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Authors are the souls of any journal, and deserve much respect. To publish a journal manuscripts are needed from authors. Authors have a great responsibility for producing facts of their work in terms of number and results truthfully and an individual honesty is expected from authors in this regards. Both ways its true "No authors-No manuscripts-No journals" and "No journals–No manuscripts–No authors". Reviewing a manuscript is also a very responsible and important task of any peer-reviewed journal and to be taken seriously. It needs knowledge on the subject, sincerity, honesty and determination. Although the process of reviewing a manuscript is a time consuming task butit is expected to give one's best remarks within the time frame of the journal.
Salient features of the JCDR: It is a biomedical, multidisciplinary (including all medical and dental specialities), e-journal, with wide scope and extensive author support. At the same time, a free text of manuscript is available in HTML and PDF format. There is fast growing authorship and readership with JCDR as this can be judged by the number of articles published in it i e; in Feb 2007 of its first issue, it contained 5 articles only, and now in its recent volume published in April 2011, it contained 67 manuscripts. This e-journal is fulfilling the commitments and objectives sincerely, (as stated by Editor-in-chief in his preface to first edition) i e; to encourage physicians through the internet, especially from the developing countries who witness a spectrum of disease and acquire a wealth of knowledge to publish their experiences to benefit the medical community in patients care. I also feel that many of us have work of substance, newer ideas, adequate clinical materials but poor in medical writing and hesitation to submit the work and need help. JCDR provides authors help in this regards.
Timely publication of journal: Publication of manuscripts and bringing out the issue in time is one of the positive aspects of JCDR and is possible with strong support team in terms of peer reviewers, proof reading, language check, computer operators, etc. This is one of the great reasons for authors to submit their work with JCDR. Another best part of JCDR is "Online first Publications" facilities available for the authors. This facility not only provides the prompt publications of the manuscripts but at the same time also early availability of the manuscripts for the readers.
Indexation and online availability: Indexation transforms the journal in some sense from its local ownership to the worldwide professional community and to the public.JCDR is indexed with Embase & EMbiology, Google Scholar, Index Copernicus, Chemical Abstracts Service, Journal seek Database, Indian Science Abstracts, to name few of them. Manuscriptspublished in JCDR are available on major search engines ie; google, yahoo, msn.
In the era of fast growing newer technologies, and in computer and internet friendly environment the manuscripts preparation, submission, review, revision, etc and all can be done and checked with a click from all corer of the world, at any time. Of course there is always a scope for improvement in every field and none is perfect. To progress, one needs to identify the areas of one's weakness and to strengthen them.
It is well said that "happy beginning is half done" and it fits perfectly with JCDR. It has grown considerably and I feel it has already grown up from its infancy to adolescence, achieving the status of standard online e-journal form Indian continent since its inception in Feb 2007. This had been made possible due to the efforts and the hard work put in it. The way the JCDR is improving with every new volume, with good quality original manuscripts, makes it a quality journal for readers. I must thank and congratulate Dr Hemant Jain, Editor-in-Chief JCDR and his team for their sincere efforts, dedication, and determination for making JCDR a fast growing journal.
Every one of us: authors, reviewers, editors, and publisher are responsible for enhancing the stature of the journal. I wish for a great success for JCDR."
Thanking you
With sincere regards
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Ghritlaharey, M.S., M. Ch., FAIS
Associate Professor,
Department of Paediatric Surgery, Gandhi Medical College & Associated
Kamla Nehru & Hamidia Hospitals Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462 001 (India)
E-mail: drrajendrak1@rediffmail.com
On May 11,2011
Dr. Shankar P.R.
"On looking back through my Gmail archives after being requested by the journal to write a short editorial about my experiences of publishing with the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research (JCDR), I came across an e-mail from Dr. Hemant Jain, Editor, in March 2007, which introduced the new electronic journal. The main features of the journal which were outlined in the e-mail were extensive author support, cash rewards, the peer review process, and other salient features of the journal.
Over a span of over four years, we (I and my colleagues) have published around 25 articles in the journal. In this editorial, I plan to briefly discuss my experiences of publishing with JCDR and the strengths of the journal and to finally address the areas for improvement.
