Editors’ note In September, I attended the annual convention for the Association of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Professionals for the first time, and was impressed by two aspects: the incredible diversity of professionals who devote their careers to improving the lives of people with SCI and the impressive achievements of so many people who live with SCI in a way that puts many “able-bodied” people to shame. As a long-time boater, I was fascinated with the presentation on Monday afternoon of the sailing simulator that prepares people with SCI for adaptive sailing (a sport I was able to learn more about in the September issue of Sail magazine, in their article, “Sailors, Leave Your Wheelchairs Behind”). I took up ballroom dancing with my wife a few years ago, and so while browsing the many fine poster presentations, I was immediately drawn to the ballroom dance program that was presented by staff from the Palo Alto VA Medical Center and Washington University in St. Louis. I certainly hope that we will be able to bring some of the fine work on display in Las Vegas this year to the pages of this Journal in the future. But you will not have to wait for some future issue to see the important research and clinical work of your colleagues. In this issue, we present review and research articles and case reports that cover the gamut from basic research using animals to using a mobility assistance dog to aid wheelchair users. One of the reviewers of Joaquim et al.’s “Relationships between the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Osteosynthesefragen Spine System and the Thoracolumbar Injury Classification System: An analysis of the literature” noted that “it discusses an important deficiency in the AO classification concerning neurologic injury”. Wong et al.’s research in “Nutritional supplement usage in patients admitted to a spinal cord injury centre” was described by the reviewers as addressing “an important topic” that “highlights malnutrition risk and risk factors,” and “An interesting study in a previously unresearched area.” In a timely article for this season of the year, Locatelli et al.’s “Influenza infection control guidance provided to staff at Veterans Affairs facilities for Veterans with spinal cord injury during a pandemic” documents provider assessments of vaccination programs in the VA, which one of our reviewers notes “identified several areas for potential improvements in influenza vaccination programs during influenza pandemics,” a topic which is “highly relevant to the non-veteran population as well.” As always, we welcome your comments and reflections on these articles and topics, and encourage you to share your expertise and research with the readers of JSCM. Donald Bodner, MD Editor Carolann Murphy, PA Assistant Editor [email protected] Steve Cavanaugh, Origin Editorial Managing Editor, JSCM

© The Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals, Inc. 2013 DOI 10.1179/1079026813Z.000000000229

The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine

2013

VOL.

36

NO.

6

571