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Authors are the souls of any journal, and deserve much respect. To publish a journal manuscripts are needed from authors. Authors have a great responsibility for producing facts of their work in terms of number and results truthfully and an individual honesty is expected from authors in this regards. Both ways its true "No authors-No manuscripts-No journals" and "No journals–No manuscripts–No authors". Reviewing a manuscript is also a very responsible and important task of any peer-reviewed journal and to be taken seriously. It needs knowledge on the subject, sincerity, honesty and determination. Although the process of reviewing a manuscript is a time consuming task butit is expected to give one's best remarks within the time frame of the journal.
Salient features of the JCDR: It is a biomedical, multidisciplinary (including all medical and dental specialities), e-journal, with wide scope and extensive author support. At the same time, a free text of manuscript is available in HTML and PDF format. There is fast growing authorship and readership with JCDR as this can be judged by the number of articles published in it i e; in Feb 2007 of its first issue, it contained 5 articles only, and now in its recent volume published in April 2011, it contained 67 manuscripts. This e-journal is fulfilling the commitments and objectives sincerely, (as stated by Editor-in-chief in his preface to first edition) i e; to encourage physicians through the internet, especially from the developing countries who witness a spectrum of disease and acquire a wealth of knowledge to publish their experiences to benefit the medical community in patients care. I also feel that many of us have work of substance, newer ideas, adequate clinical materials but poor in medical writing and hesitation to submit the work and need help. JCDR provides authors help in this regards.
Timely publication of journal: Publication of manuscripts and bringing out the issue in time is one of the positive aspects of JCDR and is possible with strong support team in terms of peer reviewers, proof reading, language check, computer operators, etc. This is one of the great reasons for authors to submit their work with JCDR. Another best part of JCDR is "Online first Publications" facilities available for the authors. This facility not only provides the prompt publications of the manuscripts but at the same time also early availability of the manuscripts for the readers.
Indexation and online availability: Indexation transforms the journal in some sense from its local ownership to the worldwide professional community and to the public.JCDR is indexed with Embase & EMbiology, Google Scholar, Index Copernicus, Chemical Abstracts Service, Journal seek Database, Indian Science Abstracts, to name few of them. Manuscriptspublished in JCDR are available on major search engines ie; google, yahoo, msn.
In the era of fast growing newer technologies, and in computer and internet friendly environment the manuscripts preparation, submission, review, revision, etc and all can be done and checked with a click from all corer of the world, at any time. Of course there is always a scope for improvement in every field and none is perfect. To progress, one needs to identify the areas of one's weakness and to strengthen them.
It is well said that "happy beginning is half done" and it fits perfectly with JCDR. It has grown considerably and I feel it has already grown up from its infancy to adolescence, achieving the status of standard online e-journal form Indian continent since its inception in Feb 2007. This had been made possible due to the efforts and the hard work put in it. The way the JCDR is improving with every new volume, with good quality original manuscripts, makes it a quality journal for readers. I must thank and congratulate Dr Hemant Jain, Editor-in-Chief JCDR and his team for their sincere efforts, dedication, and determination for making JCDR a fast growing journal.
Every one of us: authors, reviewers, editors, and publisher are responsible for enhancing the stature of the journal. I wish for a great success for JCDR."
Thanking you
With sincere regards
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Ghritlaharey, M.S., M. Ch., FAIS
Associate Professor,
Department of Paediatric Surgery, Gandhi Medical College & Associated
Kamla Nehru & Hamidia Hospitals Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462 001 (India)
E-mail: drrajendrak1@rediffmail.com
On May 11,2011
Dr. Shankar P.R.
"On looking back through my Gmail archives after being requested by the journal to write a short editorial about my experiences of publishing with the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research (JCDR), I came across an e-mail from Dr. Hemant Jain, Editor, in March 2007, which introduced the new electronic journal. The main features of the journal which were outlined in the e-mail were extensive author support, cash rewards, the peer review process, and other salient features of the journal.
Over a span of over four years, we (I and my colleagues) have published around 25 articles in the journal. In this editorial, I plan to briefly discuss my experiences of publishing with JCDR and the strengths of the journal and to finally address the areas for improvement.
