Psycho-somatic Medicine in Europe, Japan, and throughout the world must deal with similar problems such as the links between theoretical findings from different biological fields and programs in the basic sciences, and, on the other hand, progress in good clinical practice – from a psychosomatic perspective. What this means is good bio-psycho-social primary care, family and internal medicine, and detection of psychosomatic mechanisms in the development of different chronic diseases such as asthma, hypertension, coronary heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, atopic dermatitis and chronic arthritis.As we better understand the mechanisms of the development in these diseases. especially the psychosocial influences, each country needs to develop a strategy to implement this knowledge into its practice of medicine.The conditions of the health care system in Germany differ from those of France and Japan. Thus, it seems necessary to promote psychosomatic knowledge – conducting convincing psychosomatic studies in different medical fields – in the national health care system and in society. To implement this it is necessary to have cooperation between workers in government, in faculties/universities and in medical associations. However, the basis is holistic thinking about mind and body in the society. Japanese culture is in accord with holistic thinking in Europe and with the ideas of psychosomatic theory and practice in Germany. Victor von Weizsäcker and Thure von Uexküll in Germany and Yujiro Ikemi in Japan attempted to bring psychosomatic thinking into clinical practice as an advantage for all patients.The differences between these earlier times and today in psychosomatic research are that, 1) we need good data in all medical fields to demonstrate psychosomatic interactions in different diseases, (2) we need to show that special psychosomatic strategies of treatment are useful for special psychological, biological and social targets in these diseases, and (3) to demonstrate in randomized psychosomatic clinical trials that treatment effects are comparable to other, more usual, treatments (TAU). Only in this way is it possible to bring psychosomatic experiences and knowledge into the national and international guidelines for special diseases, as have the European guidelines for prevention of coronary heart diseases  [ we need This is a program in many national and international psychosomatic research centres and will be supported by the national psychosomatic societies. The communication and integration of these ongoing studies in journals such as Bio Psycho Social Medicine and in international meetings such as the World Conference on Psychosomatic Medicine (WCPM) 2005 in Kobe, where the Japanese Emperor gave support for this psychosomatic thinking, and the dissemination within the Society seems necessary. Psychosomatic networks such as the European Network on Psychosomatic Medicine [The main target should be our patients, who should profit from this forthcoming of Bio Psycho Social Medicine.Hans-Christian Deter is an Editorial Board member of BioPsychoSocial Medicine


Sir,I read with interest an article entitled “Severe Rhabdomyolysis and Acute Renal Failure Secondary to use of Simvastatin in Undiagnosed Hypothyroidism” in your journal, the “Indian Journal of Nephrology, but I wa3In fact, “Shotgunning”- the simultaneous submission of essentially the same article to more than one journal is unethical because it may lead to duplicate publication. Even when one journal accepts the shot-gunned article and its authors withdraw their submission to the other journal, this practice is at least inconsiderate because it is imposed on reviewers and creates unnecessary work for the editorial staff of the journal or journals from which the paper is ultimately withdrawn. Further,In conclusion, as authors, we need to be aware of the ethical rules of publication by familiarizing ourselves with all policies regarding publication at our home institutions.


The tricortical bone graft from the iliac crest are used to reconstruct the post corpectomy spinal defects. The donor iliac area defect is large and may give rise to pain at donor site, instability of pelvis, fracture of ilium, donor site muscle herniation or abdominal content herniation. Rib removed during thoracotomy was used by us to reconstruct the iliac crest defect.Twenty-six patients who underwent thoracotomy for dorsal spine corpectomy or curettage for various spinal pathologies from June 2002 to May 2004 were included in the study. After adequate decompression the spine was reconstructed by tricortical bone graft from iliac crest and reconstruction of the iliac crest was done with the rib removed for exposure during thoracotomy.The mean follow up was 15 months. All patients had good graft incorporation which was evaluated on the basis of local tenderness and radiographs. One patient had graft displacement.The reconstruction of iliac crest by rib is a simple and effective procedure to prevent donor site complications. Tricortical iliac bone is superior to rib as a graft for reconstruction of the anterior column of the spine. In thoracic spine surgery with anterior approach, during corpectomy or curettage of dorsal spine, usually a large gap is created which is filled with the bone grafts taken from the iliac crest for solid fusion. This graft is usually large and creates a considerable defect in the pelvic bone. Complications related to these defects are many like pain at donor site, instability of pelvis,This study was aimed to assess the clinical and radiological results of reconstruction of iliac crest with the help of the excised rib during the anterior approach of thoracic spine.We operated 26 patients from June 2002 to May 2004 with various pathology of thoracic spine. 10 were female and 16 were male. The age ranged from 22 years to 75 years with an average of 38 years. There were 17 patients of tuberculosis of spine, three patients of osteoporotic fracture, two patients of tumor and four patients of traumatic fracture. All these cases were single-level involving the mid to lower dorsal segments (D5 to D12). Since all the cases were single level only one body and two adjacent discs were excised.All the patients were operated by transthoracic anterior decompression and reconstruction surgery for dorsal spine pathology. Rib was excised to facilitate better visualization of the affected area and to achieve the proper debridement and decompression. The rib excised was usually one or two levels above the involved segment of the spine in all the cases. The rib to be excised was decided on the basis of per-operative IITV image. The tricortical iliac crest graft of the required size was harvested from the same side of the crest and inserted in the corpectomy site. The length of the tricortical graft usually ranged between 3.5-5 cm. To reconstruct the gap at the iliac crest, the rib which is removed at the time of thoracotomy was used. The rib size used was about 0.5-1 cm more than the length of the tricortical graft. With the small curette slots were made on either end of the donor area. The rib of adequate size was inserted after fashioning it from both ends with convexity outside. The rib graft was beveled from both sides and its length was kept half a centimeter more than the corresponding slot . It was Minimum follow-up was three months and maximum of 27 months with mean as 15 months. All the patients were pain-free; the rib graft was well incorporated clinically  and radiologically. No rib graft complication was recorded. The crest contour was found well maintained .In one patient the rib was displaced from its original position because of partial resorption of the rib which healed eventually . All othOut of the total 17 cases of Koch's Spine, thirteen of them were paraparetic and four were neurologically normal. There were four cases  of fracture spine all were paraparetic. Three patients  had osteoporotic fractures with no neurological deficit. Two patients  had tumor, out of which the male patient had Plasmacytoma D11 and was paraparetic. The female patient was diagnosed to have a giant cell tumor and was neurologically intact. All these patients improved neurologically and walked after the surgery and had no pain at the graft site.The vertebral body is exposed by the transthoracic approach in various dorsal spine pathologies. For proper adequate exposure one rib excision may be required to reach the affected vertebra. After corpectomy the anterior fusion is performed by bone graft (iliac or rib), metal cage and bone graft substitutes. Rib harvested is not strong. Bone graft substitutes are expensive and are not without risk of infection. Often the dorsal spine pathology has superadded bacterial infection which makes bone substitute contraindicated. The iliac bone graft provides strength and scaffolding for the bony ingrowth. It leaves a defect in iliac crest. Many studies have shown that the iliac crest graft harvest is not risk-free, with an overall complication rate ranging from 9.4-49%.4et al.3Incisional hernia, although rare, can occur from one month to several years after the original surgery.3By bridging the iliac crest defect by rib graft we can create normal-appearing pelvic bone with the piece of rib and without putting the extra incision or exposure. The rib which is grafted into the defect incorporates within three months. Clinically it gives good cosmetic appearance at the reconstruction site and radiologically rib segment shows good integration.et al.,et al.et al.[Defino HL and Rodnguez - Fuentes AEal.et al.In our study, we inserted a single piece of rib in the donor site defect. There was a defect in the iliac wing under the rib graft. However, we did not encounter any complication due to that defect. Partial resorption of rib was found in one patient but it did not affect the clinical or cosmetic result. All the patients walked without any pain and had good graft incorporation.We recommond use of harvested rib during thoracotomy to reconstruct the iliac crest donor site defect as this procedure is safe, without any complications and no secondary surgery is required.


The earliest reference to a journal club is possibly in the biography of Sir James Paget during the period of 1835-1854.118The purpose of this article is to provide organizers with tools to plan and execute successful journal clubs in orthopedic surgery training programs. Guyatt noted that not all clinicians need to appraise evidence from scratch, but all need some skills.Originally, journal clubs were established for keeping abreast with the current literature. This has become an unrealistic goal with the explosion of orthopedic journals. Current goals include promoting evidence-based orthopedics and learning general critical appraisal skills for residents. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is becoming an accepted educational paradigm in medical education.10Several articles have studied the importance of teaching critical appraisal skills to surgical residents.4Journal clubs in general surgery were surveyed with questionnaires filled out by program directors in American institutions.Clinical knowledge transmission was found to be a more important goal in journal clubs in orthopedic fellowship programs over residency programs. This was found in a survey of 57 hand surgery fellowship directors, where the current literature was reviewed for the fellows and faculty as a primary goal.Secondary goals of journal clubs for residents include increasing reading comprehension, fostering resident-faculty relations and learning orthopedics in an alternative manner.414In American internal medicine residency programs, national accreditation requirements mandate that residents participate in journal clubs regarding the critical assessment of the literature, clinical epidemiology and medical statistics. This may become mandatory in orthopedic surgery training programs in the future. In addition, faculty members can fulfill their continuing education requirements if mandated by their national colleges. National qualifying examinations in some countries for some specialties may include critical appraisal of a paper, as seen in psychiatry.16The target audience must be identified, including their needs and interests. This will influence the format of the journal club and papers chosen. Emphasis may be placed on keeping up to date with recent advances in orthopedics versus the educational value of critical appraisal of papers. These goals are not mutually exclusive, but each requires significant time and organizational commitments.There are only two known published papers regarding orthopedic journal clubs. In 2000, Greene was the first to survey 161 North American orthopedic training program chairmen.Dirschl, Tornetta and Bhandari published a comprehensive review of orthopedic journal clubs in 2003.et al suggested that all departments with a journal club should regularly revise their selection of journals in order to increase the value of this important educational process.18Not all journal clubs are successful despite their presence in the majority of the orthopedic training programs. SidorovThe responsibility of running the journal club by a designated individual or group of individuals is important. Effective journal clubs are correlated with having a designated leader.1917Part of the success of any journal club is the organization within which it is run. If the orthopedic division or department supports this activity, then it is more likely to be successful.Although many studies state educational goals for the journal club, many programs do not have formal written learning objectives. This was demonstrated in a survey of emergency medicine program directors, where 42% of programs had not established objectives.17Maintaining boundaries is important to the success of the club. Thus trainees should be relieved from clinical duties, except emergency patient care responsibilities, especially with support from those faculty members not attending the journal club. This aids the session to start and stop on time. Papers should be distributed well in advance to attendees and the room should be comfortable. By maintaining clear boundaries, group theory suggests that the environment allows a sense of security and thus allows creative thinking.16Audience participation is crucial to the success of journal clubs, unlike traditional teaching conferences. It has been shown that interventions involving only didactic sessions do not change physician behavior.17Mandatory attendance has been found to be importantThe venue should suit the group. It should facilitate relaxation and conversation. Promoting eye contact and encouraging active participation are facilitated by seating individuals in a circle or a horseshoe.16Optimal discussion groups are composed of 10 to 12 members.Faculty support with independent running of the journal club (by a senior trainee) was shown to lead to high attendance rates.8Monthly journal clubs are the norm for the majority of postgraduate training programs.4Residents and faculty are busy attending to clinical duties during daytime working hours in the majority of orthopaedic training programs. Thus having journal clubs early in the morning before the work day or in the evenings is more convenient for all involved.The regular provision of food has been associated with successful journal clubs.439There is significant variability in the number of papers to review in journal clubs.1523As mentioned earlier, journal clubs can be a venue to teach critical appraisal skills to residents, either as formal sessions or through discussion of the chosen papers. Supplemental formal lectures on this topic could also be provided in the core curriculum of training programs. This has been an important stated goal of orthopedic program directors.Many authors have studied the educational effects of journal clubs in residency training programs. In one study, residents whose meetings focused on epidemiology and biostatistics thought they read with more attention to the study design and methodology, in self-assessment, than the control group of residents in a traditional journal club.In a similar study of emergency medicine residents with a prospective, case-controlled design, the study group  and control group  of residents improved their performance over the one-year period.26et al revealed a small evidence base that journal clubs probably do improve knowledge in biostatistics and clinical epidemiology in a Cochrane review.Parkes Prepared checklists exist to review papers in a structured format. These can be found in reading guides such as the Users' Guide to Medical and Surgical Literature series of articles in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery,http://www.cebm.net/downloads.asp.Guidelines and dataforms for critical appraisal of published articles may be downloaded from the Oxford University evidence-based medicine website at et alAlguire The use of a reading checklist was evaluated in an emergency medicine training program.Thus the use of a structured review instrument is an effective adjunct to the journal club for teaching and applying critical appraisal. This tool may be used for resident evaluation of knowledge acquisition and the impact of the meeting on the overall educational training program.Many types of journal clubs exist. No one type is superior to the others. This allows organizers to tailor the club to their educational objectives. An individual residency training program may choose to adopt more than one type, as each one may not address all goals and objectives desired. Innovative types of journal clubs used elsewhere may generate ideas for local use.EBM relies on the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients.Question setting can start with a real life clinical scenario. These scenarios may come from the outpatient clinic, emergency room or the operating room.et alLiterature searching is the next step in this format. If no one is confident in this skill, local librarians may help in finding the relevant papers for a topic. Knowledge of search strategies and filtering techniques are important to select relevant articles. Interestingly, in a study by Coomaraswamy There are several possible formats to run the EBM journal club. One session may focus on question setting and identifying the most relevant papers. The next session can appraise them. Secondly, attendees can prepare the first three steps in advance, leaving the club's time for critical appraisal. Lastly, a question could be posed for a debate between two teams. A chairperson could mediate arguments from each side.An evidence-based journal club has been designed for faculty interested in medical education, which can be applied to almost any clinical topic or specialty area.In an obstetrics and gynecology program, a very structured 12-month evidence-based curriculum has been designed to cover 24 topics in epidemiology, biostatistics and experimental design.31Most EBM occurs in a journal club format.It should be noted that not all residents or faculty are interested in attaining an advanced level of EBM skills.To reiterate, critical appraisal is the systematic weighing up of evidence. The principles of research methods and statistics are the focus of this format. A structured review instrument is used. Up to five papers are reviewed at each meeting. Classic papers may be reviewed, which are frequently referred to in the literature. Attendees can then assess the validity of the conclusions drawn.By dividing attendees into small groups of 10 to 12 members, more audience participation may occur.12One disadvantage of this format is that attendees, including faculty members, may feel intimidated to participate if they don't feel confident with their critical appraisal skills.Inviting a statistician to the journal club will aid in understanding statistical issues.This may be the most popular form of journal club in most training programs. Despite many formats that exist, the main goal is to provide a brief overview of new developments in a topic area or subspecialty.A survey of orthopedic hand surgery fellowship programs revealed that as many as 12 papers are discussed in a one-hour conference.In this unique format, the paper(s) for discussion is not distributed to the attendees prior to the journal club.An otolaryngology residency program reported on a journal club employing e-mail and the internet to archive current literature reviews in otolaryngology.et alRegardless of the format(s) chosen, periodic restructuring of the club will be necessary to meet new goals, as is done for all educational activities. This will help to maintain enthusiasm and effectiveness. To evaluate the effectiveness on individuals' learning, Morrison Periodically asking the attendees about their satisfaction with the club is one way to modify the meeting if needed. Anonymous feedback from the residents may alert organizers about strengths and weaknesses and potentials for improvement.23Critically appraised topics (CATs) is a term regarding a document one creates for themselves in response to a clinical question. It summarizes an individual item of evidence one has found and presents the results in an easily readable format. General internal medicine fellows at McMaster University invented CATs as a means to sharpen their critical appraisal skills and improve their abilities as bedside teachers of evidence-based medicine. Several medical training programs maintain internet-based logs of papers that have met predetermined criteria for validity on various topics. Thus a database is created of current evidence for access by residents, fellows and faculty.Educational research has identified several unique characteristics of adult learners. These principles include: relate the task to personal goals or to the immediate environment, present learning objectives as clinical problems, use problem-solving strategies, vary teaching approaches to suit different learning styles, use active learner participation and provide frequent constructive feedback.Journal clubs are integral to graduate medical education, including most orthopedic training programs. This is true today as it was when journal clubs were first started. Successful journal clubs can be defined by many different criteria. Factors associated with high attendance and longevity of the club include mandatory attendance, availability of food, perceived educational value of the program director,838Organizers of journal clubs should clearly state goals of the meetings and choose appropriate formats to achieve these goals. It is desirable to attain support from the departmental chairperson and other respected faculty.


