“Publish or perish”—presentations at annual national orthopaedic meetings and their correlation with subsequent publication

BACKGROUND: Presentation of research at annual national orthopaedic conferences not only serves as a forum for the dissemination of knowledge but is also often a requirement of orthopaedic training programmes. The expected outcome is publication in a peer-reviewed journal. However, publication rates vary for a variety of reasons. The objective of this study was to determine publication rates of presentations from our local Singapore Orthopaedic Association (SOA) annual scientific meeting (ASM) and some of the potential associated factors. We also compared our findings to equivalent meetings worldwide to assess value of scientific content of various orthopaedic conferences. METHODS: All presentations of six SOA ASMs were entered into a database. Using presentation titles, author names and keywords in PubMed and Google Scholar, we determined how many presentations progressed to publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Various comparisons were made to determine factors that could influence publication rates. A comparison with national orthopaedic meetings of America, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Germany, Turkey and Brazil was also conducted. RESULTS: Excluding the ASMs with less than 4 years of follow-up, the publication rate was 35.8%. Both podium and international presenters were found to have significantly higher publication rates than poster and local presenters, respectively, while basic science and clinical research were found to have equivalent rates. Publication rates from other countries’ national conferences ranged between 26.6% and 58.1%. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that the quality of a presentation is related to its subsequent publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Our findings support the general consensus that the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) is the gold standard for the dissemination of orthopaedic knowledge updates and advancements in our specialty. Each national orthopaedic association could determine the ratio of “presentations at ASM” to “publication within five years of presentation” and use this as a measure of their annual conference’s impact on the addition and advancement to the orthopaedic literature. This tool may in turn assist clinicians in determining which meetings to attend

Sugar uptake by the solventogenic clostridia

The acetone–butanol–ethanol fermentation of solventogenic clostridia was operated as a successful, worldwide industrial process during the first half of the twentieth century, but went into decline for economic reasons. The recent resurgence in interest in the fermentation has been due principally to the recognised potential of butanol as a biofuel, and development of reliable molecular tools has encouraged realistic prospects of bacterial strains being engineered to optimise fermentation performance. In order to minimise costs, emphasis is being placed on waste feedstock streams containing a range of fermentable carbohydrates. It is therefore important to develop a detailed understanding of the mechanisms of carbohydrate uptake so that effective engineering strategies can be identified. This review surveys present knowledge of sugar uptake and its control in solventogenic clostridia. The major mechanism of sugar uptake is the PEP-dependent phosphotransferase system (PTS), which both transports and phosphorylates its sugar substrates and plays a central role in metabolic regulation. Clostridial genome sequences have indicated the presence of numerous phosphotransferase systems for uptake of hexose sugars, hexose derivatives and disaccharides. On the other hand, uptake of sugars such as pentoses occurs via non-PTS mechanisms. Progress in characterization of clostridial sugar transporters and manipulation of control mechanisms to optimise sugar fermentation is described