JerMa88/BMC_Gastroenterology_Peer_Reviews huggingface dataset:
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02444-1 (2022)

Title: Indocyanine green fluorescence imaging localization-assisted thoracoscopy revision
surgery after repair of esophageal atresia
Version: 2 Date: 07 Jun 2022
Reviewer:  Stefaan H. A. J. Tytgat
Reviewer's report:
In this publication, the authors describe how they were able to clearly visualize recurrent trachea-
esophageal fistulae (rTEF) after esophageal atresia (EA) repair. Prior to the thoracoscopic rTEF
correction an indocyanine green (ICG) solution is sprayed in the fistula under bronchoscopic
guidance. With subsequent fluorescence imaging during the thoracoscopic dissection, the rTEF
can be identified and extensive dissection can be avoided.
Surgery for rTEF can be cumbersome, due to strong adhesions and local scar tissue formation.
Also identifying the rTEF and finding the plane between the trachea and the proximal esophagus
can be challenging, even for experienced surgeons. I believe that the suggested ICG fluorescence
rTEF identification could really be of help.
Stefaan Tytgat
University Medical Center Utrecht
The Netherlands
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02444-1 (2022)

Title: Indocyanine green fluorescence imaging localization-assisted thoracoscopy revision
surgery after repair of esophageal atresia
Version: 3 Date: 23 Jun 2022
Reviewer:  Stefaan H. A. J. Tytgat
Reviewer's report:
In this publication, the authors describe how they were able to clearly visualize recurrent trachea-
esophageal fistulae (rTEF) after esophageal atresia (EA) repair. Prior to the thoracoscopic rTEF
correction an indocyanine green (ICG) solution is sprayed in the fistula under bronchoscopic
guidance. With subsequent fluorescence imaging during the thoracoscopic dissection, the rTEF
can be identified and extensive dissection can be avoided.
Surgery for rTEF can be cumbersome, due to strong adhesions and local scar tissue formation.
Also identifying the rTEF and finding the plane between the trachea and the proximal esophagus
can be challenging, even for experienced surgeons. I believe that the suggested ICG fluorescence
rTEF identification could really be of help.
I have some comments:
- Background:
I don’t think that delayed primary closure should be considered a complication of EA repair
- rTEF operation
Please describe clearly how much ICG fluid is sprayed into the fistula, how much was it diluted
with sterile water? How was it sprayed into the fistula?
What tissue was used to create two separate layers of pedicle flaps?
Delayed esophageal closure: Please ad:   …after earlier failure of primary anastomosis
How is the ICG infused into the distal pouch?
One patient with a recurrence of the rTEF was treated conservatively and temporarily….. please
explain?
- Discussion
ICG skin tests were performed because the agent contained iodine…
Please describe the test in the Materials and Methods section
Much of the ICG was suctioned? How was this done? In what stage of the surgery? Please
describe this in the Materials and Methods section
Do the authors advocate the use of a guidewire for identification of the rTEF? Or should this
extra procedure be abandoned?
References:
Ref 5: undefined? Should be (9)…
Ref 13: please delete ref 9…..
Figures:
Figure 1
Can you flip the images, with the posterior wall at the lower end of the picture?
Figure 2
Please describe how the image is made? E.g. thoracoscopic view with- or without fluorescence,
and indicate on each image what is esophagus and what is trachea
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02444-1 (2022)

Title: Indocyanine green fluorescence imaging localization-assisted thoracoscopy revision
surgery after repair of esophageal atresia
Version: 3 Date: 27 Jun 2022
Reviewer:  Rony Sfeir
Reviewer's report:
The authoirs took in consideartions all my comments and modified the text when needed
I accept this paper for publication
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02444-1 (2022)

Title: Indocyanine green fluorescence imaging localization-assisted thoracoscopy revision
surgery after repair of esophageal atresia
Version: 4 Date: 17 Jul 2022
Reviewer:  Rony Sfeir
Reviewer's report:
The authors awswered point by point to previous comments.
I  recommand publication
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02458-9 (2022)

Title: Awareness and treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B in Malaysia- findings from a community-
based screening campaign
Version: 1 Date: 21 Mar 2022
Reviewer's report:
This is a straightforward study highlighting a very important gap in the care cascade of hepatitis
B in Malaysia. Kudos to the authors!
That being said, there are some suggested edits that would strengthen this manuscript:
Abstract - HBV is an abbreviation for Hepatitis B Virus, so it is important to include that word
here.
Results – Their prevalence date suggests only a 2% positivity rate, that is surprising. I thought
it would be higher! Does this prevalence reflect the overall prevalence in Malaysia? It would be
good to address this in a sentence or two in the discussion section.
It would be a good addition to add a table to go along with these results, or a figure describing
the care cascade, with these numbers.
You mention standard deviation and confidence intervals in the abbreviations below. Did you
do any data analysis to look for correlates of infection awareness and antiviral treatment – if you
did, it would be good to describe those methods in the methods section and those results here
(with significance, p-values, confidence intervals). It would be very helpful to know who was
more likely to be aware of their infection (independent variables of age, gender, etc) and who
was more likely to be on antiviral treatment. If you didn’t do that level of analysis, that is fine,
but then you should remove those terms from the abbreviation list.
Discussion - Do the authors have knowledge of where the biggest gaps are, and what strategies
could help improve the cascade? What would be the next step(s) that the authors suggest in order
to improve the current situation? A few concrete steps would be an important call to action for
researchers, advocates and decision makers.
Abbreviations –
The term “confidence interval” is not found in the manuscript.
The term “Non-Governmental Organizations” is not found in the manuscript.
The term “point of care tests” is not found in the manuscript.
The term “standard deviation” is not found in the manuscript.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02400-z (2022)