You have achieved success in your field when you don't know whether what you're doing is work or play.Warren Beatty.Quoted in Deccan chronicleth Oct 2009Bengaluru Edition, 19What a wonderful year it was! I have picked up the quote above simply because the exhilaration of many positives we had over shadowed all the toil it entails in getting the journal in shape and in time. Before I get to mention the Pubmed Central indexing of our journal, there are a few points to be certainly noted.The journal is getting released each time, in time. The final issue of the last year 51(4) was in web by early December and the New Year Issue, Jan – March 2010 is already in web in the second week of Jan 2010. I will assure you, being certain of continuity in the office, that the April-June issue will be ready by February 2010.The special supplement of Dementia under the guest editorial of Dr. K.S. Shaji is a big hit and is already well quoted.I must thank Dr. Sudheer Kumar, Organizing Secretary, ANCIPS, 2009 at Agra for the timely arrangement made for the publication of abstracts in April supplement.Apart from the many indexing agencies quoted in the general information sheet in the journal, the crowning glory as the indexing of our journal at Pubmed Central. I must thank our president, Dr. E. Mohandas, Immediate Past Presidents Dr. P.C. Shastri and Dr. Indla Ramasubba Reddy and the incoming president Dr. Ajit Avasthi at the outset. Dr. Govind M. Bang, Honarary General Secretary, Dr Asim Kumar Mallick, Honarary Treasurer deserve special mention. I am grateful to our editorial office bearers, Dr. G. Swaminath, Dr. Roy Abraham Kallivayalil, Dr. G. Prasad Rao, Dr. Ajith V. Bhide and Dr. Sandeep Grover, Editorial board members, Journal Committee members, National and International Advisory Board members, the reviewers and the authors who made this possible. Ultimately much of the credit must go to Dr. Sahu and his team at Medknow Publications, Mumbai, who are responsible for this achievement. My sincere thanks also go to Prof Mario Maj, Dr. J. Mezzich and the world Psychiatric Association (WPA), in particular Dr. Helen Hermann, Dr. Jair Mari, Dr. Vikram Patel, Dr. Christian Keiling and others. Very specifically I am grateful to Prof Maj and all in the task force, as well as observer Dr Shekhar Saxena, consultant Prof Norman Sartorius, Anna Engstrom and those in WPA Who have helped including members of the executive committee for support and advice.The major success of indexing goes to Dr. Sahu and his team. I like to quote his letter Which also makes our responsibilities increase many told:th September 2009Dated 11http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmedandterm=%22Indian%20J%20Psychiatry% 22 [Journal]). All the articles will get linked to IJP's website in next three to four days.‘We are pleased to inform that the Indian Journal of Psychiatry is now indexed with PubMed. One can search the articles published in IJP from 2009 onwards from PubMed  and searchable separately from Entrez PubMed. we will provide the back volumes to PMC in a couple of weeks so that all the articles from 2007 of IJP are available in PubMed. Older issues will be added over a few months.The full text of IJP is also archived with PMC  of the online tools for this purpose.http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/self-faq/#self-archiving to learn more about archiving.If your institution has an open archive repository, you can put the PDF of your article in the archive with a link to the article on the journal's website. Check http://www.opendoar.org/find.php and http://opcit.eprints.org/explorearchives.shtml#disciplinary.Deposit the article in a subject based OAI-PMH compliant repository. You can find subject wise list of repositories from Link your paper from as many websites as possible using citation and social book marking tools such as GetCited, CiteULike, Connotea, Zotero, etc. The URLs for registering with few of these sites arehttp://www.getcited.org/add/http://www.citeulike.org/registerhttp://www.connotea.org/registerhttp://www.indexcopernicus.com/info.php?id=1http://www.zotero.org/http://www.stumbleupon.com/sign-up.php?pre2=hp-joinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acanthamoeba—keratitis#References [Ref. 5] or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallermann-Streiff—syndrome#References.Link the article from an appropriate topic in the wikipedia e.g. http://www.nihms.nih.gov/db/sub.cgi to submit your paper.As an author you can also deposit your paper with the NLM's PubMedCentral, if you have received an NIH grant. Use the myNCBI link on Link the paper from your personal / institution web pages.The future Is very encouraging. A significant overhaul of our boards is on the agenda. The steps are being taken to strengthen the editorial office further so also the clearing of the backlog. You might have already noticed the increase in the number of pages of each issue, being around 100 pages. The new initiatives in the form of “Annotations of Indian Psychiatry” and “The ICONS of Indian Psychiatry” are Slated for the release in January, coinciding with ANCIPS 2010 at Jaipur. I am confident that they will go a long way in enhancing our impact factor at Science Citation Index.Ultimately, I have the satisfaction of mission accomplished. I am confident the New Year will be the beginning of an arduous travel ahead for the much more to be achieved. Well begun is war already half won! To repeat, you can certainly expect more from us!Personally, and on behalf of the editorial team, I wish you a happy reading and a happy new year.Long Live IJP and IPSDr. T. S. Sathyanarayana Raoth December 200910


Stepping into New Year, let me wish you all ‘A Very Happy New Year’ along with my team. It is also the time worth looking into what has been achieved and what you can look forward to in the coming year.All the issues of 2008, special supplement of January on Dementia and the January – March 2009 issue are already in our website and hard copies are being distributed to members at ANCIPS. The posting of copies will commence after ANCIPS 2009 conference. Possibly this is happening for the first time in the history of our journal. But this is a necessity rather than anything special because the above scheduling is essential if we are serious about getting the journal indexed. However, the general body has to look into this issue next year in view of elections due then. As the new editor needs time to settle, if changes do come about, a provision has to be made to the publication of the Jan-march issue by the previous editor himself, preferably before ANCIPS. I seek the permission of the esteemed EC and the members.I am very happy to present a DVD containing:All the published issues of IJP since 1958-2008. A powerful search engine has been embedded to data mine based on titles, authors, abstracts and keywords. Many people have supplied the issues of the past journals but some names deserve a special mention. I am grateful to Dr. O. Somasundaram, who supplied majority of the issues, Dr. Chittaranjan Andrade from Bangalore and Dr. Smita N. Deshpande from New Delhi for supplying the journals from their private collections.All the published issues of Indian Journal of Neurology & Psychiatry for the years 1949- 1953 edited by Dr. N.N. De and Dr. A.K. Deb respectively. It had stopped publication between 1954-1957 and it came out with the current name of Indian Journal of Psychiatry in 1958. I am grateful to Dr. Haque Nizamie, Director & Dr. D. Ram, Professor, Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi for all the interest and effort in getting these copies scanned and transmitted to us for processing. The Commemorative Volume featuring 50 golden years was published in January 2008 and for those still missing the issue and interested in it, it is available as a supplement at our website.As a service to the society, we have also included the clinical practice guidelines edited and published by Dr. Shiv Gautham & Dr. Ajit Avasthi for the Indian Psychiatric Society. It contains:First Publication of 2004 covering 6 major disorders – Schizophrenia, Depression, Bipolar disorders, Obsessive compulsive disorders, Generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorderSecond Edition covering - substance abuse disorders, sexual dysfunctions & sleep disorders (2005)Third Edition covering – Geriatric Psychiatry (2006)Fourth Edition covering – Child Psychiatry (2007)I am grateful to Dr. Shiv Gautham & Dr. Ajit Avasthi for all the help and effort in getting the CPGs.We have also included free the photo-directory containing the updated membership codes, names, addresses and photos of all the members in PDF format. I must thank our treasurer Dr. Asim Kumar Mallick from Kolkata and his team for all the effort and help.The preparation of the DVD was a mammoth task and I will be failing in my duty if I do not thank the whole team that put up their heart and soul in the task. I must thank in addition to Dr. O. Somasundaram, from Chennai, the PGI group led by Dr. P. Kulhara, Dr. Ajit Avasthi and Dr. Sandeep grover for the input which changed our archiving ways dealing with digitalization. Dr. Swaminath G. & Dr. Ajit Bhide have spent many hours and days to beat the deadline. My thanks to the PGs in our department - Dr. Abhijith H., Dr. Kiran Kumar K, Dr. Smitha T., Dr. Nimisha Mishra and Dr. Saraswathi N. I also thank the other staff in the department - Dr. Dushad Ram, Asst. Professor, Dr. L. Sam S. Manickam, local coordinator, Dr. VST Krishna, PSW and Prof. P. Kalaiah, Dr. Rajesh Raman, Associate Professor and Dr. Bindu. A for their active involvement. My thanks to Mrs. Renuka B.S of Vijaya foundation, Mysore and Roopa N. from Bangalore for review and editing. My thanks are also due for Dr. Ajit Bhide and Dr. Chittaranjan Andrade for reviewing the DVD. I am grateful to Mr. Madhushetty, CEO and Mr. Srinath and Mr. Raghu of Indigo Informatics at Bangalore for the excellent job executed with aplomb. I also thank Mr. Vasudev Bhatt from Ramya creations, Mysore for the work and help all through. My sincere thanks to M/s. Sun Pharmaceuticals, Mumbai, who have sponsored it fully under a special educational grant and I am specifically grateful to Mr. Dilip Sanghvi, CEO, Mr. T.K. Roy, Senior vice president & Mr. K. Nanda Kumar, Vice President who personally took interest in the whole project.I am very happy to present the special issue of Dementia, truly a collectors' volume to all the members. Dr. Shaji K.S from Trissur was the guest editor and all the credit must go to him for his very systematic effort in getting the invited and original articles numbering 21 in time and setting it in order. In view of the space constraint some of the articles and the original articles received for the supplement have appeared in this issue. The supplement is already available at our website and hard copies are available for distribution at ANCIPS 2009 at Agra. I am grateful to Mr. Vivek Seth, CEO of Intas Pharmaceuticals, Ahmedabad for sponsoring the issue fully. I also thank Mr. Ravi Prasad L., Sales Manager and Mr. Shivakumar T. M. of Intas Pharmaceuticals for their personal interest.I am confident the New Year will usher in many new changes so also many new faces. We intend to approach NHS for indexing purposes early this year. Dr. Mohan Das, incoming president has promised to lead the process. Many national and international academicians and researchers have promised their helping hand. Journal will have new sections like Psychiatric Pearls, the section under Dr. Vikram Yeragani and many more. Dr. Ajit Bhide is doing excellent service so also Dr. Vikram Patel, Dr. Chittaranjan Andrade and others. I am confident the new year will be a milestone year in the annals of IPS.I have one dream fulfilled of what I had expressed in my first editorial – golden jubilee, 2008 of digitalizing and archiving of IJP. Luckily with every one contributing the DVD contains much more than that. For the future, as I know there are excellent publications available at Zonal, State and Local branch levels which are not accessible to many members and as such lost to the society. How about digitalizing all these publications? I am confident that it could be done by ANCIPS 2010! If society wills, budgetary constraint can be overcome one way or other.