My experiences of publishing with JCDR: Overall, my experiences of publishing withJCDR have been positive. The best point about the journal is that it responds to queries from the author. This may seem to be simple and not too much to ask for, but unfortunately, many journals in the subcontinent and from many developing countries do not respond or they respond with a long delay to the queries from the authors 1. The reasons could be many, including lack of optimal secretarial and other support. Another problem with many journals is the slowness of the review process. Editorial processing and peer review can take anywhere between a year to two years with some journals. Also, some journals do not keep the contributors informed about the progress of the review process. Due to the long review process, the articles can lose their relevance and topicality. A major benefit with JCDR is the timeliness and promptness of its response. In Dr Jain's e-mail which was sent to me in 2007, before the introduction of the Pre-publishing system, he had stated that he had received my submission and that he would get back to me within seven days and he did!
Most of the manuscripts are published within 3 to 4 months of their submission if they are found to be suitable after the review process. JCDR is published bimonthly and the accepted articles were usually published in the next issue. Recently, due to the increased volume of the submissions, the review process has become slower and it ?? Section can take from 4 to 6 months for the articles to be reviewed. The journal has an extensive author support system and it has recently introduced a paid expedited review process. The journal also mentions the average time for processing the manuscript under different submission systems - regular submission and expedited review.
Strengths of the journal: The journal has an online first facility in which the accepted manuscripts may be published on the website before being included in a regular issue of the journal. This cuts down the time between their acceptance and the publication. The journal is indexed in many databases, though not in PubMed. The editorial board should now take steps to index the journal in PubMed. The journal has a system of notifying readers through e-mail when a new issue is released. Also, the articles are available in both the HTML and the PDF formats. I especially like the new and colorful page format of the journal. Also, the access statistics of the articles are available. The prepublication and the manuscript tracking system are also helpful for the authors.
Areas for improvement: In certain cases, I felt that the peer review process of the manuscripts was not up to international standards and that it should be strengthened. Also, the number of manuscripts in an issue is high and it may be difficult for readers to go through all of them. The journal can consider tightening of the peer review process and increasing the quality standards for the acceptance of the manuscripts. I faced occasional problems with the online manuscript submission (Pre-publishing) system, which have to be addressed.
Overall, the publishing process with JCDR has been smooth, quick and relatively hassle free and I can recommend other authors to consider the journal as an outlet for their work."
Dr. P. Ravi Shankar
KIST Medical College, P.O. Box 14142, Kathmandu, Nepal.
E-mail: ravi.dr.shankar@gmail.com
On April 2011 Anuradha
Dear team JCDR, I would like to thank you for the very professional and polite service provided by everyone at JCDR. While i have been in the field of writing and editing for sometime, this has been my first attempt in publishing a scientific paper.Thank you for hand-holding me through the process.
Dr. Anuradha
E-mail: anuradha2nittur@gmail.com
On Jan 2020
Original article / research
Full Version
The State Of Birth Weight in the North of Iran
Correspondence Address :
Veghari Gholamraza,Golestan University of medical sciences.Faculty of Medicine –Biochemistry and Metabolic Disorders Center.E.mail:Veghary@yahoo.com,Telfax:+981714421289
Introduction and object: This study was designed for determining the birth weight and some other factors affecting rural newborn children in the north of Iran (south east of Caspian sea).
Material and Method: A sample size of 695 cases was chosen by cluster and random sampling from 20 villages. The birth weight of the newborn and the mother’s socio-economic status were recorded by a questionnaire. The data was analyzed by SPSS windows software.
Results: The prevalence of LBW, NBW and HBW was observed to be 11.1%, 84.1% and 4.8%, respectively. The birth weight among children whose mothers had iron supplements was lower than that of children whose mothers did not take iron supplement (3173gr vs 3246gr) and statistical differences between the two groups were not significant. Birth weight have a positive correlation and significant statistical differences with both maternal age (r=0.2 , p=0.01) and maternal BMI(r=0.24 , p=0.01).The birth weight in the 5th birth order was more than that in the1st birth order and statistical differences were significant (P=0.01). Birth weight had a positive correlation with familial income (P<0.05).
Discussion: Our study showed that maternal BMI, birth order and socioeconomic factors were associated with intrauterine weight gain, but iron supplements didn’t have a positive outcome.
weight, BMI, Social-Economic, Iron supplementation, Iran
Introduction
Birth weight is strongly associated with the health and survival of infants in the developing world, where 90% of the 250 million low birth weight babies (<2500 g) are born each year (1). Studies of food supplementation have typically reported increases in birth weight of 25-84 g per 10 000 kcal of maternal energy intake during pregnancy (2), although mean increases of about 135 g may be observed with higher energy intakes (3). A recent study indicates that anaemia in pregnancy is a risk factor for preterm delivery and is associated with low birth weight (LBW)(4),(5).
