From the Editors' Desk

In Memoriam

James V. Neel, professor emeritus of human genetics and internal medicine at the University of Michigan, died on February 1, 2000. Dr. Neel was a founding member of our editorial board and a strong supporter of the journal. Among his many contributions to human genetics was the "thrifty gene" hypothesis, the idea that genes associated with such common diseases as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity were maintained in the human gene pool by natural selection, because they benefited our evolutionary ancestors during times of food scarcity. We were honored that Dr. Neel chose to publish one of his last presentations of the thrifty gene hypothesis in the journal: Neel, J. V., Weder, A. B., and Julius, S. Type II diabetes, essential hypertension, and obesity as "syndromes of impaired genetic homeostasis": the "thrifty genotype" hypothesis enters the 21st century. Persp. Biol. Med. 42, 44-74, 1998. We shall miss his support and his counsel.

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Announcement

Beginning with the Fall 2000 issue, the citation style for all articles appearing in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine will change. Instead of the current numbered reference system, we will begin using the author-date system. We hope this change to a more familiar style will better serve the needs of both readers and writers of Perspectives.

Manuscripts submitted after 1 July 2000 should be prepared according to the Chicago Manual's specifications for author-date text references. Please refer to the "Notes to Contributors" for further details.

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