Indla Ramasubba Reddy on April 15, 2007 at Kolkata, where in addition many things were proposed and approved at the EC meeting. I am placing the points discussed there and certain new suggestions received in due course-for widest dissemination to garner as many new ideas as possible!2008 is the golden jubilee year for the journal. Though it took birth in 1949 as “Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry” under the editorship of Dr. N. N. De, officially it became “Indian Journal of Psychiatry” in 1958 during the editorship of Dr. L. P. Verma. It is a proud moment for our society on the one hand - as IJP has served as a mouthpiece holding aloft the flag of our society - its mind, attitude and character! It is also a time for introspection to harness our energy to reach much greater height! There is no dearth of talent. It has been handled by stalwarts who have left the mark - individually, professionally and socially! The names of the distinguished past editors reads like who's who of the society and our reverence is due for them. We mentioned in great detail the proposed changes for our journal and many aspects are in place.[Some of the proposals for the golden jubilee celebration of the journal are entered here for your kind attention, thoughts and suggestions:To archive all the past journals since 1958 at our website which will be available for viewing and free downloading to all the members. Is anybody having the issues between 1949 to 1958? Effort is being made to trace out all the issues to convert them for electronic viewing and uploading. Please watch this column for the progress made during the next issue of IJP 49(3) due for release in July 2007.To bring out a commemorative volume during ANCIPS-2008 at Kolkata, so also a special issue of past presidential addresses.Articles by the past editors who are around and to publish memorial articles on other deceased past editors by their associates.We are going to have a special session and an exhibition for IJP at ANCIPS-2008. I request you to spare rare photographs of past editors, group photos, journal-related events, copies of the very old journals etc. Your contributions will be duly acknowledged.I am inviting the articles on our past editors-providing a brief sketch of them, their work and life. All the write-ups are welcome which may be edited keeping in mind the editorial policy. Also I am requesting articles it has most influences in the IJP down the ages, historical land marks in the development of IJP including little events such as the year in which the supplement started, the year in which the publication of the subject index comment so also any background stories and anecdotes concerning our journal, if possible, with photographs.The work has already started. I welcome your involvement and contribution to make the golden jubilee celebration of the journal a memorable one. My wish is to involve each and every member in this noble and much needed work and I am confident of your association, help and guidance.Any suggestions to increase the frequency of the journal? Any ideas?editor@indianjpsychiatry.org or personally at tssrao19@gmail.com or tssrao19@yahoo.com.All ideas however great or small are welcome! Call me on my mobile, send your ideas, views and suggestions at In the meantime, the supplement of IJP should have reached by now. This issue should be in your hand before June. 49(3) is scheduled for release in July 2007 with a special feature on U.G. Psychiatric education. Happy reading!


The meeting was held on 16–20 July 2000 at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, UK, and was co-organized by the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) and the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS). Although the meeting had a broad subject area, the emphasis was firmly placed on post-genomic studies, and hence several sessions should be of interest to our readers. We provide highlights of these sessions, bringing you a report on the most exciting and informative presentations.


Science Translational Medicine. This is further and critical recognition of this discipline and we are deeply gratified that translational medicine has risen to the level of recognition by one of the world's most prestigious scientific organizations. We believe that Science Translational Medicine will provide another valuable venue for the rapid and broad dissemination of important articles in the field and contribute to enhancing the effectiveness of translational medicine overall.The AAAS has announced the launch of Journal of Translational Medicine as an open-access journal with Biomed Central [Science reporters questioning both the significance of translational medicine in today's biomedical world and the need for a new journal dedicated to it.It has been almost six years since we launched the  Central . At the  Some suggested that translational medicine  was a fad: a term fabricated to divert support from the basic sciences on the one hand and/or from clinical research on the other and, even more critical, a synonym for scientific investigations of lower quality that tried to excuse the supposed lack of scientific rigor with inherit disadvantages and limitations often not encountered for instance in studies using small laboratory animals.We however argued that although bridging the gap between discovery and clinical application was not an intrinsically novel concept – it does after all represent the long term goal of most scientists and clinicians – the value in identifying it as a distinct field was largely in enhancing the effectiveness of methods to efficiently transfer knowledge from the bench to the bedside, and, importantly, from the bedside to the bench -4. In paJTM would uniquely advance translational medicine through:We also argued, in response to editors and publishers of existing journals who questioned the need for yet another one, that 1) Open access – Thanks to the partnership and vision of BioMed Central, information is divulged rapidly, broadly and without barriers to create an interactive platform for scientists, clinicians, patients, funding agencies and regulatory agencies [agencies .2) A specialized Editorial Board consisting exclusively of translational scientists and physicians with expertise in both the clinic and in the laboratory. We felt that only individuals with combined expertise could authoritatively and constructively discriminate between good and bad clinical science. Clinical studies are often limited by necessity due to practical, financial and ethical constraints; yet they have tremendous value because they provide insights to the actual reality of disease [ disease . These i3) An equal interest in descriptive and mechanistic studies. It is our conviction that knowledge about human disease is limited and a bottom-up inductive approach (i.e. assessing human diseases in patients and patient samples) represents a preliminary step that should be valued as much as elegant mechanistic studies, which can be of limited relevance to human disease [ disease .Journal of Translational Medicine has done so well in part because the significance of this emerging discipline has become widely accepted. We contend that translational medicine will be increasingly central to the identification of novel products with potential therapeutic value. Translational strategies may respond to the need to test novel therapies with solutions that address the enormous costs of clinical research, the lack of reliable pre-clinical models that could help prioritize products for clinical testing, the lack of predictive biomarkers that could help patient selection and the lack of surrogate biomarkers that could help with the assessment of product efficacy early in development.The Science Translational Medicine [Science Translational Medicine will actually be a closed access title, quite a significant obstacle to the discipline-barrier-breaking spirit which progress in translational research depends on. We reiterate the benefits of openness – not least as evidenced by the NIH Open Access policy which is now both mandatory and non-time-limited – which JTM offers. Nevertheless, we believe that Science Translational Medicine will provide another valuable venue for the rapid and broad dissemination of important articles in the field and contribute to enhancing the effectiveness of translational medicine overall.All of us who have been dedicated from the beginning to this important field applaud the recent announcement by the American Association for the Advancement of Science that it is launching Medicine . We are


Dear Editor,As a member of the All India Ophthalmological Society (AIOS), a reviewer of the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology (IJO), and a member of the editorial board for a number of years, I admire and appreciate your tireless and efficient work. Your efforts have remarkably elevated the standard of the Journal.I was interested to read the editorial, ″On being editor of (Indian) medical journal: A steeple chase″ wherein,The quality of a journal is decided mostly by the quality of the articles appearing in the journal. The design of the cover pages adds to the attractiveness of the journal and the advertising pages certainly add to the coffers of the journal. The quality of printing, the timing of the journal, the regular appearance of the journal in pristine condition, in the hands of the members, and so on, all add to the value of the journal, albeit to a small extent. It is the impression of many of the readers that you have achieved a right balance of these variables and that is what has made the quality of the IJO go up a few notches.We cannot always blame the members of AIOS for sending the article to foreign journals as a priority and this again has a historical reason, which is beyond the purview of the IJO or the AIOS.I can only empathize with you when you state that there is no formal training of research at the undergraduate or even postgraduate level. It is preposterous, but true. What can an editor of a journal do about the medical education policy? He can, as an opinion maker, create awareness and draw the attention of the policy makers.In many of the medical colleges, the postgraduates being guided by the misguided guides may not be universally true and I have many reasons to disagree. Our guides during our postgraduate days were, Prof. LP Agarwal, Prof. Madan Mohan, Prof. N.N. Sood, Prof. Premprakash, and many other stalwarts who ignited our brains. Maybe a few guides in some medical colleges, in some states, are incapable of guiding. I agree to an extent with Dr. SS. Hayreh when he states that, ″what matters in India is whom you know than what you know!″ However,It is difficult to categorically state that there is lack of knowledge about ethics in publication among all the Indian authors. Maybe a few, but not necessarily among all. I understand your consternation, but truth is not what is opined in the editorial.Many authors have no clue about the Helsinki declaration. Perhaps true, but then the Helsinki declaration itself has undergone a number of revisions and is mainly subservient to the medical and industrial interests of the powerful and rich countries. I cannot see how a declaration with no legal tooth can stop a rich country carrying out human experiments in poorer countries, with the connivance of the local, but corrupt government/s. What matters is not the awareness about some non-enforceable declaration, but conscientious attempts at finding a cure for the problem. I would rather have an Indian author conscientiously refuse to use a medication on a patient and be completely unaware of the Helsinki declaration, than injudiciously use a medication on a patient and be completely aware of all the declarations!The editor’s office has to shift as the editor’s change every 3 or 6 years. That is the way we have our journal functioning and to be fair to the members of the society, they have always been astute in electing the right candidate for the right post. So, hope they continue to do so in the future as well. The journal has done well in spite of the editor being elected. I think the credit should go to the members of the society for voting intelligently.Generating the funds for the journal is the collective responsibility of the society and its members. It should not be just the editor’s migraine.I fully agree with you in your last few words. ″Most editors do leave an impact on the journal!″ Cannot be truer. And most will certainly do so in future as well. IJO is not just ready to pose, but is already posing a stiff challenge to the foreign counterparts. Thanks to your efforts and those of Dr. GN Rao, Dr. TP Das, and all the other editors before.


