It is a pleasure to bring you another outstanding issue of Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine. We continue to receive extremely high quality submissions from all over the world; we are also grateful to our editorial staff, who brings the content to life with great design and graphics, a characteristic that we brought to medical journals over 15 years ago in our first issue and that is now being imitated by other notable medical journals.
Leading off this issue is a paper by Drs. Kern, Kedan, and Kimchi, from Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, discussing natriuretic peptides and their role not only in making the diagnosis of heart failure, but also their use in guiding medical therapy. Dr. Deedwania, a member of our Editorial Board, has authored a manuscript on the management of patients with stable angina and type II diabetes, who are a special population of patients deserving anti-ischemic therapies that do not have a deleterious effect on insulin sensitivity. Until recent clinical results were presented, renal denervation therapy for hypertension was thought to represent a novel approach to the patient with refractory hypertension. Dr. Hannawi and colleagues review the issues surrounding this therapeutic approach and whether further innovations can breathe life back into it. The 2013 ACC/AHA Blood Cholesterol Guidelines have provided a new approach to lipid treatment. The response to the guidelines from the clinical/treating community has been mixed on whether a move away from a numerical goal is best. Dr. Karol Watson, a member of our Editorial Board and the guideline writing committee, and her colleagues provide a very thoughtful paper on the guidelines in the post-IMPROVE-IT era.
Dr. Capodanno and colleagues provide an overview on the utility of three-dimensional angle assessment of plaque distribution in the left main coronary artery and how this information can be used to guide therapy and enhance outcomes. Dr. Peter McCullough, Co-editor of Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine, and colleagues have developed an important manuscript on novel agents for the prevention and management of hyperkalemia. Hyperkalemia is a common complication of important therapies for heart failure and hypertension, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, and aldosterone inhibitors. It is also a life-threatening clinical problem in patients with end-stage kidney disease. These agents play pivotal roles in the treatment of heart failure, and novel approaches to prevent and manage hyperkalemia should lead to their greater utilization and more lives saved. Dr. Idris and colleagues present a study of the utility of telemedicine in heart failure, an approach that we all hope can lead to better patient outcomes. From Dr. Li and associates we also have a fascinating case report on the use of a new procedure, silk suture embolization for treating guidewire-induced coronary artery perforation.
As President of the California Chapter of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), I have reviewed some of the interesting issues that were presented at our recent board meeting. Most of the issues presented at a state level have national implications. These are trying times in medicine. You can have a positive impact on our profession and our patients to whom we have dedicated our lives. Please make an investment in your professional lives by supporting the national and state ACC political action committee with your efforts and dollars. Involvement in your state chapter, whether you are a fellow in training, a recent graduate, a mature practitioner, in academia, in private practice, or a staff member, is critical. If you think things are bad, they could get a lot worse—YOU DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
I hope you enjoy the current issue of Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine. I appreciate the hard work of my co-editor, Dr. Peter McCullough; the members of the Editorial Board who support our efforts with their submissions; and the editorial staff at MedReviews. We aim to continue to deserve your trust as a provider of important medical content. Our goal is to narrow the gap between the state of knowledge and clinical practice. 
Norman E. Lepor, MD, FACC, FAHA, FSCAI
Medical Co-Editor
Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine