Hopefully all of you have received the January issue of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and have seen the many great features and articles contained in our pages. I want to point out two articles that I hope many of you have already read but, if not, that you will take the time to do so. They should definitively be useful to you in your practice.
The first is a renewed emphasis on Perspective articles which we have defined as “evidence-based opinion pieces”. The goal is to inform our readers with important information as a basis for developing opinions and positions related to practice. Sometimes these perspectives can be “edgy”, other times primarily informative. This month Allen Meadows, MD, FACAAI and colleagues wrote a perspective on how the proposed USP revision to the sterile compounding extracts may affect our ability to continue to mix allergy extracts in our offices. They present information that is both informative and thought provoking. It gives us pause to consider what we, as individual practitioners, should be following and doing about this important issue.
Another contribution in this month’s issue is the second in what will be an ongoing series called “Practice Yardsticks”. This one is on atopic dermatitis, authored by Mark Boguniewicz, MD, FACAAI and colleagues. It is basically a focused overview of the topic from pathophysiology to diagnosis to treatment approaches. It is well referenced and can be a resource that will allow you to assess how your efforts for your patients with atopic dermatitis “measure up” to generally accepted standards of care in this well written, well referenced article. Future topics will be published several times a year and suggestions for future yardsticks are welcomed and encouraged.
Finally, I want to call your attention to a new feature we have begun this month in cooperation with Steve Tilles, MD, FACAAI,Editor-in-chief of AllergyWatch and his great team of editors. AllergyWatch is an ongoing and extremely popular periodical sponsored by the College for many years. Some of the commentary from past issues remain quite relevant to readers today. So, as a result, Dr. Tilles and his team have agreed to contribute regularly to the Annals with a feature we have named “From the Pages of AllergyWatch” where 4-6 past minireviews, that we believe to be timely for the specific Annals issue at hand, are presented. Take a look at this month’s selections on atopic dermatitis.
As always, I welcome your comments as to how we can continue to improve the Annals to meet the scholarly needs of you, the practicing allergy-immunology specialist.
Gailen D. Marshall, Jr., MD PhD, FACAAI
Editor-in-chief
