The first issue of the year 2007 marks thestart of 2 changes for The AIDS Reader. Thefirst is obvious-it’s in front of your noseright now: each month, I will provide a few editorialnotes on what you can expect in the issue.The second change is less conspicuous but moreimportant: a statement of any potential conflictof interest will now appear with each publishedarticle.
The first issue of the year 2007 marks the start of 2 changes for The AIDS Reader. The first is obvious–it's in front of your nose right now: each month, I will provide a few editorial notes on what you can expect in the issue. The second change is less conspicuous but more important: a statement of any potential conflict of interest will now appear with each published article.
This month's issue contains 2 feature articles along with several columns with which you are familiar (Images in HIV/AIDS, Research Focus, and Policy Watch). The feature article by Drs Edward Machtinger and David Bangsberg from the University of California at San Francisco addresses the never-ending challenge of patient adherence to treatment. The authors provide a series of steps of which 1 or more can be adopted into practice to improve medication adherence. In the other feature, Drs Echezona Ezeanolue and Cynthia Schenauer from the University of Nevada use an interesting case study approach to highlight the barriers to eliminating mother-to-child transmission that unfortunately remain in the United States. Each of the 4 cases points out a problem with the pre- or postnatal care given, and the authors discuss ways to overcome challenges as illustrated by their cases so that opportunities for intervention in such settings will not continue to be missed. An added commentary by Dr Deborah Cohan points out that ending perinatal HIV transmission for good is now possible.
This issue also marks the second year of the well-received bimonthly column Images in HIV/AIDS, under the expert aegis of the Series Editors Drs Bruce Dezube and Liron Pantanowitz. As shown on the journal's cover, the case presented this month reminds us of the myriad manifestations and complications of HIV disease and, specifically, the potential of lipodystrophy to negatively affect not only quality of life but also medication adherence and thus treatment outcomes. Our Research Focus this month is on hepatitis C, and Dr William Valenti presents an overview of the latest research, which addresses treatment duration and proper ribavirin dosing. In her Policy Watch column, Dr Kristine Gebbie provides a list of "New Year reminders" for our senators and representatives to consider and act on when Congress reconvenes this year.
Last but not least, we honor those who provided blinded peer review of submitted papers during the previous year by acknowledging their contribution. Please be sure to turn to page 40 for a list of these reviewers, whom we gratefully thank.
Also beginning with this issue, as mentioned above, a conflict-of-interest statement based on information we have collected from the corresponding author will be placed at the end of each article. With our wide readership and the increasing value of the Journal to HIV care providers, we believe that such statements are essential and should be the first place you turn to before reading one of our articles. This change creates a nice opportunity for me to underscore our existing policy for manuscript submission. As always since I have been editor, all submitted articles of interest undergo a fully blinded, independent peer-review process, and all articles are assumed to be the sole work of the authors. Financial or editorial support related to manuscript preparation from commercial entities is not acceptable.
On behalf of the entire staff, I wish you much success in the coming year and hope the Journal continues to be a relevant and valuable tool in the care you provide. I would love to hear how we are doing. Take care and be well.
John Hawes, Editor
jhawes@cmp.com
Common Side Effects of Antiretroviral Therapy in HIV Infection
February 7th 2013What are some of the more common side effects of antiretroviral therapy, and what can the primary care physician do to help manage these effects? In this podcast, infectious disease expert Rodger MacArthur, MD, offers insights and points readers to updated comprehensive guidelines.