Welcome to the Summer issue of the Journal of Atrial Fibrillation. Hope everyone had a great time with family and friends. Whoever wants the world to believe that Global Warming is an invention of over enthusiastic environmentalists, I say they are dead wrong. I had experienced the true impact of Global Warming this Summer during my trip to Europe with temperatures clearly in the record highs. For those of you who are Cricket nuts, the World Cup ended with a thrilling final. England faced off New Zealand in a nail biter that got extended into a super over. England took the World Cup home on a technicality dashing the hopes of 5 million Kiwis. The 4 sub-continent teams – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh exited at various stages. There were hundreds of millions of betting dollars lost and won with an unexpected loss of the tournament favorite India to New Zealand in the semi-final.

Kansas City Heart Rhythm Symposium marked its 11th year and the founding Editor-in-Chief of JAFIB was honored with the well-deserved “Pioneer in Cardiovascular Electrophysiology” Award. Dr. Natale is well known for his incredible contributions to the field, particularly developing real life practical approaches to several complex arrhythmias. Special shout out to the EP Live Foundation on successfully organizing EP Live Europe (Milan) and EP Live India (Bengaluru) a two-day case-based learning event where several live cases and recorded cases were showcased with robust discussion on clinical and technical aspects. They were very popular and especially India it ignited a significant interest in complex arrhythmia ablation in many budding young electrophysiologists.

Congratulations to the Global AF Alliance (GAFA) Foundation, Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) and ACC for launching a very effective AF awareness campaign last month It takes unfettered commitment from all fronts to fight this 21st century epidemic. Mellanie True Hills and group developed an AF awareness song as part of STOPAFIB.org’s continued engagement in patient education. Several physicians and hospital systems across the world have organized many grass roots level events. ACC Electrophysiology Council and Heart Rhythm Society organized a Twittenar on life style management and risk factor modification as the main theme. It is refreshing to see the Eps systematically establishing a multipronged approach to the treatment of AF targeting obstructive sleep apnea, obesity, hypertension, diabetes and exercise.

This issue of the journal has several interesting original articles and case reports worth spending time on. One paper that caught my attention is the survey of Cardio-Thoracic surgery residents. The survey reflects a relative dearth of training, volume and dedicated arrhythmia surgery ablation training. As the field moves towards a heart team approach for the treatment of AF, Surgical training curriculums need special attention arrhythmia surgery. We once again appreciate your support to the journal and look forward to your contributions to the field.

Have a great rest of the summer.

Best wishes

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Dhanunjaya (DJ)Lakkireddy MD, FACC, FHRS Editor-in-Chief JAFIB