We know that many of the most common causes of corneal blindness: vitamin A deficiency, trachoma, and ophthalmia neonatorum, can be prevented by simple primary health care measures. Some conditions are more difficult to prevent, but can be effectively treated, such as suppurative keratitis (page 39) or herpes simplex keratitis. However, some patients will still develop blinding corneal disease. What can be done for them?At present, the best hope for curing corneal blindness is a corneal transplant, also known as a corneal graft.In contrast with most other transplants, corneal grafting is relatively straightforward. Although additional surgical training is needed, the operation itself requires little equipment beyond a standard cataract set and a good operating microscope. Because there are no blood vessels in the cornea, the likelihood of rejection is less than for other transplants.In this article, we want to provide guidance to eye care workers who want to know who should be referred for a graft and what complications they may need to manage after patients have had their operation.In this operation, the central 7–8 mm of the patient's own diseased cornea is removed. A similar-sized disc of donor cornea is then inserted and sutured into position. In most cases, the full thickness of the cornea, including epithelium, stroma, and endothelium, is transplanted; this is known as a penetrating graft. However, it is also possible to transplant just the outer, anterior layers (stroma and epithelium) or the inner, posterior layers (endothelium and Descemet's membrane).Any corneal disorder that causes visual impairment may be an indication for a corneal graft. However, the prognosis for corneal grafting varies greatly.The risk of rejection is higher if the cornea is vascularised (contains blood vessels), or is inflamed or perforated . The same holds true for any eye that has generalised disease of the ocular surface.Table The visual prognosis for a corneal graft is also affected by the state of the rest of the eye, not just the cornea and ocular surface. Uncontrolled intraocular pressure (IOP) is a contraindication to grafting, as IOP control is likely to be worsened by a corneal graft. Patients with known posterior segment disease affecting the retina or optic nerve are also unlikely to benefit.A corneal graft requires much more postoperative care than a cataract extraction. This entails repeated clinic visits and using expensive eye drops frequently; therefore, the patient must value their new cornea and be motivated to take care of it.Patients are most likely to value their new cornea if the grafted eye is their better eye. In general, this means that patients with unilateral disease and perfect vision in the other eye are poor candidates. There are exceptions: for example, if the eye is painful as well as visually impaired.Corneal grafting in children has a very poor prognosis and requires more intense postoperative care; it should therefore be considered carefully.Studies from South IndiaUnfortunately, a clear graft does not guarantee good vision. Patients may have coexisting problems, such as glaucoma, cataract, or amblyopia. Because corneal grafting alters the shape of the cornea, it often causes significant astigmatism, which can be difficult to correct with spectacles.Visual outcomes in East AfricaThis also demonstrates the importance of monitoring and reporting the outcomes of corneal graft operations.The main causes of graft failure in both South IndiaGraft rejection is caused by an immune reaction directed against the foreign endothelial cells of the transplanted cornea. Approximately 20–30 per cent of penetrating grafts will have a rejection episode at some time. The most common symptoms of graft rejection are blurred vision, light sensitivity, redness, and pain; patients should be advised to attend an eye clinic immediately if they develop any of these symptoms. Rejection is recognised by the appearance of corneal oedema in a previously clear graft. The oedema usually spreads upwards across the graft from the inferior edge of the transplanted cornea. The eye is often inflamed and a line of keratic precipitates may be seen at the edge of the oedematous cornea.Preventing rejection begins with selection for surgery. Some diagnoses, such as keratoconus and other corneal dystrophies, have a very low risk of rejection. Following surgery, rejection is prevented by topical steroid drops. These are used at different frequencies for varying lengths of time, depending on the underlying diagnosis and the perceived risk of rejection. Whatever steroid regime is used, the drops should never be suddenly stopped, but should always be tailed off gradually. The usual duration of steroid therapy following a full thickness graft is six months in phakic patients and twelve months in pseudo-phakic or aphakic patients.management of graft rejection is intensive steroid treatment, initially in the form of hourly topical steroid drops. The use of systemic steroids, such as 500 mg methylprednisolone, has been shown to make little difference to the outcome and the authors therefore do not recommend it.With prompt diagnosis and immediate treatment, graft rejection can often be reversed. The recommended The second common cause of graft failure is suppurative keratitis. This presents in the same way as any other microbial keratitis (page 39). Patients with corneal grafts are at increased risk of corneal infection because they have reduced corneal sensation and are often on long-term topical steroids. The management of infectious keratitis is the same in these patients as it is for anyone else. A scraping should be taken for gram stain and culture if available (see page 42). Intensive antibiotic treatment, either monotherapy with a topical fluoroquinolone (such as ofloxacin) or combination treatment with a cephalosporin (such as cefuroxime) and an aminoglycoside (such as gentamicin) is started immediately after the scraping has been taken, and is continued for at least 48 hours. In some settings, anti-fungal treatment may be required.The most common predisposing factor for infectious keratitis following a corneal graft is a loose suture. With time, as the graft wound heals, the very fine sutures either break or become loose. In both cases, they will erode through the corneal epithelium. This destroys the barrier effect of the epithelium and allows microorganisms to get into the cornea where they cause infection. A loose suture also promotes the growth of blood vessels into the cornea, which can lead to rejection.All loose or broken sutures which protrude through the epithelium should be removed immediately. They can be detected by staining the cornea with fluorescein. Eye workers are sometimes reluctant to remove a corneal suture for fear that it may be the only thing holding the cornea together! This is an understandable reaction; however, if the stitch is loose or broken, then it cannot be providing any support to the wound. It is not serving any useful purpose and greatly increases the risk of complications, and it should be removed urgently.To remove the suture, give local anaesthetic drops three times and wait three to five minutes. Cut the suture with the sharp edge of a 26G needle. Using a pair of very fine forceps, grasp the end of the stitch and pull it gently out of the eye. Always give antibiotic drops for five days afterwards to prevent infection.Most corneal blindness can be prevented, but for those patients who have bilateral visual impairment caused by corneal disease, a corneal graft is the only hope of restoring sight.The best candidates for a corneal graft are patients with keratoconus or other corneal dystrophy, in whom about 90 per cent of grafts will remain clear for at least two years.Good postoperative care is essential. Patients must remain on topical steroids for a long time, and these should never be stopped suddenly.Graft rejection is often reversible if it is treated immediately with intensive topical steroids.All loose sutures should be removed immediately to reduce the risk of microbial keratitis.


IJAR). A “felt- need” by many, the move by the Department of AYUSH, Government of India to launch this international journal has been welcomed by all.I proudly present the first issue of the much awaited International Journal of Ayurveda Research  and the other hypothetical in nature, but soundly backed by references from classical texts.It took a long time in coming but the time and the effort has been well worth it. Our inaugural issue, with an erudite guest editorial from Prof. MS Valiathan sets the tone for the journal. The six original articles are symbolic of the type of work we are doing in the country from a large case series of an Ayurvedic treatment “package“ for migraine to a study on the quality of traditional Ayurvedic formulation. The papers on another traditional formulation “The case reports section is an area that I would greatly like to see grow. Even anecdotal reports are meaningful in practice and publication of case reports helps improve patient care – and that after all is one of the final objectives of research. With the successful launch of the National Pharmacovigilance Program for ASU drugs in India, I hope to get more case reports that will be important for students and practitioners alike.We have introduced the section on Education as there is a need to discuss educational experiences and even research in teaching methods. The paper in this issue paves the way for policy makers to have evidence to base their decisions on.IJAR is a peer reviewed, free full-text, managed completely online Journal that is, indexed in Caspur, DOAJ, EBSCO Publishing's Electronic Databases, Expanded Academic ASAP Genamics JournalSeek, Google Scholar, Health & Wellness Research Center, Health Reference Center Academic, Hinari, SCOLOAR and Ulrich's International Periodical Directory.Importantly, I would like to specially say thank you to my editorial team, the Executive and Associate Editors, the Editorial Board members and the peer reviewers as well as the authors who have all helped make this effort possible. I look forward to more articles for forthcoming issues  I also look forward to a dynamic “Letter to Editor” section that should be initiated after this first issue. The encouragement from the Advisory Board, I hope, will continue always.Till the next issue, I hope more research is translated into manuscripts.


