Make science, not war.

“Hang your kids’ photos instead, and look at them each time you are making a decision”

Volodymyr Zelensky

This issue starts with a commentary by Natalia Stepanova, Vice President of the Ukrainian Society of Nephrology, describing the hidden tragedy of fragile patients whose already difficult lives are being further worsened by the war [1].

The fact that the images originally chosen to illustrate this issue had to be replaced with a different one to avoid wasting time obtaining permission for their publication allowed us to discover one supporting initiative, a campaign by street artists using the motto “Make art, not war” [2].

An image that went viral on the web portrays a little girl protecting Mickey Mouse and other characters in children’s TV shows, movies and books (Fig. 1). Art is an answer, sometimes apparently inadequate, almost ridiculous, and yet strong.

Fig. 1

An image that went viral on the web: on a wall in Prague a brave young girl protects the characters found in children’s stories in different countries. The artist Dmitry Proskin completed the work on March 18. The Kazakh-born artist is reported to have said “The main thing is that it is being seen by Ukrainian people”

Medicine is an art

Art and medicine, art and science are answers in dark times. In this regard we welcome the initiative by Springer, which has granted both Ukrainian and Russian physicians and students open access to all published papers.

The art of medicine is a response to war; it is a response to catastrophes; it has been a response during the last two years to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is what our spring issue wants to convey. In it we describe the long-term effects of the devastating earthquake in eastern Japan, present a long list of papers on COVID-19 (which we hope will be the last one to be so dense and tense), prompting reflection on what the effects of this unpredicted disease will be in the long run. The rest of this issue is dedicated to non-glomerular, non immunological diseases (which will be the core of the next issue).

From unusual images to predictions of mortality in dialysis, this issue tries, once more, to offer a positive outlook: despite catastrophes, epidemics and war, medicine tries to improve, discover, change, and make progress possible, and this is our way of supporting freedom and protecting our patients.