Journal of Translational Medicine is pleased to announce a prize to recognize outstanding contributions in the field of translational medicine. This year, the Bedside-to-Bench Award was provided by an anonymous donor and supported by the Journal of Translational Medicine Editorial Board. Applications should be submitted directly to the Journal of Translational Medicine [The Medicine . The jouy PubMed . The away PubMed . A secony PubMed ,14.in vitro for more than one week, scientific merit, sound research design, rigorous methodology, originality and clarity.The recipient of The Excellence in Translational Medicine Award will receive a $5,000 prize to cover expenses for any meeting sponsored by a non-for-profit organization that is relevant to the goal of translational medicine/research. Submitted articles will be evaluated with regard to: relevance to translational medicine/research based on discovery-driven, evidence-based studies aimed at understanding human pathology by the direct study of human subjects. Selection criteria will include use of human samples not including cell lines or other tissue products expanded Journal of Translational Medicine between January 1 and December 31 of each year.• The award will be granted to the first author of a research manuscript containing original data published in the • Candidates may be self-nominated or nominated by a colleague• Candidates must be the primary clinician or investigator involved in the project described by the article. If there are multiple first authors, each first author of the selected manuscript may claim designation as a candidate. In the event of multiple authors sharing the Award, the prize will be divided equally among them. If there are multiple first authors, this must be indicated at the time of submission.• Authors from laboratories of the members of the selection committee are not eligible for the Award.Submitted articles will be evaluated with regard to:• Relevance to the purposes of translational medicine/research presenting discovery-driven, evidence-based studies aimed at the understanding of human pathology by the direct study of human subjects• Scientific merit• Sound research design• Rigorous methodology• Originality• ClarityAll applications should be submitted to the Journal of Translational medicine – Awards Section .Selection will be made by a committee of members of the Editorial Board.We hope the Bedside-to-Bench Award together with the Excellence in Translational Medicine Award will encourage and reward those investigators who are dedicated to improving the efficiency of biomedical research with the goal of preventing and/or effectively treat human disease.


Dear Sir,The last issue of IJPS  is quite remarkable for its content. The lead article is written by Kalpesh Gajiwala, who was not only entirely trained in India but has now written on the difficult subject of speech pathology, with Indian languages in mind and the classical Sanskrit alphabet as their foundation. To many of my generation who had to go via the English language to understand speech pathology but who had sensed that Sanskrit had a very logical arrangement of the expressed sound this attempt is not only heartening but also has a touch of the audacious. Lest my commentary be considered parochial it is worth remembering that Panini, the great Sanskrit grammarian, according to today’s political geography would be considered an Afghan national.The issue also has touching obituaries of two very worthy members of our fraternity – Noshir Antia and Manohar Keswani. While Antia’s forefathers escaped to India from Iran to avoid religious persecution, Keswani was uprooted from his native Sind when the Indian subcontinent was partitioned. India thus was their somewhat new home. Yet both developed new ideas which were fashioned by modern science but were specifically useful to their new country. Kalpesh Gajiwala stands on the shoulders of these stalwarts who prospered not in a political entity called India but a liberal idea called India.In the generation when Antia and Keswani were active many a unit in the country had to take shelter in journals abroad to enable them to express themselves. The British Journal of Plastic Surgery did this with considerable grace. That journal has now morphed into an international journal and the IJPS too now has considerable presence of those who do not practise in India. This must never be viewed as any sort of Indian clout. In fact both journals must be viewed as part of a global scientific knowledge pool.Patanjali (probably a contemporary of Panini), the other great Indian thinker who gave us the Yogic school of philosophy classified minds into: indolent, leading to wretchedness; feverish, leading to turmoil and strife and engrossed and later focused which helped foster analytical ability and creativity. The role of editors through millennia has been to discover and nurture such minds dispassionately.For example,In their hands (the editors')The clever become wiseDry truth, with wisdom tiesKnowledge grows and thrivesThe current editorial team of IJPS must be complimented for having brought the journal to its present state. The task ahead is not easy because the higher you get the easier you are likely to slip and fall. Be that as it may, by a coincidence, the article by Gajiwala in this issue is reviewed by ACH Watson, a very discerning and dispassionate past editor of the then British Journal of Plastic Surgery, and the current editor of IJPS was his trainee in the late eighties. This is the Guru-Shishya parampara (the Teacher and Student tradition) come to fruit across oceans.


Journal of Cutaneous and Aesthetic Surgery is in your hands, with a look that is contemporary and the contents that are relevant to today's practice of the speciality.The first issue of the No other branch in dermatology has progressed as rapidly as cutaneous and aesthetic surgery in recent years. New techniques and, new technology fuelled by increasing demands of a changing society have resulted in an increasing number of dermatologists, plastic surgeons and even practitioners from other specialities taking up this speciality. Hence, the need for a journal dedicated to this branch is being felt more than ever before.One of the criticisms, not entirely unjustified, that has been laid at the speciality of aesthetic medicine and surgery is the lack of documented evidence. It is indeed true that documentation of evidence has lagged behind introduction of new technology. This is also the situation in India and other Asian countries. There are few journals dedicated to the speciality and this journal therefore, provides a unique forum for expression and documentation of studies and other scientific matter from the region and beyond.The newly constituted editorial board has several eminent authorities on the subject, both from India and abroad. The journal has adopted the latest practices of medical journalism such as online abstract submission, tracking and referee systems. Very soon, we hope to get it indexed also. Being one of the few open access journals in this speciality, it has the potential to be one of the top journals in the speciality. This can happen only with excellence in academic and scientific content of the journal.I seek the cooperation of all in this exciting new endeavour.


There was an error in the third sentence of the second paragraph of the section "Correlated nLFPs Are Temporally Clustered with Millisecond Delays". It should read: "Note that the maximal average fraction of correlated sites as a function of trigger amplitude is achieved when there are >50% available sites on the array, and thus the upper part of the sigmoidal function cannot be explained by a ceiling effect due to limited array size."


It gives us great pleasure in presenting to you, on behalf of the Pediatric Cardiac Society of India (PCSI), the inaugural issue of the Annals of Pediatric CardiologyPediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery have made great strides in the past three decades. The morbidity and mortality associated with congenital heart disease has dramatically improved. This is due to advances in imaging technology, monitoring systems in the OR and CCU, interventional modalities, management of cardiopulmonary bypass as well as surgical perspective and approach. Much progress has also been made by our colleagues in anesthesiology, intensive care, nursing, physiotherapy, microbiology, fetal medicine and genetics. This multidisciplinary approach has been at the center of the success story of our specialties.The Annals of Pediatric Cardiology is being launched with an idea to offer a common platform to members of all these subspecialties to come together to express their views and showcase their data. Scientific material may be presented in this journal as an original article, brief communication, case report, images, review, ‘how I do it’ or as an invited editorial. We also plan to have debates (point-counterpoint), hemodynamic rounds and summary of expert opinions on controversies, which would be helpful to trainees and fellows. The pattern of our Journal will be flexible and may evolve depending on the feedback we receive from our readers and advisors.Through the window of this Journal we also wish to look a little beyond ‘pure science’. We welcome contributions pertaining to challenges of medical education, postgraduate training, retaining talent, new program development, balancing economics with patient care in the developing world and any other ‘personal point of view’ that directly or indirectly affects our patients and their families.Our first issue is an example of what is to be expected from this Journal in the time to come. We look forward to your scientific contribution as well as feedback  to enable us to improve in our efforts. This venture was possible due to help and encouragement from our colleagues on the Editorial and Advisory Boards, contributors (of the scientific articles), reviewers and financial supporters. We also acknowledge unstinted support from our Associate Editors and the core committee of the PCSI.Happy reading!