Soft tissue augmentation with autologous fat graft has been increasingly used by plastic surgeons despite unpredictable results. Several techniques have been described to prevent the main setback of this technique, fat graft resorption. However, there is no ideal technique described for this purpose.Twenty patients with subcutaneous tissue loss, atrophy or hypoplasia were treated with lipofilling. A subcutaneous pouch is dissected at the deformed area and later it is filled with autologous fat graft.Graft maintenance during the postoperative period was satisfactory. Overcorrection was not performed except for the first three cases. Patient, surgeon and layman satisfaction was surveyed. Satisfaction was rated between 0 and 10. The mean score was 7.67 ± 1.22.The authors describe a technique for soft tissue augmentation which effectively corrects contour deformities, provides a low resorption rate and a relatively non-visible scar without causing irregularities. Despite unpredictable results, clinical use of autologous fat transfer for soft tissue augmentation has increased among plastic surgeons. The rising interest in this procedure has paralleled the development and popularity of liposuction for body contouring This popularity may be due to the opportunity of having an already present material at hand to augment or restore areas of the face with volume loss or contour irregularities. Additionally currently available filler materials such as hyaluronic acid, bovine collagen, polymethyl methacrylate, calcium hydroxyapatite suffer from distinct disadvantages.While satisfactory results can be achieved in the early postoperative period, long-term results may be disappointing for both the patient and the surgeon. The most common difficulty is the estimation of the resorption rate. Several techniques have been suggested for maximum fat survival including atraumatic fat harvesting technique, centrifugation, graft washing and addition of growth factor. However, there is no ideal technique described for this purpose.The authors of this paper describe an alternative technique for soft tissue augmentation: Placement of autologous fat graft in a dissected pouch. A smooth and regular surface could be obtained with this soft tissue augmentation technique. The intervention also results in a relatively invisible scar.From August 2005 to July 2007, 20 patients  with subcutaneous tissue loss, atrophy or hypoplasia were treated with the described technique in our clinics. Patient characteristics, augmented area, incision localizations, filled volume (ml) are summarized in Areas to be augmented were marked. Using deep sedation, the recipient area and lower abdomen or medial thigh were prepared with povidone iodine and draped. The tumescent solution containing 0.08% lidocaine and 1:500,000 of epinephrine was infiltrated into the donor and recipient sites. Approximately 0.5-1 cm skin incisions were made in the appropriate place. For example, preauricular incision was preferred for hemifacial augmentation and nasolabial fold incision for malar augmentation. Subcutaneous dissections were performed with blunt scissors and extended 1-2 cm further to the marked area. The dissection plane was between dermis and local fat tissue. After dissection was completed, gentle compression was applied while the fat graft was being harvested.Fat graft was harvested using a 5-mm blunt, three-holed suction cannula, attached to a 50-ml syringe. Preferred donor sites were the lower abdomen in 13 patients, and lower extremity in seven patients. After insertion of the cannula, under mild negative pressure, fat graft was aspirated with the aid of repeated back and forth motions of cannula. Approximately 10-20 ml fat graft per syringe was harvested. By aspiration of saline, the fat graft within the syringe was washed off from blood, oil and tumescent solution. Harvested fat was injected into the dissected plane via incision and then incision was sutured with fine polypropylene. Overcorrection was not performed with the exception of the first three cases. Irregularities were arranged with a gentle massage. The grafted sites were immobilized for a week with a compression dressing. Antibiotic and anti-inflammatory medications were used in the postoperative period.A total of 20 patients  underwent soft tissue augmentation with the described technique. Procedure-related complications were not observed in donor and recipient areas. In one patient, debulking was performed with liposuction at the tenth postoperative month due to persistence of overcorrection on left cheek. A new injection procedure was applied in one patient due to resorption. The mean postoperative follow-up was 1.7 years. The degree of improvement was scored by patients, surgeons and laymen. The satisfaction questionnaires were answered at the sixth postoperative month. Postoperative satisfaction was rated between 0 and 10, with 0 the worst and 10 the best grade. The overall satisfaction score was 7.67 ± 1.22 . Some reOver the past two decades, treatment of soft tissue losses  with lipofilling has shown encouraging clinical results in terms of texture, softness and quality of skin pattern. Autologous fat tissue has been considered as an ideal filler for soft tissue augmentation because it is biocompatible, versatile, stable, long-lasting, natural-appearing, readily available, abundant, inexpensive, and can be harvested easily and repeatedly, with minimal trauma to the donor sites. Thereforet al., found that surgical excision increased survival rates. However, surgically excised fat tissue transfer results with both donor and recipient area scars. Even if the donor area is preferred at a non-visible localization or the graft is harvested using a previous scar, en bloc fat cannot be introduced from a small incision. Therefore, syringe aspiration of fat appears to be the most popular method for fat harvesting.[There are various autologous fat transfer techniques from the points of donor site, harvesting method, type of anesthesia and the injection technique for soft tissue augmentation. En bloc fat graft harvesting is the least traumatic technique to the graft and has been shown to reduce tissue loss and improve fat graft survival. In a rabrvesting.4High fat graft resorption rates have been attributed to traumatic handling of the graft during the harvest and the injection stages. A number of authors recommend the use of half of the normal suction pressure to avoid mechanical injury to adipocytes during aspiration. The shafThe most important uncertainties of the use of aspirated fat graft injection are about the quantity of the graft and the required degree of overcorrection. Overcorrection is a vague concept and there is no agreement on the amount or even the need of it. Different resorption rates are described in the literature. According to our previous experience and the literature data, we made overcorrection in the initial three operations, like the other lipofilling techniques. Even after the end of the first postoperative year, we observed persistence of overcorrection. Moreover, we had to debulk the overcorrected fat in the patient. We have not performed overcorrection since this experience. We had to make an additional injection only in one patient after four months.Some other uncertainties for autologous fat transfer are the appropriate fat graft injection level and whether to perform the injection multilaminar or not. To impro1The most common complication of autologous fat transfer is related to the placement of inappropriate amount of fat. Irregular resorption remains a problem when using autologous, nonvascularized free fat grafts for correction of soft-tissue defects. Growth factors, beta blockers, insulin, growth media, and hyperbaric oxygen have been used for the prevention of irregular resorption. Yet some authors recommend minimal handling and no preparatory treatment of the intended graft tissue.910 The o9Fat injection through cannula with positive high pressure could be potentially destructive to the adipocytes' cellular membranes and ultimately reduce graft survival. Excess vIn conclusion, our fat injection technique combines fat injection and en bloc technique, provides a low resorption rate, a relatively non-visible scar, which is an important problem for en bloc fat transfer and eliminates irregularities. Autologous fat transplantation with the described technique can effectively correct contour deformities that require moderate augmentation. We have had great success in our series utilizing dissected pouch filling.


