THE ABSTRACT

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THE ABSTRACT

• Students Research Committee
• Iman Adibi
• i_adibi_at_med.mui.ac.ir

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Topics

• Content of result abstract
• Background and objective, method, Result, answer
  and implication
• Content of method abstract
• Name, The purpose, The population, features,
  advantages, test, efficacy
• Abstract for meetings
• keywords

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How to Write an Abstract That Will Be Accepted
for Presentation at a National Meeting by David
J Pierson MD FAARC

• My mentor, Thomas L Petty, once explained to me
  the relative difficulty of presenting complex
  information clearly and concisely.
• If you want a 10-min summary, I can have it for
  you a week from today
• if you want it to be 30 minutes, I can do it
  tomorrow
• if you want a whole hour, Im ready now.

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Types of Abstracts

• Meeting vs. journal
• Structured vs. non- structured
• Result paper vs. method paper

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Abstract Of Results Paper

• Why did you start?
• What did you do?
• What did you find?
• What does it mean?

answers to those questions, and nothing more
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Length

• 250 words
• Make your abstract no longer than the abstract in
  recent issues of the journal
• No more than 250 even if they publish

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Keys Components

• Introduction (1-2 sentences)
• Context
• Objective
• Material and Method (2-3 sentences)
• Design
• Setting
• Patients
• Interventions
• Main Outcome Measure(s)
• Results (several sentences )
• Conclusions (1-2 sentences)

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Why did you start?

• Background if reader would wonder why you are
  asking your question
• Objective State only the most important
  question(s)
• importance of your work
• difficulty of the area
• impact it might have

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• Common word signals
• We asked whether
• To determine whether/To determine the
• To evaluate / we evaluated
• The purpose of the study was ...
• The aim of this study was to ...
• This study attempted to answer the following
  questions to test the hypothesis...
• This study focused on the....

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JAMA. 2006 Jul 19296(3)283-91

• CONTEXT Migraine with aura has been associated
  with an adverse cardiovascular risk profile and
  prothrombotic factors that, along with
  migraine-specific physiology, may increase the
  risk of vascular events. Although migraine with
  aura has been associated with increased risk of
  ischemic stroke, an association with
  cardiovascular disease (CVD) and, specifically,
  coronary events remains unclear. OBJECTIVE To
  evaluate the association between migraine with
  and without aura and subsequent risk of overall
  and specific CVD.

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N Engl J Med. 2006 Jul 20355(3)281-7.

• BACKGROUND Participation of women in the medical
  profession has increased during the past four
  decades, but issues of concern persist regarding
  disparities between the sexes in academic
  medicine. Advancement is largely driven by
  peer-reviewed original research, so we sought to
  determine the representation of female
  physician-investigators among the authors of
  selected publications during the past 35 years

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Obesity (Silver Spring). 2006 May14(5)770-3

• OBJECTIVES Obesity before and during pregnancy
  is associated with several obstetrics risk
  factors for both mother and fetus. The aim of
  this retrospective study was to analyze the
  influence of BMI before pregnancy on distinct
  perinatal parameters.

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Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2006 Jul 14

• OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to
  determine the effectiveness of obstetrics
  simulator training for medical students by
  comparing measures of confidence in normal
  obstetrics skills of students with and without
  training.

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JAMA. 2006 Jul 19296(3)310-8.

• CONTEXT Thirty percent of patients with sickle
  cell disease (SCD) develop pulmonary
  hypertension, a major risk factor for death in
  this population. A validated blood biomarker of
  pulmonary hypertension in SCD could provide
  important prognostic and diagnostic information
  and allow the exploration of the prevalence of
  pulmonary hypertension in participants in the
  1996 Multicenter Study of Hydroxyurea in Sickle
  Cell Anemia (MSH) Patients' Follow-up Study.
  Levels of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic
  peptide (NT-proBNP) provide such information in
  patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial
  hypertension. OBJECTIVE To determine the
  relationship between NT-proBNP levels and
  severity of pulmonary hypertension and
  prospective mortality in patients with SCD.

