JerMa88/BMC_Gastroenterology_Peer_Reviews huggingface dataset:
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-14-179 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Occurrence of Helicobacter pylori and Epstein-Barr virus infection in
endoscopic and gastric cancer patients from North Brazil
Version:3Date:18 June 2014
Reviewer: Michael Vieth
Reviewer's report:
after resubmission I don't have any further comments
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:
none
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-14-178 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Long-term outcomes of patients with refractory gastroesophageal reflux
disease following a minimally invasive endoscopic procedure: a prospective
observational study
Version:3Date:27 April 2014
Reviewer: mark noar
Reviewer's report:
Major Compulsory Revisions: None
Minor Essential Revisions:
1) Under the Methods-Outcome Assessment
a) Kindly specify if the questionnaires were administered on or off meds.
2) Under the Results section
a) Please indicate if the patients who complained of abdominal distention
1] How many of these patients had abdominal distention before the Stretta or
immediately after the Stretta.
2] Were patients evaluated by gastric emptying scan to determine the cause
of the symptoms either before, immediately after Stretta or at the end of
the study?
3] Is it possible to make a conclusion whether the abdominal distention was
the result of the procedure or was pre-existing?
4] Were there patients with abdominal distention before Stretta that
improved? If so please include information.
Discretionary Revisions
With regard to references please consider following suggestions:
1) Introduction - last 3 lines
a) "meta-analysis studies [16-22]. However, mixed results have been obtained.
[23]"
2) Discussion - 3rd paragraph
a) there is no reference for improvement in gastric emptying. The following is the
reference you can use:
1] Noar MD, Noar E. Gastroparesis associated with gastroesophageal reflux
disease and corresponding reflux symptoms may be corrected by
radiofrequency ablation of the cardia and esophagogastric junction. Surg
Endosc. 2008;22(11):2440-4.
b) consider adding additional documented mechanism of action of "deceased
compliance of the LES", with the following reference
2] Arts J, Bisschops R, Blondeau K, Farre´ R, Vos R, Holvoet L, Caenepeel P,
Lerut A, Tack J (2012) A double-blind sham-controlled study of the effect of
radiofrequency energy on symptoms and distensibility of the gastro-
esophageal junction in GERD. Am J Gastroenterol 107(2):222–230.
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 serve as a medical advisor to Mederi Therapeutics, the current manufacturer
and owner of the patents on the Stretta technology.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-14-178 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Long-term outcomes of patients with refractory gastroesophageal reflux
disease following a minimally invasive endoscopic procedure: a prospective
observational study
Version:3Date:8 July 2014
Reviewer: Kevin Reavis
Reviewer's report:
The revised manuscript is ready for publication.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
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-14-176 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Potential blood-based markers of celiac disease
Version:1Date:24 May 2014
Reviewer: Maria Cristina Mazzilli
Reviewer's report:
In the present manuscript Hanna Bragde and colleagues identify three blood
markers potentially useful in the diagnostic of celiac disease. Protein level of
CXCL11 and mRNA levels of TNFRSF9 and TNFSF13B resulted significantly
increased in cases with CD compared with controls. All three potential CD
markers are involved in the regulation of the NF-#B complex.
A blood-based test that allows to skip the intestinal biopsy would be a valuable
advance in the diagnostic procedure of CD. The data given here, in a relatively
small number of patients, does not let any certainty on the diagnostic value of
these markers but it gives a starting point for further investigations.
The study is well designed, written and performed. The results are interesting
and important for the scientific community. It seems to be suitable for acceptance
in this journal.
Minor revisions:
1. Genes, but not proteins, must be in italics. Eg DQ2 (DQA1*05/DQB1*02,
without any spaces).
2. For the HLA risk gradient, in addition to ref 8, should be mentioned:
Megiorni F, Mora B, Bonamico M, Barbato M, Nenna R, Maiella G, Lulli P,
Mazzilli MC: HLA-DQ and risk gradient for celiac disease. Hum Immunol. 2009;
70(1):55-9.
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-14-176 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Potential blood-based markers of celiac disease
Version:1Date:20 June 2014
Reviewer: Peter Mooney
Reviewer's report:
Overall an excellent study and the authors should be congratulated for
attempting to improve the diagnosis of coeliac disease
Major revision
A couple of points - The correlation between the potential novel markers and
Marsh grade was moderate at best and appears to be inferior to the correlation
between Marsh grade and current standard serology.
"Significant correlations were observed between Marsh grade (all cases) and
levels of 224 CXCL11 protein (Fig. 2; Spearman rank correlation coefficient (rs) =
0.50), and IL21 and IL15 225 mRNA (rs = -0.46 for both, data not shown)."
