ACTA MEDICO–BIOTECHNICA 2014; 7 (2):7–8 7 Uvodnik / Editorial LETTER TO THE EDITOR The Chinese proverb says »A healthy person has a thousand wishes, a sick person only has one«. I guess there is no physician without such an experience in their daily practice. According to several surveys, health is our greatest value; however, we only begin to appreciate it, when it is no longer there. At that point, a disease appears as a negation of our health and treatments required. Medicine, scientifically dealing with treatment, comes into play. Medicine is, of course, more than just science. It comprises everything that stimulates health, cures and prevents diseases. Principally, medicine is about humanity, philanthropy and helping people not to be taken ill (prophylaxis),to recover (curative) and to suffer as little as possible (palliative). At least this is how it is supposed to be, and I believe it truly is. One expects from physicians not only to be sensible, but also good individuals, thus placing great responsibility on their hands. The Latin quotation “A sound mind in a sound body” (lat. Mens sana in corpora sano) is frequently used in Western countries. However, a sound body in a sound mind is required, as well. It takes both to stay healthy. From this point of view, health is regarded as harmony, while treatment creates balance. Every new finding regarding improvement might be a new peace in the puzzle of science, but only if this new finding, procedure or technology passed on to the scientific community in a proper manner, integrating into the mosaic of knowledge. This is what the responsibility of scientific magazines is all about. Today many publications fall short of the standards regarding innovation, consistency and relevancy. Yet, the number of journals is rapidly increasing due to the growing interest of researchers and professors to publish their work; unfortunately not to share their significant insight with the rest of us, but to increase their personal indicators for acquiring projects, to meet their habilitation qualification or simply for academic prestige. The role of journals and their editors is becoming increasingly important, particularly if we wish to limit the inflation of publications. It is a demanding task to choose informative articles, presenting new scientific knowledge UVODNIK Kitajski pregovor pravi: »Ko si zdrav, imaš tisoč želja. Ko zboliš, imaš le eno«. Najbrž ni zdravnika na tem svetu, ki tega ne bi osebno izkusil v vsakdanji praksi zdravljenja bolnikov. Zdravje je po večini anket naša največja življenjska vrednota, čeprav ga žal začnemo ceniti šele takrat, ko ga izgubimo. Takrat se pojavi bolezen kot okvara ali negacija zdravja in potrebujemo zdravljenje. In tu nastopi vloga medicine, ki se z zdravljenjem znanstveno ukvarja. Medicina je seveda več kot znanost; je vse, kar spodbuja zdravje ter zdravi in preprečuje bolezni, je predvsem človekoljubnost in želja pomagati človeku, da ne zboli (preventiva), da se pozdravi (kurativa) in da čim manj trpi (paliativa). Vsaj tako bi naj bilo in verjamem, da je tako. Od zdravnika se torej pričakuje, da je razumen človek in še bolj, da je dober človek, kar predstavlja veliko odgovornost. Na zahodu radi uporabljamo latinski izrek »Zdrav duh v zdravem telesu« (lat. Mens sana in corpore sano). Velja pa tudi zdravo telo v zdravem duhu. Za zdravje je potrebna uravnoteženost obeh. V tem pogledu je zdravje harmonija in zdravljenje je iskanje in vzpostavljanje harmonije. Vsako novo spoznanje, kako to doseči bolje, je lahko nov kamenček v mozaiku znanosti. Lahko, vendar le tedaj, ko so novo spoznanje, nov postopek, nova tehnologija posredovani znanstveni skupnosti. Ne le posredovani, temveč posredovani na ustrezen način in tako, da se vključujejo v celovit mozaik znanja. Zato je odgovornost znanstvenih revij tako pomembna. Danes smo priča mnogim objavam, ki ne dosegajo standardov inovativnosti, doslednosti in relevantnosti. Število revij pa se izjemno hitro povečuje, saj je pritisk raziskovalcev in profesorjev, da bi objavljali, vse večji. Žal vse pogosteje ne zato, ker bi imeli kaj pomembnega povedati, temveč marsikdaj bolj zaradi dviga osebnih kazalnikov, ki so pomembni za pridobivanje projektov, izpolnjevanje habilitacijskih pogojev ali preprosto zaradi akademskega prestiža in nenazadnje,ker vsi drugi tako počno. Vloga revij in njihovih urednikov tako postaja vse pomembnejša, sploh če želimo zajeziti inflacijo objav. Med vsemi izbrati tiste članke, ki imajo kaj povedati, ki dosegajo raven resnično novega spoznanja ali postopka, 8 ACTA MEDICO–BIOTECHNICA 2014; 7 (2):7–8 Uvodnik / Editorial opisanega razumljivo, jasno in dosledno, je izjemno zahtevna naloga. V tem smislu so revije na področju medicine še posebej izpostavljene, saj je odgovornost zdravnikov velika. Po drugi strani pa je človeški organizem izjemno kompleksen sistem, poln skrivnosti že na ravni celic, ter tako skoraj neizčrpen vir novih spoznanj. Človek je nedeljivo povezan z naravo in vesoljem. To je bilo očitno jasno že očetu medicine Hipokratu, ki je menil, da je zdravljenje bolnika mogoče doseči le z opazovanjem ob bolniški postelji, da je izkušnja zdravnika edini pravi učitelj in mojster,in da ima medicina tudi svoje meje. »Koristiti ali vsaj ne škodovati, ničesar nesmotrnega ukreniti, pa vendar ničesar prezreti!« je zapisal. K temu dodajam misel znamenitega nobelovca Alberta Einsteina: »Poglejte globoko v naravo in potem boste vse bolje razumeli«. Reviji »Acta medico–biotechnica«, ki jo izdaja Medicinska fakulteta Univerze v Mariboru, želim čim več dobrih prispevkov, srečno roko pri izbiri recenzentov, široko odmevnost objav ter še mnogo »zdravih let«. Prof. dr. Danijel Rebolj, rektor Univerze v Mariboru or procedures in a comprehensive, clear and consistent manner. Having a great responsibility as a physician, medical journals are especially exposed to criticism. On the other hand, the human organism is an extremely complex system, and thus represents an indefinite source of new knowledge. The human being is fundamentally connected with nature and the universe. The Father of Medicine, Hippocrates, was well aware that progress in treating a patient can only be achieved by bedside observation. Moreover, the experience leads physicians and teaches them that medicine also has its own boundaries. “As to diseases, make a habit of two things – to help, or at least, to do no harm”, he wrote. Allow me to add another quote of the great Nobel Prize winner Albert Einstein: "Look deep into nature, and you will understand everything better." I wish the journal Acta Medico Biotechnica, published by Medical Faculty of University of Maribor, to receive plenty of quality articles, to be lucky in choosing its reviewers, to find great approval and to stay “healthy”. Professor Danijel Rebolj, PhD Rector University of Maribor