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Int J Cardiol. 2006 Jul 3

• OBJECTIVES We evaluated the effects of nebivolol
  on platelet activation in hypertensive patients
  by measuring mean platelet volume (MPV) and
  plasma soluble P-selectin (sP-sel) levels and
  compared with those of the patients taking
  metoprolol.

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What was done

• Design
• Setting
• Population, Patients
• Interventions, experimental approach
• Material
• Conditions ( if)
• Main Outcome Measure(s), Dependent and
  independent variable
• To answer this question we . . .

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JAMA. 2006 Jul 19296(3)283-91

• DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Prospective
  cohort study of 27,840 US women aged 45 years or
  older who were participating in the Women's
  Health Study, were free of CVD and angina at
  study entry (1992-1995), and who had information
  on self-reported migraine and aura status, and
  lipid measurements. This report is based on
  follow-up data through March 31, 2004. MAIN
  OUTCOME MEASURES The primary outcome measure was
  the combined end point of major CVD (first
  instance of nonfatal ischemic stroke, nonfatal
  myocardial infarction, or death due to ischemic
  CVD) other measures were first ischemic stroke,
  myocardial infarction, coronary
  revascularization, angina, and death due to
  ischemic CVD

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Obesity (Silver Spring). 2006 May14(5)770-3.

• METHODS AND PROCEDURES The study includes 5067
  singleton pregnancies from 2001 to 2004 at the
  Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
  University of Leipzig. The study group was
  divided into BMI groups lt18.5, gt/18.5 to lt25,
  gt/25 to lt30, gt/30 to lt35, gt/35 to lt40, and
  gt/40 kg/m(2). Analysis of perinatal data
  included rate of intrauterine death, rate of
  cesarean section and shoulder dystocia, time of
  hospital stay for mother and newborn, and
  gestational age of delivery. Neonatal outcome
  variables included percentage of newborns
  weighing gt4000 grams, rate of umbilical cord pH
  lt7.10, and rate of 1-, 5-, and 10-minute Apgar
  scores of lt8.

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Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2006 Jul 14

• STUDY DESIGN After a lecture on normal labor and
  delivery, 33 third-year students practiced their
  skills either on an obstetrics simulator (n 17)
  or received no further formal instruction (n
  16). All students were asked to respond to
  surveys of their experience and confidence in
  performing obstetrics procedures

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Int J Cardiol. 2006 Jul 3

• MATERIALS AND METHODS Eighty newly diagnosed
  hypertensive patients in grade 1 hypertension
  were enrolled in this prospective, blinded
  randomized study. Seventy two patients completed
  the study. After baseline assessment, each
  patient was randomly allocated to 5 mg daily dose
  of nebivolol (n37, 20 male) or 100 mg daily dose
  of metoprolol (n35, 18 male) and treated for 6
  months. Blood pressure, heart rate, lipid
  profile, plasma glucose, sP-selectin levels,
  platelet counts and MPV were measured before and
  after treatment.

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What was found

• Only the results that answer the question
• Data for most important results.
• Give percent change
• Do not include figures and tables
• a logical order , such as most to least important
  or least to most important .

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JAMA. 2006 Jul 19296(3)310-8.

• RESULTS NT-proBNP levels were higher in patients
  with sickle cell pulmonary hypertension and
  correlated directly with tricuspid regurgitant
  jet velocity in the NIH cohort (R 0.50,
  Plt.001). An NT-proBNP level of 160 pg/mL or
  greater had a 78 positive predictive value for
  the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension and was
  an independent predictor of mortality (21 deaths
  at 31 months' median follow-up risk ratio, 5.1
  95 confidence interval, 2.1-12.5 Plt.001 19.5
  absolute increase in risk of death). In the MSH
  cohort, 30 of patients had an NT-proBNP level of
  160 pg/mL or greater. An NT-proBNP level of 160
  pg/mL or greater in the MSH cohort was
  independently associated with mortality by Cox
  proportional hazards regression analysis (24
  deaths at 47 months' median follow-up risk
  ratio, 2.87 95 confidence interval, 1.2-6.6 P
  .02 11.9 absolute increase in risk of death).

