From the Editor's Desk: Welcome to Spring!

Ronald G. Amedee

Spring won't let me stay in this house any longer! I must get out and breathe the air deeply again.
–Gustav Mahler

This edition of the Journal includes a collection of articles that will kick off a year-long look at aspects related to the current opioid crisis. This crisis—or epidemic—is attributed to the rapid increase in the use of prescription and nonprescription opioid drugs in the United States beginning in the late 1990s and continuing through the first 2 decades of the 2000s. In 2016, more than 64,000 Americans died from overdoses, 21% more than the almost 53,000 in 2015. While death rates vary by state, public health experts estimate that nationwide more than 500,000 people could die from the opioid epidemic during the next 10 years. In this issue, we are pleased to feature 5 articles in a special Opioid Stewardship section. And while on the topic, I wish to recognize Ochsner's own Dr Kevin Conrad on the recent release of his book Clinical Approaches to Hospital Medicine that includes several chapters authored by Ochsner staff pertaining to the opioid epidemic and the tools hospitalists need to combat this issue.

The spring issue of the Ochsner Journal also features 7 original research submissions, and many of these important articles are from authors outside the Ochsner Health System. The issue's single literature review is by McCarty et al and entitled “Dietary Glycine Is Rate-Limiting for Glutathione Synthesis and May Have Broad Potential for Health Protection.” We also feature 6 case reports on various clinical topics, 4 letters to the editor, and a quarterly radiologic column by Arndt et al dealing with “A Rare Case of Cryptococcal Meningoencephalitis in an Immunocompetent Patient.”

Daylight saving time returns Sunday, March 11, 2018, so please remember to spring forward! And while you adjust to the added sunshine that this change brings, don't stay in the house (or office) too long but step outside and breathe the air deeply again. Enjoy the symphony of life!