Foreword
C. Michael Schuch, CPO, FISPO
I would like to take this opportunity to
welcome our readers to the new look of
JPO and to extend a sincere thank you
from the editorial board to Managing
Editor Stacey Bell and her staff for
their initiative in the new cover design.
Cynthia Turner, a medical artist, rendered the impressive color cover illustration. Her talent will be used in future issues of JPO as well.
Also accompanying the cover
changes are some content changes. As
previously announced, the board has
decided that for 1994 and beyond, each
issue of JPO will have a lead research-based article with the remainder of the
issue consisting of articles accepted for
publication from those submitted for
review by the board. The lead article
may be selected from freely submitted
manuscripts or may be recruited as
needed. The lead article for this issue
was contributed by Thomas R. Lunsford, MSE, Go; Thomas Ramm,
RTO; and Joseph A. Miller, CP, and is
titled "Viscoelastic Properties of Plastic Pediatric AFOs."
The concept of forums also debuts
with this issue of JPO. Forums will feature articles of interest related to the
forum topic, such as Research Forum,
International Forum, Technical Forum, Educational Forum, etc. It is anticipated that each issue will contain
some type of forum, but each type of
forum will not appear in a single issue.
The forums will be driven by manuscripts submitted and accepted. This
concept originated with the need for an
International Forum to feature the increasing number of manuscripts submitted by authors from outside of the
United States.
Terminology changes will be initiated with this issue. Specifically, amputation level and congenital deficiency
terms will henceforth reflect the International Standards Organization terminology adopted and endorsed by the
American Academy of Orthopaedic
Surgeons, the American Academy of
Orthotists and Prosthetists, the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association, and the International Society for
Prosthetics and Orthotics. For clarity,
we will demonstrate the old, familiar
terminology in parentheses after the
new ISO term, example: transfemoral
(above-knee). For more information,
please refer to the editor's article, "International Standards Organization
Terminology," in the International Forum.
In our next issue, as an effort to encourage JPO reading and review as a
continuing education tool, we will be
including a quiz in the back pages of
the Journal to be completed, torn out
and mailed in for continuing education
units (CEUs). The quiz will relate to a
single article featured in the journal
and will hopefully challenge your recall
and understanding of this article while
providing an opportunity to earn
CEUs.
A final change initiated in 1993 and
continuing each year is the JPO Article
of the Year Award. In 1993, the editorial board selected the top three articles of the year for all issues of JPO
1992:
First Place: "Gait Analysis and Energy Cost of Below-Knee Amputees
Wearing Six Different Prosthetic Feet"
by Daryl G. Barth, CPO, et al.
Second Place: "Electronic Limbs for
Infants and Pre-School Children" by
Carl D. Brenner, CPO
Third Place: "Silicone-Only Suspension (SOS) for the Above-Knee Amputee" by Louis J. Haberman, GPO, et
al.
These authors were honored at the
1993 AOPA National Assembly in
Reno, Nev., last October (see pictures). The winners
of the Articles of the Year for JPO
1993 soon will be announced and will
be honored at the 1994 AAOP Annual
Meeting and Scientific Symposium in
Nashville, Tenn., in March.
Again, welcome to the new JPO!
The changes introduced with this issue
address the goal of providing you, our
readers, with the best quality prosthetics/orthotics journal possible and represent an effort to ever improve that
quality. We hope you find the changes
agreeable. As always, your comments
and suggestions are welcome.
C. Michael Schuch
Editor, JPO
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