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JAMA. 2006 Jul 19296(3)283-91

• RESULTS At baseline, 5125 women (18.4) reported
  any history of migraine of the 3610 with active
  migraine (migraine in the prior year), 1434
  (39.7) indicated aura symptoms. During a mean of
  10 years of follow-up, 580 major CVD events
  occurred. Compared with women with no migraine
  history, women who reported active migraine with
  aura had multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios of
  2.15 (95 confidence interval CI, 1.58-2.92
  Plt.001) for major CVD, 1.91 (95 CI, 1.17-3.10 P
  .01) for ischemic stroke, 2.08 (95 CI,
  1.30-3.31 P .002) for myocardial infarction,
  1.74 (95 CI, 1.23-2.46 P .002) for coronary
  revascularization, 1.71 (95 CI, 1.16-2.53 P
  .007) for angina, and 2.33 (95 CI, 1.21-4.51 P
  .01) for ischemic CVD death. After adjusting
  for age, there were 18 additional major CVD
  events attributable to migraine with aura per 10
  000 women per year. Women who reported active
  migraine without aura did not have increased risk
  of any vascular events or angina.

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Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2006 Jul 14

• RESULTS Students who practiced deliveries on the
  simulator were more likely to believe that they
  could perform most portions of a vaginal delivery
  with minimal supervision or independently than
  were students who did not receive simulator
  experience. Fifteen students (88) who received
  simulator experience felt that they were ready to
  attempt a vaginal delivery independently or with
  minimal supervision compared with 2 students
  (12.5) who received a lecture only (P lt .001).

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Int J Cardiol. 2006 Jul 3

• RESULTS At the end of 6 months, nebivolol
  significantly decreased MPV and plasma
  sP-selectin levels (7.59/-0.78 fl vs.
  7.42/-0.74 fl, plt0.001 1.29/-0.46 ng/ml vs.
  1.21/-0.36 ng/ml, p0.002, respectively)
  compared to those of pretreatment. Although
  pretreatment sP-selectin levels of the two groups
  were similar, posttreatment plasma sP-selectin
  levels were significantly reduced with nebivolol
  compared with those of metoprolol group
  (1.21/-0.36 ng/ml vs. 1.46/-0.30 ng/ml,
  p0.008). In contrast, metoprolol treatment did
  not cause any significant change in platelet
  activation parameters after treatment.

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• Often only the species or the population the
  condition , the material and maybe a brief of the
  experimental approach are given in the statement
  of what was done.
• The details of what was done specific
  independent and dependent variables, doses,
  methods- are given in the sentences that tell
  what was found.

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What does it mean

• Answer, Do not write vague
• Implication or speculation, Include a sentence
• We conclude that , thus , these findings showed
  that , these results indicate that, therefore
• Be careful to distinguish between the answer and
  the implication by using clear signals and
  appropriate verbs
• Answer definite verbs we conclude that X
  causes Y
• Implication hedged verbs these results suggest
  that X may play a role in Y

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Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2006 Jul 14

• CONCLUSION Students who practiced deliveries on
  an obstetrics simulator report higher levels of
  confidence in their skills to perform vaginal
  deliveries.

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Obesity (Silver Spring). 2006 May14(5)770-3

• DISCUSSION A high pre-pregnancy BMI is clearly
  associated with a higher rate of cesarean section
  deliveries. However, under the compensating
  conditions of a tertiary perinatal center,
  overall morbidity of mothers and newborns seems
  not to be increased.

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Int J Cardiol. 2006 Jul 3

• CONCLUSION Beneficial effects of nebivolol on
  platelet activation were more potent than those
  of metoprolol. We consider that decreased
  platelet activation with nebivolol might play a
  role to reduce thrombotic risk in hypertensive
  patients.

