Review for 10.1186/s12876-019-1024-y (2019)

Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Nabilone administration in refractory chronic diarrhea:  a case series  
 
Version: 0 Date: 20 Feb 2019  
 
Reviewer: Maciej Salaga  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
In this article authors present 6 cases of patients suffering from chronic diarrhea treated with a 
synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist nabilone. The manuscript is well written and contains all 
relevant information. This small -scale study shows that, upo n further high -scale investigation, 
nabilone may be used in the treatment chronic diarrhea in cases where conventional interventions 
are not effective. This is a promising preliminary study and a follow up investigation employing 
more patients, randomizati on, proper blinding and larger cohort of patients is desirable.  
 
 
I only have minor comments:  
 
1. Introduction: frequent use of cannabis leads to dependence mainly at the psychological 
level and is associated with psychosis hence authors statement that "…propaganda that cannabis 
was a drug of addiction, associated with psychosis…" has to be rephrase d/removed.  
 
2. Authors should use "GI" instead of "gastrointestinal" throughout the manuscript after 
they use this abbreviation for the first time in the Background section of the manuscript.  
 
3. List of abbreviations has to be proofread since some typograph ic errors are present.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please spe cify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Unable to assess  
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Unable to assess  
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data show n? 
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an  
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further  
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
Not relevant to this manuscript  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscr ipt: 
 
Needs some language corrections before being published  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, fund ing, or salary from an  
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this  
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose  
financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the  
manuscript?  
 
4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that  
holds  or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript?  
 
5. Do you have any other financial competing interests?  
 
6. Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relation to this paper?  
If you can answer no to all of the above, w rite 'I declare that I have no competing interests' 
below.  If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
I declare that I have no competing interests.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. I understand that my name will be include d 
on my report to the authors and, if the manuscript is accepted for publication, my named report  
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the website along with the authors'  
responses. I agree for my report to be made available under an Open Access Creative Commons  
CC-BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). I understand that any comments  
which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be included as  confidential comments  
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal