JerMa88/BMC_Gastroenterology_Peer_Reviews huggingface dataset:
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-98 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Sensitivity is not an intrinsic property of a diagnostic test: empirical
evidence from histological diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection
Version: 2Date:3 November 2009
Reviewer: Javed Yakoob
Reviewer's report:
MS: MS: 6650244742771751
Sensitivity is not an intrinsic property of a diagnostic test: empirical evidence from
histological diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection
Nuno Lunet, Bárbara Peleteiro, Carla Carrilho, Céu Figueiredo and Ana Azevedo
When assessing the work, please consider the following points:
1. Is the question posed by the authors well defined?
Yes. The aim of this study was to provide empirical evidence of how spectrum
effects can affect the sensitivity of histological assessment of H.pylori infection
which may contribute to explain the heterogeneity in prevalence estimates across
populations with similar prevalence.
2. Are the methods appropriate and well described?
Yes.
3. Are the data sound?
Yes
4. Does the manuscript adhere to the relevant standards for reporting and data
deposition?
Yes
5. Are the discussion and conclusions well balanced and adequately supported
by the data?
Yes
6. Are limitations of the work clearly stated?
Yes
7. Do the authors clearly acknowledge any work upon which they are building,
both published and unpublished?
Yes
8. Do the title and abstract accurately convey what has been found?
Yes
9. Is the writing acceptable?
Yes
In reviewing the revised manuscript, please consider whether the authors have
answered your points sufficiently well to allow their manuscript to be published.
Yes.
What next?
----------
- Accept after discretionary revisions (which the authors can choose to ignore)
The authors also need to describe the prevalence of H. pylori in the two
populations under consideration, preferably in the background section.
Portuguese patients comprised of all white and 96.2% males while Mozambican
population comprised of 93.1% blacks with 34.3% male patients. The two
population were tested at different periods in time i.e., Portuguese population in
1998 and Mozambican population in 2005-2006. They need to elaborate whether
the difference in the histological diagnosis of H. pylori infection could be
explained by the ethnicity and gender effect.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-95 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Percent G+C profiling and sequence analysis reveals significant
differences in the gastrointestinal microbiota between diarrhoea-predominant
irritable bowel syndrome sufferers and healthy individuals
Version: 2Date:12 August 2009
Reviewer: John Spear
Reviewer's report:
Review of: Percent G+C profiling and sequence analysis reveals significant
differences in the gastrointestinal microbiota between diarrhoea-predominant
irritable bowel syndrome sufferers and healthy individuals
Authors: L.K. Krogius-Kurikka, et al.
Summary: Paper looks at a sequence analysis of DNA from a number of
individual fecal samples from people with diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel
syndrome (IBS-D) as well as controls, runs those samples through a
cesium-chloride centrifugation to separate the samples into different ‘fractions’
based on %G+C content, then subjects those fractions to 16S rRNA analysis.
Authors find that this method reveals quite a bit more diversity than 16S analysis
alone, and that there are significant differences between those with IBS-D and
controls. The predominance of the Firmicute Lachnospiraceae is particularly
noteworthy. Overall, phylotype richness was lower and phylogenetic
characteristics more distinct in patient samples with IBS-D.
Critique: Overall, the paper is well written in English and has good
content—authors are to be commended for this as the paper comes out of
Finland. Authors sequenced 3267 partial 16S rRNA gene sequences (V1 and V2
regions) from G+C fractioned samples. Authors deposited ~2300 sequences in to
EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database (not sure why they did not deposit all
sequences generated). As with previous works of these authors, this paper would
have been stronger if the authors could have done full length sequencing with all
sequences deposited into EMBL. Authors did however obtain enough sequence,
employed the right methods for analysis and covered their results with adequate
discussion.
Major Compulsory Revisions
None.
Minor Essential Revisions
Below.
Discretionary Revisions
All full length 16S rRNA gene sequences would have made this a better a paper.
As a researcher myself, we have to all think about that which follows us. In this
case, full-length sequences aid taxonomists, evolutionists, and ecologists. Even
with variable region analysis and 454 pyrosequencing approaches, we still
believe in full-length gene sequence generation.