Starch accumulation and degradation in chloroplasts is accomplished by a suite of over 30 enzymes. Recent work has emphasized the importance of multi-protein complexes amongst the metabolic enzymes, and the action of associated non-enzymatic regulatory proteins. Arabidopsis At5g39790 encodes a protein of unknown function whose sequence was previously demonstrated to contain a putative carbohydrate-binding domain.+2 concentrations characteristic of both the day and night chloroplast cycles. Bioinformatic analysis demonstrates a diurnal pattern of gene expression, with an accumulation of transcript during the light cycle and decline during the dark cycle. A corresponding diurnal pattern of change in protein levels in leaves is also observed. Sequence analysis shows that At5g39790 has a strongly-predicted coiled-coil domain. Similar analysis of the set of starch metabolic enzymes shows that several have strong to moderate coiled-coil potential. Gene expression analysis shows strongly correlated patterns of co-expression between At5g39790 and several starch metabolic enzymes.We here show that At5g39790 is chloroplast-localized, and binds starch, with a preference for amylose. The protein persists in starch binding under conditions of pH, redox and MgWe propose that At5g39790 is a regulatory scaffold protein, persistently binding the starch granule, where it is positioned to interact by its coiled-coil domain with several potential starch metabolic enzyme binding-partners. Homo sapiens laforin phosphatase that dephosphorylates glycogen ) were recorded. Calculation of the correlation coefficient values is explained at the web site.Correlated gene co-expression data and Affimetrix microarray data within the NASC data set  were ana), using the "Northern" option. It was noted that genes of interest appeared to have diurnal variation in their levels of expression. The NASCarray web site  was used to directly access the original microarray data. The search and retrieval features at this site were used to retrieve data from the experiment: "Gene expression and carbohydrate metabolism through the diurnal cycle" , usin cycle"  unless otherwise stated. The pda04554 plasmid containing the sequence for the At5g39790 gene was obtained from the Riken Biological Resource Center (Japan). The sequence corresponds exactly to that obtained within the NCBI protein data base  and nucleotide data base .BamH1 restriction site (bold) 5'CGCGCGGATCCGCTTCTACTCGAAAACATTACAAC3'. The reverse primer contained an engineered EcoR1 site (bold): 5'CGCGCGAATTCCTATTCCACCACTAAAACATTGTT3'. Primers were synthesized by the University Core DNA Services facility . The restriction digested PCR product was ligated with T4 DNA ligase into the pRSET A vector to produce a His-tagged fusion construct. The total expected molecular weight of the recombinant protein was ~30 kDa. The construct was sequenced at the University Core DNA Services facility .For protein expression studies we PCR-amplified the gene sequence without the first 44 amino acids of the putative chloroplast transit peptide (CTP) from the pda04554 plasmid. The forward primer contained an engineered in vivo expression studies the full At5g39790 gene sequence (inclusive of CTP) was engineered with primers to introduce attB1 and attB2 recombination sites (bold letters in primer sequence below) at the N and C terminal regions of the gene , respectively. The forward primer sequence was: 5'GGGGACAAGTTTGTACAAAAAAGCAGGCTTCGAAGGAGATACAATCATGGGATGTGTACCC3'. The reverse primer sequence was: 5'GGGGACCACTTTGTACAAGAAAGCTGGGTCTTCCAACCACTAAAACATTGTTC3'. After PCR, the fusion product was recombined into an entry vector pDonor201, using the Gateway BP Clonase II enzyme mix. Plasmids were transformed into E. coli DH5α, selected for kanamycin resistance before being recombined into the Gateway vector pK7FWG2 , DPE1 is plastidal, DPE2 is cytosolic; GBS1: granule-bound starch synthase; GLT1 (glucose transporter) GWD1: glucan-water-dikinase 1; GWD3: glucan-water-dikinase-like 3 [phospholucan-water-dikinase]; ISA1 or 2: isoamylase 1 or 2 [starch debranching enzyme isoforms] starch synthesis, ISA3: isoamylase 1 or 2 [starch debranching enzyme isoforms] starch degradation; LDA1: starch debranching enzyme:limit dextrinase [pullulanase]; MEX1: maltose exporter; PGI1: phosphglucoisomerase; PGM1 or 2: phosphoglucomutase isoforms 1 or 2; PHS1: glucan phosphorylase [plastidal]; SBE3: starch branching enzyme III; SEX4: dual-specificity phosphatase, previously referred to as DSP4; SSI, II, III or IV:  STS1,2,3 or 4: starch synthase isoforms I, II, III or IV; TPTI: triose phosphate/Pi translocator;GBGM, conceived of the study andDK and EL-Vparticipated in its design. ELV, SW, MN, LV and DGM carried out the biochemical studies. DK carried out the bioinformatics study. ELV and DK drafted the manuscript.Supplemental Table S1. Coiled-coil potential of At5g39790 and homologue sequences. Homologue sequences were collected by searching databases with the sequence of At5g39790 as detailed in Methods. Amino acid sequences were subjected to analysis of coiled-coil potential using the web servers for each of the specified methods, under default running parameters. The scoring characteristics of each test are detailed in Methods. Strength of the predictions for a given coiled-coil sequence region were arbitrarily categorized as "Strong", "Moderate" or "Weak" according to the following criteria. "Strong" ; "Moderate" ; "Weak" . Predictions were characterized as negative (data not shown) under the following criteria: .Click here for fileSupplemental Table S2. Chloroplast transit peptide predictions of At5g39790 and homologues. Homologue sequences were collected by searching databases with the sequence of At5g39790 as detailed in Methods. Amino acid sequences were subjected to predictions of subcellular localization based on transit peptides, using the web servers for each of the specified methods, under default running parameters. a This method tests for transit peptides characteristic of localization to chloroplast, mitochondrion, or ER. It presents no single numerical estimate of prediction strength. b This technique tests only for the presence of chloroplast transit peptides. A score in excess of the threshold score of 0.42 is considered positive. c This method tests for transit peptides characteristic of localization to chloroplast, mitochondrion, or ER. The probability of the predicted transit peptide is given. d This method obtains scores for presence of a chloroplast, mitochondrial or ER signal peptide, or for some other cellular localization. The winning prediction is placed in a 'reliability class' (RC) according to the difference between the winning score and the next highest score. The classes, in descending order of reliability, are RC1–RC5.Click here for fileSupplemental Table S3 Coiled-coil potential for selected starch metabolite proteins. A set of 33 genes encoding plastidial enzymes of starch metabolism was collected . Amino acid sequences were subjected to analysis of coiled-coil potential using the web servers for each of the specified methods, under default running parameters. The scoring characteristics of each test are detailed in Methods. The arbitrary classification of predicted coiled-coil sequence regions into "Strong", "Moderate" and "Weak" or "Negative" is detailed in the legend to Table 1. To facilitate comparison between sets of predictions for the various proteins, the complete set of coiled-coil predictions for each protein sequence was then arbitrarily assigned a "Relative Coiled-Coil Potential" according to the following criteria: 0 – Negative predictions by all three methods; 1 – Prediction for a given coiled-coil region from only one method; 2 – Mutually reinforcing predictions from more than one method; 3 – Moderate or Strong predictions with reinforcement in more than one method; 4 – Mutually reinforcing strong predictions from all three methods; 5 – Same as 4 but also exceptionally long CC domain predicted. Only data from sequences with a ranking of 3 or greater are shown in this Table. The gene naming abbreviations are as follows : PGM2 , GBS1 (granule-bound starch synthase), STS2 (starch synthase II), STS3 (starch synthase III), STS4 (starch synthase IV), AMY3 (α-amylase 3), GWD1 (glucan-water-dikinase 1).Click here for fileSupplemental Table S4. Coiled-coil potential for full set of starch metabolic proteins. A set of 33 genes encoding plastidial enzymes of starch metabolism was collected . Amino acid sequences were subjected to analysis of coiled-coil potential using the web servers for each of the specified methods, under default running parameters. The scoring characteristics of each test are detailed in Methods. The arbitrary classification of predicted coiled-coil sequence regions into "Strong", "Moderate" and "Weak" or "Negative" is detailed in the legend to Table 1. To facilitate comparison between sets of predictions for the various proteins, the complete set of coiled-coil predictions for each protein sequence was then arbitrarily assigned a "Relative Coiled-Coil Potential" according to the following criteria: 0 – Negative predictions by all three methods; 1 – Prediction for a given coiled-coil region from only one method; 2 – Mutually reinforcing predictions from more than one method; 3 – Moderate or Strong predictions with reinforcement in more than one method; 4 – Mutually reinforcing strong predictions from all three methods; 5 – Same as 4 but also exceptionally long CC domain predicted. Starch synthetic enzyme genes are highlighted in pale green. Starch degradative enzyme genes are highlighted in pale orange. The gene naming abbreviations are as detailed in Additional File Click here for fileSupplemental Table S5. Chloroplast transit peptide predictions for starch metabolic proteins. A set of 33 genes encoding plastidial enzymes of starch metabolism was collected . Amino acid sequences were subjected to predictions of subcellular localization based on transit peptides, using the web servers for each of the specified methods, under default running parameters. The gene naming abbreviations are as detailed in Additional File Click here for fileSupplemental Table S6. Sets of starch metabolic enzyme genes with strong general co-expression correlation patterns. A set of 33 genes encoding plastidial enzymes of starch metabolism was collected . The Arabidopsis Coexpression Data Mining Tools site was accessed as detailed in Methods. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) expressing quantitatively the degree of gene co-expression observed over the entire NASC microarray dataset were obtained for pairwise all-against-all gene comparisons. An arbitrary standard of r greater than or equal to 0.70 was used to define the class of strongest gene co-expression correlations. This Table presents non-redundant groups of genes whose mutual comparisons produce correlation coefficients which meet this standard. . The gene naming abbreviations are as follows : PGM1 , APL1 (ADP-Glc pyrophosphorylase: large subunit 1), APS1 , GBS1 (granule-bound starch synthase), STS1 (starch synthase I), STS3 (starch synthase III), STS4 (starch synthase IV), SBE3 (starch branching enzyme III), SBE2 (starch branching enzyme II), ISA1 (isoamylase 1 [starch debranching enzyme]), ISA2 (isoamylase 2 [starch debranching enzyme]), AMY3 (α-amylase 3), GWD1 (glucan-water-dikinase 1), GWD3 (glucan water dikinase-like 3 [phosphoglucan-water-dikinase]), DPE1(glucanotransferase [disproportionating enzyme]), PHS1 , ISA3 (isoamylase 3 [starch debranching enzyme]), BAM2 (β-mylase 2), LDA1 (starch debranching enzyme:limit dextrinase [pullulanase]), MEX1 . For convenience of comparison, gene names are grouped as "Starch Synthetic Enzymes" or "Starch Degradative Enzymes". Since ISA1 and ISA2 homologues in potato have been shown to be essential for starch synthesis  they are here considered to be starch synthetic enzymes.Click here for fileSupplemental Table S7. Gene co-expression correlations for At5g39790 and starch metabolic protein genes. A set of 33 genes encoding plastidial enzymes of starch metabolism was collected . The Arabidopsis Coexpression Data Mining Tools site was accessed as detailed in Methods. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) expressing quantitatively the degree of gene co-expression observed over the entire NASC microarray dataset were obtained for pairwise all-against-all gene comparisons, and are presented in this Table. Starch synthetic enzyme genes are highlighted in pale green. Starch degradative enzyme genes are highlighted in pale orange. At5g39790 is highlighted in pale purple. Gene co-expression correlations for At5g39790 and starch metabolic protein genes which exceed r = 0.50 are highlighted in pale blue. Gene co-expression correlations for pairs of starch metabolic protein genes which exceed r = 0.70 are highlighted in dark blue. The gene naming abbreviations are as detailed in Additional File Click here for fileSupplemental Figure S1. Purification of At5g39790 (-CTP) used for the preparation of antibodies in rabbit. Purification of At5g39790 for antibody preparation: Lane 1, Low MWt standards; lane 2, 3 μg French press supernatant; lane 3, 3 μg of French press pellet ; lane 4, 3 μg of urea supernatant; lane 5, 3 μg of Urea pellet ; lane 6, 3 μL Ni-NTA flow-through; lane 7, 30 μL column wash; lane 8, 3 μg column eluant.Click here for file


