Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-8-13 (2008)

Reviewer's report
Title:Prevalence and determinants of biochemical dysfunction of the liver in
Atayal aboriginal community of Taiwan: Is betel nut chewing a risk factor?
Version: 3Date:30 September 2007
Reviewer: Hans Lin
Reviewer's report:
General
The manuscript is now acceptable for publication.
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Major Compulsory Revisions (that the author must respond to before a decision
on publication can be reached)
None.
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Minor Essential Revisions (such as missing labels on figures, or the wrong use of
a term, which the author can be trusted to correct)
1. Page 2, Abstract, Methods, Last sentence: "There were 41 (3.0 %) cases
diagnosed with cirrhosis of liver among 1,382 people who consent to be
performed abdominal sonography." # should be deleted.
A sentence should be added: “Abdominal ultrasonography was used to diagnose
liver cirrhosis.”
2. Page 4, Background, Line 2: “… For almost all…” # “…In Australia, for almost
all…” (For avoidance of confusion.)
3. Page 6, Line 9: “…areca nut intravenously [27].” # “…areca nut [27].” (The
word “intravenously” should be deleted.)
4. Page 9, Line 1-3: “…invited to be performed diagnostic imaging for liver
disease imaging diagnosis for liver disease by abdominal ultrasonography with
the instrument of Toshiba SAL-38B.” # “…invited to receive abdominal
ultrasonography examination (Toshiba SAL-38B, Tokyo, Japan).”
5. Page 9, Last paragraph, Line 2: “…HbsAg(+), …” # “….HBsAg(+),…”
6. Page 10, Statistical analyses, Line 4: “Then, We…” # “Then, we,…”
7. Page 12, Last paragraph, Line 1: “… abdominal sonographic examination….”
# “…abdominal ultrasound examination..." (For consistency)
8. Page 12, Last paragraph, Line 3: “… All of them…” # “…. All 4 cases…” (To
avoid confusion)
9. Page 13, Line 4: “…an adjusted OR of ALT 1.8 …” # “…. an adjusted OR of
1.8 …” ("ALT" deleted)
10. Page 14, Line 13: “…Since all the known…” # “…. …All the known…”
11. Page 15, Line 4-5: “Efforts to reduce the prevalence of liver disease in
Aboriginal should, therefore, include efforts to increase quitting of the betel habit.”
# This sentence should be deleted (repeated in the next paragraph).
12. Page 16, Line 2: “…what the combined effects…” # “…what is the combined
effects…”
13. Table 1: “HbsAg(+)” # “HBsAg(+)”
14. Table 4, Foot notes: “HBV: hepatitis B virus infection“ # “HBV: HBsAg(+)”
15. Table 4, Foot notes: “1 x: one times” # “1 x: upper normal limit”
“1-3 x: one to three times” # “1-3 x: one to three times of upper normal limit”
“5 x: five times” # “5 x: five times of upper normal limit”
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Discretionary Revisions (which the author can choose to ignore)
None.
What next?: Accept after discretionary revisions
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.