Recommendation:
Accept, after addressing the suggested changes and additions below.
Abstract
Last sentence of Background section is awkward, as is.
First line of Results: Significant differences were found between…..
Background
Page 6, last sentence: Could draw in references of Frank et al., 2008, 2007 and
2001—all are likely worth including. This reviewer is not related to that work,
however they have put out some interesting information….
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-95 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Microbial community analysis reveals high level phylogenetic alterations in
the overall gastrointestinal microbiota of diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel
syndrome sufferers
Version: 4Date:17 November 2009
Reviewer: Petra Louis
Reviewer's report:
Minor Essential Revisions
1. I was referring to the diversity indices in my 1. comment on revision 1 and had
requested that the discussion would include a statement that mentions that the
Simpson index was very similar between the 2 libraries at lower OTU cut-offs,
which suggests little difference between the 2 libraries.
Discretionary Revisions
2. 2. comment on revision 1: For clarification, I was referring to a 7-fold difference
in DNA concentration between fractions based on additional file 1. If I interpret
the additional data given for the calculation of non-proportional to proportional
amounts of sequences correctly, the authors have ignored the different clone
numbers obtained for the different fractions. If the clones per fraction are very
similar this would not really matter, but the total clone numbers ranged from 272
to 355. The absolute clone numbers should be converted into proportions before
relating them to the amount of DNA. This does not lead to dramatic changes and
I agree with the authors that the results are similar for non-proportional and
proportional data at this phylogenetic level, however, it is mathematically
incorrect. I would assume that there may be more striking differences at a finer
phylogenetic level if proportional and non-proportional data are compared, but
am satisfied that the comment added to the discussion addresses this.
3. 4. comment on revision 1: As differences between analyses of single and
combined libraries are due to differences in the alignments, which is a technical
issue rather than reflecting real phylogenetic differences, I would use only one
alignment generated from all sequences for the analyses. However, the additions
to the manuscript have clarified how the data were generated and I am happy to
leave it to the authors to decide whether to keep the analyses separate.
4. Minor comment 3 on revision 1: I believe the requested information on primer
design is provided in the new reference 5. Otherwise, please include as
requested previously.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-96 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Plastic or metal stents for benign biliary strictures: a systematic review
Version: 1Date:12 August 2009
Reviewer: Todd Baron
Reviewer's report:
Major Compulsory Revisions: None
Minor Essential Revisions: None
Discretionary Revisions
Abstract: the abbreviations for uSEMS, cSEMS need to be spelled out.
Level of interest: An exceptional article
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
'I declare that I have no competing interests'
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-96 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Plastic or metal stents for benign biliary strictures: a systematic review
Version: 1Date:12 August 2009
Reviewer: Michel Kahaleh
Reviewer's report:
The authors are publishing a systematic review comparing plastic to metal stents
for benign biliary strictures: unfortunately instead on focusing on plastic versus
USEMS, they incorporated limited data (from 2 studies) on CSEMS which
confuses their work.
Major Compulsory Revisions
1-Remove all data on CSEMS and focus the whole work including conclusions
from that paper on analyzing USEMS versus plastic stents)
2-Comparing metal versus plastic stents without comparing the number of ERCP
sessions in each group is not fair. PLease provide the mean session of each
group and assess if this difference is statistically significant.
3-USEMS are typically not removed, or can be very challenging to remove. A
point has to be made to clarify that to the reader.
4-Indication for placement and etiology of benign biliary stricture need to be well
documented and analyzed. Statistical analysis should be performed to assess
how comparable those 2 groups are.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
I have received research funding from Olympus, COnmed, Boston-Scientific,
Axcan Pharma and Alimaxx.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-96 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Plastic or metal stents for benign biliary strictures: a systematic review
Version: 1Date:23 August 2009
Reviewer: Martin Freeman
Reviewer's report:
This is very well executed and timely review of the literature on endoscopic
therapy of benign biliary strictures. The main limitation is lack of separation of
types of strictures. The authors are no doubt aware of the Bismuth Class of
benign post-operative injuries, I-V, with hilar strictures much more difficult to treat
than mid or distal bile duct strictures. This is especially true for post liver
transplant strictures, where there are at least three distinct types: anastamotic (in
deceased donor transplants) anastamotic for living donor (usually much more
complex and smaller ducts, sometimes multiple anastamoses). THen there are
nonanastamotic (ischemic) injuries that tend to be hilar, and very difficult to treat.