A 38-year-old female presented with long stricture in the left upper ureter following a pyeloplasty causing persistent flank pain. A left PCNL with an antegrade endopyelotomy was attempted in view of a concomitant left renal 1.5 cm calculus in the lower calyx but it failed. Subsequently, a buccal mucosal onlay graft was applied on the strictured ureter. Follow-up at 3 months showed good uptake of the graft with patent passage for urine drainage. Stricture in the upper ureter is commonly seen following surgical procedures of the upper urinary tract and ischemic injury is one of the important causative factors in such cases. A multitude of procedures have been described for repair of ureteric strictures. Complicated ureteric strictures of the upper ureter may require bowel replacement or autotransplantation. However, both these procedures are associated with long-term morbidity and complications. Successful use of a buccal mucosa graft in repair of a stricture in the urethra has led to interest in the use of similar grafts in repair of complicated ureteric strictures, though only two series of five cases each have been reported.We report a case of stricture ureter following laparoscopic pyeloplasty, which was successfully repaired using an onlay buccal mucosa patch graft.Multiple sessions of extra corporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) - for bilateral renal calculi (twice on the right side and five times on the left side from April 2004 to January 2006).Right laparoscopic pyeloplasty performed on 10, August 2006.Left laparoscopic pyeloplasty performed on September 2007; the stone could not be retrieved.The patient, a 38-year-old married female attended our out patient department (OPD) with a history of left flank pain. She had a history of bilateral flank pain, for which she had undergone the following:The left flank pain recurred after 2 months of the stent was removed. Her retrograde pyelography showed a renal calculus with a long upper ureteric stricture. In view of the concomitant renal calculus, a left percutaneous nephrolithotripsy (PCNL) with antegrade endopyelotomy was peformed in 2008 but the pain persisted upon stent removal. A repeat retrograde pyelography showed worsening of the stricture .Thus, an open repair of the strictured ureter using buccal mucosal onlay was performed on August 11, 2008. Per-op findings showed the stricturous segment to be 7 cm long. A graft was harvested from the right inner cheek and sutured to the stricturous segment with Vicryl 4/0 over a 7/14 Fr endopyelotomy stent. A omentum pedicle was wrapped around the graft . A folloStricture in the upper ureter is commonly seen following surgical procedures of the upper urinary tract and ischemic injury is one of the important causative factors in such cases. Complicated ureteric strictures and segmental ureteric loss beyond the anticipated reach of a Boari flap might warrant bowel interposition or auto transplantation. Both procedures are of considerable surgical magnitude and entail long-term complications.The classic Davis intubated ureterotomy 1943)[943[1] reUreteral reconstruction has been performed using an autologous bladder mucosa graft and freeSuccessful use of a buccal mucosa graft in repair of hypospadias and a strictured urethra has led to interest in the use of similar grafts in repair of complicated ureteric strictures. However, until now there has been limited data on the success of this procedure.In experimental animals, buccal mucosa interposition grafts have been shown to take well and to provide good drainage of the upper tract. Somerville and Naude performeUreteric strictures too long to be treated by excision and spatulated end-to-end anastamosis can be effectively treated by buccal mucosal patch graft, which may be easily harvested from the cheek. The graft ensures patency and good drainage and avoids more radical alternatives such as bowel interposition or autotransplantation. Buccal mucosal grafts demonstrate an abundant layer of vasculature in the outer layer of the lamina propria. In addition, the excellent vascular bed is provided by omental wrap. Grafts to the ureter have an excellent take-up rate. Another advantage is that there is no need to depend on the severely damaged urothelium to regenerate, with minimal chances of urinary leakage postoperatively.Buccal mucosa can be used as a patch graft or a tubularised graft. Ureteral reconstruction by dorsal onlay graft technique is simple and devoid of complications. It ensures patency and good drainage.Following his success in animal models, Naude reportedet al.,[Shah, et al., reportedFollow-up was in the range of 1.5 year to 3.5 years. Thus, the graft proved capable of maintaining patency and good urinary drainage. The procedure is technically simple and devoid of complications.


Sir,References of a biomedical journal form an important component of a scientific communication. Accurate references add to the credibility of the publication, authors and the journal. This study was conducted to find out the accuracy of references in the Journal of Indian Association of Paediatric Surgeons (JIAPS).All the 114 references in the articles published in the January-March 2008 issue of JIAPS were listed. An attempt was made to verify the references from the original articles or from the internet sources available. A total of 106 (91%) references could be checked. References from the text books and other publications (n = 8) could not be verified, which included one reference from a journal due to nonavailability.A total of 29 references were found to have errors (27.5%). Major errors included wrong first author name (n = 7), wrong journal name (n = 2), wrong year (n = 1), wrong volume number (n = 1) and wrong first page number (n = 2). Minor errors included wrong coauthors’ names (n = 22), wrong number of coauthors (n = 5), short title (n = 1), wrong journal abbreviation (n = 1) and wrong last page number (n = 2). The most common error was found to be in the names of authors in different forms. Two internet references were wrongly cited and one of these could not be traced.References in a scientific publication are a source of information for the readers. It is very important for the references to be correct as incorrect references frustrate the reader while searching for related articles. Despite 3The primary responsibility of checking the references lies with the authors, but the editorial board and the reviewers also need to be vigilant by randomly checking the references. JIAPS needs to be complimented for a low error rate as compared with other journals, but this needs to be further brought down. This can only be done by more careful citations provided by the authors after checking primarily from the original articles. Cross references need to be thoroughly verified before citation. Internet citations need to be carefully cited as per guidelines. JIAPS should include a sample of the format in the common examples given in the "Instructions to Authors," as their use is likely to increase in the near future.


Karanjavala.Recipient of three prestigious awards including Padmashri in 1983 [Government of India], Dhanwantari in 1986 [Government of Maharashtra], and St. Paul's Gold medal from British Association of Urological surgeons (BAUS) in mid 80s; the man at the ripe age of 88 is a true legend in Indian Urology.Born in 1920, in Mumbai, he spent his early childhood at a boarding school in Panchgani, where strong values of caring and respect for humanity were inculcated in him. His inherent fondness for science drew him to medicine as a specialty. The undergraduate days saw him winning many laurels and he graduated in 1944 from KEM Hospital in Mumbai and later acquired his MS in General Surgery from the same hospital in 1948. As was customary in those days, going to UK for obtaining an FRCS in surgery was the next logical step.The following 7 years spent in various hospitals, mainly in and around London, gave him a wide exposure to various surgical subspecialties. However, he attributes his interest in urology to two people, mainly Mr. Terrence Millins  and Mr. A.W. Badenoch .On his return to India in 1955, despite his Indian and British qualification, there was some initial struggle to get recognition. By the end of 1958, he decided to restrict his practice to urology, for which he was ridiculed by many! He formally joined KEM Hospital , and Bombay Hospital  in 1958 as a consultant urologist.He frequently visited Kashmir during his early years as urologist and helped the Government of Kashmir to establish a department of urology at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute at Srinagar. Later he was also appointed as a visiting consultant urologist at Gujamal Modi Hospital and Research Centre for Medical Sciences, Delhi.Interestingly, his early years in practice saw him treating many veterinary ‘patients’ also, with abdominal and urological diseases!Indian Journal of childhood in 1958. He also presented his experience in management of pediatric hydrocolpos and mucocolpos in the BAUS in 1969.He was (and still is) a very keen academician and ensured that he attended as many clinical meetings as possible. In the days where fancy imaging techniques  were not invented, clinicians depended heavily on history and examination findings; and it is these skills that established his name in the field of urology nationwide. His list of patients included the who's who in the field of politics, arts, and science in India. Practicing urology before the era of subspecialization meant one had to be a jack of all! Apart from surgical treatment of prostate disease, Dr. Karanjavala developed special interest in pediatric urology and reported some of his findings in children with meningomyelocoele, in Indian Journal of Surgery in 1966 and in the British Journal of Urology (1979), and Annals of Royal College of Surgeons (1970).[He took keen interest in investigation and surgical treatment of chyluria. In fact this helped him attain international acclaim with his papers on the same being published first in s (1970).British Journal of Urology.He was selected as the national delegate (India) at the Society Internationale D'urologie (SIU) in 1958 and held that position till 1982. He was elected as the President of Urology Society of India (USI) in 1981. In mid-seventies, he was also elected to the editorial board of the A sudden myocardial infarct in 1980 enforced a period of rest on him, eventually necessitating a coronary bypass a few months later. He slowed down considerably thereafter and formally retired from Bombay Hospital at the ripe age of 73 (1993).Besides urology, Dr. Karanjavala is very fond of good food and travel. His urological prominence and academic pursuits have taken him to every corner of the world, thus helping him build a large international family of some very prominent people. He is blessed with three children ; all happily married and settled in different parts of the world. His lovely wife, Khorshed, unfortunately passed away in 2005 after a brief illness.Today sitting back in the twilight of his life, he believes that the success of his practice has been largely due to the mutual faith between him and his patients. He cautions the young urologists of today, not to become toys at the hands of technology. After all it is the human aspect of treatment, which makes medical practice so unique and it is up to us to maintain that dignity forever.


From this issue we are starting a new section called the ‘IJD Symposium,’ which we hope to feature regularly in our forthcoming issues, on a wide range of subjects. Our objective is to showcase articles on issues of particular relevance to students, clinicians, and researchers of dermatology in this subcontinent, although we shall welcome articles having a still wider appeal. The contributors to the sections will have a good number of original research works and will share their vast experience with the readers. We have seen to it that all the topics of the symposium are related to issues that are practical and useful to not only academicians and researchers, but also to each and every practicing dermatologist.The topic of the first IJD symposium is Vitiligo Surgery.Dr. Koushik Lahiri, the executive editor of the journal and a renowned worker in the field, has conceived the specific subsections, assigned experienced authors, and compiled the section focused on the topic in a planned and structured manner as the Section Editor. The assigned authors for this section Dr. Mysore Venkataram and Dr. T. Salim, and Dr. Niti Khunger, Dr. Sushruta Das Kathuria and Dr. V. Ramesh have enriched the subject with their vast experience on various techniques of tissue grafts and cellular grafts in vitiligo.I am sure the readers will find the section quite useful.