Title: The upregulation of stromal antigen 3 expression suppresses the phenotypic hallmarks
of hepatocellular carcinoma through the Smad3-CDK4/CDK6-cyclin D1 and CXCR4/RhoA
pathways
Version: 2 Date: 17 Mar 2022
Reviewer's report:
The manuscript by Zhao et al. reports the effect of STAG3 on hepatocellular carcinoma. Even
though the manuscript described an interesting story. However, I have some problems to improve
the manuscript, as follows:
1. In figure 1A, low expression of STAG3 in hepatocytes and high level of STAG3 in liver non-
parenchymal cells of both para-carcinoma tissues and cancer tissues.
2. The data of transfection efficiency (Figure 1F-G) should be put in Figure 2.
3. In this manuscript, STAG3 suppresses the proliferation, migration and invasion of hepatoma
cells. Meanwhile, STAG3 induces apoptosis of hepatoma cells. That is to say, the effect of
STAG3 on hepatoma cells is various. Why the authors investigate the mechanism about the cell
cycle-related pathway?
4. In figure 5A-B, the data of transfection efficiency should be added.
5. The localization of STAG3 is in the nuclei of liver non-parenchymal cells (Figure 1A). In
figure 2-5, the authors investigate the effect of STAG3 in HCC cell lines. The authors should
explain the mechanism of non-parenchymal cell-derived STAG3 affecting the proliferation,
migration, invasion, apoptosis of hepatocytes.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02400-z (2022)

Title: The upregulation of stromal antigen 3 expression suppresses the phenotypic hallmarks
of hepatocellular carcinoma through the Smad3-CDK4/CDK6-cyclin D1 and CXCR4/RhoA
pathways
Version: 2 Date: 27 Mar 2022
Reviewer:  Alex Boye
Reviewer's report:
1. The title “Upregulated stromal antigen 3 suppresses the biological behaviors of hepatocellular
carcinoma by regulating the cell cycle pathway “needs slight modification, e.g., it can read as
“Upregulated stromal antigen 3 suppresses Phenotypic Hallmarks of hepatocellular carcinoma
through Smad3-CDK4/CDK6-cyclin D1 and CXCR4/RhoA pathways “. It will be more
appropriate to mention the specific cell cycle pathway in the title.
2. The abstract has a solid background but lacks aim or objective. Authors should add a sentence
stating the objective of the study.
3. Review keywords by deleting biological behaviors. Rather include specific biological
behaviors.
4. Introduction – second sentence needs improvement.
5. “chromosomal meiosis abnormalities “should read as “chromosomal abnormalities”
6. Authors should avoid use of “we, our, us etc”, e.g., we found that the expression of STAG3,
our study showed that overexpression of STAG3, We obtained HCC tissue, We used the, we
scratched a wound,
7. Not clear “The Ethics Committee of Bengbu Medical College [2017] No. 020 approved this
project. “
8. Fig. 2 A – the y-axis (vertical axis) needs to be properly described, e.g., the optical density
should be expressed in nanometers (nm).
9. Fig. 2 B – semi-quantitative figure should express the colonogenic cell numbers as Colony
Forming Units per milliliter (CFU/mL).
10. Fig. 3 A, B and C – y-axis of the semi-quantitative subfigures should be properly defined,
e.g., migration rate, cell number of migration etc need to be improved
11. Fig. 4 C and D – Y- axis should read as tumor volume (mm3) and tumor weight (g)
respectively.
12. Authors should explain how domain (Smad3C or Smad3L)-specific phosphorylation of
Smad3 regulate progression of HCC.
13. In the discussion, authors should avoid overuse of “in our study”
14. Discussion generally needs to be improved.
15. “ (TGFb)/Smad3“ should be changed to “(TGF-#)/Smad3“ throughout manuscript.
16. Improve “Some studies indicate that the CXCR4 inhibitor induces the apoptosis of acute
myeloid leukemia blasts by downregulating cyclin D1, ERK and Bcl-2 via altered miR-15a/16-1
expression [32].“
17. In-text citations and reference list need to be reconcile
18. Some references are not validated, e.g., refs 15 and 24.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02400-z (2022)

Title: The upregulation of stromal antigen 3 expression suppresses the phenotypic hallmarks
of hepatocellular carcinoma through the Smad3-CDK4/CDK6-cyclin D1 and CXCR4/RhoA
pathways
Version: 4 Date: 09 May 2022
Reviewer:  Alex Boye
Reviewer's report:
Dear Editor,
Authors have improved the manuscript but the following minor issues are outstanding:
1. Fig. 1E, check spelling of log rank
2. Fig. 2 – Is STAG3-OE the same as OE? Check to correct in all affected subfigures.
3. Chromosome is chromosome and meiosis is meiosis. Chromosome is the genetic material
in the nucleus which undergoes changes to reflect each of the stages of meiosis, which is a
type of cell division occurring in germ cells of sexually reproducing organisms. So the term
chromosomal meiosis needs to be clarified and contextualized.
4. Language needs to be improved further.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02400-z (2022)