Might the outcomes reported have as much to do with type of stricture treated as
to technique? Probably cannot be determined from studies reported, but this
should be emphasized in discussion. Also, there may be selection bias in the
series of cSEMS, as they may have been chosen in more "refractory" cases.
Would simply add these issues to discussion.
Level of interest: An article of outstanding merit and interest in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, and I have assessed the statistics in my report.
Declaration of competing interests:
'I declare that I have no competing interests'
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-96 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Plastic or metal stents for benign biliary strictures: a systematic review
Version: 2Date:18 September 2009
Reviewer: Michel Kahaleh
Reviewer's report:
MAJOR
1-We appreciate the efforts in removing the CSEMS patients.
2-However I am concerned about the inability to provide sessions numbers in
each group and the inclusion of IH stricture or stricture of unclear locations.
Please remove all patients with IH and unclear locations strictures and restrict
the analysis to extrahepatic biliary strictures.
Also acknowledge in the discussion that metal stents provide less sessions than
plastic stents which might offset the cost in favor of the plastic stent group and
change your conclusion accordingly
3-Change the current tables by providing one table summarizing metal stents
and one table summarizing plastic stents
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, and I have assessed the statistics in my report.
Declaration of competing interests:
I have receive funding support from Boston Scientific,COnmed, Olympus, Cook
and ALveolus
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-96 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Plastic or metal stents for benign biliary strictures: a systematic review
Version: 2Date:25 September 2009
Reviewer: Martin Freeman
Reviewer's report:
Authors have satisfactorily addressed the concerns of the reviewers.
Level of interest: An article of outstanding merit and interest in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
Authors have satisfactorily addressed the concerns of the reviewers.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-96 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Plastic or metal stents for benign extrahepatic biliary strictures: a
systematic review
Version: 3Date:20 November 2009
Reviewer: Michel Kahaleh
Reviewer's report:
Authors have satisfactorily addressed the concerns of the reviewers.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I have received grants support from Boston Scientific, Conmed, Alveolus, Wilson
Cook and Olympus
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-94 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Phlegmonous Colitis: Another Source of sepsis in cirrhotic patients?
Version: 3Date:19 September 2009
Reviewer: Giampaolo Bresci
Reviewer's report:
The paper of Thomas Halzer et al. is a good analysis of phlegmonaus colitis in
cirrotic patients.
I think that its publication can be sure useful for your journal
In conclusion the impact of the manuscript itself is good
Yours sincerely,
Giampaolo Bresci
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-94 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Phlegmonous Colitis: Another Source of sepsis in cirrhotic patients?
Version: 3Date:6 October 2009
Reviewer: Angelo Andriulli
Reviewer's report:
No comments at all
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare I have no competing interests.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-94 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Phlegmonous Colitis: Another Source of sepsis in cirrhotic patients?
Version: 3Date:9 October 2009
Reviewer: Elena Migliore
Reviewer's report:
Minor essential revisions: there is a recent case report under reported about
phlegmonous colitis in which the patient underwent an emergency laparotomy;
so the sentence "...to our knowledge, this is the first report of a patient who
underwent surgery for PC..." is not correct.
A fatal case of phlegmonous colitis in chronic hepatitis C receiving combination
interferon and ribavirin therapy. S.H. Pang, 1 K. de Silva, 2 J. Napoli 1 and B.E.
