Review for 10.1186/s12876-020-01548-w (2020)

Reviewer’s report
Title: 
Recurrence of moderate to severe ulcerative colitis after fecal microbiota
transplantation treatment and the efficacy of re-FMT a case series
Version: 
2 
Date: 
07 Oct 2020
Reviewer's report:
Thank you for your revisions and responses to my comments. Overall, the
manuscript has been improved, however, there are still a number of issues that
need to be addressed.
1. An aim of "future research" is not appropriate and needs to be re-addressed.
Based on the information you present I think the aim was to present the clinical
outcomes of patients with UC who received multiple treatments of FMT?
2. What is the study design? This is not a single case presentation. It is either a
case series or a retrospective cohort study. The addition of the literature review is
confusing and detracts from the findings of the study. I would suggest removing
for that reason.
3. Spelling and grammatical errors need to be addressed. e.g. stool not tool (pg.
7, line 17) 
and methods should be in past tense not present tense, pg. 13 line 59-
avoiding using normal, patients with UC are not abnormal, general population is
more correct
4. Table 2 should include the UCDAI scores
5. Selection of patients is still unclear. You had > 200 patients of which only 12
were eligible for this study? Why? The random selection of 4 patients is also
unclear- why not present all cases if there are only 12?
6. pg 4, lines 20- what does no remission after remission mean?
7. pg 4, methods and results are presented in the introduction
8. pg 4, what was used to quantify severity of UC? 
9. was SSCAI preformed at the time or retrospectively? 
10. Pg 14, line 6-12, provide a reference
11. pg 16, line 31- how is it consistent if no data on the effect of repeated FMT
following recurrence was identified?
12. pg 17, line 12- this is not relevant here and should be in methodology
13. pg 17, line 17, provide reference
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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, funding, 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, write 'I declare that I have no competing
interests' below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.
I have received salary from an organisation that holds patents in FMT and uses
FMT as a treatment option. I have no other competing interests
Reviewer Publication Consent.
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under an Open Access Creative Commons CC-BY License (
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
) if this manuscript is accepted for
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Is the study design appropriate to answer the research question (including the use
of appropriate controls), and are the conclusions supported by the evidence
presented?
No
Are the methods sufficiently described to allow the study to be repeated?
No
Is the use of statistics and treatment of uncertainties appropriate?
Yes
Is the presentation of the work clear?
No
Are the images in this manuscript (including electrophoretic gels and blots) free
from apparent manipulation?
Yes