Dear Reader,
It's hard for me to believe that an entire year has rapidly come and gone since I became the chief editor of Brain Pathology. Thanks to the brilliant professionals with whom I work, it has been a wonderfully (and somewhat surprisingly) fun experience. Granted, there are those days where 24 h doesn't seem nearly enough to finish my work, although that was already true before I assumed this role. It has been and continues to be a great privilege to play at least a small part in shaping the vision of this truly excellent journal. Given all the recent changes over this first year, the initial series of “Dear Reader” sections were relatively easy; they virtually wrote themselves. However, with relatively little official new business to report at this time, I find myself grappling with new topics to tackle. As it is always best to stick to what you know, I hope you'll indulge me as I attempt to offer you a few entertaining musings, adopting the delightfully informal editorial style originally created by our journal's founder, Paul Kleihues.
As some of you already know, my greatest passion outside of neuropathology is music. I consider myself extremely fortunate that although I did not pursue music as a profession, I nonetheless have had opportunities to sing with some truly outstanding musicians and conductors over the years. Currently, I serve as the assistant principal tenor in the American Kantorei, a professional chorus and orchestra modeled after the Westfalian Kantorei from Herford, Germany. Our first concert of the season includes Bach's Cantata 70, Wachet! Betet! Betet! Wachet! (Watch! Pray! Pray! Watch!) and Motet 1, Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (Sing to the lord a new song). After bouncing through a seemingly endless stream of conferences, sign out sessions and meetings last week, I rushed to my car to make an aria rehearsal with our conductor, Robert Bergt. After our practice, he asked me what's new in brain research and joked about how conductors/music directors need to not only be excellent musicians, but capable psychologists as well. Of course, this was not terribly surprising to me considering the fragile egos of musicians (and physicians) in general, much less us divo tenors! I would dare say that chairmen, lab directors and Pathology administrators need to be proficient psychologists as well. It nevertheless occurred to me that in fact, one can draw many analogies between my chosen profession and my passionate hobby. In fact, preparing an issue of Brain Pathology is not unlike staging a concert.
As your editor‐in‐chief, I suppose I am the journal's “conductor”. At best, this analogy means that I play an important role in guiding our authors (“volunteer choir singers”), invited authors (“not too terribly well‐paid soloists”) and guest editors (“commissioned composers”) to aspire toward excellence and provide the readers (“audience”) with a mentally, if not spiritually stimulating experience. At worst, the analogy might mean that all the other players are entirely too busy with their own work (“sheet music”) to look up and see what their editor/conductor is doing. On the one hand, if we all work together rhythmically and harmoniously, we create spectacularly moving phrases; if we don't, it can be quite painful. After multiple revisions (“rehearsals”), those interested in publishing their research (“solos”) must submit their papers for peer review (“audition”). If the work is unique and exciting, it is accepted and the final product is forwarded to our editorial staff (“recording engineers”) who strive to enhance the quality and clarity further, all the while being careful not to distort the original purity and style of the authors (“performers”). At last, the publication (“recording”) is made widely available in the hopes that it will inspire future studies (“musical interpretations”) capable of taking it to the next level. With this in mind, I hope you share my great pride in our quarterly issues (“bound collections of operas, symphonies, oratorios and songs”); please help me sing the praises of Brain Pathology with enthusiastic fervor! Oh, I nearly forgot . . . we'd like to extend our special thanks to all our sponsors, benefactors and publishers, without whom none of this would have been possible.
President
Bernardino Ghetti, M.D. Distinguished Professor Director Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center Indiana University School of Medicine Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 635 Barnhill Drive, MS A138 Indianapolis, IN 46202 USA Tel.: (001) 317 274 7818 Fax: (001) 317 274 4882 E‐mail: bghetti@iupui.edu
Secretary General
Prof Seth Love Department of Neuropathology Institute of Clinical Neurosciences Frenchay Hospital Bristol BS16 1LE United Kingdom Tel.: (+44) 0 117 975 3823 Fax: (+44) 0 117 975 3760 E‐mail: seth.love@bris.ac.uk
Treasurer
Dr Marcus Tolnay Neuropathology, Institute of Pathology Schonbeinstrasse 40 CH‐4003 Basel Switzerland Tel.: (+41) 61 265 2896 Fax: (+41) 61 265 3194 E‐mail: mtolnay@uhbs.ch
Project Secretary
Leila Chimelli Servico de Anatomia Patologica Hospital Universitario‐UFRJ Ilha do Fundao‐Rio de Janeiro, RJ CEP 21941‐590 Brazil Tel.: (+55) 21 2562 2450 Fax: (+55) 21 2562 2450 E‐mail: chimelli@hucff.ufrj.br