Jones 1. Intern Med J. 2009 Jul;39(7):481-4.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
'I declare that I have no competing interests'
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-93 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:A proposal for a new clinical classification of chronic pancreatitis
Version: 2Date:8 August 2009
Reviewer: Tobias Keck
Reviewer's report:
The authors in their reply and revised form of the manuscript have fulfilled all
questions raised in the review. I do not have any futher comments or revisions on
the manuscript.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-92 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:The effect of enteral and parenteral feeding on secretion of orexigenic
peptides in infants
Version: 3Date:19 August 2009
Reviewer: Mylene Perreault
Reviewer's report:
1- The quality of the written English still needs to be addressed:
Background: “The breast feeding of newborns and infants declines a risk of
overweight since the second year, improves lipid profile and lowers blood
pressure in the further life [25-28,]. Likely, way of feeding alters gut-brain axis
and generates short and long time differences in the development.” Should be
changed to: “Breast feeding newborns and infants improves lipid profile and
lowers blood pressure in later life and decreases the risk of developing obesity
[25-28]. Likely, the way of feeding alters the gut-brain axis and generates short
and long term differences in the infant development.
Background: “Fasting and postprandial levels of ghrelin and OXA in plasma in
nursed
infants, infants fed with milk formula, babies maintaining on a hypoallergic, highly
hydrolyzed diet as well as in children on the total parenteral nutrition determined
in this study contribute to that problem.” Should be changed to: “Fasting and
postprandial plasma levels of ghrelin and OXA in nursed infants, formula-fed
infants, babies maintained on a hypoallergic highly hydrolyzed diet or children on
total parenteral nutrition were determined in this study.”
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-92 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:The effect of enteral and parenteral feeding on secretion of orexigenic
peptides in infants
Version: 3Date:3 September 2009
Reviewer: Thomas Brzozowski
Reviewer's report:
The revised paper by Tomasik and Sztefko (MS#6611376022661382) was
generally corrected according to my critical comment suggested to the Authors
and I am satisfied with this changes made to the MS in its revised version. Both,
the Reviewer and Authors agree that conclusion from this study that fasting and
postprandial ghrelin and orexin plasma concentrations is affected by highly
hydrolyzed diet may influence the development of parenteral fed children should
be further investigated.
There are still couple of minor mistakes that need to be corrected, possibly at the
stage of editorial proccess: page 1, peak vale or peak value, page 1, icv, this
abbreviation should be disclosed, References: breast-feeding or breastfeeding,
references #24, #36, please, do not capitalize letters
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-91 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Plasma disappearance rate of Indocyanine green is a prognostic indicator
in acute liver failure
Version: 1Date:6 September 2009
Reviewer: William Bernal
Reviewer's report:
Major Compulsory Revisions
The study is by necessity limited by its small size and by the number of
non-transplanted deaths. One cannot assume that all those transplanted would
have died as survival in this group may be >15% and consequently test
performance may be inferior to that stated. This should be emphasised in the text
and statistics for test performance should also state the 95% confidence
intervals.
The authors should also consult the STARD initiative
(http://www.stard-statement.org/) to formalise their report as with a few minor
changes and supplemental data it could conform to this important programme.
Discussion
I think reference 16 is the wrong one and should be -
Fulminant hepatic failure secondary to acetaminophen poisoning: a systematic
review and meta-analysis of prognostic criteria determining the need for liver
transplantation
Bailey, B. et al
Critical Care Medicine 2003 31(1);299-305
Assessing the performance of the Kings College Criteria in this study is
impossible as if it was the means by which transplant candidates were selected.
This should be stated in text.
- Minor Essential Revisions
Introduction
‘It does not represent liver blood flow.’ Surely ‘It does not represent liver blood
flow alone’ would be more accurate.
Results
‘The only clear correlation obtained was between ICG-PDR and meld score..’
This is imprecise language and a little surprising. Given the strong correlation
with MELD it’s odd that there was no correlation with any of its component
variables. These data should be presented. How did ICG-PDR correlate with
blood lactate?
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare I have no competeing interests.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-91 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Sensitivity and specificity of plasma disappearance rate of indocyanine
green as a prognostic indicator in acute liver failure
Version: 2Date:30 October 2009
Reviewer: Daniel Inderbitzin
Reviewer's report:
All my comments were adequately addressed.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
'I declare that I have no competing interests'
Daniel
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-90 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Polymorphism in the oxytocin promoter region in patients with lactose
intolerance is not related to symptomatology
Version: 1Date:22 August 2009
Reviewer: Michele Di Stefano
Reviewer's report:
This paper evaluates a putative effect on lactose intolerance symptoms of the
polymorphism in the oxitocin promoter region. The Authors conclude that the
polymorphism does not play a pathophysiological role in this condition. The
paper is an interesting one, as the link between oxitocin and GI motility was
reported. Accordingly, the results of this paper may add something to our
understanding of the pathophysiology of functional GI symptoms.
