Announcement of New Journal — Metabolism and Target Organ Damage (M&TOD)

Metabolism is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. Its main purposes include the conversion of food to energy to run cellular processes, the conversion of food/fuel to building blocks for proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and some carbohydrates, and the elimination of metabolic wastes. The complex set of chemical reactions allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments.

In the human body, there are many organs related to metabolism. A metabolic disorder will occur whenever some chemicals accumulate or other ones necessary for health become deficient. In these cases, internal organs will get damaged and this, in turn, will often aggravate the inciting metabolic disorder.

Metabolic disorders include not only the common "metabolic syndrome", but also rare inherited metabolic disorders, which means metabolic disorders may occur in all age groups. Metabolic disorders take a heavy toll on health and financial resources up to more than 10% of all health care expenses owing to the direct and indirect costs. These figures call for research on metabolic disorders as a priority for independent investigators as well as for food and drug industry.

Metabolism and Target Organ Damage (M&TOD) is an international, peer-reviewed, open access scientific journal which provides an online platform for publication of clinical, basic and translational studies. M&TOD, characterized by a strong interdisciplinary personality, covers (cardio)-metabolic disorders per se, such as obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemias, arterial hypertension and hyperuricemia in all age groups. Of note, this journal will emphasize the role of these metabolic disorders as either effectors/amplifiers or consequences of the development and progression of injuries to target organs including but not limited to the cardiovascular system, the liver, kidneys and the pancreas.

We are honored to have Prof. Amedeo Lonardo from Italy to serve as the Editor-in-Chief for the new journal M&TOD.

Prof. Lonardo is the director of the Medical Unit "Metabolic Syndrome" of Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Modena. He has engaged in clinical research of internal medicine for more than 30 years, and has had a lot of experience in Gastroenterology and Digestive Endoscopy. His research program focuses on primary and secondary NAFLD, NASH, MAFLD, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Up to now, he has published over 205 scientific papers in peer reviewed journals (Scopus information: H-index of 52, more than 8,000 citations).

The Editorial Office of M&TOD highly appreciates Prof. Lonardo's support and will work jointly with him to create a high-level journal with international influence. We believe that with the joint efforts of Prof. Lonardo and all members of the Editorial Board and the Editorial Office, this goal will be achieved in the near future.

Let's congratulate this new journal on its birth and congratulate Prof. Lonardo on his appointment.
Here is the welcoming address from Prof. Lonardo for M&TOD:

Respectfully submitted by the Editorial Office of Metabolism and Target Organ Damage