Thankfully summer is almost over, Toronto has experienced temperatures into the mid 30 s for the majority of June & July and in August we had temperatures of over 40 celsius. Who said Canada is a cold ice ridden landscape! At least I have the fall (autumn for our European colleagues!) to look forward to — lower temperatures and brighter, more attractive trees!
For those of us who managed a summer vacation I do hope that it was a restful time and the world of wound care played no part in your thought processes — we all need a rest from time to time.
Now it's conference season yet again, with many European and Canadian conferences taking place in the last quarter of the year. So our travel bags come out once again and we have the opportunity to meet our colleagues from around the world. The fall season begins with Stuttgart 2005, the joint scientific meeting of the European Tissue Repair Society (ETRS), the European Wound Management Association (EWMA) and the German Wound Healing Society (DGfW).
Our journal's Strategic Partners have a significant presence holding many satellite symposia and of course participating in a large commercial exhibition. Like their fellow industrialists they will be happy to welcome you to Stuttgart and look forward to seeing you at their events and visiting their trade stands — without the Industry we would all have much smaller and less active meetings.
You can find details of some of the events in this edition of the International Wound Journal (IWJ) through the ETRS (http://www.etrs.org) EWMA (http://www.ewma.org) and DGfW (http://www.dgfw.de) websites.
The IWJ will also be present at the Stuttgart meeting and we look forward to you visiting our stand and hearing, first hand, your comments concerning our journal including not only what you think is good, but also suggestions for improvement.
Much activity in the life of the IWJ recently has centred around our attempts to become listed on Medline. The good news is that our application has been submitted for consideration. The bad news is that at the time of writing this editorial we await a decision, but I am the eternal optimist and with Blackwell's previous track record am hopeful that we will be successful and add this to our existing listing on CINAHL.
In this edition we continue our diverse approach regarding subject matter and geography. We have our first major piece on burns by a much respected name in this clinical arena and we bring articles on new and evolving techniques in the treatment of wounds (e.g. Sensory Nerve Stimulation). Should you find these articles of interest or they stimulate provocative thoughts then drop us a letter airing your views.
Plans continue for the 2008 WUWHS meeting here in Toronto. As part of the local planning committee my level of excitement grows and grows as the meeting comes together. The local planning committee is excited at the prospect of seeing many of the wound carers from around the world in our home city — Toronto! Many exciting activities, some academic, some clinical and many social are planned to welcome the world of wound care to Toronto in 2008. Exciting times ahead and the IWJ will play its part in this very important meeting.
In finishing this September editorial, I also want to remind you of other events this fall which include the Canadian Association of Wound Care meeting in Montreal and also the Wounds UK meeting in Harrogate, taking place in November. These meetings may be primarily for clinicians in those countries but they always have a strong international perspective both from presenters and attendees. End your year on a high note by attending one of these important meetings as they round off the 2005 conference season.
Editorial Advisory Board
Prof. Zulifiqarali Abbas, Tanzania Prof. Bishara Atiyeh, Lebanon Dr Adrian Barbul, USA Suzie Calne, UK Dr Robertto Cassino, Italy Dr Celalettin Ç elebi, Turkey Dr George Cherry, UK Dr Mike Clark, UK Dr Diane Cooper, USA Dr Ian Darby, Australia Dr Jeff Davidson, USA Dr Sebastian Debus, Germany Dr William Ennis, USA Dr Vincent Falanga, USA Dr Mieke Flour, Belgium Evonne Fowler, USA Prof. Peter Franks, UK Prof. Xiabong Fu, China Prof. Finn Gottrup, Denmark David Gray, UK Dr Satsue Hagisawa, Japan Dr Eva‐Lisa Heinrichs, UK Dr Dirk Hollander, Germany Dr Pamela Houghton, Canada Prof. Kent Jö nsson, Zimbabwe Dr David Keast, Canada Dr Kazuo Kishi, Japan Dr Diane Krasner, USA Dr Stephan Landis, Arab Emirates Prof. David Leaper, UK Dr Luis Fernando Lira, Mexico Dr Courtney Lyder, USA Dr Mario Marazzi, Italy Dr Sylvie Meaume, France Dr Joe McCulloch, USA Yvette Moulin, Canada Dr Manoj Pandey, India Nancy Parslow, Canada Prof. Hugo Partsch, Austria Prof. Hermelinda Pedrosa, Brazil Dr Elaine Pina, Portugal Dr Elia Ricci, Italy Dr Ricardo Roa, Chile Dr George Rodeheaver, USA Dr Jose Contreras Ruiz, Mexico Prof. Vijay Shukla, India Dr Mark Tang, Singapore Cath Vowden, UK Dr Peter Vowden, UK