Major compulsory revisions
1. The Authors should explain why they chose to study patients with lactose
malabsorption.
2. Moreover, they should indicate the final diagnosis of lactose tolerant patients
and, in the portion of this group suffering from functional GI disorders, they
should indicate whether the prevalence of the SNPs showed any differences.
3. Given the relationship between estrogen and oxitocin, female results should
be presented according to age and differences between males and females
should also be searched for.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
'I declare that I have no competing interests'
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-90 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Polymorphism in the oxytocin promoter region in patients with lactose
intolerance is not related to symptomatology
Version: 1Date:31 August 2009
Reviewer: Faiqa Imtiaz
Reviewer's report:
This paper is written clearly and objectively.
Although the authors are addressing and reporting on experimental analysis on a
number of known SNPs in a single hormone, I believe that the results and
implications are of importance to those in the same field.
In addition, the authors found significant differences in genotype frequencies of a
SNP in the promoter region in patients with lactose intolerance whose role is still
unclear, suggests that in the future, further investigation may be warranted of this
gene and it's function.
Major Essential Revisions:
None
Minor Essential Revisisions
1. Introduction- please correct the word 'previosuly' to previously.
2. Please italicize OXTR throughout the manuscript.
Discretionary Revisions
1. Perhaps as a next step, the authors may sequence the entire OXT promoter
region and OXTR gene in a number of patients with lactose intolerance as to
possibly identify novel SNPs?
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
'I declare that I have no competing interests'
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-90 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Polymorphism in the oxytocin promoter region in patients with lactase
non-persistence is not related to symptoms
Version: 2Date:2 November 2009
Reviewer: Michele Di Stefano
Reviewer's report:
The Authors gave the requested explanation and improved the quality of the
paper.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
'I declare that I have no competing interests'
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-90 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Polymorphism in the oxytocin promoter region in patients with lactase
non-persistence is not related to symptoms
Version: 2Date:11 November 2009
Reviewer: Irma Jarvela
Reviewer's report:
The article has been improved a lot.
I have some minor comments:
1. The paper by Bernardes-Silva CF, Pereira AC, de Fátima Alves da Mota G,
Krieger JE, Laudanna AA.Lactase persistence/non-persistence variants,
C/T_13910 and G/A_22018, as a diagnostic tool for lactose intolerance in IBS
patients. Clin Chim Acta. 2007 Nov-Dec;386(1-2):7-11 is closely related to this
work but not mentioned in the manuscript. I recommend the authors to refer to
this paper.
2. Ref #22 is old. Recently, more variants have been found to be candidates of
lactase persistence/non-persistence. See publications:
Tishkoff SA, Reed FA, Ranciaro A, Voight BF, Babbitt CC, Silverman JS, Powell
K, Mortensen HM, Hirbo JB, Osman M, Ibrahim M, Omar SA, Lema G, Nyambo
TB, Ghori J, Bumpstead S, Pritchard JK, Wray GA, Deloukas P. Convergent
adaptation of human lactase persistence in Africa and Europe. Nat Genet 2007;
39: 31-40.
Ingram CJE, Elamin FF, Mulcare CA, Weale ME, Tarekegn A, Raga TO, Bekele
E, Elamin FM, Thomas MG, Bradman N, Swallow DM. A novel polymorphism
associated with lactose tolerance in Africa: multiple causes for lactase
persistence? Hum Genet 2007; 120: 779-88.
Jarvela I, Torniainen S, Kolho KL. Molecular genetics of human lactase
deficiencies. Ann Med. 2009 Jul 28:1-8. [Epub ahead of print]
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-89 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:What are the implications of the spontaneous spleno-renal shunts in liver
cirrhosis?
