Author's reply
http://www.100md.com
《美国医学杂志》
Jagadguru Jayadeva Murugarajedra Medical, College, Devangere, Karnataka, India
It was heartening to know that our article Jatropha curcas - poisoning, published in Indian Journal of Pediatrics Jan 2005[1] has been read with great interest by experts in the field of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology from two different institutions, a faculty member from community medicine and a budding undergraduate student in medicine.
The authors, we guess, have been doing their homework for a period of nearly one year since the article was published (no evidence could be given for this statement).
We appreciate the addition of two references[2],[3] to support our article. One of them is an extensive review on all species of Jatropha which is more relevant from a toxicological view point.[2] The other is a report of two cases and studies in animals regarding toxicity[3].
1. While drafting the article Jatropha curcas - poisoning, our priority was to create an awareness among practicing pediatric fraternity regarding a common poisoning in their midst that has found less place in pediatric literature. Hence it has been published as a Clinical Brief. Neither we, nor the esteemed reviewers of the article, intended to make it an exhaustive review on Jatropha curcas.
2. Menezes et al, in their letter, seem to have made a comment about the expression of our view on mortality following poisoning. In our paper, in the
Abstract section, we have reported that mortality is rare. In the duscussion it has been stated that human deaths have not been reported so far. The authors seem to make a big difference between the two i.e. "rare mortality" and "deaths not reported". "Rare" is used to put things in a modest way. Just because deaths have not been reported, it would be unwise to conclude that they don't occur, as the publishing trends in the scientific community are poor.
3. The other comment made by Menezes et al regarding the toxic dose of the substance. We have clearly stated in our article that the toxic dose is not known. There is variability in response to consumption of Jatropha as reported by various articles.[2],[4] Toxic dose of a substance is expressed as mg/kg[5]. As the definite toxic dose has not been mentioned in any reference we have not quoted it in our article.
4. Regarding the criticism that there is no reference cited for the statement that ample information about Jatropha is available in the textbooks of other sciences, we would like to bring to the attention of the authors that the latter three references quoted by us in the article are from text books or journals of Botany.
5. For all their queries, regarding rare mortality, toxic dose, detoxification by roasting seeds and of course regarding text books of other sciences, we would like to direct them to an article4 cited as reference in our article.
6. The final part of their comments which elaborates on use of Jatropha as biofuel and about accidental poisoning in general was informative but does not contribute significantly to our article.
To conclude, in the Clinical Brief published in a pediatric journal we have attempted to emphasize on the points relevant for a practitioner with the aim of creating an awareness among the readers about this common poisoning, without diluting the subject with unnecessary details.
References
1. Kulkarni ML, Sreekar H, Keshavamurthy KS, Shenoy N. Jatropha curcas poisoning. Indian J Pediatr 2005; 72: 75-76.
2. Joubert PH, Brown JM, Hay IT, Sebata PD. Acute poisoning with Jatropha curcas (purging nut tree) in children. S Afr Med J 1984; 65 : 729-730.
3. Abdu-Aguye I, Sannusi A, Alafiya-Tayo RA, Bhusnurmath SR. Acute toxicity studies with Jatropha curcas. L. Hum Toxicol 1986; 5 : 269-274.
4. Langdon KR. Physic nut, jatropha curcas Nematology (Botany) circular 1977; No. 3 (www.doacs.stat.fl.us/npi/empp/botany/boteire/new Botaro 30.htm).
5. Pillay, VV. Modern Medical Toxicology, 2nd ed; New Delhi; Jaypee Publishers, 2001; 3-4.(Kulkarni ML, Sreekar H, K)
It was heartening to know that our article Jatropha curcas - poisoning, published in Indian Journal of Pediatrics Jan 2005[1] has been read with great interest by experts in the field of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology from two different institutions, a faculty member from community medicine and a budding undergraduate student in medicine.
The authors, we guess, have been doing their homework for a period of nearly one year since the article was published (no evidence could be given for this statement).
We appreciate the addition of two references[2],[3] to support our article. One of them is an extensive review on all species of Jatropha which is more relevant from a toxicological view point.[2] The other is a report of two cases and studies in animals regarding toxicity[3].
1. While drafting the article Jatropha curcas - poisoning, our priority was to create an awareness among practicing pediatric fraternity regarding a common poisoning in their midst that has found less place in pediatric literature. Hence it has been published as a Clinical Brief. Neither we, nor the esteemed reviewers of the article, intended to make it an exhaustive review on Jatropha curcas.
2. Menezes et al, in their letter, seem to have made a comment about the expression of our view on mortality following poisoning. In our paper, in the
Abstract section, we have reported that mortality is rare. In the duscussion it has been stated that human deaths have not been reported so far. The authors seem to make a big difference between the two i.e. "rare mortality" and "deaths not reported". "Rare" is used to put things in a modest way. Just because deaths have not been reported, it would be unwise to conclude that they don't occur, as the publishing trends in the scientific community are poor.
3. The other comment made by Menezes et al regarding the toxic dose of the substance. We have clearly stated in our article that the toxic dose is not known. There is variability in response to consumption of Jatropha as reported by various articles.[2],[4] Toxic dose of a substance is expressed as mg/kg[5]. As the definite toxic dose has not been mentioned in any reference we have not quoted it in our article.
4. Regarding the criticism that there is no reference cited for the statement that ample information about Jatropha is available in the textbooks of other sciences, we would like to bring to the attention of the authors that the latter three references quoted by us in the article are from text books or journals of Botany.
5. For all their queries, regarding rare mortality, toxic dose, detoxification by roasting seeds and of course regarding text books of other sciences, we would like to direct them to an article4 cited as reference in our article.
6. The final part of their comments which elaborates on use of Jatropha as biofuel and about accidental poisoning in general was informative but does not contribute significantly to our article.
To conclude, in the Clinical Brief published in a pediatric journal we have attempted to emphasize on the points relevant for a practitioner with the aim of creating an awareness among the readers about this common poisoning, without diluting the subject with unnecessary details.
References
1. Kulkarni ML, Sreekar H, Keshavamurthy KS, Shenoy N. Jatropha curcas poisoning. Indian J Pediatr 2005; 72: 75-76.
2. Joubert PH, Brown JM, Hay IT, Sebata PD. Acute poisoning with Jatropha curcas (purging nut tree) in children. S Afr Med J 1984; 65 : 729-730.
3. Abdu-Aguye I, Sannusi A, Alafiya-Tayo RA, Bhusnurmath SR. Acute toxicity studies with Jatropha curcas. L. Hum Toxicol 1986; 5 : 269-274.
4. Langdon KR. Physic nut, jatropha curcas Nematology (Botany) circular 1977; No. 3 (www.doacs.stat.fl.us/npi/empp/botany/boteire/new Botaro 30.htm).
5. Pillay, VV. Modern Medical Toxicology, 2nd ed; New Delhi; Jaypee Publishers, 2001; 3-4.(Kulkarni ML, Sreekar H, K)