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The editors of Journal Watch Dermatology want to thank you for joining us in our monthly journeys through the dermatologic literature. We are pleased to present our editors' choice of the 10 top stories in dermatology of the past year. The year 2011 was truly one of milestones: We covered a new staging system for cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas, fresh evidence that sunscreens actually prevent melanoma, thoroughly revised criteria for the labeling of sunscreens, new guidelines from the American Academy of Dermatology on melanoma management, the approval of two new drugs for metastatic melanoma, and several much-anticipated head-to-head trials in psoriasis. Our editors carefully selected every story not only for its scientific content, but also for its clinical impact.
As I peruse this year's list, I can easily imagine how these stories directly inform our care of patients every week. At Journal Watch Dermatology, this is our mission, strength, and passion.
Our Dermatology Top Stories of 2011 are:
Guidelines for the Management of Primary Cutaneous Melanoma
Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma Takes the Stage
Finally, Evidence That Sunscreen Delivers
FDA Announces Changes to Sunscreen Labeling
Mutation to Medicine: Improved Survival with Vemurafenib in Melanoma
Propranolol for Infantile Hemangioma: A Retrospective Study in 71 Children
Patients Taking Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs Also Developed Less New Diabetes
A Psoriasis Gene Emerges: IL-36–Receptor Antagonist Deficiency Causes Generalized Pustular Psoriasis
Warfarin and Clopidogrel Are More Likely Than Aspirin to Cause Perioperative Bleeding
Strong Medicine: Methotrexate and Azathioprine Equally Safe and Effective for Atopic Dermatitis
For those of you who are new to Journal Watch, a little-known secret is that professionally made PowerPoint slides are available online for almost every article we summarize, including the editor's comments (http://dermatology.jwatch.org). These come in quite handy if you are called upon to lecture or teach.
I also want to take this opportunity to introduce a new feature for 2012. Dr. Joel Gelfand from the University of Pennsylvania will be spearheading a practitioner-friendly forum on biostatistics called “Behind the Numbers.” Joel is a renowned dermatoepidemiologist and clinician and a wonderful teacher of all those cryptic statistical tests and Greek letters. At the core of every major research effort is our ability to interpret results. Joel will point out common approaches and the traps that can plague the dermatologic literature. A formal understanding of biostatistics is not necessary ... but you may want to dust off that TI-35 calculator from college.
On behalf of all the editors of Journal Watch Dermatology, we wish you a great holiday season. As always, your comments and suggestions on how to improve our publication are welcome. Contact us by e-mail at jwderm@mms.org, or use the Reader Remarks feature at the bottom of this letter online.
Happy New Year,
Hensin