will be the seventh in a series of annual conferences coordinated by the Bioengineering Consortium (BECON) and the first joint symposium with the Biomedical Information Science and Technology Initiative Consortium (BISTIC). The event will be held on June 21 and 22, 2004, at the William H. Natcher Conference Center on the NIH main campus in Bethesda, Maryland.

Please note: Abstracts accepted for poster presentation will be reprinted for distribution in the conference briefing book and posted with other symposium documents on the public NIH BECON and BISTIC websites. Authors should consider whether their sensitive and unpublished findings are appropriate for such presentation.

Selection Criteria
Abstracts will be accepted for research related to data integration and databases used for data integration for clinical decision support. For the purpose of this session, data integration is defined as associating data from a variety of different sources into a coherent tool that can be used to assist clinicians in assessing risk, diagnosis, treatment, and followup. The long term goal should be to develop software tools and approaches that will ultimately deliver the benefits of biomedical information technologies to patients at the time and place where decisions are made regarding risk, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. Methods and software tools relating to the analysis of images are important.  In addition, heterogeneous data integration may involve images, molecular sequences and structures, and gene and protein expression, and patient medical records are often managed and analyzed independently of each other. Applications for posters may also involve enabling technologies such as new approaches in data mining or Bayesian analysis as well as standards such as ontologies for data integration.

Abstracts based on new research which have not been presented or published elsewhere are particularly encouraged. Abstracts that are not supported by full technical disclosure or are promotional rather than scientific in nature are discouraged.

Abstract Preparation
The following information is required for abstract submission:

• Title of abstract
• Presenting author name, institution affiliation, e-mail and mailing addresses, phone and fax numbers
• Use of a structured format is strongly encouraged. Please include the following sections: Purpose, Methods, Results, Conclusions
• Three key words that describe the topic or topics addressed in the abstract

The text and findings must address the scientific scope outlined in the section above titled "Selection Criteria". Abstracts are limited to 2,500 characters. Charts and graphics will not be accepted.

Abstract Submission Abstracts are to be submitted online through the symposium registration page along with the presenting author's meeting registration. All poster presenters are expected to submit the $100 meeting registration fee. The deadline for abstract submission is May 21, 2004. Please submit your abstract submission in either MS-Word or WordPerfect format during the registration process.

Abstract Review
All abstracts will be reviewed by the Poster Session Committee, which reserves the right to accept and reject abstracts for inclusion in the program. Abstract acceptance notification will be sent to presenting authors by June 4, 2004. The number of abstracts submitted will be limited to space available.

Poster Presentations
Posters selected for presentation will be exhibited during the entire symposium. The formal poster session will take place on Monday, June 21 from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. At least one author must be registered for the meeting and be present during this time. Please coordinate travel plans accordingly.

Posters should be set up on Monday, June 21, before 7:30 a.m. or during the 10:30 a.m. break.

Posters should be taken down on Tuesday, June 22, by 12:30 p.m.

For planning purposes, poster space will be approximately 4 by 6 feet, and posters will be mounted using pushpins, which will be provided. Please plan to use only the poster board space. No Internet connections, tables, or chairs will be provided for poster displays. There is limited availability of electrical connections for laptop computers (no projectors will be allowed). Please contact Angelique Raptakis at angeliquer@md.capconcorp.com or (301) 468-6004, ext. 411, to request a poster board with an electrical connection.

Recommendations to enhance the readability of posters include using 2- to 3-inch title lettering, numbered figures, and 14-point caption text.

For more information regarding poster abstracts, contact: Anna Retzke retzkea@mail.nih.gov (301) 496-8591.