Title: The upregulation of stromal antigen 3 expression suppresses the phenotypic hallmarks
of hepatocellular carcinoma through the Smad3-CDK4/CDK6-cyclin D1 and CXCR4/RhoA
pathways
Version: 5 Date: 12 Jun 2022
Reviewer:  Alex Boye
Reviewer's report:
Authors have significantly improved the revised manuscript per the previous comments, and
this has improved the scientific rigor and ease of reading. I have no more comments.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02400-z (2022)

Title: The upregulation of stromal antigen 3 expression suppresses the phenotypic hallmarks
of hepatocellular carcinoma through the Smad3-CDK4/CDK6-cyclin D1 and CXCR4/RhoA
pathways
Version: 5 Date: 22 Jun 2022
Reviewer's report:
The revised manuscript is improved, and I think it is an interesting work.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02456-x (2022)

Title: Serum and Salivary Tissue Transglutaminase IGA (tTG-IGA) Level in Celiac Patients
Version: 1 Date: 09 Jun 2022
Reviewer's report:
I suggest to use CD after the first time Celiac Disease has been quoted.
Why did the authors use pediatric diagnostic criteria to include adult patients? How many of
those have been diagnosed during infancy/childhood so that the guidelines cited are applicable?
Was the level of xerostomia associated to celiac disease age at diagnosis and possibly disease
duration?
Please also indicate how long patients of the study have been on a gluten-free diet since this
might impact on anti-tissue transglutaminase IgA in the saliva
p value should have a p not in capital
In discussion when citing that CD has a wide range of clinical manifestations please cite PMID:
31772571; PMID: 25162363  PMID: 34684612
Since the authors focused on xerostomia, please quickly mention in discussion also other
possible oral manifestation of CD; with this regard, please cite the paper by Amato M PMID:
29207559
Conclusion should be downsized since saliva evalutation has been performed during follow-up
and not at diagnosis.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02456-x (2022)

Title: Serum and Salivary Tissue Transglutaminase IGA (tTG-IGA) Level in Celiac Patients
Version: 1 Date: 16 Jun 2022
Reviewer's report:
- Once you have defined an abbreviation, use it in the whole text (see “celiac disease”)
- Try to explain why, in the Introduction, CD prevalence in Iran seems to be so high
- “The preferred test for detecting CD is IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody (tTG IgA),
which delivers high sensitivity (93%) and specificity (95%).”
Add reference
- “biopsy of the small intestine”
duodenum
- Add in the Introduction the sensibility and specificity of salivary tests
- Why did you use diagnostic criteria of paediatric CD in an adult population?
- How is it possible that CD patients in GFD have positive antibodies anti-tTG?
- “CD manifests itself in a wide range of typical and atypical ways.”
Add a citation (for example: “Pediatric epilepsy and psychiatric comorbidity: could celiac
disease diagnosis improve the outcome? Minerva Pediatr. 2018 Dec;70(6):634-635. doi:
10.23736/S0026-4946.17.05122-2. Epub 2017 Nov 21. PMID: 29160641.”)
- Add the criticisms to your study
- “tTG levels in the blood and saliva of people with celiac disease are higher than those in healthy
individuals.”
CD in DGF ?!
- “Using diagnostic value tests, it was observed that salivary tTG levels can be used in screening
and even as an alternative in the diagnosis of celiac disease.”
You cannot say this because you had not compared with the gold standard of diagnosis, biopsy
- “Patients with celiac disease are also advised to take steps to prevent and treat dry mouth.”
How would they prevent dry mouth?
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02457-w (2022)

Title: Alterations of Liver Enzymes and Lipid Profile in Response to Exhaustive Eccentric
Exercise: Vitamin D supplementation trial in Overweight Females with Non-Alcoholic Fatty
Liver Disease
Version: 3 Date: 11 May 2022
Reviewer's report:
2. In page 3, Please check the sentence “The prevalence of Vit D deficiency in the Vatandoust
et al.  (2018) meta-analysis study was 56%, of which 64% were female and 59.8%  of whom
were over 50 years [17]”.
3. What is purpose of separate research protocol file? Is it going to be a supplementary file? But
majority of information in research protocol file is in main manuscript.
4. In Table 1. “Mean ± SD of anthropometric indices before the intervention among the groups”,
for control group, why the authors included the data from pre 2 and post 2 exercise.
5. In table to please check the statistics for BW, BMI, PFB and WHR.
6. Fig 3, the data in x-axis should be in order, like Pre1, post1, pre2, post 2.
7. Even though, the Vit D or exercise is not improving serum lipid profile, the majority of
discussion is about Vit D and lipid metabolism.
8. Finally, is there any reason to suggest the EEE type exercise to NAFLD patient. Are there
any detail study reports available regarding this EEE in NAFLD patients? If yes, please include
reference.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02457-w (2022)