We have achieved many of the objectives that we set out to achieve: The journal now comes out on time. There is a defined structure. We have been successful, at least partly, in discouraging and thereby reducing the number of case reports. We now have regular features, pictorial essays, reviews, and editorials.But we still lack original clinical research and outcome papers. Such articles make up less than 5% of the papers received; 75% of submissions are still case reports. It is not enough for the journal to serve as a continuing medical education (CME) tool. It also needs to showcase the practice patterns and the clinical research being done in radiology in this country.The majority of the clinical research articles that we get are converted theses. These are usually badly written, with no understanding of statistics and no statistical relevance. They may get accepted by the Universities and by the National Board of Examinations, but that does not necessarily mean that these theses meet the journal's standards.It is a chicken-and-egg situation. Since we are not indexed, good researchers do not want to send articles to the journal; and until we get more such articles, it is unlikely that we will get indexed.Nevertheless, we need to find a solution and I solicit your suggestions and advise. Please email me at editor@ijri.org.All heads of departments need to constructively push their residents into planning clinical studies and writing them up. There is significant material available in this country.The IJRI should try and hold ‘writing’ courses.All studies presented in the annual conference may be fast-tracked.Some possible suggestions are:This issue starts off with a symposium on obstetric USG that has been guest edited by Dr Ramamurthy and Dr Gune. There will be more articles on the same subject in the February 2009 issue, to be followed by a symposium on breast imaging in the May and August 2009 issues.Dr N. Khandelwal's oration from 2008 on ‘CT Perfusion in Stroke’ has been published in this issue. Dr V. Rangarajan gives us his perspective on the current status and growth of PET/CT in India. We have reproduced two articles by Dr K. P. Mody, from the IJR issues of the mid-50s, on radiology teaching and curriculum and ethics; they are relevant even today.‘Residents hardly take on any responsibilities. All the major decisions are taken by consultants. PGs are more or less doing an ‘observership’ kind of posting-which is extremely sad. As a result, we are churning out a bunch of spineless, gutless radiologists who need to spend at least 3 more years in a decent place to expose them to the real big bad world of radiology.’ It is quite clear on talking to a cross-section of teachers in the country that the current batch of residents and newly-minted radiologists are quite poorly trained, with no perspective on the clinical relevance of the various examinations. Most seem only interested in capitalizing on their education and maximizing their ‘earning’ potential, even if it is at the cost of their own growth. We need to remember that, unlike in other professions, radiologists tend to work till the ages of 70 and beyond, and we cannot sacrifice long-term benefits for the short-term.The response to the last issue's editorial has been quite heartening. One interesting quote: In a subsequent editorial, I will show how even from an ‘earnings’ perspective a radiologist does much better than most MBAs when we compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges.


Sir,Antipsychiatry movement in the 1970s, there were no comments or even any critique on this topic in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry! It is good to see that our journal, albeit after 35 years, has discussed the issue editorially in the present context; it has also tried to strike a balance between the two opposing views: ‘…the willingness to accept the valid criticisms and the possible abuses or “wrongs” of psychiatry, as well as to be open to a dialogue or multilogue and review of practices if required would not only be strategically sound but also ethically warranted.’The editorial ‘Antipsychiatry: Meeting the challenge’This has opened up possibilities to practice psychiatry not determined by biology alone but a multiverse of episteme that contributes to our knowledge of mental healing. In a recent article, Paul Grobstein, a neuroscientist, has seen science as a culture of ‘story telling and story revising’.2Antipsychiatry and Postpsychiatry. The concept of Antipsychiatry has lost ground in the present context because of its analytical category being oppositional, dichotomous and binary. Such analyses will eventually take a linear and progressive course, proposing another modernist utopia. The concept of Postpsychiatry moved away from this trap and interpreted contemporary changes using tools of continental philosophy including postmodernism. Thomas and Bracken4However, unlike Grobstein, who wanted to keep science within the boundaries of positivism, I would like to comment on the issue of our own theories of psychiatry.Our situation is different from Bracken and Bradley because our modernity is received through colonialism and can best be called postcolonial when the debate on de-colonization is quite vibrant.


Journals published by Professional Associations play an important role in scientific literature. However, the relationship between the Journal and the Association is quite complex. Notwithstanding the legal and economic realities, the Associations should respect independence of the Journal. The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) has rightly mentioned in their guidelines that the relationship of the editors of the journal and the Association should be firmly based on the principle of editorial independence. In case the Association, Authors or Reviewers are not satisfied with the decision of the editors, the Journal should have mechanisms such as an Ombudsman to resolve issues, without unnecessarily divulging the sensitive information. However, Associations generally do not encourage creation of these mechanisms, lest they lose ‘control’ over their Journal.The future augurs well for the Indian Journal of Community Medicine. Submissions to the Journal have increased to nearly five-fold, revenue has gone up four times, it now receives articles online and publishes many more pages on high quality paper, in multicolor. Moreover, it is now indexed in the PubMed. These developments will motivate authors to send their best research work to the Indian Journal of Community Medicine. A solid base of subscribers built over the years will sustain it financially. A strong peer review process has been instituted, to select the best manuscripts for publication. Using the key words of the submitted manuscript, a search is made in the PubMed for selecting at least six reviewers from among the authors who have published on the topic in the recent past, so that editors get comments from at least two of them. In general, the Journal has done well; however, there are many pressures that can deflect it from its course. The health of the Journal is the reflection of the health of the Association, and if the Journal ever collapses it will be because the Association did not care for it.In the competitive era of scientific publications, it is important to keep the clients, that is, subscribers and authors happy by timely decisions and publication. Unfortunately, due to the delays in getting the submissions peer-reviewed, the decision-making process gets slowed down, causing a lot of frustration among the authors. The submission to decision time needs to be decreased to less than three months, and the accepted articles should be published within the next six months. These goals can be achieved by implementing the policy of in-house rapid review by the editorial team. In this manner, the editorial team can quickly decide whether to send the submission for external peer review or decline publication. However, the objectivity in the selection process should remain supreme, and the criteria that guide the selection process must be to find out whether the manuscript reports newly created knowledge. The success of the Journal lies in its ability to attract articles that have the potential to improve the practice of community medicine.The contents of the past issues of the Journal, recently archived on its website, are a reflection of how vibrant the specialty of preventive/social/community medicine has been, and of the role it has played in improving the health status of the Indian population. Of course the teaching of preventive/social/community medicine in medical colleges has helped in broadening the worldview of hundreds and thousands of physicians and surgeons, who currently occupy administrative positions, practice in the community, teach in medical colleges or conduct research. Several of them have taken up the cause of public health, despite specializing in other medical or surgical specialties. Rather than despising them, we must be proud of them for championing the cause of public health.We should also advocate for enhancing the role of medical colleges in public health. Community Medicine Departments must evolve into a multidisciplinary faculty, covering all aspects of public health. In a short-term, related faculty members from other institutions/universities can be appointed as part-time/honorary/guest faculty to enrich the teaching/learning process. It will also help in broadening the research agenda, to better understand the health problems from multiple angles. The contents/curriculum also needs to be updated, to broaden the biomedical understanding of the graduates to a sociological approach that emphasizes issues related to equity, ethics, justice, and the need for advocating healthy public policies in every sector.Placement of faculty and students in other organizations in the government and non-government sectors, which have a good track record, must be considered, so that they have opportunities of practicing public health in real-life situations. Medical colleges should have a good collaboration with the government and non-government organizations, at least in the area where they are located. These collaborations are mutually beneficial, but difficult to manage. Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with clearly defined roles and responsibilities of each organization and establishment of a coordination mechanism with periodic review at a higher level can facilitate these initiatives. Community Medicine Specialists should spearhead the movement to place public health as a central focus of medical colleges with a mission to improve the health of the community rather than only teaching and treating those who enter into their portals.With this issue I step down from the chief editorship of the Journal. I express my appreciation to our advisers and the editorial board members, particularly to my colleagues in the editorial team, especially the Managing Editor, who have brought it all together, working voluntarily for the last six years, and upholding the science ahead of personal ambitions. I also thank the authors and reviewers who are the prime architects of the quality of its contents. It has been a professionally rewarding and exciting experience for me, which has inevitably earned me a few enemies! although, many more friends. I wish the new editorial team well and hope that they will take the Journal to new heights.


