Article in PDF
How to Cite
Citation Manager
Readers' Comments (0)
Audio Visual Article Statistics
Link
to PUBMED
Print this Article
Send to a Friend
Advertisers
Access Statistics Resources
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
Incidence of Japanese Encephalitis in a Tertiary care Centre
Correspondence Address :
Amrita Shriyan ,Assistant Professor A.J.Institute of Medical Sciences,Dept. of Microbiology,
Kuntikan , NH-17Mangalore
Phone.No9986252598
E.mail:dramrita@ymail.com
Background: Arbovirus are responsible for a significant number of viral encephalitis cases worldwide. Japanese Encephalitis virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that causes a major epidemic of acute encephalitis in humans throughout Asia (5). Scientific literature unequivocally shows the prevalence of Japanese encephalitis in various parts of India (4). In India, cases have been reported from Tamil nadu , Andra Pradesh , Uttar Pradesh , Bihar , Assam , West Bengal , Karnataka , Goa and Maharashtra (6). In recent years, South India has become endemic for the Japanese Encephalitis Virus. While there are reports from other parts of Karnataka which are on the border of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, till date, no data is available from South Karnataka.
Aim : The present study was conceived to estimate the incidence and clinical profile of Japanese Encephalitis among the patients which were clinically diagnosed with Viral Encephalitis at a tertiary care centre in South India.
Material and Methods: One hundred randomly selected cases of clinically diagnosed Encephalitis who were admitted in K.M.C. , Manipal, were included in the study . In - house MAC ELISA was used to detect specific IgM antibodies in the Cerebrospinal fluid (25,26).
Results : Anti- JEVirus IgM antibodies were detected in 8 % cases of clinicallydiagnosed encephalitis who were admitted to the K.M.C. Hospital. The mortality rate of the Japanese Encephalitis cases was 12.5 % . No sequalae was recorded in the Japanese Encephalitis cases who survived in our study.
Japanese encephalitis virus , Viral encephalitis , IgM antibody capture ELISA
Introduction
A number of neurotropic viruses like Herpes Simplex Virus , St. Louis Encephalitis Virus , Japanese Encephalitis Virus , West Nile Virus and Arbovirus are attributed to be the causative agents of Viral encephalitis worldwide (3). Japanese Encephalitis which is caused by a mosquito borne neurotropic RNA virus, has emerged as a disease with major epidemics, with a very high mortality and morbidity (7),(8).
All flaviviruses are antigenically related , cross reactions being most evident and hence, the need for tests showing the greatest specificity (9). Culex tritaeniorhychus and Culex vishnuii species are the main vectors which transmit the disease from the reservoir hosts to man . They generally breed in paddy fields and are invariably found outdoors (10). The virus is transmitted in the zoonotic cycle among mosquitoes and vertebrate amplifying hosts , chiefly pigs and wading birds (30).
Viral encephalitis is an acute inflammation of brain parenchyma which is characterized by fever , headache , confusion , seizures , altered levels of consciousness and focal neurological disturbances in various combinations. Patients who seek medical attention may have aseptic meningitis or encephalitis, of whom 5 % to 25 % die (14),(20).
The rate of asymptomatic and symptomatic infection varies between 25 : 1 to 1000: 1 . The incubation period varies from 1 – 6 days, or as long as 14 days . The onset of illness can be abrupt, acute ( < 1 day ), subacute ( 1-3 days ) or gradual ( > 3 days ). Children under 15 years of age were principally affected in endemic areas (19). Waning immunity or other biological factors associated with aging, have been speculated to be risk factors (12),(13) . This is followed by the encephalitis stage which manifests with altered sensorium, convulsions, neck stiffness , muscular rigidity , mask like facies and abnormal movements (17,18,19) . The principal complications are secondary bacterial infectionsand gastro-intestinal haemorrhage in the acute and subacute phase of the illness (20),(21). Japanese encephalitis which is acquired during the first two trimesters of pregnancy may lead to foetal infection and miscarriage (15),(22). The causes of relapse, seizures and sequale were convulsions , frank mental retardation , frank motor defecits, scholastic backwardness , behavioural problems and subtle neurological signs (20),(21),(27).
Method
One hundred clinically diagnosed cases of Encephalitis who were admitted in the K.M.C. Hospital, Manipal, were included in the retrospective study . The cerebrospinal fluids were randomly selected after excluding bacterial and other viral etiology for meningitis and encephalitis The diagnostic criteria for Japanese encephalitis which was adopted in this study was the demonstration of IgM antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid samples . The Avidin – Biotin system which was used in this test was used to increase the sensitivity and specificity to 100 % . CSF for serology which was received from all cases were collected and stored at – 70 degrees centigrade until they were tested by MAC ELISA (28),(29).
Control group : To check the specificity of the ELISA technique which was employed for the detection of the Japanese Encephalitis Virus infection , Fifteen Cerebrospinal fluid samples which were diagnosed as caused by the Herpes Simplex Virus (5 cases) , Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis (5 cases) and Mumps (5 cases) were included in the study . A detailed history and clinical examination was carried out in all cases . Other investigations like Blood count and Haematological and Biochemical Analysis were also compared.