Version: 2Date:23 September 2009
Reviewer: Stephen Harrison
Reviewer's report:
This is an excellent study. I have but two minor comments.
1. What was the length of cirrhosis in the cohort and did this impact the findings?
2. What are the limitations of this study? These should be discussed.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-89 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:What are the implications of the spontaneous spleno-renal shunts in liver
cirrhosis?
Version: 3Date:23 October 2009
Reviewer: Simon Taylor-Robinson
Reviewer's report:
The authors have made suitable changes for the most part.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-88 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Supplementation with vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) in diabetic rats: effects
on the proximal colon
Version: 1Date:1 June 2009
Reviewer: Cheng Juei-Tang
Reviewer's report:
Antioxidant substances as vitamin E seem important in the reduction of the
neurological damages caused by DM. The aim of this study was to evaluate if the
vitamin E (#-tocopherol) in different concentrations perform any effects over the
morphology of the intestinal wall and intrinsic innervation in the proximal colon of
diabetic rats. Rats in diabetic or not were supplemented with vitamin E (0.1%)
and (2%), respectively. Authors found that this supplementation of vitamin E
significantly reduced glycemia and the values of the glycated hemoglobin and
preserved the number of myenteric neurons for animals in diabetic rats, without
effects for the intestine area, thickness of intestinal wall and muscular tunic. It
seems interesting and helpful. But some of the points as follows shall be
concerned.
1. Penis vein was used to inject the streptozotocin (STZ). Is this really? What is
the background you followed? The method in reference 27th did not show this
way.
2. This result is obtained from the reduction of blood sugar or not. Please make
sure of this.
3. Direct effect of vitamin E on neurogeneration in cultured cell will be helpful to
support this finding. Please add the reference(s).
4. The histological pictures in figures shall be improved.
5. What is the difference of this from previous reports such as reference 22 or
26? Please discuss this in detail.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-88 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Supplementation with vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) in diabetic rats: effects
on the proximal colon
Version: 1Date:4 June 2009
Reviewer: MC C SABU
Reviewer's report:
Major Compulsory Revisions
1. Page 5; What is the content of Standardized chow and how it differ from
balanced chow and patronized chow.
2.If there is difference between the chow; Why the author used standardized
chow for the group D alone. How one can compare the different feed groups in
one experiment. If so where is the control group for each type feeds.
3.Since the drug was added to the patronized chow, How the author confirmed
the induvidual rats per group consumed the specified dose of the test drug
4.For supporting the dose consumption, whether the author checked the daily
food consumption. Clarify how the 5 rats per group divided their drug mixed
patronized chow based on their body weight and dose level
5. Page 8; in the result the author mentioned the typical clinic manifestations of
the disease were measured. But it was not mentioned in the method as well as in
tables. In Table 1. it is not mentioned the initial body weight, glucose level and
other important datas for polyphagia, polydipsia and polyuria
6.Figure 3; The author showed only normal and diabetic animal
Photomicrography of the proximal colon. Why the treatment groups
photomicrography is not included
7.In Table 1, The glycemia level of group DE1 is more than group D. Explain the
possibility of increasing blood glucose after drug treatment
Minor Essential Revisions
1. Please check the spelling of Heart punction (Page 6), embebbed (page 7),
Figura 1 (page 8)
2. Reference has to be formatted as per journal rule. Some corrections I am
pointing below a) After author names do not use (.) and use (:)
b) Do not use et al. Write all author names
c) After journal name use (,)
d) Page number should be written in full
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-88 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Supplementation with vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) in diabetic rats: effects
on the proximal colon
Version: 1Date:9 June 2009
Reviewer: Ernest Adeghate
Reviewer's report:
The manuscript entitled “Supplementation with vitamin E (#-tocopherol) in
diabetic rats: effects on the proximal colon” by Roldi et al. examined the effect of
vitamin E on the morphology and neurons of the proximal colon.
Major Compulsory Revisions
One of the major stated aims of the manuscript was to examine the effect of
vitamin E on the myenteric neurons in the proximal colon. At least a micrograph
of the sections of the colon of normal and diabetic rats, stained with Giemsa and
showing the neurons counted should be included in the figures. Since Giemsa
stain is non-specific, a more neuron specific antibody such as NSE can be used
to stain for enteric neurons.
