oa Editorial

There are many medical journals; hundreds, maybe thousands. Many of them focus on specific areas of interest, and rightly so. A person wanting to keep up with the latest developments in cardiology would probably not want to see a collection of articles on ophthalmology. Although often publishing review articles, specialty journals are an important vehicle for publication of original research. These journals provide the scientific and medical community with detailed information on specific topics. They serve a vital function in the dissemination of knowledge. Current Drug Therapy has taken a more diverse approach. Rather than focusing on a specific therapeutic or medical area, the goal has been to provide the reader with reviews dealing with drug therapy in a variety of disease states. The focus is on reviews of the field, as opposed to presentation of original research, which is more appropriate for disease specific journals. The diversity of reviews published in Current Drug Therapy is exemplified in this issue, where articles can be grouped into several categories. Several papers deal with the problem of enhancing drug effectiveness. In the area of drug delivery is a paper on chitosan. Another article deals with drug activation with light and ultrasound. In yet another paper, mechanisms of resistance to fluoroquinolones are reviewed. Buccoadhesive drug delivery as a drug delivery vehicle is reviewed in the context of treatment of candidiasis. Another group of papers deals with approaches to particular disease states. For example, there is a paper on piribidil as a possible treatment of dopaminergic disorders. Another paper deals with the role of complement in autoimmune disorders, and how it might be manipulated to treat these conditions. Oral antiarrhythmic therapy as an approach to treatment of atrial fibrillation is reviewed in another article. Thus, although this journal publishes primarily review articles, and their topics are quite divergent, it can be seen that there is a pattern and focus when articles are grouped into broad categories.