IgM Antibody Capture ELISA ( MAC ELISA ) is the method of choice to demonstrate virus specific antibodies in both in Blood and Cerebrospinal fluid samples (23),(25).
Principle : Solid phase support ( microtitre plate wells ) were coated with Anti – Human IgM antibodies which were capable of binding all IgM isotype antibodies which were present in the specimen. Specific Antigen was then added , followed by enzyme labeled antigen – specific antibodies. If IgM antibodies which were specific for the antigen in question were present , the sandwich complex would result in an enzymatic colour change which was proportional to the concentration of the IgM specific antibody which was present. This method is highly specific and more sensitive.(29)(30)
In the present assay, known positive and negative controls were provided by the Department of Neurovirology, NIMHANS, Bangalore. The assay was considered to be valid only when the controls gave expected results (Quality control) by in house MAC ELISA for the detection of IgM antibodies to the Japanese Encephalitis Virus by an IgM antibody capture ELISA. (22),(23),(24),(25),(29)
The study was performed over a period of two years among patients with clinically diagnosed Viral Encephalitis at a tertiary care centre in South India. IgM Antibody Capture ELISA (MAC ELISA) is the gold standard to demonstrate the presence of virus specific antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid (23),(25),(29).
The number of CSF samples tested = 100
Japanese Encephalitis Positive by MAC ELISA = 8 cases (8 %).
Any test sample with more than 100 units is considered to be Positive for IgM antibodies to the Japanese
Encephalitis Virus
Samples with ELISA units between 30 –99 were considered to be probably positive for the IgM antibodies to the Japanese Encephalitis Virus, but they required further testing with the DengueWest Nile Virus Antigen, as well as with the Normal mouse brain Antigen in order to exclude false positive reactions.
A sample with ELISA units less than 30 units was considered to be Negative for the IgM antibodies to the Japanese Encephalitis Virus
In our study, it was noticed that children younger than 15 years of age were affected with the Japanese encephalitis virus infection, which was also well documented by several earlier reports (11),(28). The age distribution of the Japanese Encephalitis cases is as mentioned in (Table/Fig 1). Various clinical features which were reported in these cases have been compiled in (Table/Fig 2). The mortality rate of the Japanese Encephalitis was 12.5 %. No sequalae were recorded in the Japanese Encephalitis cases who survived in our study.
Japanese Encephalitis is one of the leading causes of Acute Encephalopathy, affecting children and adolescents in Tropical and Sub – tropical Asia. Epidemic outbreaks of Japanese Encephalitis continue to pose a significant public health problem in most parts of India, especially in the Southern states.(16). Manipal being only 70 kilometres away from the Kerala border, which is endemic for Japanese Encephalitis along the west coast did not have any recorded outbreaks of Japanese Encephalitis till date. The present study was carried out to diagnose Japanese Encephalitis cases among patients who were clinically diagnosed as Encephalitis in the K.M.C Hospital , Manipal .
The diagnostic criteria for Japanese Encephalitis which was adopted in this study was the demonstration of the IgM antibodies by MAC ELISA in CSF samples, as reported by others, which is the Gold standard for the diagnosis of Japanese Encephalitis .94,95. Among the clinical manifestations, reported fever was present in 100 % of the cases and altered sensorium and headache accounted for 85 % - 100 % and 50 % of the cases respectively , Male preponderance , Pleocytosis and incidence in children younger than 15 years of age which were noticed in our study is also well documented by several earlier reports (11),(19),(28).
The diagnostic criteria for Japanese Encephalitis which were adopted in this study was the demonstration of the IgM antibodies by MAC ELISA in CSF samples, as reported by others, which is the Gold standard for the diagnosis of Japanese Encephalitis (28),(29).
To ensure the specificity of the assay, known positive and negative controls were included . There was no geographical or temporal clustering of cases.Predominance of infection was observed in males .Male to female ratio was 3 : 1
Out of 8 positive cases , 75 % were males and 25 % were females.
The disease was of a sporadic nature affecting all age groups , but predominantly, children formed 8 % of the cases which were admitted to the K.M.C .Hospital during ourstudy. The mortality rate of Japanese Encephalitis was 12.5 %. No sequalae was recorded in the Japanese Encephalitis cases who survived.
No specific antiviral therapy is available for Japanese encephalitis . The specific aetiological diagnosis of Japanese Encephalitis cases helps the patient management protocols and avoids unnecessary use of antiviral therapy . Acyclovir therapy which is of no proven advantage in the cases of Encephalitis which were caused due to the Japanese Encephalitis Virus needs supportive and symptomatic treatment Thus, the management protocol was restricted to temperature control, seizure control, sedation and the control of aggravating intracranial pressure and fluid and electrolyte management (.26,27).
- Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science, thomsonreuters)
- Index Copernicus ICV 2017: 134.54
- Academic Search Complete Database
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
- Embase
- EBSCOhost
- Google Scholar
- HINARI Access to Research in Health Programme
- Indian Science Abstracts (ISA)
- Journal seek Database
- Popline (reproductive health literature)
- www.omnimedicalsearch.com