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Writing tips

• Repeat key terms
• Use the same order for details
• Keep the same verb and point of view in the
  question and the answer
• P values alone are not useful, if you want to
  give a quantative idea of the data without
  presenting actual values such as mean and SD give
  percent change.

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Writing tips

• Present for the question and the answer
• Past tense for what was done and what was found
• Use Short sentences and Simple words
• Avoid noun clusters

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Abbreviations

• Avoid abbreviations when ever possible
• You should use standard abbreviations for units
  of measurements
• You can use standard widely accepted
  abbreviations
• Some journals permit abbreviations that are
  standard in their specialty
• Define it first time
• One is no problem
• Two are ok
• Three are borderline

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To condense a long abstract

• Omit unnecessary words
• Condense background
• Definitions
• Experimental preparation
• Details of method
• Exact data
• Confirmatory results
• Comparison with previous results
• Note on counting words

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Excessive Detail

• Use category terms instead of listing all
  variables
• Report data only for he most important results
• Give percent change instead of exact data
• Omit p values
• Omit significantly
• Use MeanSD only once

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Methods papers

• Name of the method , Apparatus or material
• The purpose
• The species or population
• How it works, key features
• The advantages
• How it was tested
• How well it works
• Always begin with the first four

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Writing tips

• It is OK but not necessary to indicate the
  method is new
• Include the name purpose and species in one
  sentence
• Usually include how the method was tested and how
  well it works in one sentence
• Name past or present
• Method or apparatus , advantages present
• Method Testing , How well past

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• We have designed a new endotracheal flowmeter
  (name ) to measure tidal volume, phasic and mean
  pressure, inspirotary time, and end tidal Pco2
  and Po2 (purpose) in intubated infants
  (population). The flowmeter is light (11 g) and
  adds minimal dead space (1.0 ml) and resistance
  (2 cm H2O/110 ml per s) to the infants airway .
  The volume signal (lt 10ml) is linear to 7 Hz, and
  end-tidal gases can be measured at respiratory
  rates of 90 breaths/min.( key features)

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• This flowmeter is particularly valuable for
  evaluating rapid mechanical ventilation of very
  low birth weight infants. (advantages) In 125 in
  5o infants weighting 740 1500g (how it was
  tested) the flowmeter accurately measured a wide
  range of tidal volume. ( how well it works)

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Abstracts for meetings

• Include more details
• Graph and table (No title or legends)
• More likely to include implications
• If the results are good the abstract will be
  accepted. If not, data will not help
• Do not omit the result
• more liberal and extensive use of abbreviations

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Key words

• Important topics
• Select the term that you would look up if you
  were trying to find your own paper and that
  attract the readers you hope to reach
• Use current terms
• MeSH terms are preferred
• Use the most specific terms
• If necessary include a term even if it does not
  appear in your paper

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Topics

• Content of result abstract
• Background and objective, method, Result, answer
  and implication
• Content of method abstract
• Name, The purpose, The population, features,
  advantages, test, efficacy
• Abstract for meetings
• keywords

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The Title

• Effective titles
• Identify the main issue
• Begin with the subject of your paper
• Are accurate, unambiguous, specific and complete
• Do not contain abbreviation
• Attract readers

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• The sequence of the human genome
• Initial sequencing and analysis of the human
  genome
• The effect of parenteral smoking on the
  development of asthma and other atopic disease in
  children evidence from a birth cohort study in
  NSW, austrailia
• Parenteral smoking and the development of
  childhood asthma

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• On the circulation of the blood.
• Toward a definition of asthma for epidemiology
• The relationship between symptoms of asthma
  airway hyper responsiveness results from a
  population study of children
• Mental distress and the risk of hip fractures. Do
  broken hearts lead to broken bones

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• Traditional
• Effect of asthma on linear growth in children
• Asthma and linear growth in children
• Final height attainment of asthmatic children
• Question
• does asthma reduce linear growth ?
• Are asthmatic children shorter than non asthmatic
  children ?
• Assertive
• Asthma is negatively associated with growth in
  height during adolescence
• Linear growth deficit in asthmatic children
• Over weight children and the risk of asthma

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