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The EMBO-EMBL Symposium 'Synthetic Morphogenesis: From Gene Circuits to Tissue Architecture' was held in Heidelberg, Germany, in March 2019, with 150 participants seeking to reverse-engineer embryogenesis, emphasizing quantitative simulation and the use of synthetic systems to test models. This highly dynamic, interdisciplinary mix of quantitative developmental genetics, bioengineering, synthetic biology and artificial life aimed to reveal how evolution exploits physical forces and genetics to implement the cell- and tissue-level decision-making required for complex morphogenesis., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing or financial interests., (© 2019. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.)

Background and Objective: The growing Anglicization of the German language especially affects medicine. This is true not only in medical research but also for congresses and publications. This leads to far-reaching consequences also for continuing medical education. This questionnaire study obtained the opinions by a selected group of doctors attending a general medical congress., Methods: Questionnaires were distributed to 365 attendees of the 51. Doctors' Congress in Berlin in June 2002. In addition 345 questionnaires were sent to doctors working at 3 university clinics, 27 clinics at teaching hospitals and 9 at communal clinics throughout Germany. Answers were divided by work place (clinical or non-clinical) and age., Results: There were 360 respondents (188 non-clinical, 172 clinical; 51.1%): 20% reported good self appraised knowledge of written and spoken English. 84.7% were against English as the only language at meetings of German medical societies, while 98.3% were against it for national congresses (except for foreign guests). 84.3% agreed that German and English should be the languages, both of talks and discussions, at international congresses held in Germany. English as the language of specialist journals was less strongly rejected by young respondents. There was no age-related difference regarding the other questions., Conclusions: The respondents considered it as self-evident that German be the only language at German national congresses and of journals by German publishers directed at German doctors, but certain exception were acceptable. At international congresses held in Germany, both German and English are equally acceptable in order to avoid a large part of the interested German medical community being disadvantaged in their acquisition of medical-scientific information were English to be the sole language.

Background: To evaluate the publication rate of abstracts presented during the German Anaesthesia Congress (DAK) in MEDLINE-listed journals in comparison to the publication rate of abstracts presented during the meeting of the European Society of Anaesthesiologists (ESA)., Methods: All abstracts of free papers (FP, orals) and posters of the 1994 DAK and the 1994 ESA meeting were included. Over a period of approximately 7 years (1993 to May 1999) the appearance of authors and abstracts topics in the literature were searched with the help of MEDLINE. Only original papers were included in the analysis., Results: All 322 abstracts (268 FPs and 54 posters) of the DAK and all 244 abstracts (81 FP and 163 posters) of the ESA were analyzed. A total 122 of the DAK abstracts (37.9% of all abstracts) and 111 of the ESA abstracts (45.5% of all abstracts) were published in MEDLINE-listed journals. Posters presented at the DAK were as published often (37%) as were oral presentations (38%). Of the 122 abstracts of the DAK that were published 71 (58.2%) were published in English (in 38 different journals) and 51 (41.8%) were published in German (in 8 different journals), whereas 102 (92%) of the ESA abstracts were published in english (in 42 different journals)., Conclusion: The overall portion of abstracts of the DAK published in MEDLINE indexed journals within 7 years was disappointing. The reasons for this may include deliberate avoidance of a publication (e.g. due to lack of interest to publish, no time) or low quality of the abstract that hinders publication in a MEDLINE indexed journal.