Despite the potential benefits of such interventions on pregnancy outcomes, the effects of maternal micronutrient supplementation on birth weight and intrauterine growth have not been well studied. Individual micronutrients such as folic acid, iron, zinc and vitamin A have received awareness. An overview of five controlled trials showed a 40% reduction in the prevalence of intrauterine growth retardation with folic acid supplementation although these trials were small and were not well considered. (6)Trials in Bangladesh(7) and Peru (8) did not verify the improvemence in birth weight with antenatal zinc supplementation, which was reported in previous studies A randomized placebo controlled trial in Niger showed no perfection in birth weight after maternal iron supplementation during pregnancy, although length at birth was found to be improved(9). The effectiveness of iron supplementation in improving pregnancy outcome is currently debated. Although there is evidence for lower birth weight among mothers with anaemia, there are no data to set up a causal association (10). Other studies have reported that maternal vitamin A or β carotene supplementation failed to influence either infant mortality(11) or neonatal weight (12), but was associated with a 44% decline in pregnancy related maternal mortality(13) .
Gorgan is the capital city of the Golestan Province in the north of Iran and according to the report of the Iranian Statistical Center (14), it has a population of more than 300,000 and is one of the agricultural regions of the country. Based on the above report, the village population in this town is 56.1% as a whole, which is mainly engaged in the agricultural occupation. There are different ethnic groups living in this region. The main ethnic groups are: Fars (native), Turkman and Sistanee. Sistanee and Turkman ethnic groups are mainly the residents of the villages. Due to the restriction in executing epidemiological projects, there were no studies on the iron supplement intake in the villages of this area, up till now; therefore, it was necessary to design a research project to determine the iron intake and effect on birth weight. The Iranian Health System recommended that all rural pregnant women should intake iron supplements from the 4th month for prevention of anaemia.
This is a retrospective and cross-sectional descriptive study, and 690 cases from 20 villages were chosen by cluster and simple sampling by 20 trained interviewers using a questionnaire. We recorded the birth weight of newborn children, the iron supplementation status during pregnancy and the family’s socio-economic status. The data was analyzed by the SPSS.win version 14 software. The logistic regression model was applied to evaluate variables that were associated with the likelihood of being LBW.
The economic status was categorized, based on the possession of 10 consumer items which were considered necessary for modern-day life, such as telephone, running water, gas pipeline, personal house, colour television, computer, video, private car and cooler. According to this list, the economic status of the sample population in this study was as follows: low 3, moderate = 4-6, and good = 7-10. In this study, ethnicity was defined as follows; 1) the Fars ethnic group (native). These people resided in this region since a long time and they were considered to be the native residents of this region. 2) the Sistanee ethnic group: people who immigrated to this region from the Sistan and Bluchestan provinces during the past decades. 3) the Turkman ethnic group: this group does not have family relation ships with other ethnic groups and therefore can be considered as an independent race. They reside in a particular rural area. BMI was calculated as weight (kg) and /height (m2) . Birth weight was defined as Low Birth Weight (<2500 gr), Normal Birth Weight (2500 to 4000 gr) and High Birth Weight (<4000 gr). There were 3 educational categories : 1:Illeterate, 2: 1-12 years schooling and 3: Beyond high school(academic education). Taking iron supplement during pregnancy has been defined as:1- None: Lack of iron supplement intake 3-Sometimes: Iron supplement intake time to time. 2- Routinely: Iron supplement intake regularly.
The prevalence of LBW, NBW and HBW were 11.1%, 84.1% and 4.8%, respectively. Birth weight had an inverse relationship with iron supplementary intake in the gestational period and in infants whose mothers took more iron supplement than others, but this difference wasn’t statistically significant(Table/Fig 1).
Birth weight has a direct and significant relationship with the mother’s age and the mean of the birth weight of children in mothers who are <18 years old, is also less than that seen in children whose mothers are >36 years old. The mother’s BMI is another factor that has a positive relationship with birth weight (P=001). Family number is related to birth weight and there are statistically significant differences between families with 5-8 numbers and over, or those families with numbers under it (p=0.001).This study shows that three economical characteristics (good, moderate and poor) have statistical significance with each other, based on the birth weight (p=0.001). Birth weight in the 3rd-5th birth order is higher than that in other birth orders and there are statistically significant differences between them (p=0.001). There are statistically significant differences between the three ethnic groups based on birth weight. Fars (native) and Sistanee groups have the most and the least mean of birth weight, respectively (p=0.001)(Table/Fig 2).