Exactly five years ago a little flower in the garden of wisdom blossomed as the Hair Research Society of India. Early in 2004, when I registered to participate in the "World of Hair"- fourth intercontinental meeting of hair research societies in Berlin, I was asked to contact the hair research society of my country for a letter of recommendation. Having discovered that such an organization did not exist in my country, I sought the help of my teacher Prof. Patrick Yesudian who had been a "lead kindly light" in all my endeavors. Giving no room for second thought said he, "why not we?" The seed sown by him was nurtured into a sapling by Prof. S. Shivakumar and enthusiastic colleagues with the thirst for knowledge.On 13 June 2004, from the land of diverse culture, history and mystery the Hair Research Society of India was started with the aims of gaining and disseminating the knowledge of hair with the transformation of the same into safe and ethical practices in order to abolish quackery and promote science. It was decided to conduct quarterly meetings with guest lectures by inter-disciplinary specialists, clinical case discussions and to publish a newsletter which would carry the proceedings of the meeting."when confronted with matters genetic; inclined to be somewhat frenetic; thought to be archaic; invokes a mosaic; with Blashco becomes energetic", wanted the Hair Research Society of India to be a "Growing Hair Society" and not simply a hair-growing society.It was Prof. Rudolph Happle, the king of limericks who Our Indian hair newsletter used to be like a sumptuous dinner with a starter of a short note on the current trichological delicacy by our president Prof. Patrick Yesudian, a main course of a highly informative guest lecture and a cool dessert of challenging clinical hair disorders. Prof Urlike Blume-Peytavi, the past president of the European Hair Research Society (EHRS) appreciated our intention of stimulating our colleagues with the knowledge of trichology and encouraged photo documentation of clinical hair disorders in the Indian scenario.International Journal of Trichology, the world′s first dedicated peer-reviewed journal for hair. The journal is fortunate to have a genius like Prof. Desmond J Tobin to be the executive editor who had designed the creative cover page of the journal so meticulously. The editorial board glitters with the luminaries in trichology across the globe.Having conducted 20 quarterly meetings and published 20 newsletters, the Hair Research Society of India has reached yet another milestone in the journey of academic pursuit with the launch of the Thiruvalluvar says in Thirukural, a repertory of universal thoughts and truths, "As deep you dig the sand spring flows; As deep you learn the knowledge grows."Inspired by the EHRS, the Mecca of hair science, the Hair Research Society of India has come a small way in this half a decade. At this moment I thank the presidents, members, researchers, colleagues and patients from whom we learn. The joy of learning continues as saint


The third AMIA Summit on Translational Bioinformatics built on the success of the 2008 and 2009 Summits. The Summit continues to highlight the multidisciplinary nature of this rapidly maturing research field and provides the opportunity to forge new transdisciplinary collaborations as the finest minds of the academia, industry, government and non-profit sector are brought together. The six tracks spanned the range from methods for the analyses of molecular through clinical measurements and informatics methods in genetics discoveries and clinical practice.1: Informatics Methods for the Integrative Analysis of Molecular and Clinical Measurements2: Computational Approaches to Finding Molecular Mechanisms and Therapies for Disease3: Informatics Concepts, Tools, and Techniques to Enable Integrative Translational Bioinformatics Research4: Relating and Representing Phenotypes and Disease for Translational Bioinformatics Research5: Informatics Methods Bridging Genetics Discoveries and Clinical Practice6: Dissecting Disease through the Study of Organisms, Evolution, and TaxonomyThe breadth and depth of the Summit continues to grow with twenty-five 90-minute scientific sessions. Original research was presented in forty-nine papers and abstract presentations covering all six tracks and spanning from methods to applications. Ten late breaking sessions covered work in press or published since the 2009 Summit including for example a presentation of the analysis of a full human genome in the clinical context. Six of the seven National Centers for Biomedical Computing presented on the relationship of their work to the themes of the Summit along with five other panels covering topics ranging from CTSAs to the eMERGE network. Four keynote presentations addressed the theme of paths toward genomic medicine. Spyro Mousses of TGen presented on “Using BioIntelligence to Search and Understand Individual Genomes” illustrated the ideas in the context of individualized cancer therapy. Serge Saxonov of 23andMe presented on “Consumers, Genomes and Research” demonstrating how this approach could replicate findings from other studies and contribute to new genomic knowledge. Andrew Kasarskis of Sage Bionetwork presented on “Getting from Heterogeneous Data to Actionable Shared Models of Biology” and how these approaches can advance our fundamental understand of the underlying biology. Finally in what has become an annual tradition Russ Altman of Stanford presented a recap of some key developments and papers in his “Translational Bioinformatics Year in Review”.http://summit2010.amia.org/session-details.Slides from selected tutorials, papers, and panels are publicly available at BMC Bioinformatics are extended and improved versions of the best papers accepted to the 2010 Summit on Translational Bioinformatics. These papers were nominated by members of the Scientific Program Committee and the Track Chairs and then subject to revision and additional peer review in collaboration with BMC Bioinformatics. These papers illustrate the span of the Summit and range from bioinformatics approaches to new knowledge discovery to informatics approaches to foster the application of this type of knowledge. In the following paragraphs we present an overview of the papers in this special issue and their organization.The eleven papers selected for this supplement to We start with three papers that describe original informatics methods for the integrative analysis of molecular and clinical measurements. The first paper deals with representing temporal processes in biology, while the other two deal with reasoning across molecular and clinical measurements. Chang and colleagues  describeOne article focuses on computational approaches to finding molecular mechanisms and therapies for disease. More specifically, Zhang and collaborators  investigThe next two articles discuss techniques to enable integrative translational research. The paper by Morgan et al.  discuss The paper that follows is in the area of representing phenotypes and disease for translational bioinformatics research. The study by Lacson et al. assessesTwo papers focus on the important topic of informatics methods bridging genetics discoveries and clinical practice. Tatonetti and collaborators  describeFinally, the last two papers present research work in the area of dissecting disease through the study of organisms, evolution, and taxonomy. The paper by Yang et al.  focuses The authors declare that they have no competing interests.Both authors wrote and approved the manuscript. Mendonça was a member of the Scientific Program Committee for the 2010 AMIA Summit on Translational Bioinformatics and the Guest Editor for this special issue; Tarczy-Hornoch was the Chair of the Scientific Program Committee for the 2010 AMIA Summit on Translational Bioinformatics.The authors and AMIA would like to dedicate this special issue to Marco Ramoni who played a vital role in the establishment of the AMIA Summit on Translational Bioinformatics having served as Track Chair for the 2008 and 2009 Summits and having served as a member of the Scientific Program Committee for the 2010 Summit. Prior to his sudden passing on June 8, 2010 Marco was one of the leading lights of the young field of translational bioinformatics. Marco was an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Harvard Medical School and research faculty at Children’s Hospital, Boston and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Most recently he was the Director, Biomedical Cybernetics Laboratory, Harvard Medical School, Director, NLM Fellowship in Biomedical Informatics, Children's Hospital Informatics Program., and Associate Director of Bioinformatics, Harvard - Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics. He was also the Director of the course “Biomedical Informatics” at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, core faculty of the course Genomic Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a member of the curriculum committee of the Cellular and Molecular Medicine track of the Medical Physics and Medical Engineering graduate program at Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. He was co-founder of Bayesware LLC, a software company developing machine-learning programs based on Bayesian methods. He received a PhD in Biomedical Engineering and a BA in Philosophy (Epistemology) from the University of Pavia  and his postdoctoral training from McGill University, Montreal (Canada). He held academic and visiting positions at the University of Massachusetts, the University of London (United Kingdom), the Knowledge Media Institute (United Kingdom), and the University of Geneva (Switzerland). He is author of well over 100 publications in genetics, biomedical informatics, statistics and artificial intelligence.


As the largest developing country in the world, China has achieved rapid economic development, averaging an annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 10% over the past two decades. But this success comes at the cost of deterioration of the environment. China’s environmental problems, including outdoor and indoor air pollution, water shortages and pollution, desertification, and soil pollution, have become more pronounced and are subjecting Chinese residents to significant health risks.10)], sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen dioxides (NO2), the three criteria pollutants in China, were 89 μg/m3, 48 μg/m3, and 34 μg/m3, respectively, in 113 medium to large Chinese cities   . The plaEHP informed about the most promising research on environmental health issues relevant to their geographical regions. We also hope the Regional Editors will work to encourage authors in their regions to submit their best work to the journal. Regional Editors are also asked to keep EHP informed of upcoming meetings and conferences occurring in their areas to allow the journal to focus international attention on specific needs and emerging themes. Finally, EHP has extended the opportunity for Regional Editors to express their thoughts and ideas concerning high-priority emerging needs or issues in editorials or commentaries. Ultimately, we hope to facilitate interactions and collaborations and the sharing of information critical to understanding the environmental issues we all face.Readers will note that the masthead of this issue includes the names of four Regional Editors. As part of our International Program, we have identified outstanding scientists from around the world to help keep


Correction to McPoil TG, Cornwall MW, Medoff L, Vicenzion B, Fosberg K, Hilz D. Arch height change during sit-to-stand: an alternative for the navicular drop test. Journal of Foot and Ankle Research 2008; 1:3.


Soon, I realized that editor of ‘Lung India’- the hallmark research journal, is a seat with more responsibility and challenges than laurels. To follow the benchmark set by the vanguard editors like Late Prof. C. V. Ramakrishnan, Prof. C. N. Deivanayagan, Prof. V. K. Vijayan, Prof. S. R. Kamat, Prof. P. S. Shankar, Prof. P. Ravindran and Prof. S. K. Jindal, who are luminaries and the vow to make the journal more useful to readers, is a tough challenge. But it can be accomplished with the combined vision and humble efforts of the editorial board.We have thought to introduce the concept of section editor in the journal to harness the potential of entire board. It is very encouraging that we are receiving a number of innovative suggestions. Let us dedicate our wisdom and efforts, in a collective pack, to take ‘Lung India’ to new heights.We have also planned to include color pictures to improve visibility of the articles from now onwards. This will be on shared basis. Fifty percent (INR 1000 for a colored page) of charges will be borne by the willing author.Abstracts of Lung India articles published after 2004 are available on PubMed. We are trying to upload on PubMed, all the articles published in the Lung India since its inception. For this purpose hard copies of all previous issues of Lung India were provided with generous help from Prof. S. R. Kamat.I solicit your thoughtful suggestions and the research articles which I am confident, would, for sure, help making the journal more purposeful.


