Editorials
Almost a Centenarian—Bold, Forward, and Networking
“Unlike in the past, there are now two kinds of people in the world: those who own and run the networks, and those who merely use them.”1Niall FergusonPublishing Pandemic-Related Content and Embarking on New Initiatives
Mayo Clinic Proceedings begins this new year with a note of gratitude and appreciation to all its readership, authors, reviewers, and other contributors and its publisher Elsevier for their outstanding support that vitally underpins the success of the journal. Such support is especially appreciated as a number of initiatives at Mayo Clinic Proceedings were begun in 2021 that we believe will sustain and promote the mission and success of the journal—now within 5 years of a centenary of continuous publication—long into the future.Progressing From Print to Paperless Online Publishing
In transitioning from 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic began, to 2021, Mayo Clinic Proceedings wishes all its authors, reviewers, and readers, above all, their health and safety. Mayo Clinic Proceedings thanks them all for their outstanding contributions that make the journal such a continued success. Such contributions are all the more significant and laudable as they are made in the era of COVID-19, one that appeared so precipitously and upended virtually all aspects of our professional and personal lives.Introduction to Thematic Reviews on Aging and Geriatric Medicine
Over the past decade, the number of publications on aging and geriatric medicine has increased dramatically, and in 2018, there were more than 27,000 and 8,000 PubMed citations, respectively. Much of this interest has been generated by a more precise understanding of the mechanisms of primary aging processes, and remarkably, the early identification of potential targets for interventions. Concomitantly, formulation of the geroscience hypothesis has created a new paradigm shift for thinking critically about the relationship between chronic diseases and aging, with the now real possibility of simultaneously treating multiple age-onset conditions with the same intervention.The COVID-19 Pandemic and Mayo Clinic Proceedings
The United States of America and the world remain gripped in the COVID-19 crisis, with the number of cases and deaths steadily increasing. This crisis has profoundly stressed health care systems and the nation’s capability in caring for patients afflicted by the disease; has imposed pervasive economic hardships with incalculable consequences; has altered our behavior by the need for social distancing and the wearing of face masks, by proscribing meetings and gatherings, and by eliciting shelter-in-place directives; has limited the freedom of travel and the ready supply of things we all took for granted; and has left us still dazed by its unanticipated appearance, its rapid dissemination, and the fearsomeness of its present and future impact.The 2020 Vision for Mayo Clinic Proceedings
It is my true privilege and pleasure to begin the new year by thanking all our authors, reviewers, and readers for their support of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, a journal now continuously published for some 94 years. The journal continues to enjoy a robust number of submissions with an estimated total number of 1495 submissions during 2019, of which 615 were the estimated number of submitted original articles; indeed, the wealth of original material submitted to Mayo Clinic Proceedings allowed a higher acceptance rate in 2019.Global Village, International Travel, and Risk of Communicable Disease
Travel and migration may communicate many things, including the risk of infectious diseases. In this issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Bezalel et al1 present their retrospective analysis of patients diagnosed with leprosy over a 23-year period at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Six of the 9 patients were born outside the United States, whereas the remaining 3 were born in the United States.A Bicentennial, a Centennial, and Mayo Clinic Proceedings
Seemingly ordinary events may lead, improbably, to extraordinary consequences. In 1819, William Worrall Mayo was born in Salford, England.1 His father died at age 49, leaving William, then age 7 years, and his siblings in somewhat difficult circumstances. Enabled by his resourceful mother, William attended a school run by John Dalton (a pioneer in the development of atomic theory and the periodic table), and subsequently became a skilled tailor and draper. William eventually migrated to the United States, moving from the East Coast out to the Midwest where he pursued his interest in medicine at Indiana Medical College, La Porte, Indiana; he gained a medical degree at the University of Missouri in 1854, attending its St.Current, Emerging, and Anticipated Therapies for Sickle Cell Disease