Title: Alterations of Liver Enzymes and Lipid Profile in Response to Exhaustive Eccentric
Exercise: Vitamin D supplementation trial in Overweight Females with Non-Alcoholic Fatty
Liver Disease
Version: 3 Date: 21 Jun 2022
Reviewer's report:
This study by Rahimpour et al., describes the short-term Vit D supplementation could regulate
the high liver enzymes and lipid profile induced by eccentric exhaustive exercise. In addition,
six-week supplementation of Vit D significantly reduced liver enzymes and lipid profile. Finally,
Vit D supplementation could be recommended to NAFLD patients to reduce liver enzymes
and lipid profile following vigorous activities. I think it still may present an interest for other
researchers. However, there are some questions that need to be addressed.
Background: this part is tedious and hard to follow. These descriptions are occupied too much
spaces; the authors should be written more concisely.
Methods: I suggest that the authors need to indicate the more and clear method which it was
originate from or cited. did you check for normality before using parametrical tests? You have 2
treatment groups: could you please specify in which cases you chose to test them in pairs (t-test)?
Discussion: these descriptions are disorderly. I suggest that the authors need to provide more
references to exhibit the different results in the section.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02457-w (2022)

Title: Alterations of Liver Enzymes and Lipid Profile in Response to Exhaustive Eccentric
Exercise: Vitamin D supplementation trial in Overweight Females with Non-Alcoholic Fatty
Liver Disease
Version: 5 Date: 08 Jul 2022
Reviewer's report:
No further comments.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02457-w (2022)

Title: Alterations of Liver Enzymes and Lipid Profile in Response to Exhaustive Eccentric
Exercise: Vitamin D supplementation trial in Overweight Females with Non-Alcoholic Fatty
Liver Disease
Version: 5 Date: 13 Jul 2022
Reviewer's report:
Even though they corrected the data part, sentences in the background and discussion are not
clear. I think still they need to focus on sentences.
1. In page 3- “The prevalence of Vit D deficiency in the Vatandost et al. (2018) meta-analysis
study was reported as 56% of the total population, 64% of women, and 44 % of men”
They can say like “ according to Vatandost et al. (2018) meta-analysis, the prevalence of Vit D
deficiency in the total population was 56%. Among these Vit D deficiency population, 64% of
people are women, and 44 % are men”
2. In page 3- In general, long-term Vit D supplementation has an anti-fibrotic and anti-
inflammatory role that improves lipid profile and liver enzymes in NAFLD patients [15, 16].
However, few studies have investigated the effect of short-term Vit D supplementation on lipid
profile and liver enzymes alterations following EEE in these patients. Therefore, in this study,
we conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to investigate the effect of short-term Vit D
on the liver enzymes and lipid profile responses to EEE in the overweight female with NAFLD.
I would recommend revising one more time.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02453-0 (2022)

Title: Surgery for acute cholecystitis in severely comorbid patients: A population-based study
on acute cholecystitis
Version: 1 Date: 05 Jul 2022
Reviewer's report:
I would congratulate the authors for providing very important information regarding surgery
for acute cholecystsitis in severe systemic disease from national registry data. Please find my
comments.
1. The issue with registry-based data being heterogeneity and discretion of physician for
cholecystectomy. If a surgeon feels a patient deemed non-suitable for emergency surgery, patient
will be managed conservatively and undergo elective surgery. This is also reflected in the data
provided as patients managed non-operatively were older and sicker. So among ASA III only
those patients underwent emergency surgery who were relatively stable. This issue needs to be
discussed.
2. In the abstract the authors should remove “complicating risk benefit analysis” from the
conclusion as this is not a part of this study.
3. Since ASA groups differ significantly in age, a subgroup analysis of mild and severe
complication on the basis of age (< 65-70 and >65-70) among different ASA group should be
done.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02449-w (2022)

Title: Clinical and imaging features Preoperative evaluation of histological grade and
microvascular infiltration of hepatocellular carcinoma
Version: 1 Date: 01 Jun 2022
Reviewer's report:
To the authors:
“Clinical and imaging features Preoperative evaluation of histological grade and microvascular
infiltration of hepatocellular carcinoma”
My comments are as follows.
1. Please unify the font in Table 3.
2. How did you judge whether liver cirrhosis be present or not?
3. Please show the rationale for setting the cut-off value of AFP to 20and 400 ng/mL.
4. You mentioned “Tumor size, tumor number, HBsAg, capsule, arterial peripheral enhancement
and tumor margin were independent risk factors for predicting MVI. Tumor number, cirrhosis,
capsule and shape are independent risk factors for predicting high-grade HCC”. Which do you
think is better, MVI or HCC grade, to predict the prognosis or recurrence of patients with HCC?
I hope that my comments will be useful in improving the article.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02449-w (2022)

Title: Clinical and imaging features Preoperative evaluation of histological grade and
microvascular infiltration of hepatocellular carcinoma
Version: 1 Date: 08 Jun 2022
Reviewer:  Yutaka Midorikawa
Reviewer's report:
Comment on the manuscript cd04fc8d-4174-46c8-b1aa-5b23a260f89e by Zhang, et al.
Microvascular invasion (MVI) and tumor differentiation grade are one of the poor risk factors
after treatment of HCC. The authors predicted MVI and differentiation grade using MRI before
operation. The concept of the paper is intriguing, however, there are major concerns that need
to be addressed.
There are several questions and suggestions for corrections.
1) It has been reported that MVI and tumor differentiation grade are the predictors for the patients
undergoing resection for HCC. Then, it should be validated that survivals of patient who were
estimated having MVI or poorly differentiated grade were actually shorter compared with those
without MVI or highly differentiated grade HCC. There were no data and discussion from this
point.
2) Patients with multiple tumors were included in this study, however, there was no data about
the total number of tumors. If the patients had multiple tumors, which nodule was analyzed. Or
all tumors were subjects for this study, parameter should be the total number of nodules, not
“175 patients”.
3) Results were redundant, which should be more concise. The data can be understood if readers
see Tables.
4) Why prediction of MVI or tumor differentiation grade are necessary for the candidates
with HCC. If patients were preoperatively diagnosed as having these factors, does it affect the
operative procedures or indication of operation? This should be clearly discussed.
5) “Conclusions” are just a summary of Results. It should be, for example, “Preoperative
enhanced imaging is available to predict MVI and tumor differentiation grade of HCC”.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02449-w (2022)