We chose pleural disease for further studies and addressed the questions of which cytokines are relevant in pleural fibrosis and which drugs might interrupt its development. We screened pleural effusions for mediators thought to interfere with fibrogenesis (transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα), soluble TNF-receptor p55 (sTNF-R)) and correlated the results with patient clinical outcome in terms of extent of pleural thickenings. We found pleural thickenings correlated with TGF-β         (p < 0.005) whereas no correlations could be observed with TNFα and sTNF-R. Further, we were interested in finding out how TGF-β effects on fibroblast growth could be modulated. We found that pentoxifylline is able to inhibit both fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis independently of the stimulus. We conclude that, judging from


Dear members,These are exciting times for dermatology and dermatosurgery. Cutaneous and aesthetic surgery is beginning to play an increasingly important role in our day-to-day practice. New developments in this field continue to occur at regular intervals and the practicing physician is often bewildered by the scorching pace of technological advancement and the various options becoming available to treat patients. Under these circumstances, it is important not to lose one's objective viewpoint. Keep abreast of the latest advances, but decisions to reject older established procedures in favor of the new should be tempered by scientific evidence. It has been rightly said that not everything that is new is good, but everything that is good was once new.It is the aim of the journal of our association to bring to you the developments occurring in the field of cutaneous and aesthetic surgery, laced with the experience and wisdom of the masters, and set against a scientific background. The journal will also serve as a platform for the exchange of ideas on the problems in dealing with different skin types, particularly ethnic skins, and hopes to fill the existing void in this area.The official journal of our association  has been reborn with a new look and new name. I profusely thank the editorial team for their efforts and labor in bringing out the journal. I also appreciate the support of our eminent advisors, national and international, and I am sure that with their guidance and with excellent teamwork, we will succeed in setting high standards for the journal.I request you all to contribute your work, to give it your best; without that we cannot succeed.TEAM stands for Together Everyone Achieves More!


Help us find a new way to achieve our aims.Cases Journal is to publish tens of thousands of reports of "ordinary" cases. We want to do this to illustrate how no case is normal, to give doctors and patients a chance to reflect on cases through writing about them, to provide material for learning, and eventually to build a database that will be useful to doctors and patients alike.The aim of Cases Journal and the Journal of Medical Case Reports to BioMed Central gives us a chance to do that.So far we have succeeded in publishing hundreds of cases but not tens of thousands. It's time to try a different tack, and the transfer of Journal of Medical Case Reports, our sister journal, will continue progressing along a similar path to now -- publishing original and important case reports, developing the science of case reports, and steadily increasing their academic value.The Cases Journal will, in contrast, try to find a new path. The current journal will cease publishing, but everything that has been published will remain archived, easily found, and open access. Meanwhile, we'll try to find a new path, and we are interested in all ideas.PLoS One, PloS Currents, and Nature Communications, and many academics contribute more to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter than they do to journals. And we are interested not only in academics but also in ordinary clinicians. These clinicians don't need the imprimatur of a journal but simply need an easy way to share their stories.When metamorphosed Cases will almost certainly cease to be a journal. We tried the journal model initially because we thought that people wanted to publish in journals -- even though it's an increasingly archaic and cumbersome form that requires expensive apparatus. Academics are showing themselves willing to write blogs and publish on "databases" like One thing I've discovered through teaching a course on writing and publishing cases is that many doctors, particularly older ones, find it very refreshing to write case reports that are not the classical case report of a surgical rarity but a much more human story of how doctors partner with patients to help them through their problems. Some of these stories provide deep insights into what it is to be a doctor and what the doctor patient relationship really means to both parties, material that is not available in traditional case reports.These stories were often written with the patients and provide startling insights into the different perspectives of doctors and patients. One doctor described his near despair at his inability to help a grossly obese patient with a very unhealthy lifestyle, severe asthma, and a violent disposition. The doctor and patient had been meeting for years, and the doctor began his case report with a consultation where he felt completely hopeless and wondered what it meant to be a doctor and so powerless. Yet the patient saw that consultation as a turning point. He adopted a healthier lifestyle and lost weight and both his asthma and his violent disposition improved.So at least some ordinary doctors want to write to reflect on their practice and to share their learning. But some patients may be equally motivated to tell their stories, both to make sense of them themselves and to share the learning from their case histories. With our journal mentality we wanted cases from doctors, but now we are interested in collecting cases from patients and doctors--and preferably from both at the same time.We would like to create a space where patients and clinicians can create, share, and learn together, something that could be immensely valuable in advancing the important agenda of making the clinician-patient partnership a much more equal one.We welcome ideas on how we can find a new path, and we look forward to our return as a butterfly and no longer a caterpillar.


One will be able to search the articles published in the journal from 2008 onwards in PubMed via the following link: www.jisponline.com, a peer-reviewed journal. The online submission/revision of the articles using a unique ID through www.journalonweb.com/jisp increased accessibility, eased monitoring and processing, and at the same time eliminated any bias during peer-review process. The full text of the journal is also archived with PMC and searchable separately from Entrez PubMed.It was in 2008 when JISP became synonymous with The ISP is really fortunate to have a wealth of experienced academicians who have painstakingly reviewed and corrected the articles that the young minds bring in. I would like to particularly thank the publishers, Medknow Publications, and specifically Dr. D.K. Sahu, the Director for their sincere efforts, and mention my appreciation for the efforts put in by Dr. Neha Gupta for sharing the manuscript and copy editing with me.Our next goal is indexing JISP with Science Citation Index which seems impossible without your comments, critique and suggestions.As this being one of the most important milestones, it is important that we continue to maintain and improve the quality of papers by rigorous peer-review and maintain the publication schedule so as to take the maximum advantage of PubMed indexing.I look forward to your continuing support as always.


Most people are now tired of hearing the phrases, “global recession,” “meltdown,” etc. India does not seem to be as affected as some of the other Western countries, but that's no consolation to us.We know there is a recession, especially when radiology companies start pulling out their advertisements. Three of them have already done so and the others are playing hardball. New companies are just not advertising. When a journal such as ours works on breaking even with revenues from advertising taking care of the expenses, a reduction in advertising revenue can be quite a problem. Though we have tried to sort this out in the best way possible and are aggressively going after new advertisers, I appeal to all the readers that if you see any company not represented in this issue and if you know anyone in that company in a decision-making capacity who you can influence in making a decision to advertise in the IJRI, please try your best to make sure that the company advertises in the journal. Please do not hesitate to contact any of us in the Editorial team.A high readership of more than 6500 people reading the advertisementLonger shelf life in libraries, etc., where the advertisements continue to be seen long after the issue has been published, as against ads in other business magazines, where they have no shelf life.This month's issue focuses on Breast Imaging with Dr. Bijal Jankharia as the Guest Editor. We will be carrying this theme for the next three issues till November 2009.We are also starting a special series of invited articles on Tuberculosis from next month, beginning with an article on musculoskeletal tuberculosis. Articles on tuberculosis will be fast tracked for the whole of this year, especially, review articles that focus on specific issues or organ systems.We have dropped the Medicolegal section due to lack of reader interest. Perhaps at a later date, when we can have a more focused approach to medicolegal problems in radiology, we may reintroduce this subject.Apart from the special focus on Breast, this month's issue specifically focuses on Head and Neck, Neuro and Musculoskeletal Radiology with a combination of pictorial essays, original articles, and case reports. Perhaps it is also a sign of the times that five articles in this issue are from authors who reside outside the country.We don't have enough reader feedback either through the website, or via e-mail (editor@ijri.org), or through snail mail. Good reader feedback either related to the articles published or on general issues relevant to radiologists and the IJRI may be published as “Letters-to-the-Editor.” Without reader feedback, it is difficult to gauge how relevant the IJRI and its various sections are to the radiologists who read the journal.Happy reading!


After the publication in this journal  we becamThe pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-244X/10/15/prepub


Those, who look only to the past or present, are certain to miss the future”.John F. KennedyThese thoughts are but loud thinking of a sort. Personally, my being in the field of psychiatry for the last 28 years I have seen the journal grow in leaps and bounds. I bow with reverence to the past editors who have strived to keep the journal in the forefront and as the true indicators of sweeping changes happening in our Indian society in general and the psychiatry, in particular. Quarter century may be a short period in the millennium but too important a time to be missed out. Last few years, in fact the journal has changed quite a bit for good - It can definitely rate among the best publications the world over - talk of the get up, available intellectual input and stimulating content. Hailing from the silicon valley of India, yet I felt we can make use of best available changes around us, particularly the information technology and its varied avatars. That is the stimulus for all the changes I am contemplating for the journal which I am narrating in this editorial.www.journalonweb.com). It is going to reproduce the function of an editorial office on the web, providing individualized password protected area of each authority , Double-blind peer review, automated email notifications and reminders and MEDLINE links for editors and referees. The system requires web-browser and internet connection only and there no need of any special software or computer resources. With this change, there will be accessibility from any PC. No set business hours - Articles can be received and processed at any hour of the day, faster clerical work, reduced submission - decision time and authors can check and track the submitted articles. With this I am also contemplating best use of referees both near and far and their time, avoiding paper work and global authorships and referencing , user statistics, site structure We have added special section on Literary Psychiatry and Dr. Ajith V. Bhide will be the section editor. I am open for any new innovative idea or section and look forward to your contribution.I am confident the esteemed IPS membership appreciates the changes being brought about. True to the paradigm ‘Only thing constant is change’, I do hope the new functional changes will stand the test of time. I am grateful to the president, the secretary and the office bearers who have consented to the changes. I am indebted to the help of associate, deputy and assistant editors who have helped the immensely. The editorial board, journal committee, National and International Advisory board, statistical consultants and the esteemed membership of IPS will be my guides. Dr. Sahu of Medknow Publications, Mumbai has been entrusted with an immense task and working with him has been a very pleasant experience for me and confident that this association will prove a boon for the big things all of us are keeping in mind. This is an opportunity for a new beginning and I seek the helping hand of one and all in this pleasant task.Long Live IPS.


