Dear Colleagues,

It is my honor and pleasure to share with you that the first issue of the Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology (APJO) will come out on January 23, 2012, which incidentally coincides with the Chinese New Year. The launch of the APJO will surely be one of the most important ophthalmological events in the Asia-Pacific region in the year of the dragon.

In western culture, the dragon is traditionally depicted as a powerful, mystical guard over treasure. It is the mission of the entire APJO Editorial Board that we are guarding the originality and authenticity of the manuscripts we receive for the development and advancement of both ophthalmology and visual sciences worldwide. In eastern culture, the dragon is a benevolent symbol, representing both wisdom and power. With the generous support from a lot of leading experts in the field, the APJO is surely a publication of crystallized wisdom. What is more, one-year free access is granted to all upon its official launch till the end of 2012. The APJO is also going to be included in ONE Network. To sign up for the APJO, please go to http://www.apaophth.org/eJournal/index.php.

Echoing with the idea of going green and the extensive use of information technology in the Information Age, the APJO is a purely electronic journal that has no print copies. There are six issues annually featuring both original studies and review articles. We aim to include at least one article on laboratory science in each issue as well. Potential authors can also submit to us perspectives that review the evidence supporting the use of a current technique, procedure, therapy or clinical approach.

The success of a journal depends largely on its scientific contents. I would like to take this opportunity to invite every one of you to consider submitting to us your works of wisdom.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Sincerely yours,

Dennis Lam, MD
Editor-in-Chief
Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology

• Aspire to Inspire: the Launch of the Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology
  Lam, Dennis S; Ritch, Robert; Rao, Srinivas K; Leung, Christopher K
• Femtosecond Laser: Is it the Way Forward for Cataract Surgery?
  Rao, Srinivas K; Jhanji, Vishal; Fan, Alex H

• The introduction of femtosecond laser cataract surgery
  Lawless, Michael; Hodge, Christopher

• Intravitreal Bevacizumab, Plasminogen and Pneumatic Retinopexy for Subfoveal Hemorrhage in Age-Related Macular Degeneration
  Jonas, Jost B; Golubkina, Lidia; Spandau, Ulrich H; Schlichtenbrede, Frank; Libondi, Teodosio
• International Values of Central Pachymetry in Normal Subjects by Rotating Scheimpflug Camera
  Feng, Matthew T; Ambrósio, Renato, Jr.; Belin, Michael W; Grewal, Satinder P; Yan, Wang; Shaheen, Mohamed S; Jordan, Charlotte A; McGhee, Charles; Maeda, Naoyuki; Neuhann, Tobias H; Dick, Burkhard; Steinmueller, Andreas
• Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Imaging with Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography – Effect of Signal Strength on Analysis of the RNFL Map
  Cheung , Carol Y; Leung, Christopher K; Chan, Noel
• New Compact Accommodometer to Measure Accommodation Amplitude as a Biomarker
  Ide, Takeshi; Negishi, Kazuno; Yamaguchi, Takefumi; Hara, Shuya; Toda, Ikuko; Tsubota, Kazuo

• Recent advances and future challenges in ocular surface reconstruction: On the road to translational medicine
  Nakamura, Takahiro; Inatomi, Tsutomu; Sotozono, Chie; Koizumi, Noriko; Kinoshita, Shigeru
• Acute Post operative endophthalmitis following cataract surgery. A Review.
  Pathengay, Avinash; Khera, Manav; Das, Taraprasad; Sharma, Savitri; Miller, Darlene; Flynn, Harry W, Jr.
• Update on intravitreal injections for macular diseases: friend or foe?
  Chan, Vesta C; Liu, David T; Lam, Dennis S

• HTRA1 in age-related macular degeneration
  Ng, Tsz K; Liang, Xiao Y; Pang, Chi P