Title: Clinical and imaging features Preoperative evaluation of histological grade and
microvascular infiltration of hepatocellular carcinoma
Version: 3 Date: 19 Jul 2022
Reviewer:  Yutaka Midorikawa
Reviewer's report:
Comment on the manuscript cd04fc8d-4174-46c8-b1aa-5b23a260f89e by Zhang, et al.
The authors have satisfactorily addressed all my questions.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02451-2 (2022)

Title: Metabolism reprogramming signature associated with stromal cells abundance in tumor
microenvironment improve prognostic risk classification for gastric cancer
Version: 1 Date: 30 Jan 2022
Reviewer:  Hiroaki Kasashima
Reviewer's report:
The work by Huo shows that the risk score which they identified with the metabolic-related
genes in stromal cells predicted the prognosis of GC patients.
This is an interesting study, showing the potential role of metabolism in stromal cells and
interaction with the immune system in gastric cancer. However, this paper lacks a few analyses
and evaluations to support the authors' conclusions.
1. Authors should describe and explain about ESTIMATE algorithm exactly because this is the
first step to identify the risk score which they established in this paper.
2. The datasets analyzed in this paper collected the total RNA from GC samples, and authors
calculated StromalScore. Is there any association between StromalScore and clinicopathological
features?
3. Does The risk score can be applied in the dataset of isolated stromal cells (CAFs etc.) directly
or separated by Laser-microdissection from GC samples?
4. For Immune cells infiltration, the authors should explain the rationale why they introduced
the comparison of the risk score and ICI. Furthermore, the characteristics of each cluster in ICI
and the meaning that cluster C has lowest of the risk score should be addressed.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02451-2 (2022)

Title: Metabolism reprogramming signature associated with stromal cells abundance in tumor
microenvironment improve prognostic risk classification for gastric cancer
Version: 4 Date: 17 Jul 2022
Reviewer:  Hiroaki Kasashima
Reviewer's report:
The author replied to all the concerns I suggested and the manuscript has improved.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02447-y (2022)

Title: Portal flow diversion based on portography is superior than puncture site in the prediction
of overt hepatic encephalopathy after TIPS creation
Version: 2 Date: 19 Jun 2022
Reviewer's report:
In this retrospective  study authors  aimed to describe blood distribution under portography and
combined it with puncture site to determine portal flow diversion, and evaluate its prognostic
value in predicting post-TIPS overt HE.
Authors conclude that useful informations derive from the study  of portal flow diversion for
risk stratification and decision-making in the management of post-TIPS overt HE.
The retrospective nature of the study limits strongly results.  Please discuss.
Detailed informations about overt HE development during follow up are strongly welcome.
For example: precipitants, presence of spontaneous portosystemic shunts, patients under
prophylactic therapy. An informative table could be useful.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02448-x (2022)

Title: Nomogram for predicting rebleeding after initial endoscopic epinephrine injection
monotherapy hemostasis in patients with peptic ulcer bleeding: a retrospective cohort study
Version: 1 Date: 16 Jun 2022
Reviewer's report:
As the authors have stated, EI monotherapy tends to be widely used among patients because of
its accessibility and low expenditure, especially in nontertiary hospitals.
This study is very useful for the differentiation of high-risk patients with acute bleeding, which
is essential for postoperative surveillance.
However, the risk assessment of the patient should not influence the choice of the method of
endoscopic treatment of PUB, and whenever possible  and when indicated combination therapy
should be used regardless of the patient's risk and his general condition.
After bleeding control by EI, the method of definitive hemostasis such as thermal, mechanical or
sclerosant injection should  be used if is possible ( depending on the availability of the method,
familiarity with the method, the skill of the operator).
I think the authors should emphasize this more clearly in the discussion and conclusion
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02448-x (2022)

Title: Nomogram for predicting rebleeding after initial endoscopic epinephrine injection
monotherapy hemostasis in patients with peptic ulcer bleeding: a retrospective cohort study
Version: 1 Date: 02 Jul 2022
Reviewer:  Daisuke Yamaguchi
Reviewer's report:
This paper is an interesting paper that shows a nomogram for predicting rebleeding after initial
endoscopic epinephrine injection monotherapy hemostasis in patients with peptic ulcer bleeding.
Although it is a clinical and interesting paper, I have some comments.
1. As stated by the investigator, many authoritative guidelines recommend combination therapy
using epinephrine injection plus a second hemostasis modality (contact thermal or mechanical
therapy) for patients with actively bleeding ulcers. Epinephrine monotherapy is a treatment of
the past, and the abstract of this paper is generally not advisable. Instead, the investigator should
highlight the risks of epinephrine monotherapy.
2. The exclusion of patients treated with epinephrine combination therapy is a selection bias
of endoscopists in the exclusion criteria. Peptic ulcer patients at high risk of rebleeding were
excluded from the study, so the data cannot be considered accurate. Prospective studies should
be conducted, as retrospective studies have limitations.
3. 25.5% of patients with rebleeding died, which is considered a high rate. Predictive
nomographs on death should also be considered.
4. Please add details of the endoscopist specialists and trainees involved in the study.
5. Please provide endoscopic findings of standard epinephrine monotherapy in Fig.
I hope these comments will be helpful.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02448-x (2022)

