Dear Colleagues,
This issue marks the beginning of the third year for UroToday International Journal, and anniversary issues always call for some reflection on how we are doing. Our primary goal was to elevate access to urology and uro-oncology science for professionals around the world. Since its inception, our readership has grown to over 21,000 individual subscribers and we have a large pool of reviewers from over 40 countries. Over the past 2 years, we have published articles with authors from 32 countries and have attracted subscribers from 206 countries and territories on 6 continents. We have been accepted into the EMCare (Elsevier) as well as EBESCOhost (research database service). We are now "old" enough to have applications currently being evaluated by the PubMed and PubMed Central (National Library of Medicine) and Scopus (Elsevier) database sources. We look forward to their responses. Our publication rate has grown from 6 articles in the first several issues to 22 in the present collection. We have also been able to continue our stated goal of rapid turnaround times from submission to publication. We could not achieve this success without the dedication of both our reviewers and authors.
The current issue contains a variety of articles, many of which are on current topics of high interest to the professional community. We are glad to announce several articles in basic science, because one of our goals is to increase our publication of basic science research. This type of research forms the foundation of any profession and we welcome your submissions.
Studies involving tissue engineering and regeneration are beginning to show promise for future application to patients with renal failure. Hopefully, these studies will one day solve the many problems associated with dialysis and renal transplantation. The topical review on cell-based approaches to renal tissue regeneration by Agcaoili et al provides an in-depth summary of related literature and a thoughtful discussion about the current limitations and future potential for this area of research.
Another basic science investigation, written by Uvelius and Kanje, is on the topic of plasticity of neurons following preganglionic and postganglionic pelvic injuries. Their results have immediate implications for patients needing a prostatectomy.
The current issue has two randomized, prospective investigations on the topic of alpha-blockers for the treatment of symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (Griwan et al; Dash et al). The patients in both studies were from India. Because most previously reported studies involved patients from North American or European countries, it was interesting to note that dietary and lifestyle differences did not seem to alter the effects of the investigated drugs.
Another prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind drug investigation was written by Asgari et al. They found significant, positive effects from the herbal drug Hypericum perforatum (St. John's wort) for the treatment of premature ejaculation.
Nomikos et al investigated the importance of the digital rectal examination (DRE) for prostate cancer detection in men with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels < 3 ng/mL and lower urinary tract symptoms. The authors compared literature on DRE for screening the general population with DRE in urological practice and emphasized the importance of keeping it standard in the specialist setting. Their concern is that many of the cancers detected by DRE alone are potentially curable but may have worse outcomes if the physician waits until PSA reaches an abnormal level.
Finally, this issue contains a number of interesting case reports. Two that are quite rare include a patient with renal tuberculosis during pregnancy (Benatta and Sallami) and a patient with situs inversus totalis (Shapiro et al).
We are pleased to host the 1st Annual UroToday International Journal reception following the AUA meeting in San Francisco honoring our authors, reviewers, and editors who have provided support by sharing their work and time. We look forward to future collaborations with professionals from around the world as we continue to grow.
Kind regards,
K-E Andersson
Editor-In-Chief
UIJ