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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
Case report
Full Version
Radiological Overview of Tubercular Arthritis of Wrist Joint: A Case Report
Correspondence Address :
Dr. Susmita Rani Ghosh,
Postgraduate Trainee, Department of Radiodiagnosis, Agartala Government Medical College, Girls Hostel, GB Hospital, Post Office-Kunjaban, Agartala-799006, Tripura, India.
E-mail: susmitaghosh.agt@gmail.com
Musculoskeletal Tuberculosis (TB) involving the wrist is very rare worldwide. Most cases of tuberculous arthritis arise in patients born in and migrated from endemic regions, particularly in patients who are co-infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The authors present a rare case of tuberculous arthritis of the wrist joint in a 64-year-old male who had pain, swelling, and decreased range of motion in the left wrist for six months. X-ray and Computed Tomography (CT) showed erosion of carpal bones, reduced joint space, and soft tissue oedema and abscess. Ultrasonography (USG) showed joint effusion and soft tissue oedema were seen around the wrist joint, and on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) along with this marrow oedema were also noted. Aspirated fluid culture from abscess suggested Mycobacterium positive culture and Ziehl–Neelsen (Z-N) staining showed acid-fast bacilli. Antitubercular therapy was the mainstay of treatment. A high level of suspicion should be kept for TB in every infection of the wrist joint.
Acid-fast bacilli, Antitubercular therapy, Magnetic resonance imaging
A 64-year-old male from Khowai, Tripura part of the northeastern states (tubercular endemic zone), complained of pain, swelling and decreased range of motion in the left wrist for six months which was insidious in onset and progressive in nature. History of on and off fever for last 8-10 month, no history of cough, no history of diabetes and hypertension was there. On inspection, there was round to oval shaped swelling involving the left wrist, measuring approximately 7.09×6.11 cm in size extends upto the palmer aspect with signs of inflammation, including redness and warmth. On palpation, the swelling was tender, with a limited wrist joint range of motion (difficult to do flexion and extension at the wrist joint).
On X-ray, erosion with the destruction of the distal radius and ulna, erosion of carpal bones and soft tissue swelling were noted at the distal end of the radius (Table/Fig 1).
USG showed joint effusion and soft tissue oedema around the wrist joint. CT showed erosion, destruction of the distal radius and ulna, reduction in the height of carpal bones with erosion, decreased intercarpal joint space, and soft tissue attenuated lesion with the collection and peripheral enhancement noted around the distal radius suggesting the possibility of abscess (Table/Fig 2). MRI showed ill-defined irregularly marginated signal altered lesions involving the carpal bones, distal end of the radius with linear tract seen in the metaphysis of radius, which appears hypointense on T1 and hyperintense on T2 and Proton Density Fat-Suppressed (PDFS) and shows peripheral enhancement on postcontrast images. This lesion was communicating with multiple peripheral thin smooth rim-enhancing, irregularly marginated lesion in the periosteal region of the distal end of the radius; suggestive of abscess (Table/Fig 3). T1-weighted postcontrast image showed even and thin synovial thickening of wrist joint and around the flexor tendon (Table/Fig 3).
Marrow oedema was seen in the carpal, radius, and ulna, which appeared to be T2 hyperintense. Tendons were spared.
Aspirated fluid culture from abscess suggested colonies of Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth on Löwenstein-Jensen (L-J) media, and Z-N staining showed acid-fast bacilli (Table/Fig 4),(Table/Fig 5). The final diagnosis was tubercular arthritis of the left wrist joint. The patient underwent antitubercular treatment for 18 months and follow-up was done after six months and the response was good.
The TB is still an important public health problem in the world. TB arthritis accounts for approximately 1-3% of all cases of TB and 10-11% of extrapulmonary TB cases (1), non spinal skeletal TB is rare and insidious in onset that is often difficult to diagnose, elbow and wrist involvement is even rarer (2). It mimics rheumatoid arthritis of small joints. Early diagnosis of tubercular arthritis is crucial now-a-days because disabling joint deformities can be averted by rapid and excellent response to anti-tubercular therapy (2).
USG allows a quick evaluation of soft tissue masses, abscess and joint effusions and degree and extent of tendon and tendon sheath involvement, USG and CT scan are particularly useful for guiding fine needle aspiration or biopsy to provide materials for histopathological evaluation. Excellent soft-tissue detail and multiplanar capability make MRI a definitive imaging technique for the evaluation of musculoskeletal TB (3),(4),(5).
In approximately, 50% of the cases, signs, symptoms and radiographic evidence of pulmonary TB are absent and TB is frequently missed as a differential diagnosis of the chronic inflammation of joints in the absence of active pulmonary disease. The differential diagnoses of TB arthritis include pyogenic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis. In rheumatoid arthritis uneven, thick synovial proliferation and extensive bone marrow enhancement is noted (6). In pyogenic arthritis less bony erosion and thick and irregular rim enhancing abscess is noted (7).
Multidrug antitubercular therapy (for 12-18 months) and active/assisted non weight-bearing exercises of the involved joint during healing is the primary mode of treatment. Synovectomy and debridement is required in musculoskeletal TB when the patient is not responding after 4-5 months of antitubercular therapy (2).
Recently, a case was reported where a 70-year-old women’s X-ray of the left wrist showed erosion and a lytic lesion around the bony skeleton at the wrist. A mild reduction of the bony density was seen at the carpals and metacarpals. MRI film of the left showed shows erosive arthritis with a gas-forming abscess along the ulnar side (8), similar to the present case.
Pain and swelling are the most common presenting features, followed by discharging sinuses. A similar case was recently reported where a 12-year-old boy presented with pain, swelling, and restriction of movement for six months (9), similar presentation to the present case except for age (64 years).
The main task in identifying TB arthritis is to consider the possibility of differential diagnosis. A high level of suspicion should be kept for TB in every infection of the wrist joint. Radiological imaging with microbiological confirmation is the mainstay of diagnosis for tubercular arthritis. MRI may demonstrate intraosseous involvement earlier than other imaging modalities.
DOI: 10.7860/JCDR/2023/61343.17939
Date of Submission: Nov 07, 2022
Date of Peer Review: Dec 30, 2022
Date of Acceptance: Feb 16, 2023
Date of Publishing: May 01, 2023
AUTHOR DECLARATION:
• Financial or Other Competing Interests: None
• Was informed consent obtained from the subjects involved in the study? Yes
• For any images presented appropriate consent has been obtained from the subjects. Yes
PLAGIARISM CHECKING METHODS:
• Plagiarism X-checker: Nov 12, 2022
• Manual Googling: Jan 10, 2023
• iThenticate Software: Feb 09, 2023 (10%)
ETYMOLOGY: Author Origin
- 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
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- HINARI Access to Research in Health Programme
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- Journal seek Database
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