We are very pleased to introduce a series of six individual papers addressing important areas in bariatric and metabolic surgery.Particularly, these papers highlight patient selection, preparation for surgery, and optimizing outcomes.The metabolic benefits of surgery are well established, but adequate patient selection can help realize better outcomes for our patient population.The first paper reviews the impact of inflammatory gene polymorphisms on bioelectrical parameters in obese subjects specifically looks at outcomes of singlenucleotide polymorphisms of IL-6 on body composition following the laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding.The authors have demonstrated that these polymorphisms lead to improved outcomes following bariatric surgery whereas gene-wide association and screening is not an accepted modality today; it certainly will be something that is easily and readily available for patients in the next few years and will be obtainable in a pharmaceutical store.Y. F. Wei and colleagues evaluate the candidacy of morbidly obese patients with pulmonary dysfunction for bariatric surgery.Pulmonary dysfunction is a broad topic and classically it has been understood that the impact on sleep apnea is a dynamic and rapid improvement in many patients, but not all patients; however, other diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis pose significant clinical problems for a number of surgeons and in this context the authors provide some meaningful insight into care in this patient population.D. K. Kadeli and colleagues address an important question that asks payers, policy makers, and surgeons alike, what is the role of preoperative weight loss and its impact on long-term weight loss at one year?Whereas the authors acknowledge that a low-calorie diet preoperatively