Message from the editor.

I am delighted to write you my second editors letter as an introduction to this issue of the AMAA Journal, which shares with you highlights from the American Medical Athletic Association's April Sports Medicine Symposium held in conjunction with the 2003 Boston Marathon. This issue will also share memories with those of you who were there and, perhaps, provide a glimpse of what will be to those of you who are planning to run Boston with us in 2004. I guess you'd be correct to say this is our "Boston issue." Included in the pages are photos of AMAA members preparing to run the marathon, listings of finishing times, a "Member Profile" on one of our esteemed members--who happens to be a Boston 2003 runner, and a remembrance of the late Will Cloney, former Boston Marathon race director and friend of AMAA.

The focus of this year's AMAA Sports Medicine Symposium at Boston was the issue of hyponatremia and Jeff Venables, the esteemed editor of our sister publication Running & FitNews, attended to record and share with you important information on this topic. His comprehensive report can be found starting on page six.

The condition of hyponatremia sprang to the forefront of "how to provide effective marathon medical care" during the past year after two young women died, one at the 2002 Boston Marathon and the other only six months later at the Marine Corps Marathon. Although we are still struggling with solutions at the preventive end, all professionals who deal with long-distance athletes in their practices and/or work should be very familiar with this condition. But as you'll read in Jeff's report, it appears there is still a great need for education among emergency care providers in the community where endurance events are held.

In this issue, we also look at the growing concern of obesity--primarily among U.S. children--and ways to encourage your patients to exercise. Michael Danduran, M.S., a Clinical Exercise Physiologist at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin discusses his efforts to develop a successful N.E.W. (literally) approach to combating childhood obesity. And my regular column "Talking About Training" follows his lead with a recipe to help encourage individuals to begin and maintain an exercise program through "The Five Secrets of Regular Exercise." I hope my "secrets" will have some application in your clinical practices.

We are also delighted to resurrect "Letters to the Editor." Paul Kiell, M.D., long-time AMAA activitist, founding editor of the AMAA Quarterly, and newly appointed Editorial Advisory Board Member, has gotten us off to a good start by contributing two letters for response. We hope you'll follow suit by sending comments or questions to [e-mail] (please type "Letters to the Editor" in your subject line).

We are gradually catching up with the material we have had in the "hopper" and are, therefore, now welcoming new contributions and submission of research articles. Among other things, that means we will be activating our revived and restructured Editorial Advisory Board, who will be reviewing submitted articles for us. You can view these newly appointed Board members on the AMAA Journal masthead. If you are interested in joining the Editorial Advisory Board when positions become available in January 2004, please let us know by sending e-mail to [e-mail].

The duties of an AMAA Journal Editorial Advisory Board member are to:

* Review no more than two articles that have been submitted for publication, per year. Because the Journal will appear only three to four times per year, it is likely that the article-review load will rarely reach that number.

* Submit at least one article for consideration for publication per three-year term, which will be put through the regular peer review process.

* Participate in discussions (via e-mail and conference calls) about the evolving role, function, and identity of the Journal.

* The standard term of office for an Editorial Advisory Board member will be three years, with a limit of two consecutive terms; however, this term-limit can be extended at the Editor-in-Chief's discretion (and initial terms have been adjusted to create staggering expiration of terms).

We hope you enjoy and make use of the information presented in this AMAA Journal.

Have a great summer, Steve Jonas