To our contributors: <\/strong>HORMONES is a peer-reviewed, free access journal covering all fields of endocrinology including metabolic disorders, obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus. Its readership includes practising endocrinologists and other physicians. Its aim is to provide physicians with cutting-edge research capable of possibly modifying the way they approach the endocrine diseases of their patients. The Journal, which is now in its 12th<\/sup> year of publication and its 8th<\/sup> year in Pubmed, is happy to observe a constant rise in both the number and the quality of submissions. We encourage the submission of Reviews<\/em><\/strong> acquainting readers with concepts and data from the cutting edge of contemporary endocrine research. We would like to urge our authors to bear in mind that, in composing a review, they should avoid presenting well-established and classical knowledge which could easily be retrieved from endocrine textbooks. Our next section, that dealing with original endocrine research, represents the very heart of our journal. Finally, an announcement regarding case reports: we would like to notify our authors that we have a large backlog of excellent case reports, enough for the next few issues. Thus, at the moment we are constrained to discourage the submission of new case reports<\/em><\/strong> unless they are of major originality and clinical importance.<\/p>\n To our readers:<\/strong> This issue of HORMONES contains several excellent reviews. Allow me to very briefly preview a few of them. The first presents novel findings on the role of serum-and-glucocorticoid-inducible-kinase-1 (SGK1) in metabolic diseases. Indeed, a SGK1 gene variant, with a prevalence of around 3-5% in individuals of Caucasian origin and about 10% in individuals of African origin, predisposes to hypertension, arteriosclerosis, obesity and type 2 Diabetes. The second review describes the new concepts regarding the interaction between stress axes and the central CLOCK mechanism in health and disease. CLOCK drives circadian rhythmicity which regulates food intake, metabolism, sleep and response to stress. A central role in this mechanism appears to be played by the \u201cclock\u201d transcription factor and its heterodimer partner \u201cbmal1\u201d. This issue\u2019s third review suggests that the guidelines of ESHRE\/ASRM regarding the induction of ovulation with metformin in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome may require reconsideration. The next review describes the action of insulin in morbid obesity, while the following sets forth the evolving data on nutrient-dependent regulation of bone turnover. Our sixth review describes new research findings concerning the role of androgen receptors in resistant prostate cancer, while our last presents the corticotropin releasing factor system in the liver. In our original research section, I draw our readers\u2019 attention in particular to the article delineating the factors influencing the outcome of microsurgical transsphenoidal surgery for pituitary adenomas (based on a series of 184 cases) and to that describing microvessel density and VEGF expression in the pituitaries of pregnant women.<\/p>\n Andrew N. Margioris, MD<\/p>\n Editor-in-Chief, HORMONES<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Andrew N. Margioris<\/p>\n