How uniform were the neurons in terms of their size? The increase in the area of
neurons in the diabetic group should be explained. Previous studies showed a
decrease in the size of enteric neurons after long-term STZ-induced diabetes
(Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 60: 1172–1179, 2003).
More information should be given regarding the way the glucose values obtained.
Was the glucose measured in plasma, serum or whole blood? From which site
was the blood taken? The blood glucose values presented in Table 1, should
also be critically reviewed. Normal rat with and without vitamin E (0.2%)
treatment have glucose values of 178.2 and 147.2 mg/dl, respectively. These
values are way above the cut-off point for normoglycaemia (126 mg/dl).
The reason why the glycosylated haemoglobin value of rats in group DE1 with a
blood glucose level of 525.2 mg/dl for 120 days remained close to normal should
also be explained.
Minor comments
English language: The language of the manuscript should be thoroughly revised
to enable comprehension of the issues raised.
Title page
Since all authors belong to one single Department, there is no need to classify
the affiliation.
Add “Brazil” after “University of Maringa”
Methods
Page 5, paragraph 1, line 1: “Albine” should read “Albino”
Why was 35 mg/Kg body weight used?
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-88 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Supplementation with vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) in diabetic rats: effects
on the proximal colon
Version: 2Date:28 July 2009
Reviewer: Cheng Juei-Tang
Reviewer's report:
The present study used a method that was not applied in general to inject the
streptzotocin. Also, the dose was lower than others. It seems hard to reproduce
this method. Thus, the scientific view is not marked.
Level of interest: An article of insufficient interest to warrant publication in a
scientific/medical journal
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-88 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Supplementation with vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) in diabetic rats: effects
on the proximal colon
Version: 2Date:14 August 2009
Reviewer: MC C SABU
Reviewer's report:
Major Compulsory Revisions
1. The author has not corrected the term Balanced, Padronized and
Standardized chow to common term “Padronized chow” in the text as they
replyed
2. What is the initial body weight of animals used? What is the rational of Vitamin
E 900 mg/animals administration for long term animal experiments? What is the
LD50 of Vitamin E. Give any reference for the high dose of Vitamin E treatment.
3. There is no use of showing only the normal and diabetic group
photomicrographies (Fig 3). It is important to include the photomicrographies for
other treatment groups also. Or else the author omits the fig 3, from the text.
4. If the experiment of the typical clinical manifestations has been already carried
out in the author’s laboratory and confirmed with their earlier data, then why the
author repeated the measurement in this study. It is not necessary to mention in
the discussion section (1st para) too. It is important to include the data for long
term study.
5. From the author’s report the low dose of Vitamin E treatment is not effective
(glycemia and glycated haemoglobin level) when compared with diabetic group
(Table 1). The values are not just a numeric difference (as author said) and
eventhough it is not significant both the values are higher than diabetic control
group. The data is not agreeable.Or it mean the 0.1% of Vit E is not having action
on diabetic rats.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-88 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Supplementation with vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) in diabetic rats: effects
on the proximal colon
Version: 2Date:17 August 2009
Reviewer: Ernest Adeghate
Reviewer's report:
Major compulsory revision:
None required
Minor essential revision:
Spelling and grammatical mistakes should be corrected
Discretionary Revisions:
None
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
'I declare that I have no competing interests'
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-87 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Distribution of Helicobacter pylori virulence markers in patients with
gastroduodenal diseases in Pakistan
Version: 1Date:12 June 2009
Reviewer: Tamara Vorobjova
Reviewer's report:
Minor Essential Revisions
1.In “Material and methods” (p. 5) it would be important to present the
characteristics of studied cancer patients (localization of tumour - in antrum? in
corpus?) and the type of adenocarcinoma (intestinal, diffuse?).
2.It should be necessary to analyse the distribution of vacA alles in different
group of cancer patients, especially taking into account the importance and
frequency of vacA type i1 in gastric cancer group (84%) (p.9 and Table 2).