Journal of Brachial Plexus and Peripheral Nerve Injury.This article celebrates the first year anniversary of the  Journal of Brachial Plexus and Peripheral Nerve Injury. Only a year has passed since the inaugural issue and many significant events have occurred in this brief time. We have surpassed expectations as far as quality and breadth of submitted articles and we are setting the standard for publications in this field.As Editor-in-Chief, it is my pleasant duty to celebrate the first year anniversary publication of the I believe that in the past year we have published more scientific articles about the brachial plexus than any other journal. This is a critical point as it signifies that the scientific community is accepting our journal as an important outlet for brachial plexus research. To have this large volume in such a short time also validates the underlying premise behind developing the journal, namely that there was an unmet need for a specialty academic publication. I believe that we have met that need.There have been many interesting submissions, and they have come from all corners of the globe. Countries that have been represented are: The Republic of South Africa, India, Cuba, Iran, Colombia, Japan, Brazil, Slovenia, Germany, The United States, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Australia, and Turkey.Journal of Brachial Plexus and Peripheral Nerve Injury is ideally suited to publish movies and other image files. I am very pleased that our initial forays into the use of these new media have been so successful.In addition to standard scientific format, we have also published video findings from Professor Roman Bošnjak . Both oOur published authors have included major figures in all fields of brachial plexus and peripheral nerve injury, as well as rising stars. We have been privileged to learn about new surgical techniques , new diaThree of our articles have been designated as "Highly Accessed" -8 and onThe mix of basic science and clinical materials submitted for review has been excellent and encouraging. Our reviewers are all voluntary and I must thank them for lending us their invaluable expertise and, more significantly, their time. The act of assisting in this way truly shows a level of commitment and caring that is difficult to celebrate adequately. I would also like at this moment to thank Sonya Melcher for her excellent management of the journal. Sonya has always been diligent and impartial, two requisite characteristics for any managing editor.This is also an appropriate time to acknowledge the friendship and the contributions of Professor Rolfe Birch who has recently retired from full-time surgical and academic practice. As such, he remains involved with the journal as Emeritus Editor-in-Chief as well as with the International Society of Brachial Plexus and Peripheral Nerve Injury , still tAs we look to the coming year, I remain positive about the direction of the journal and the Society. We have more support than ever with the inclusion of new editors and new ideas. We have added Jörg Bahm and Jayme Bertelli as Deputy Editors and several other colleagues, including Lee Dellon, to the Editorial Board. I anticipate significant growth in our readership as well as our editorial content. We are aiming to be tracked by Thomson Scientific to receive an impact factor as soon as possible. As an additional service, we have added a new feature to the journal's homepage, "Latest News," which presents upcoming relevant scientific symposia of interest to our readership. Any meeting coordinator who wishes to include their conference should contact the Managing Editor.In conclusion, I would like to thank everyone who has been involved with the journal during the planning, startup and running phases. Every expectation has been exceeded and I look forward to increasing the scope and number of published articles in the future. Our editorial board has steadily grown to include leaders in our fields of interest as well as new members of our discipline. The underlying International Society of Brachial Plexus and Peripheral Nerve Injury has also grown to include about 150 members, a significant number for what is still a relatively small specialty, another positive sign for future development of both the Society and the journal. We will be planning the next meeting of the Society in 2008 and will make announcements as appropriate. The staff at BioMed Central continue to support the activities of the journal in a professional and collegial manner. This allows us to continue to improve our scientific services to our readers. We look forward to many more years of partnership.Thank you again to all our contributors. In simply continuing the commitment to excellence that has made you leaders, – the journal and Society will necessarily grow and prosper.


Since Galileo, debates in science are supported by logical reasoning and reference to statements of fact and not by reference to “authorities.” Consequently, literature serves or should serve two purposes: to give credit to thoughts expressed earlier by others, and to refer to statements of facts.The article by Indeed, the precautionary principle is not intended as a response to unfounded fears of the public or to aim at zero risk, but as a risk management strategy in case of scientific uncertainty about the existence or magnitude of a risk. Apparently In principle, ethical considerations, value judgments, and consensus play an important role when giving guidance to public health policy. This is because “it is impossible to derive . . . a proposal for a policy from a sentence stating a fact” . Use of The international standards for EMF  are baseIt would be much more appropriate if Dolan and Rowley expressly stated that they are completely satisfied with the international standards and that the industry does not want to be bothered by allusions to precaution.


The Journal of Minimal Access Surgery (JMAS), the publication of the Indian Association of Gastrointestinal Endo-Surgeons completes five years of publication. The Editorial Board reviews the first five years of JMAS and tries to take stock and analyse how it has coped with its numerous difficulties, how it could have coped better, to asses what has been achieved and where we have fallen short and to reiterate the priorities, goals and ambitions set out at the launch of the Journal. Above all, with our learning curve over the last five years, to use the experience to regroup, summon up all our resources and strive with greater determination and commitment to raise the Journal to a level befitting the growth of minimal access surgery (MAS) in India.The IAGES Executive Committee at its meeting in February 2004 conceived the idea of starting its own Journal, the JMAS. Funded with a seed money donation of Rs. 60,000 the Journal has willy-nilly kept its head above water inspite of escalating costs by cutting corners yet gaining strength and confidence on its own resources. It would help our growth greatly  if conference and workshop activities were advertised in the Journal and a small part of the surplus generated by these activities be diverted to the Journal.The IAGES is a democratic transparent society and it is the policy of the Journal to follow the principles of its parent association. JMAS provides immediate free access to the full text of the articles. It also permits authors' self-archiving. The JMAS does not charge article submission, processing or publication fee from the authors or authors' institution. The open access policy of the JMAS aims at increasing the visibility and accessibility of the published content and thus providing the desirable research impact and author exposure. JMAS has an easy to use electronic manuscript submission system eliminating use of postal or hard copy submission. Online submission and processing of articles has resulted in a decrease in the submission to decision time.Including three special issues, the JMAS, a quarterly Journal, has had 20 issues over the last 5 years. To maintain quality, even at the cost of publishing fewer articles and some incumbent delay in processing, there is a rigorous peer-review process that results in rejection of over 55% manuscripts over the years. With this rejection rate, it is mandatory that we receive far more manuscripts to bring out a healthy size issue each time. While pleased that about 40% of all manuscripts we receive are from out of India (which suffer the same rejection rate), our great concern is the need to have more manuscripts generated from the immense MAS workload in our country.Journal performance needs improvement on two scores – decreasing the submission to acceptance to publication time and bringing out each issue exactly on time. Both areas of default are interrelated, and the common drag factor is an undue time the manuscript is under the review process – over 50% of the total submissions to acceptance time. Over the last 5 years, JMAS is indexed in 22 databases like Bioline International, Google Scholar, Pubmed and Pubmed Central. Getting indexed with Science Citation Index is our ultimate goal. Our website continues to have a large and wide readership – over 172 countries and 6,734 cities, with the maximum visits from London and New York. It is fortunate that Dr. D. S. Bhandarkar, one of the Editors, has oversize wide shoulders –he has carried the great part of the Journal over the last 5 years. Equally vital to JMAS is our publisher Dr. D. K. Sahu of Medknow Publications who has worked tirelessly to maintain standards and push for Indexing.To look ahead, one can shorten the review time, streamline functioning, scrape together more revenue and keep quality control, but the only real power-generator of any Journal is the number and quality of the manuscripts it receives. India is in the very forefront of MAS, both in terms of quality or results, quantity of patients, variety of procedures and path-breaking innovations. Our members have been major forces in the genesis and growth of Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery and Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery. The Indian surgeon who performs MAS from the large cities to the smallest town, working with the utmost sophistication in instrumentation to using atmospheric air to create pneumoperitoneum (to the dismay of the purist!), each one in every part of India is the pride of the country. Can we transfer this pride beyond individuals or Departments to pride in the overall structure of Indian MAS – a pride best translated in showcasing our problems, advances and achievements in MAS in our own Journal? This then is the future thrust of JMAS – to invoke a sense of proprietary pride in our Journal so that surgeons practising MAS proffer their best work to their own Journal. And, this plea goes beyond IAGES Members to Members of all MAS Societies who share our fervour and to the many thousands more who are not members of any Society but a large part of our MAS thrust.Through hiccups and stumbles, the JMAS has more than survived. It has grown over five years, and if success is measured by the obstacles overcome while trying to succeed, it has achieved some measure of success. As the only English language MAS Journal in the entire Asia-Pacific region, it needs to do much more to project and raise the level of MAS in this region and to spread MAS growth in the vast and most populous part of the developing world. The Editorial Board will strive to fulfil its mission, achieve its dream, firm in its belief that “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”.