Title: Nomogram for predicting rebleeding after initial endoscopic epinephrine injection
monotherapy hemostasis in patients with peptic ulcer bleeding: a retrospective cohort study
Version: 1 Date: 10 Jul 2022
Reviewer's report:
This article focused on the efficiency of EI monotherapy for PUB patients. The authors analyzed
the difference between non-rebleeding and rebleeding cases, risks for rebleeding after initial
endoscopic hemostasis, and made ROC.
This report is possibly valuable in clarifying the real clinical situation under EI monotherapy.
However, there are several vital problems that need to explain or describe more precisely.
1. The authors should adopt Glasgow Blatchford Score (GBS) not Blatchford Score,  because
most recent guidelines recommended GBS.
2.  This retrospective study excluded Forrest Ia patients from the study population. Nevertheless,
the 25.5% of mortality due to rebleeding was quite high than the previous reports. It may contain
several factors such as incomplete endoscopic hemostasis at initial EI monotherapy, bad transfer
to additional surgery or IVR, and missing adequate timing for transfusion. The authors need to
discuss this point deeply.
3. This ROC was not validated and most of the factors were reported in previous prospective
studies, so it may not be necessary to add on the article.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02448-x (2022)

Title: Nomogram for predicting rebleeding after initial endoscopic epinephrine injection
monotherapy hemostasis in patients with peptic ulcer bleeding: a retrospective cohort study
Version: 3 Date: 22 Jul 2022
Reviewer's report:
The authors gave sufficient explanations and the additional figure 5 that was good supportive
evidence for their ROC analysis.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02443-2 (2022)

Title: Establishing correlations between normal pancreatic and submandibular gland ducts
Version: 2 Date: 07 Dec 2021
Reviewer's report:
The authors evaluated the relationship between ductal morphometry and ramification patterns in
the submandibular gland and pancreas in order to validate their common fractal dimension. The
results showed that the length of the main pancreatic duct and submandibular duct correlated
well, while the caliber of the ducts did not, and the number of side branches only partly
correlated. These results provide experimental basis.
The results in this study showed that “The number of MPD side branches (mean=37) correlated
with the number of side branches of left SMD, but not with the right one (mean = 9).” Could the
authors explain the reasons of differences in the different sides?
The section of “Discussion” is too long. It could be shortened.
I suggest that this manuscript might be acceptable for publication after revision.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02443-2 (2022)

Title: Establishing correlations between normal pancreatic and submandibular gland ducts
Version: 2 Date: 09 Mar 2022
Reviewer's report:
1. The authors are suggested to move the content of cases excluded in this study to the methods
parts or supplementary materials, only retain the case results included in the study.
2. The authors are suggested to add section title to facilitate the understanding of the results.
3. The authors should show the n number for figures or tibles.
4. The authors are suggested to add scale bar for figures.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02443-2 (2022)

Title: Establishing correlations between normal pancreatic and submandibular gland ducts
Version: 3 Date: 01 Jul 2022
Reviewer's report:
"PEER REVIEWER ASSESSMENTS:
OBJECTIVE - Full research articles: is there a clear objective that addresses a testable research
question(s) (brief or other article types: is there a clear objective)?
Yes - there is a clear objective
DESIGN - Is the current approach (including controls and analysis protocols) appropriate for
the objective?
Yes - the approach is appropriate
EXECUTION - Are the experiments and analyses performed with technical rigor to allow
confidence in the results?
No - there are minor issues
STATISTICS - Is the use of statistics in the manuscript appropriate?
Yes - appropriate statistical analyses have been used in the study
INTERPRETATION - Is the current interpretation/discussion of the results reasonable and not
overstated?
Yes - the author's interpretation is reasonable
OVERALL MANUSCRIPT POTENTIAL - Is the current version of this work technically
sound? If not, can revisions be made to make the work technically sound?
Probably - with minor revisions
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS:
GENERAL COMMENTS:
The overall impact of study is reasonably good. Authors have conducted exploratory evaluation
between relationship of two glands in preview of involvement in autoimmune disorders.
The research question and knowledge gap are lucid and methodology section is well described.
Images are well presented.
Major issue: 1. lack of data : age, height, weight, nutritional status. These attributes are covariates
for morphometric evaluation of organ. Most of the time we can find spurious correlation.
Minor issues: 1. Language is not up to the mark. editing is required.
2. Discussion could be shortened.
REQUESTED REVISIONS:
The study was already completed and authors have mentioned that they are unable to capture
the data of subject characteristics. The execution issue can only be corrected if authors could
collect data of subject characteristics: age, height and weight and re-analysed the relationship.
ADDITIONAL REQUESTS/SUGGESTIONS:
At least language editing required."
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02429-0 (2022)