Once you hear the details of the victory, it is hard to distinguish it from a defeat- Jean-Paul Sartre“Do not change horses midstream” is a popular adage. While this seems an ideal and necessary approach to follow when given a choice, occasionally these circumstances are thrust on you, all of a sudden, rendering coping difficult. It is a measure of the strength of the institution to be able to overcome this modification and carry on with its responsibilities.A couple of months ago, the Indian Journal of Psychiatry (IJP) was affected by a transformation at the helm, due to nullification of the process of initial election. This “revolution” was deemed necessary by many vocal constituents who opined that a few initial pains would in time lead to long-term gain, i.e., “No pain, no gain.”This led to a change in the editorial team of IJP, which has resulted in the delay in publication of this issue. Thanks, however, to the clear direction given to the editorial team by the executive committee of the Indian Psychiatric Society, as well as assistance to weather the flux created by the sudden transformation, the IJP is now in your hands, though late.The change in the editorial team, which may seem dramatic, however has not led to much instability. I have now taken over as Editor in the interim period, and the previous editor Dr. T. S. Sathyanarayana Rao has been designated as the Chief Advisor to the IJP. There has been a reshuffle of posts but the collective responsibilities, which had earlier been shared, continue to be shared with the same intensity and vigor, with the sole aim of giving you a journal you would be proud of.It is said that the best management is where there is no need for an administrator. Here systems and procedures would be duly laid down, and following these meticulously would lead to a good product. I compliment my predecessor and Chief Advisor Dr. T. S. Sathyanarayana Rao for having put in place these systems, making my task easier. I assure you that the next issue will be in your hands on time.Dr. T. S. S. Rao, in the past issue of IJP 49(2), had put forth some enthusiastic proposals. They incOn behalf of the organizers of the golden jubilee celebration of our journal, I request the involvement, help and guidance of all members to make it a memorable one.Thanks to the effort of the editorial team under Dr. Rao, we have succeeded in indexing our journal in various indexing agencies. They are:SCOPUSDOAJIndex CopernicusHealth and Wellness Research CenterHealth Reference Center AcademicInfoTrac One FileExpanded Academic ASAPGenamics JournalSeekUlrich's International Periodical DirectoryEBSCO Publishing's Electronic DatabasesGoogle Scholarswamyg@sify.com. Remember that brickbats have more chance of making into the journal (if written in the form of letters to editor) than bouquets, as they would generate many responses and hopefully enhance the quality of our journal.Any ideas, suggestions, comments and criticisms could be directed to me through any means of communication – mobile, e-mail or snail mail. Contact me at editor@indianjpsychiatry.org or my personal e-mail I end by wishing you all happy reading!


BMC Medicine passed the landmark of its first 5 years of publishing. When we launched the journal with the aim of publishing high quality research of general interest and special importance, we had no idea what the future would bring. To mark the occasion of our 5th anniversary, we consider the achievements of the last 5 years and discuss our plans for the future.In November 2008,  BMC Medicine, the flagship medical journal of the BMC series, recently celebrated its 5th anniversary. Over the last five years, the journal has developed substantially and has even been accepted for citation tracking by ISI within its first three years of publishing. As a result we are eagerly anticipating the journal's first official Impact Factor, due in June 2009.BMC Medicine launched in November 2003, open access publishing was still a fairly novel concept. The last five years have seen open access evolve from what many considered to be a fringe movement to a widely accepted and sustainable business model for the publishing industry. This is particularly underlined by the recent acquisition of BioMed Central, the publisher of BMC Medicine, by Springer Science & Business Media, the world's second largest publisher of scientific, technical and medical journals.When BMC Medicine aims to publish articles of outstanding quality, broad interest and special importance. In 2003 we had no idea of what the future would bring-we launched BMC Medicine with the highest of expectations and the support of an internationally renowned Editorial Board, but would medical researchers accept such an open access journal?BMC Medicine's success is in the quality of its published articles. The systematic review of the incidence of schizophrenia, by John McGrath and colleagues [BMC Medicine articles have been cited in such journals as The Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and BMJ, together with a whole range of other top tier general and subject-specific publications.Now, in celebration of our anniversary and in anticipation of our first official Impact Factor in June 2009, we reflect on the successes so far. As with all journals, the first measure of lleagues , has beelleagues  most citBMC Medicine is an open access journal without subscription barriers or print editions, we use article accesses in place of circulation numbers. Most original research articles published in BMC Medicine become highly accessed [BMC Medicine website alone. Moreover, an article by Chris McManus and colleagues [Another measure of quality is circulation – as accessed  soon aftaccessed , has beelleagues  publisheWe could not have achieved our strong readership and rapid development without the help and support of our international Editorial Board. Members of our Editorial Board have contributed their time as authors, referees, and advisors. We are indebted to them for all of these contributions, as well as the effort they put into raising the profile of the journal within their respective fields. Finally, we would not be where we are today without the significant contributions of our authors and reviewers: we look forward to your continued support as we move forward.BMC Medicine, our service to authors, and the position of the journal within the medical community. In line with these ambitions, we have substantial plans for development in the near-term and long-term future. We are expanding our portfolio of articles to include commissioned review and minireview articles, as well as commentaries on articles and subjects of interest to our readership. Other article types will follow in due course. In addition we are expanding the Editorial Board for BMC Medicine. 2009 will also see the Editorial Team attending conferences and meetings – we hope to meet with you soon!While the editorial staff are delighted with the journal's progress so far, we continue to strive to improve the quality of the content of We look forward to our next five years of publishing; in particular to receiving our first official Impact Factor, expanding the Editorial Board and publishing new content of interest to our readers. Of course, as ever, we anticipate publishing more research of excellent quality that changes medical research and clinical practice, together with thought-provoking and clinically relevant reviews to highlight recent developments in a given field.BMC Medicine or have suggestions for how to improve the journal, please submit your article via the journal website  or contact the Editorial office with any queries editorial@biomedcentral.com. Our aim is to make BMC Medicine a leading general medical journal, and we look forward to working with you to accomplish this goal.If you are interested in contributing to The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:


Caenorhabditis elegans was published 4 years ago. Since then, we have seen great strides in technologies thatseek to exploit this data. Here we describe the application of some of these techniquesand other advances that are helping us to understand about not only the biology ofthis important model organism but also the entire phylum Nematoda.The complete genome sequence of the free-living nematode


Journal of Translational Medicine (JTM) in collaboration with Global Translational Medicine at Pfizer established "The Excellence in Translational Medicine Award" in May 2006. Fifteen nominated papers from investigators representative of eight countries covering a wide range of disciplines published in JTM between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2007 were evaluated. The four finalists and the winner are announced in this editorial.In our endeavor to recognize outstanding contributions in the field of translational medicine, the Editorial Board of the  Journal of Translational Medicine (JTM) established "The Excellence in Translational Medicine Award" in May 2006 [In our endeavor to recognize outstanding contributions in the field of translational medicine, the Editorial Board of the May 2006 .Global Translational Medicine, Pfizer Global Research and Development to cover expenses for any meeting sponsored by a non-for-profit organization that is relevant to the goal of translational medicine and research.The recipient of "The Excellence in Translational Medicine Award" will receive a $2,500 prize sponsored by Fifteen nominated papers from investigators representative of eight countries covering a wide range of disciplines published in JTM between 1 July 2006 – 30 June 2007 were evaluated. For this purpose, an Award Committee* comprised of ten members of the Editorial Board selected and co-chaired by Richard J. Ablin  and Yi-Xin Zeng  was formed. The National Institutes of Health Scoring System of 1–5, with 1 = Outstanding and 5 = Poor were used with the papers being evaluated with regard to their:• Scientific merit• Originality• Clarity• Relevance to the purposes of translational medicine and research• Research design• MethodologyThe competition, judged from the closeness of the scores, wherein 10 of the 15 papers evaluated were separated by ≤1 point and the top 4 papers by ≤0.4 points, was "fierce." The best score and winner of the "Excellence in Translational Medicine Award" was Xinmei Zhu and colleagues from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Pittsburgh Cancer Center; Geneva University and Oncovir for the paper entitled: "Toll-like receptor-3 ligand poly-ICLC promotes the efficacy of peripheral vaccinations with tumor antigen-derived peptide epitopes in murine CNS tumor models" .Exemplifying the criteria for the "Excellence in Translational Medicine Award," Zhu et al.  proceede1-adrenoreceptor antagonists therapy, all translational related topics followed as listed, where but separated by a hair from the winning paper by Zhu et al. [The papers by the other three finalists: Kluger et al. ; Provenzu et al. .1st "Excellence in Translational Medicine Award" is now history. We are hopeful this Award will serve to encourage other investigators devoted to improving the "bench to bedside" concept of translational medicine and initiatives in this direction. And, with the competition now open for the 2nd "Excellence in Translational Medicine Award," we very much look forward to the opportunity of selecting next year's winning paper.With congratulations to Xinmei Zhu and colleagues , the 1st*"Excellence in Translational Medicine Award Committee": Richard J. Ablin (Co-Chairman); Howard L. Kaufman; Bruce Littman; Upender Manne; Pier Giorgio Natali; Hideho Okada; Michael Perricone; Raj K. Puri; Noriyuki Sato; Patrick F. Terry; Craig Webb and Yi-Xin Zeng (Co-Chairman).