The unadjusted odds ratios show that maternal age>18 years (P=0.004, 95% CI ,OR=2.902) ,Family number<5 (P=0.038, 95% CI ,OR=1.683) , Low economic status (P=0.002, 95% CI ,OR=2.193),Birth order <3(P=0.003, 95% CI ,OR=2.7), and Sistaneesh ethnic group (P=0.032, 95% CI ,OR=1.675) are significantly related to LBW (Table/Fig 3). The adjusted odds ratios show that maternal age>18 years (P=0.031, 95% CI,OR=2.381) , Low economic status (P=0.011, 95% CI ,OR=2.002) and Birth order <3(P=0.017, 95% CI ,OR=2.767) are significantly related to LBW(Table/Fig 4).
Birth weight is influenced by some factors such as as social-economic status, anaemia, lack of pregnancy care, metabolic diseases, low maternal weight and height, maternal age, number of deliveries and the mother’s education (2),(4),(5),(7).
In present study, the prevalence of LBW is 11.1%. The Iranian ministry of health reported that the prevalence of LBW was about 10% in the year 2000 (2). The prevalence of LBW was reported in the year 2000 as follows: USA -7.6% , British -2.8% , Sweden -3.53% and Hispanic - 5.7% (4),(7),(11),(15).
The prevalence of LBW in developing countries is more than that in developed countries. For example, this criteria in India’s poor residential areas is 39.1%, among residents on the outskirts of the capital city of Bangladesh is 36.8% and in rural areas in some of the Asian countries is 20.9% (6),(16). The prevalence of LBW was reported in Babul (a city in north of Iran)- 7.7% and in a hospital in the west of Iran- 19.1% (17),(18). Based on similar studies, the LBW in this area is found to be less than that in developing countries, but it is more than that in developed countries.
Age of mother is a factor which affects birth weight. In this study, birth weight was found to have a direct relationship with the mother’s age. Cogswell (3) and Zaltnik (19) reported that the LBW incidence is low among older women and other studies (6),(16),(20),(21) reported that there are statistically significant differences between birth weight and maternal age. Maternal BMI has a direct effect on birth weight (22),(23),(24) and we found similar results in our study.
Neggers (25) showed that maternal BMI is the best predictive in birth weight assessment and other studies (26),(27) and there is a positive relationship between maternal BMI and birth weight.
In this study, the mean of birth weight among neonatals at the 3rd -5th birth order was more than in the upper or lower birth order. Zahed Pasha (17) in Iran showed that the prevalence of LBW in the first delivery was 8.8% and in secondary and tertiary deliveries was 15.2% . Maruaka (28), in Japan, reported that there was a negative correlation between birth weight and birth ranking. The study by Eghbalian (18) in a hospital in Iran did not show a correlation between birth weight and birth order.
There is a direct relationship between birth weight and economic status. Another factor affecting birth weight was economy. The birth weight was lower in poor families. Valero (10), Wood (29) and Starfield (30) confirmed the above results in their studies.
Ethnicity is another factor that can change the mean of birth weight, and socio-economic differences in ethnic groups cause changes in it. Wood’s study (29) showed that the incidence of LBW in black-skinned people was less than that in white-skinned people in the US .Fang (31) reported that the prevalence of LBW in white-skinned people was less than that in dark-skinned and Hispanic immigrants to America. Similar studies (32),(33),(34),(35),(36),(37) proved that there is birth weight differentiation among ethnic groups and immigrant people. They have made it clear that level of income, culture, education and health care is different among different ethnic groups. In the present study, there were found to be statistical differences between the three ethnic groups such as Fars(native), Turkman and Sistanee, at the point of mean of birth weight . Turkman’s neonatals had the highest birth weight.
Iron supplementation affects birth weight during pregnancy, but in this study, there wasn’t any statistically significant correlation between iron supplementation and birth weight. Probably there are other factors that can change birth weight and it is necessary to study them. Studies by Totunchi (38) in a hospital in Tehran showed that iron supplementation in pregnant women cause an increase in birth weight. Gogswell (3) reported that the prevalence of LBW among neonatals whose mothers had iron supplements was 4%, but in neonatals whose mothers didn’t have iron supplements it was 17%.
We did not have any information about medical supervision status and dosing of iron supplements and we did not determine all factors related to birth weight . These are the limitations of this study.
Briefly, our study showed that maternal age, family numbers, economic status, birth order and ethnicity are risk factors for LBW.
The authors would like to thank the medical and administrative staff in the Primary Health Care Centers of Golestan University of Medical Sciences for their valuable assistance during the field work. Also, the Research Deputy of the University is thanked for supporting this project financially.
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