Title: Mortality and complications after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, a retrospective
multicentre study
Version: 1 Date: 13 May 2022
Reviewer:  Debashis Misra
Reviewer's report:
Congratulations  to the authors for selecting a pertinent topic and the lucid write up.
Would like to know the response from the authors  regarding
1.  if any death was the outcome of major complications such as aspiration pneumonia, organ
damage, peritonitis
2. the explanation of higher BMI  associated with lower 90 day mortality
3. what diameter of PEG tube was used and if different diameters were associated with in
difference of minor complications
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02429-0 (2022)

Title: Mortality and complications after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, a retrospective
multicentre study
Version: 3 Date: 22 Jun 2022
Reviewer:  Shigenori Masaki
Reviewer's report:
All reviewer comments have been addressed appropriately. I would like to pay tribute to the
sincere efforts of the authors.
However, this manuscript needs one more correction.
Background
“Since PEG was first introduced, two different methods have evolved: the insertion method
and the pull method (also known as Gauderer-Ponsky) (2). With the insertion method, the
gastrostomy tube is pushed through the abdominal wall into the ventricle using an introducer kit
while the ventricle is endoscopically inflated with gas.”
Comment: My previous comment " 'surgical methods' should be rewritten as simply 'methods'
or 'insertion methods' " may have been caused misunderstandings and confusion for the authors.
I am sorry but the authors should revise "insertion method" to "introducer method" throughout
the manuscript including Table 1 and Table 3. The authors’ insertion method is generally called
introducer method. The authors can see the difference between the pull method, the push method
and the introducer method in the “PREPARATION - insertion technique” section of the paper
below:
Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy: indications, technique, complications and management.
Rahnemai-Azar AA, Rahnemaiazar AA, Naghshizadian R, Kurtz A, Farkas DT.
World J Gastroenterol. 2014 Jun 28;20(24):7739-51.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02437-0 (2022)

Title: Association of serum creatinine with hepatic steatosis and fibrosis: a cross-sectional study
Version: 2 Date: 17 May 2022
Reviewer's report:
In the present manuscript the authors report the results of a large cross-sectional study
investigating the association between hepatic steatosis, hepatic fibrosis and serum creatinine
levels in a sample of Chinese individuals referred to a single center for routine check-up. The
manuscript is well-written and easy to follow.
I have the following comments:
1. The Authors use the term hepatic steatosis. I believe that more efforts should be put into
identifying whether this is nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, alcoholic liver disease or some other
form of liver disease. Do you have information on alcohol intake? Did you exclude participants
with known viral hepatitis or known advanced chronic liver disease?
2. Since creatinine is also dependent on muscle mass, do you have any data on physical activity
in these subjects?
3. It would be important to also adjust for diabetes or hba1c in the multivariable models as
diabetes is a major risk factor for increased creatinine levels
4. I found it peculiar that no differences in triglycerides and HDL cholesterol were present
between participants with and withoud steatosis. Could you also report the prevalence of
metabolic syndrome and diabetes in table 1?
5. Please replace the paragraph “Relevant factors for the incidence of HS” with “Relevant factors
for the prevalence of HS”, as incidence and prevalence are two very different things (these are
very basic epidemiologic concepts) and incidence rates cannot be derived from cross-sectional
studies. Please also remove the word incidence in lines 182,184 and 187.
6. In the discussion section I would also mention the association between steatosis and fibrosis
with albuminuria, which is a predictor of future development of CKD and is associated with
higher creatinine levels (see doi: 10.1016/j.dld.2021.02.010). Similarly, more recent studies on
the prevalence of liver steatosis and fibrosis in the general population might be recalled (e.g.
doi: 10.1111/liv.14828)
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02437-0 (2022)

Title: Association of serum creatinine with hepatic steatosis and fibrosis: a cross-sectional study
Version: 2 Date: 19 May 2022
Reviewer's report:
NAFLD and CKD become a major public health issue related with their worldwide increasing
prevalence and incidence, poor outcomes and high costs. They often occur alongside with
metabolic conditions, like type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome, and are considered a major risk
factors for cardiovascular disease. However, is still a matter of debate what is the real direction
of the association between NAFLD and CKD, or if they only share common risk factors.
With this work, the authors aimed to correlate serum creatinine levels, with hepatic steatosis
(HS), and hepatic fibrosis, according to FIB-4. This is an important issue, with growing interest
and relevance, in the field of NAFLD.
However, there are a few points that should be addressed.
1) The authors correlated the serum creatinine levels with HS, but Glomerular Filtration Rate
(GFR), usually estimated by accessible formulas, is preferable over serum creatinine to evaluate
renal function namely in the early phases of renal damage, and serum creatinine, is very
dependent of muscle mass. Did the authors considered to use GFR values, as most of the
participants had serum creatinine values in the normal range (under 0,9 mg/dl)?
2) Also, the authors grouped in the 4th quartile, all the serum creatinine values above the upper
limit of normal. Is not known, how many of them were close to that limit, and how many
were clearly in renal insufficiency with high serum creatinine values, and if that difference was
accompanied with any differences in HS prevalence.
3) It would be important to know from past medical history, if any of the participants, had already
a previous diagnose of CKD, or were taking any drugs, that could affect the serum creatinine
and renal function.
4) As alcohol consumption can accelerate HS prevalence and hepatic fibrosis, it would be
interesting to know how many of the participants, mainly with HS, had alcohol consumption, in
what amounts, and if that was reflected in serum creatinine.
5) The authors used abdominal ultrasound to define the presence, or absence of HS, like most of
the published population studies, but didn´t mentioned what classification was used, to confirm
the presence of HS.
6) In page 2, line 35 (Abstract/Results), in the phrase “non-HS group (73.19±15.14 vs.
71.75±17.49, p<0.001)”, its suggested to mention the serum creatine units in the text.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02437-0 (2022)