My experiences of publishing with JCDR: Overall, my experiences of publishing withJCDR have been positive. The best point about the journal is that it responds to queries from the author. This may seem to be simple and not too much to ask for, but unfortunately, many journals in the subcontinent and from many developing countries do not respond or they respond with a long delay to the queries from the authors 1. The reasons could be many, including lack of optimal secretarial and other support. Another problem with many journals is the slowness of the review process. Editorial processing and peer review can take anywhere between a year to two years with some journals. Also, some journals do not keep the contributors informed about the progress of the review process. Due to the long review process, the articles can lose their relevance and topicality. A major benefit with JCDR is the timeliness and promptness of its response. In Dr Jain's e-mail which was sent to me in 2007, before the introduction of the Pre-publishing system, he had stated that he had received my submission and that he would get back to me within seven days and he did!
Most of the manuscripts are published within 3 to 4 months of their submission if they are found to be suitable after the review process. JCDR is published bimonthly and the accepted articles were usually published in the next issue. Recently, due to the increased volume of the submissions, the review process has become slower and it ?? Section can take from 4 to 6 months for the articles to be reviewed. The journal has an extensive author support system and it has recently introduced a paid expedited review process. The journal also mentions the average time for processing the manuscript under different submission systems - regular submission and expedited review.
Strengths of the journal: The journal has an online first facility in which the accepted manuscripts may be published on the website before being included in a regular issue of the journal. This cuts down the time between their acceptance and the publication. The journal is indexed in many databases, though not in PubMed. The editorial board should now take steps to index the journal in PubMed. The journal has a system of notifying readers through e-mail when a new issue is released. Also, the articles are available in both the HTML and the PDF formats. I especially like the new and colorful page format of the journal. Also, the access statistics of the articles are available. The prepublication and the manuscript tracking system are also helpful for the authors.
Areas for improvement: In certain cases, I felt that the peer review process of the manuscripts was not up to international standards and that it should be strengthened. Also, the number of manuscripts in an issue is high and it may be difficult for readers to go through all of them. The journal can consider tightening of the peer review process and increasing the quality standards for the acceptance of the manuscripts. I faced occasional problems with the online manuscript submission (Pre-publishing) system, which have to be addressed.
Overall, the publishing process with JCDR has been smooth, quick and relatively hassle free and I can recommend other authors to consider the journal as an outlet for their work."
Dr. P. Ravi Shankar
KIST Medical College, P.O. Box 14142, Kathmandu, Nepal.
E-mail: ravi.dr.shankar@gmail.com
On April 2011 Anuradha
Dear team JCDR, I would like to thank you for the very professional and polite service provided by everyone at JCDR. While i have been in the field of writing and editing for sometime, this has been my first attempt in publishing a scientific paper.Thank you for hand-holding me through the process.
Dr. Anuradha
E-mail: anuradha2nittur@gmail.com
On Jan 2020
Original article / research
Full Version
Antioxidant Enzymes And Vitamins In Gestational Diabetes.
Correspondence Address :
Surapaneni Krishna Mohan,Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Saveetha Medical College & Hospital, Saveetha University,Chennai – 600 077, India.krishnamohan_surapaneni@yahoo.com
The exact pro-oxidant and antioxidant status in gestational diabetes is still not clear. To add a new insight to the question, levels of erythrocyte antioxidant vitamin Ascorbic acid and plasma vitamin E (non enzymatic antioxidant vitamin parameters) and activities of antioxidant enzymes Super Oxide Dismutase (SOD), Glutathione Peroxidase (GPX) and Catalase in erythrocytes were studied in patients with gestational diabetes and compared to controls. Statistical analysis between controls and patients was performed by Mann Whitney U test using stat - view package. It was observed that there was a significant increase in activities of SOD, GPX and a significant decrease in erythrocyte ascorbic acid, plasma vitamin E levels and Catalase activity in patients with gestational diabetes when compared to controls. Results of our study depict higher oxygen free radical production, evidenced by increased levels of MDA and decreased levels of GSH, ascorbic acid, vitamin E and Catalase activity, supporting the evidence of oxidative stress in gestational diabetes patients. Increased activities of antioxidant enzymes might be a compensatory regulation of body in response to increased oxidative stress. Decreased concentrations of antioxidant vitamins support the hypothesis that gestational diabetes is an important causative factor in pathogenesis of lipid peroxidation. These data reveal that antioxidant defense mechanisms might be impaired in patients with gestational diabetes. These findings also provide a theoretical basis for development of novel therapeutic strategies, such as antioxidant supplementation.
Ascorbic acid, vitamin E, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase, catalase, gestational diabetes.
Introduction
Gestational diabetes is occurrence of diabetes in previously normal women and is associated with an increased incidence of congenital abnormalities when compared with normal pregnancy. Frequency of congenital malformations in infants of diabetic mothers is estimated to be 6-10% (1),(2). Alteration in oxidant – antioxidant profile is known to occur in diabetic pregnancy (3). Oxidative stress due to the damage brought about by free radicals is also known to influence formation of anomalies in fetuses born to women with diabetes. Moreover, body’s defense mechanism would play a role in formation of antioxidants and attempt to minimize the damage. Factors responsible for these anomalies are not fully understood but there are several reports showing that increased free radical production and antioxidant depletion in diabetic pregnant women might contribute to formation of anomalies (4). In diabetes, excess oxygen radicals may result from auto oxidation of glucose (5) and increased glycated hemoglobin levels, because of increased glucose levels in body (4). There is considerable evidence that antioxidant defense system is depleted and activity of antioxidant enzymes is reduced in diabetes (6).
In the present study, following parameters were assessed in erythrocytes and plasma to elucidate the oxidant – antioxidant status in patients with gestational diabetes. Erythrocyte ascorbic acid, plasma vitamin E which serve as non enzymatic antioxidant parameters, antioxidant enzymes Super Oxide Dismutase (SOD), Catalase and Glutathione Peroxidase (GPX) in erythrocytes. The present study is an attempt to examine oxidative stress and status of protective antioxidants under conditions of stress due to gestational diabetes. Alterations in antioxidant enzymes have been reported by various studies (3). In our previous study we showed that lipid peroxidation was significantly increased along with decreased glutathione in patients with gestational diabetes when compared to control subjects (7). However antioxidant vitamins’ and antioxidant enzymes’ status were not assessed. Therefore in present study, concentrations of erythrocyte ascorbic acid and plasma vitamin E status were estimated along with status of antioxidant enzyme activities in patients with gestational diabetes.
The study was conducted in Department of Biochemistry, Saveetha Medical College & Hospital, Saveetha University, Chennai, T.N, India. Twenty patients (mean age: 26.40 0.82 years) with proven gestational diabetes were chosen from Obstetrics & Gynaecology department as study subjects (patients). They were diagnosed to have gestational diabetes after undergoing glucose tolerance test with 100gms of glucose as per criteria suggested by O’Sullivan and Mahan (8). Twenty age- and gestational age- matched normal pregnant females with similar socio-economic status were taken as controls. All subjects in the study were normotensive and had no family history of diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Patients suffering from disease of any origin other than gestational diabetes were excluded from study. Subjects with normal nutritional habits without any vitamins supplement since last 6 months were included. Due permission was obtained from ethical committee of the institution before the study. Written consents were also taken from patients prior to study and objectives of study fully explained. Eight of the participants were dropped out at the end of selection, as they did not like the idea of giving blood.
Two groups of participants were included in study. Cases were the ones who had gestational diabetes and controls were healthy pregnant age matched women(Table/Fig 1).
Heparinised venous blood samples obtained from these subjects were used for analysis. Plasma was separated by centrifugation at 1,000 g for 15 minutes. Separated plasma was used for estimation of vitamin E. Buffy coat was removed and packed cells were washed three times with physiological saline. Erythrocyte suspension was prepared by method of Dodge et al.,(9) modified by Quist (10). Packed cells were used for analysis of ascorbic acid, SOD, Catalse and GPX. Erythrocyte ascorbic acid levels were estimated in plasma by method of Tietz (11). Plasma vitamin E levels were estimated by method of Baker H et al (12). SOD (EC 1.15.1.1) activity was determined in hemolysate according to method described by Murklund and Murklund (13) with some modifications as described by Nandi and Chatterjea (14). Catalase (EC 1.11.1.6) activity was measured in hemolysate by method of Sinha (15) and activity of Glutathione Peroxidase (GPX, EC 1.11.1.9) was measured as described by Paglia and Valentine (16) in erythrocytes. All reagents used were of analytical reagent grade. All chemicals were obtained from sigma chemicals, St.Louis, MO. Statistical analysis between group 1 (controls) and group 2 (patients) was performed by the Mann Whitney U test. Data were expressed as mean + SD. P value < 0.05 was considered as significant.