Learned Publishing  and the American Journal of Public Health.In the initial phase of the project, four African journals participated: The objectives of these journal partnerships are to strengthen the four African health journals such that they could provide training for African health researchers, improve the quality and visibility of their research, and make the journals a better resource for local researchers and policy makers. To ensure the partnership program is on course for reaching these goals, formal evaluations have been conducted for each African partner journal to monitor ongoing success and identify achievements as they relate to the objectives. Another objective of the AJPP is for its African members to become regional leaders and share their acquired knowledge and experience with other editors and journals on the continent.Mali Médical and Malawi Medical Journal ) have dedicated websites, and three  have been accepted into MEDLINE. Because of that success, the NLM added two more partnerships to the project this year, pairing the Medical Journal of Zambia with the New England Journal of Medicine and the Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences with the Annals of Internal Medicine.In its initial four years, the AJPP has been quite successful in meeting its original goals. Editors have organized and attended workshops on journal management including training on improving business plans and developing strategic plans for effective, sustainable publishing operations. Authors, editors, clinicians, and scientists have also received training on better ways to communicate research and write for publication, as well as training in statistics, data presentation, and data interpretation. The African partner journals are now all publishing regularly in print and/or online. Two of the journals , INASP, and CSE.SPi Technologies is providing complimentary services to convert the African journal partner print issues into XML format, which are compatible for submission to PubMed Central. This service started with the 2005 issues.Mali Médical is a francophone publication). The system was fully launched in 2007 for the Malawi Medical Journal and in 2008 for African Health Sciences and Ghana Medical Journal. Each of these three African journal partners is receiving training in the operation of the system.ScholarOne provides its web-based manuscript submission and review system  without charge to the three African journal partners that are published in English  to attend workshops conducted by partner journals. This provision helps to spread the positive effect of the partnership to additional African editors, journals, and countries.INASP helped support a workshop on journal business operations, furthering the partnership’s goal of establishing plans for journal sustainability.In addition to helping with administrative logistics for the partnership, CSE has provided complimentary membership to the African journal editor partners and has waived registration fees for those attending the council’s annual meeting and workshops. The African editors have become active council members, participating in CSE committees and speaking at annual meetings.Our experience has shown that to have a successful project, the partners must be selected carefully, matching the interests of both journals. The importance of having dedicated, enthusiastic individuals cannot be overstated. There are also concerns about communication, respect, and understanding of cultural differences. Electronic communication is efficient given the geographic distances between the partners, but face-to-face meetings are of utmost importance, and the earlier they occur in the partnership, the better. Trust develops when both partners have shown respect for each other’s perspective, assistance is given based on the needs expressed, and learning and knowledge transfer are multidirectional.Smart’s concerns about the status of African journals  and Hort


As the Neuroscience Peer Review Consortium (NPRC) ends its first year, it is worth looking back to see how the experiment has worked.In order to encourage dissemination of the details outlined in this Editorial, it will also be published in other journals in the Neuroscience Peer Review Consortium. As the Neuroscience Peer Review Consortium (NPRC) ends its first year, it is worth looking back to see how the experiment has worked.NPRC was conceived in the summer of 2007 at a meeting of editors and publishers of neuroscience journals. One of the working groups addressed whether it was possible to construct a system for permitting authors whose manuscript received supportive reviews at one journal but was not accepted  to send a revised manuscript together with its first round of reviews to a new journal for the second round. This would speed up the review process and reduce the work for reviewers and editors.. You will find information for Authors, Reviewers, Editors, and Publishers there, as well as the information on how journals can join the Consortium.The working group not only designed a framework for transferring reviews among journals, but also implemented it as the NPRC. By the fall of 2007, more than a dozen major journals had signed onto the NPRC, sufficient to launch the experiment in January, 2008. As of the autumn of 2008, 33 journals belong to the Consortium Table . For detThe editors of Consortium journals were recently polled to determine how the NPRC has been working. They responded that during the first nine months about 1–2% of manuscripts that they received had been forwarded from another Consortium journal. A similar number had been sent out from each journal to other participants. In most cases, the papers had been expedited, because the editors at the second journal felt the previous reviews, and the authors' response to them, were sufficiently positive to permit re-review by one or both of the original referees. In those cases when the editor at the second journal felt that they needed to get new reviews, the review time at the second journal was about what it would have been if the paper had been submitted there by ordinary means.So, the savings in time and labor are considerable for most of the papers that are transferred between journals via the NPRC. Why then are so few authors using this option?One reason may be that authors resubmit their manuscripts to a journal outside the NPRC. The Consortium includes journals with large volumes of submissions and publications, but the list is far from complete. For example, ISI Web of Knowledge lists 211 Neuroscience journals. The Consortium currently spans this spectrum of journals, from very general to highly specific. However, as more journals join the NPRC, the utility of the system will undoubtedly increase.A more likely reason for authors not using the NPRC is that they are simply not aware of it. Although there were attempts to publicize the NPRC at its onset, many authors may not know about the possibility, or know which journals participate.The process of transferring a paper from one journal to another could not be easier. The author simply revises the paper in response to the original reviews, and writes a cover letter that lists the changes that have been made, the name of the journal at which the paper was previously reviewed, and the accession number at the previous journal. When the paper is submitted to the second journal, the author notes the new accession number and then sends an email to the first journal , asking them to send the reviews for their manuscript to the second journal . The first journal will then send the reviews directly to the second journal, including the names of the reviewers (if they have agreed to have their names transferred). The editors at the second journal then can treat the paper as they see fit, based on the first set of reviews.Of course, not all papers (and reviews) lend themselves to this process. If the reason for rejection at the first journal is that the referees had substantive requirements for additional work or revisions, authors may decide to revise the paper, but then start fresh at the second journal. In the end, we estimate that it is not likely that more than about 10% of rejected manuscripts are appropriate to be handled via the NPRC. But given rejection rates between 50–80% at many of the consortium journals, many papers could benefit from the NPRC, and certainly many more than are currently using it.The current members of the NPRC decided in November to extend the life of the Consortium, which was originally a one-year experiment, by at least another year. The International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF), which provides the infrastructure for the NPRC, has agreed to provide its resources for another year. The intention is to continue forward on a year-to-year basis, at the voluntary participation of the member journals. We have in particular to thank Jan Bjaalie, the director of the INCF, and Elli Chatzopoulou, who has been doing all of the administrative work in the INCF, for supporting the NPRC.. Those who have questions are encouraged to contact the co-chairs at csaper@bidmc.harvard.edu or maunsell@hms.harvard.edu.We invite authors who have not yet used the NPRC to try this method for appropriate manuscripts. We invite journal editors and publishers who have held back during the first year to join in. The NPRC entails virtually no cost or work, and provides a payoff in reduced work for authors, reviewers and editors. The methods for authors and editors to use the NPRC are clearly outlined in its website On behalf of the NPRC Editors and Publishers,Clifford B. SaperJohn H.R. MaunsellCo-Chairs, Neuroscience Peer Review ConsortiumAlain Destexhe and Barry Richmond, Journal of Computational NeuroscienceAnthony Campagnoni, Developmental NeuroscienceMartin Sarter and Jean-Marc Fritschy, European Journal of NeuroscienceClifford Saper, Journal of Comparative NeurologyFloyd E. Bloom, Brain ResearchGeorge Perry and Mark A. Smith, Journal of Alzheimer DiseaseJohn Maunsell, Journal of NeuroscienceGiorgio Ascoli, David Kennedy, and Erik De Schutter, NeuroinformaticsHoward Eichenbaum, HippocampusJ. Timothy Greenamyre, Neurobiology of DiseaseJohn Krystal, Biological PsychiatryKarl Zilles and Laszlo Zaborszky, Brain Structure and FunctionJohn H. Byrne, Learning and MemoryMark Blumberg, Behavioral NeuroscienceAndrew Lumsden, Bill Harris, Joshua Sanes, and Rachel Wong, Neural DevelopmentRuth Anne Eatock, Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (JARO)Sid Gilman, Experimental NeurologySophia Frangou, European PsychiatryTerje Sagvolden, Behavioral and Brain FunctionsOle Petter Ottersen and Stephen Lisberger, NeuroscienceRoman R. Poznanski, Journal of Integrative NeuroscienceRobert F. Simons, PsychophysiologyRobert Millar, NeuroendocrinologyPeter T. Fox and Jack L. Lancaster, Human Brain MappingPaul Fletcher, NeuroImage