Title: Association of serum creatinine with hepatic steatosis and fibrosis: a cross-sectional study
Version: 4 Date: 28 Jun 2022
Reviewer's report:
The authors revised the manuscript, in response to suggestions, but there are still, a few points
to be considered.
1) In the revised form (in clean copy and in the highlighted copy), persists incidence instead of
prevalence, in various localizations, as for example in the title “Relevant factors for the incidence
of HS” (page 9). That must be corrected.
2) In page 4, lines 83 and 84, is stated “Several clinical studies have shown that elevated SCr
within the normal range (…)”. That could be difficult to understand, an elevated value, “in the
normal range”. It’s suggested to clearer that.
3) In the same page (line 88), is stated that “SCr (serum creatinine) is found in meat”. It’s
advisable to reformulate that affirmation, as serum creatinine comes from muscle, if that was
what authors meant.
4) Following that sentence, there is an explanation that results difficult to understand: how
inosine ingestion and the following increase in uric acid production, can explain the association
of elevated levels of SCr, and HS. As creatinine is synthetized from amino acids (and not from
a purine nucleoside). That issue, should be clarified.
5) MAFLD currently stands for Metabolic Associated Fatty Liver Disease, and not metabolism-
related fatty liver disease (page 11, line 238).
6) In page 12, line 246, the acronym VCTE, should be detailed and listed in abbreviations list.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02426-3 (2022)

Title: Comparison of risk scoring systems for upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients after
renal transplantation: a retrospective observational study in Hunan, China
Version: 3 Date: 26 Mar 2022
Reviewer's report:
The issue is interesting. Neverthess the main droawbacks are the small series of patients even if
a very selected population and the retrospective nature of the study.
There was no missing data?
How the authors can say UGB caused a decresed of filtration rate. How long was it checked?
How was data on mortality obtained in the follow-up?
what does administration of hormone mean?
How the authors explein the low albumin level, the low platelet level in the UGB group.Were
they patients with liver disease?
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02426-3 (2022)

Title: Comparison of risk scoring systems for upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients after
renal transplantation: a retrospective observational study in Hunan, China
Version: 3 Date: 15 Apr 2022
Reviewer:  Subash Bhattarai
Reviewer's report:
An informative article on upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients after renal transplantation
a retrospective study but followed all protocols.
methodology is clear .
ample literature reviewed.
Discussion and conclusions derived are meaningful.
well written I clear english language.
found no typographical errors.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02427-2 (2022)

Title: Deep learning as a novel method for endoscopic diagnosis of chronic atrophic gastritis:
a prospective nested case-control study
Version: 1 Date: 31 May 2022
Reviewer's report:
Reviewer's report
Title: Deep learning as a novel method for endoscopic diagnosis of chronic atrophic gastritis:
a prospective nested case-control study
Reviewer: Guoping Liu
Reviewer's report:
General comments:
This is an interesting work on the study of the endoscopic diagnosis in CAG based on U-Net deep
learning (DL), and the paper developed a real-time video monitoring model for endoscopic and
conducted a prospective nested case-control study to evaluate the diagnostic evaluation indices
of the model and its consistency with pathological diagnosis. The results of the study proved
that the real-time video monitoring model for endoscopic diagnosis of CAG based on U-Net DL
were superior to those of endoscopists.
Major Compulsory Revisions:
1.This study protocol was approved by the ethics committee of Xuanwu Hospital of Capital
Medical University, but Ethics committee approval number is not indicated in the paper. it
should be added.
2.The paper is the intersection study of computing and medicine. The author uses computer
methods of deep learning to solve medical problems, but the study lacks the participation of
persons or teams with computer background. How deep learning and U-Net are combined to
build the real-time video monitoring model should be supplemented.
3.The actual contribution of the author should be clearly written in the part of authors’
contributions, such as endoscopy image organization, model building, etc.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Not needs some language corrections before being Published On
the whole.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02427-2 (2022)

Title: Deep learning as a novel method for endoscopic diagnosis of chronic atrophic gastritis:
a prospective nested case-control study
Version: 3 Date: 09 Jul 2022
Reviewer's report:
Appropriate citations have been added.
All questions and problems pointed out have been answered and appropriate additions and
corrections have been made.
Fig1 is shown cut off in the middle, please check.
Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02427-2 (2022)

Title: Deep learning as a novel method for endoscopic diagnosis of chronic atrophic gastritis:
a prospective nested case-control study
Version: 3 Date: 14 Jul 2022
Reviewer's report:
Reviewer's report
Title: Deep learning as a novel method for endoscopic diagnosis of chronic atrophic
gastritis: a prospective nested case-control study
Reviewer's report:
General comments:
It's a meaningful work on the study of the endoscopic diagnosis in CAG based on U-Net
deep learning (DL). The authors have made careful revisions in the paper based on all the
comments. The revised paper is more appropriate in expression and more detailed in content.
So I recommend accepting the paper.
Quality of written English: Not needs some language corrections before being Published On
the whole.
Declaration of competing interests: I declare that I have no competing interests