Statistical Analysis
Statistical analysis between controls and Study Subjects (patients) was performed by Mann Whitney U test.
Mean +/- SD of erythrocyte GSH & MDA and plasma GST are indicated in (Table/Fig 2).
There was a significantly lower level of erythrocyte ascorbic acid, activity of catalase and plasma vitamin E levels in patients compared to controls. Levels of erythrocyte SOD and GPX were significantly higher in gestational diabetic patients as compared to controls. In diabetes mellitus, increased blood glucose levels induce oxidative stress and decrease antioxidant defenses (6). Possible source of oxidative stress and damage to protein in diabetes include free radicals generated by auto oxidation of unsaturated lipids in plasma and membrane proteins (17). Oxidative stress may be amplified by a continuing cycle of metabolic stress, tissue damage and cell death leading to increased free radical production and compromised free radical scavenger system which further exaggerates oxidative stress (18). Abnormalities in regulation of peroxide and transition metal metabolites are postulated to result in establishment of disease as well as its long-term complications (19).
In this study we observed a significant decrease in levels of erythrocyte ascorbic acid and plasma vitamin E (non enzymatic antioxidant vitamins defense system) in gestational diabetes patients when compared to controls. GSH, vitamin E, and ascorbic acid are important chain breaking antisoxidants responsible for scavenging free radicals and suppression of peroxidation in aqueous and lipid region of cell (20),(21). Decrease in levels of these non enzymatic antioxidant parameters may be due to increased turnover, for preventing oxidative damage in these patients suggesting an increased defense against oxidant damage in gestational diabetics. Similar reports of decreased GSH, ascorbic acid and vitamin E levels in gestational diabetic mothers compared to control mothers were reported by Griss O et al (22). In contrast to our observations Santra D et al reported decreased lipid peroxidation levels and increased alpha tocopherol levels in gestational diabetes patients compared to controls (23).
In this study, erythrocyte antioxidant enzyme i.e. super oxide dismutase (SOD) & glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities were increased significantly in patients with gestational diabetes compared to controls. Increased activity of SOD may be indicative of increased superoxide generation by whichever mechanism, like increased catecholamine metabolism. SOD is an important antioxidant enzyme having an antitoxic effect against super oxide anion. Over expression of SOD might be an adaptive response and it results in increased dismutation of superoxide to hydrogen peroxide. GPX, an oxidative stress inducible enzyme plays a significant role in peroxyl scavenging mechanism and in maintaining functional integration of cell membranes. Rise in activity of GPX could be due to its induction to counter the effect of increased oxidative stress. GPX provides an effective protective mechanism against cytosolic injury because it eliminates H2O2 and lipid peroxides by reduction, utilizing GSH. Decrease in antioxidant enzyme status was reported in various studies (24).
In the present study, we observed a significant decrease in activity of catalase in gestational diabetics compared to controls. Catalase is an enzyme which protects cells from accumulation of hydrogen peroxide by dismutating it to form water and oxygen or by using it as an oxidant, a process in which it works as a peroxidase (25).
It has been reported that in normal pregnancy there is an increase of lipid peroxidation products in serum with advancing gestation, which is balanced by an adequate antioxidative response (26),(27). But in diabetic pregnancy there is increased oxidative stress leading to increased free radical generation and decreased antioxidant defenses.
So, gestational diabetes induces oxidative stress leading to an easiest membrane lipid peroxidation and consequently results in membrane damage during diabetic gestation. Decreased concentrations of antioxidant vitamins supports the hypothesis that gestational diabetes is an important causative factor in pathogenesis of lipid peroxidation. These data reveal that antioxidant defense mechanisms might be impaired in patients with gestational diabetes. These findings also provide a theoretical basis for development of novel therapeutic strategies, such as antioxidant supplementation. However due to the limited number of cases included in this study, more studies may be required to substantiate these results.
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