Journal of Pharmacy and Bioallied Sciences (JPBS). JPBS was launched in the last quarter of the previous year with an aim to serve as a medium for high-quality research and review articles apropos to all aspects of pharmaceutical and allied biosciences. The journal is growing in stature with every issue with critical acclaims and encouraging reviews. The previous issues have set the tone and tenor for the present and forthcoming issues.I hereby present our esteemed readers Vol. 2, Issue 4, 2010, of the With the advent of new disciplines in pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy practice including nanotechnology and pharmacovigilance, many new possibilities are on the offer for biomedical scientists. Both these branches are gaining ground and are finding escalating applications in their respective realms. Nanotechnology in particular has got wider acceptance in almost every walk of life including diagnostics and therapeutics. Investigations are currently under way on novel and precise nanotechnology based diagnostic tools and therapeutic devices such as nanochips and nanobots. Many such gadgets will see the light of the day in the ensuing times. Mankind will be the beneficiary of all these advancements in health sciences.As for pharmacovigilance, the clinical trials conducted by pharmaceutical manufacturers are never exhaustive and cannot identify the delayed and very rare adverse drug reactions which might appear on chronic use of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Hence, pharmacovigilance studies are the need of the hour for constant monitoring of adverse effects in hospital and community settings.The present issue of JPBS presents an assortment of papers on contemporary topics viz. nanotechnology, fungal infections in children, neuropharmacological safety of jigrine, reversibility of asthma and COPD, orphan drug development, transdermal drug delivery, periodontitis and pharmacovigilance, etc. The issue also carries reports on new analytical methods developed for quantification of the active constituents in bulk and pharmaceutical formulations. I thank all the authors for their valuable contributions and look forward to opportunities to serve them in future.At JPBS, we have a team of dedicated editors well advised and complimented by a diverse and competent editorial board of international magnitude. The editorial and technical staff at JPBS is working overtime to maintain the surging quality of the journal. We remain open to constructive criticism and healthy suggestions by our readers in further improvement and make over of the journal.No journal can achieve greater heights without the constant patronage of its readers. We thank with gratitude the onerous support by our readers and institutions which have subscribed to our online and/or print issues. Nevertheless, I request to our existing patrons to recommend subscription of JPBS to their fellow professionals and institutional libraries to cater the scientific pursuit of all concerned.I must laud the efforts of our esteemed reviewers who have devoted their precious time in critical review of the manuscripts submitted to journal. Without their support we would not have been able to publish quality papers in the JPBS. We will continue to seek their uninhibited support to future assignments.Last but not the least, I thank our publishers, Medknow Publications, for their untiring efforts in designing, typesetting, copyediting, and improving the overall quality of the journal.I close this piece with renewed solicitation to pharmaceutical and allied scientists to contribute quality research and review articles on topics of current interest and provide an opportunity to JPBS to disseminate their ideas and innovations to the scientific community across the globe.


International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health recently [We found some errors in recently . Table 4We apologize for any inconvenience caused to the readers.


With this issue, a new editorial team takes over the reins of Indian Journal of Pharmacology. Although the names (and designations) may have changed (a little), the dedication remains the same. The new Chief Editor and the editorial team feel honored in doing a job that has been done so admirably in the past by a number of stalwarts. Today, IJP in its current form is the result of their cumulated wisdom and devotion. We would consider ourselves successful even if we are able to maintain the existing standards, if not improve them. I strongly believe this will be the best tribute to all our worthy predecessors!We are aware that we have to work on several fronts, from the quantity, quality, and variety of the papers to the new columns and nonreceipt of the journal! I am sure that all these issues can be handled successfully if we continue to get your active cooperation. With the recent inclusion in PubMed , the IJP has achieved all that a journal may aspire. It is the right time, friends, to try us first for the publication of your quality works!None of us is a qualified/professional editor. We have, however, trained ourselves by experience. It is still quite possible that we may be found lacking in several areas. Please bear with us for our omissions. Trust me they are not deliberate! A scientific journal can have only one objective, i.e., to serve the discipline it belongs to. Reviewers, authors, and readers are the backbone of the journal. A journal can only be as good as we are. With this issue, we rededicate ourselves to the cause of pharmacology (and pharmacologists) in India and abroad! Come, friends, join us on a journey towards this noble task.


It serves the need of different scientists and others involved in medicinal plant research and development. Phcog Mag is independently grown and structured without any affiliations or any organizational support. We have worked much harder to achieve the quality status worldwide. Phcog Mag is now indexed in PubMed, SCOPUS, ISI Web of knowledge and many other indexing agencies.Since 2005, Pharmacognosy Magazine (Phcog Mag) , Pharmacognosy Reviews [www.phcogrev.com], Pharmacognosy Journal [www.phcogj.com], Journal of Natural Pharmaceuticals [www.jnatpharm.org], Unani Research [www.unanires.org], etc.Phcog Mag. made us possible to expand many journals viz., Pharmacognosy Research [Present days have seen many journals releasing every alternate day in the field of Pharmacy and natural products; Phcog Mag has become unbeatable and one of most reputed publication in terms of quality. Presently, it needs to be strengthened financially to support our continuing efforts in expanding quality journals. Author subscription is now made mandatory for all accepted articles to be made effective for papers publishing from Jan 2011.Phcog Mag will continue publishing special sections that are of current topical interest to our readers. We welcome ideas for special sections, especially for topics that span a broad range in medicinal plants research. The new editorial team is excited and honored by the tasks and challenges ahead. We welcome the opportunity to contribute to the future of medicinal plants and to advance the field and its applications. We hope that many of you will join us as authors and reviewers in this process.


My predecessor, Dr. T S S Rao, taking over as Editor of the Indian Journal of Psychiatry (IJP), began by quotiIt is fashionable to keep patting the editorial team on the back, for a job voluntarily chosen. In the process, the actual contributors to the quality of the journal, mainly the triad of authors, reviewers and the publishers are rarely acknowledged.Authors have chosen the IJP as a platform to disseminate the results of their research. Others have shared with us their wisdom or their vast knowledge. Some have shown us their literary creativity. Their involvement requires our gratitude. They have chosen to link their accomplishments with the journal and they should be complimented.The reviewers do a thankless job of reviewing manuscripts behind the scenes. Their contributions are usually taken for granted. Their output, usually invisible, ensures the quality of the final product. It is, however, a humbling experience to witness the passion which many reviewers put into their work, the meticulousness with which they go through every line and sometimes comment on (and even painstakingly correct at times) the grammar and construction. I have had occasion to go through the comments of one overseas reviewer, a researcher on the topic of the submission, who literally rewrote the English of the manuscript, as he opined that the article, which was from another culture with deficient psychiatric infrastructure, had merit but would not pass through due to poor language. Good reviewers are often researchers themselves and do empathise with those who have done work in other centres contributing to the knowledge bank, but are unable to publish due to lack of skills in writing and publishing papers. The unsung and anonymous group of reviewers requires our sincere salutation.The third arm of the triad, the publishers, bring out the final product. Their job involves coordinating with the various departments from manuscript submission to publishing and printing of the journal. The present publishers have been innovators and entrepreneurs, led by a medically qualified person and have been publishing many journals. Their online manuscript submission system and electronic peer review system has stood us in good stead and helped us weather the uncertainties this year by expediting peer review, editorial and production work as well as distribution. Due to this system we have been able to reach out to many foreign reviewers. Our published articles have been available for electronic viewing online at www.indianjpsychiatry.org via open access thanks to the publishers.This is probably my last issue as editor of this journal and I dedicate this issue to the committed triad of author, reviewer and publisher for making IJP a product to be proud of.I am grateful to the membership of IPS, the President, the Secretary and other office bearers of the society, who had confidence to ask me to become interim editor. I am indebted to the Hon Chief Advisor and other editors who have helped me and the journal in this difficult phase. My thanks to members of the Editorial Board, Journal Committee, National and International Advisory Boards, statistical consultants and many others who have been of great help to me. Working earlier in the capacity of Assistant Editor and later as the Editor, has been a valuable, enriching and memorable experience which I will cherish always.My best wishes to the IJP which is reaching its Golden Jubilee this year.


The definition of “interventional radiology” (IR) has always been a bit hazy, leading to situations where someone in the past even considered calling a “barium enema” an interventional procedure. NevertheA rigid definition of IR would probably mean “someone who uses image guidance to treat.” But, this negates the efforts of many, many radiologists who still “intervene” into patients' bodies, but are not considered to be similar to the glamorous vascular interventionalists.This month's issue has many articles on this subject, ranging from the use of PET to guide biopsies, to the uWe also feature an article that one reviewer had categorically rejected saying that the subject matter was not relevant to a radiology journal. This article titled “Impact of USG on central venous catheter insertion in intensive care” talks abFrom this issue onwards, we are also starting a series of review articles on various aspects of tuberculosis. This issue features an article on “musculoskeletal tuberculosis,” written by Dr. Hoenacker and his colleagues.As we enter the last quarter of 2009, it is heartening to note that three years have passed by with a significant change in all aspects of our journal and we hope that this continues into the future.