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most frequent monogenic disorder and hereditary hematologic disease worldwide.1-4 Currently afflicting well over 300,000 live births each year, such rates are expected to markedly increase in the years ahead.2,3 In its discovery, pathobiology, and therapeutic challenges, SCD stands entirely apart from any other known clinical disorder.1-4 Features of SCD have been recognized in Africa for centuries, and in the English literature, sickle red blood cells (RBCs) were first described in a West Indian student studying dentistry in Chicago who presented with fevers, pain, leg ulcers, jaundice, and pulmonary symptoms.Managing the Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder in Women
Marking an initiative by a signal date, motif, or event underscores its importance and often promotes its success. For example, in its 2004 initiative to promote awareness of cardiovascular disease as a major cause of mortality in women, the American Heart Association chose the first Friday in February of each year for an annual campaign against this disease in women and selected a red dress as the campaign's motif.1 “Go Red for Women” proved remarkably successful in engendering awareness regarding this leading cause of mortality in women and in stimulating and supporting research in this disease.Disease Progression and End-Stage Renal Disease in Diverse Glomerulopathies
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is not a functionally static process but rather a potentially progressive one that may culminate in end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The onset of ESRD is a turning point in the course of CKD because ESRD substantially alters the patient's lifestyle and imposes increased morbidity and mortality in patients so afflicted. For most patients, ESRD is managed by in-center hemodialysis, a treatment modality that obligates, among other requirements, the placement and functionality of a vascular access for hemodialysis; the need to travel thrice weekly to the dialysis center; thrice-weekly hemodialysis treatments lasting 3 or more hours; tolerance to the recurrent lassitude and generalized lack of well-being often experienced after each hemodialysis treatment; and restricted intake of fluids and assorted dietary constituents.Transitions and New Beginnings at Mayo Clinic Proceedings
The beginning of a new year is always a time to look back on what was achieved in the prior year and to look forward to what may be accomplished in the year ahead. July 2017 saw the transition of editorial leadership at the Proceedings—I am doubly privileged not only by currently serving in this role but also by assuming it from William L. (Bill) Lanier, MD. Dr Lanier superbly led the Proceedings for 18 years, during which time the Proceedings established itself as the third largest indexed medical journal in the world; published seminal contributions that are highly cited; established a global reach and readership and a global provenance of submitting authors; successfully created in 2017 an online expansion journal (Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes); and has now attained an impact factor of 6.686, as reported in the summer of 2017.Affirming the Mission of Mayo Clinic Proceedings
During the summer of 1975, the midpoint of my years in medical school at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, I returned to the island of my birth and upbringing, Trinidad, West Indies. While there I attended teaching-ward rounds and clinical tutorials at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of the West Indies Medical School, the latter based in Mona, Jamaica. During this clinical experience in Trinidad, I remember visiting a small library with a select number of journals, which included, alongside the West Indian Medical Journal, the only North American medical journal I can recall seeing there—Mayo Clinic Proceedings.Transition of Editor-in-Chief Duties at Mayo Clinic Proceedings
We wish to announce the transition of Editor-in-Chief (EIC) duties at Mayo Clinic Proceedings (MCP). With the publication of this April 2017 issue, Karl A. Nath, MBChB, will assume the administrative responsibilities of EIC, and William L. Lanier, MD, will become Emeritus EIC. Dr Nath will be the eighth physician to serve as Proceedings EIC since the reorganization of Journal leadership in 1964.1Platelets, Antiplatelet Therapy, and Diabetic Nephropathy
Chronic renal insufficiency develops in approximately 40% of patients with type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.1 Nephropathy appears from 15 to 30 years after the onset of diabetes, is signaled by dipstick-positive proteinuria, and is commonly antedated by diabetic angiopathy, especially diabetic retinopathy.1 After the appearance of proteinuria, renal function progressively deteriorates, and within 5 years (as indicated by earlier studies2) or 10 years (as cited in a more recent publication3), end-stage diabetic renal disease is reached.