3.The Conclusion in the end of paper should be written more clearly.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I have no competing interests
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-87 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Distribution of Helicobacter pylori virulence markers in patients with
gastroduodenal diseases in Pakistan
Version: 2Date:12 October 2009
Reviewer: Peter Malfertheiner
Reviewer's report:
The authors have addressed all points except one. Data of statistical evaluation
for the correlation analyses of inflammatory scores (Fig. 1, 2) needs to be
presented to provid eevidence for significant differences.
Minor issue:
On page 8 (paragraph "correlation of H. pxlori genotypes ...") please exchange
"Table 2" for "Table 1"
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, and I have assessed the statistics in my report.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-86 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Systematic Investigation of gastrointestinal diseases in China (SILC):
validation of survey methodology
Version: 1Date:9 June 2009
Reviewer: Mattijs E Numans
Reviewer's report:
This is an interesting description of the methodology and first results of a large
survey on UPPER GI disease (although the title suggests that more than upper
GI disease might seriously be involved) combining information from
questionnaires as well as from endoscopy and lab results from the open
population. Essentially the main study is on GERD and it would be better to be
clearer about that and be more focused. It is very interesting that a large part of
the population was willing to be exposed to upper GI endoscopy and biopsies
without an indication. Overall the response rates are remarkably high.
The methodology followed seems sound to me. However, representing a more
general medical reading audience, I have difficulties with originality and
relevance of results and conclusions from this study published in this stage.
Level of interest: An article of limited interest
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Declaration of competing interests:
I have advized on research and development of the RDQ for AstraZeneca
Sweden.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-86 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Systematic Investigation of gastrointestinal diseases in China (SILC):
validation of survey methodology
Version: 1Date:20 August 2009
Reviewer: Fabio Pace
Reviewer's report:
The paper is interesting, well done and can be published as it is.
I have no criticism or suggestions at all.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, and I have assessed the statistics in my report.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests' below
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-85 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:A prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel-group
dual site trial to evaluate the effects of a Bacillus coagulans-based product on
functional intestinal gas symptoms
Version: 3Date:14 August 2009
Reviewer: Carl J Lombard
Reviewer's report:
The description of the experimental design of the study has been improved.
In the abstract the p-value for the GSRS total score is given as p=.055. From the
text and table 2 this should be p=.048.
There is no descriptive information on four of the scores for which an efficacy
analysis was done. SODA: Non-pain symtoms score, satisdaction score, SF
36v2 Physical and Mental components. As a minimum the baseline values in
each arm should be given. Allthough not significant this information will be useful
as planning information for other studies
The recommendation of doing a profile analysis over time (weks 2 and 4 with
week 0 as covariate) still stands. The authors make a comments on the large
within-group variability over time but ignores the potential of doing an analysis
that will offset this. One can still report the efficacy at 4 weeks as required by the
protocl but the standard errors used for this comparison will have the benefit of
the extra information contained in the 2 week measurement. From the details in
the manuscript the 2 week measurements were done in the same way as at 4
weeks and with the same rigor.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, and I have assessed the statistics in my report.
Declaration of competing interests:
'I declare that I have no competing interests'
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-85 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:A prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel-group
dual site trial to evaluate the effects of a Bacillus coagulans-based product on
functional intestinal gas symptoms
Version: 3Date:18 August 2009
Reviewer: Sutep Gonlachanvit
Reviewer's report:
The authors appropriately revised the manuscript.
Only one minor comment:
1. The data on the duration of patients's symptoms before they were recruited
into the study is missing. Since criteria for most function GI disorders include long
duration of symptoms >3 months. Provide this information will help to convince
the readers regarding the functional in nuture of patients' condition.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-9-84 (2009)

Reviewer's report
Title:Effects of esomeprazole treatment for gastroesophageal reflux disease on
quality of life in 12- to 17-year-old adolescents: an international health outcomes
study
Version: 1Date:16 April 2009
Reviewer: Fabio Pace
Reviewer's report:
The paper is interesting, on a relatively little investigated issue.
The study is well conducted, with appropriate analysis.
The text is fluent and the discussion complete and updated.