Can the authors explain this? Was there a cut off value that could reliably
diagnose coeliac disease? Providing a sensitivity/specificity analysis of current
serology is necessary. Could the authors potentially provide a ROC curve
analysis of the novel markers (as well as current serology) as this may provide
the best analysis of the differences between the tests
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-14-174 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Efficacy of transoral fundoplication for treatment of chronic
gastroesophageal reflux disease incompletely controlled with high-dose
proton-pump inhibitors therapy: a randomized, multicenter, open label, crossover
study
Version:1Date:16 September 2014
Reviewer: Beat Peter Müller-Stich
Reviewer's report:
The authors present a nice manuscript on a randomized controlled comparison of
transoral fundoplication (TF) to high dose proton pump inhibitor therapy (PPI).
Additionally, a cross over design allows for findings on the durability of TF over a
period of 12 months. Unfortunately, the follow-up period is short and any form of
blinding seems to be missing. Therefore, the authors have to deal with observer
bias and placebo effect. Additionally, the authors missed to compare TF to
laparoscopic fundoplication, which theirselves described as the gold standard.
This is a pity because at least patient blinding for six months would have been
easy by a shame endoscopy and observer bias could have been eliminated by
assessor blinding.
I would therefore suggest the following revision:
Major compulsory revisions
1. A paragraph on blinding should be added in the method section; the authors
should state if they had applied any form of blinding, and if not why not.
2. The conclusions in the discussion section should be weakened against the
background of a potential observer bias and placebo effect. They should focus
the interpretation of their results on the objective findings like pH-metry results
and endoscopic findings more than on symptomatic improvement. And they
should state that any symptomatic improvement might be the result of a placebo
effect.
3. Any comparison with laparoscopic fundoplication e.g. in terms of side-effects
should be omitted in the discussion section because no surgical control group
was used in this study. Therefore, the authors cannot conclude that TF is a better
alternative to laparoscopic fundoplication in terms of post-fundoplication
symptoms as long as they have not compared the two methods.
Minor essential revisions
4. For the EsophyX device the company should be mentioned (in parentheses)
on page 4
5.P-values should be added in Table 2
6. In the heading of Table 3 there is a typing error; an ‘I’ is missing in the first
parentheses (PPIs instead of PPs).
7. Abbreviations should be explained separately in every Table and Figure.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
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-14-175 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Adenocarcinoma developed from remnant cystic duct after cholecystectomy
Version:3Date:16 July 2014
Reviewer: Albert Lowenfels
Reviewer's report:
This straight-forward single case report provides details about a rare
complication of a common operation--cholecystectomy. At her original operation
the patient was left with a excessively long segment of the cystic duct with
subsequent development of gallbladder cancer about ten years after the first
operation. Gallstones, a recognized risk factor for gallbladder cancer, were also
identified in the cystic duct prior to the cancer diagnosis.
Comments: 1) Removing a wedge of liver in patients with gallbladder cancer
makes sense, but is it justified when the tumor develops in the retained cystic
duct? Was the tumor in close contact with the liver?
2) Is there a lesson to be learned from this case report? Perhaps it's that the
cystic duct stump should be made as short as possible without impinging on the
common duct in order to avoid developing complications related to stasis of bile
in the retained cystic duct. This point could be to the discussion conclusion.
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-14-175 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Adenocarcinoma developed from remnant cystic duct after cholecystectomy
Version:3Date:22 July 2014
Reviewer: Andrea Cariati
Reviewer's report:
To authors: to improve the discussion chapter reporting these debate:
The long cystic duct stump is a site where gallstones can form "de novo" in
fact authors demonstrated gallstones before the onset of the adenocarcinoma
and
it could be useful to report in the references the abstract of Cetta F et al..
Cariati A etc here enclosed in the email
A-518 AGA ABSTRACTS
G2110
ROLE OF BILE ACID PROPHYLAXIS IN THE PREVENTION OF
RECURRENT CHOLESTEROL STONES FORMING IN THE CYSTIC
REMNANT AFTER LAPAROSCOPIC CHOLECYSTECTOMY:
A PROSPECTIVE STUDY WITH A MINIMUM FOLLOW-UP OF 3
YEARS. Cetta F., Baldi C., Montalto G, Zuckermann M., Gori M., Piro P.,
°Cariati A., *Garotta F.
GASTROENTEROLOGY 1998 Vol. 114, No. 4
In fact, the long cystic duct can act as a mini-gallbladder and as in the the
main gallbladder lumen gallstones can form and as reported in another
interesting article that could be reported in the reference list (article by
Cariati A et et Gallbladder cancers etc etc 2014) long - standing gallstones
promote gallbladder cancer formation (as reported by Diehl and Lowenfels:
- Diehl AK. Gallstone size and the risk of gallbladder cancer. JAMA 1983;
250:2323–2326.
- Lowenfels AB, Maisonneuve P, Boyle P, Zatonski WA. Epidemiology of
gallbladder cancer. Hepatogastroenterology 1999; 46:1529–1532
according to the sequence dysplasia -cancer described By Albores-Saavedra
and
recently by Jain K et al Sequential occurence of preneoplastic lesions and
accumulation of loss of heterozygosity in .. Annals of surgery 2014 doi: 10.1097
/SLA.0000000000000495.
Another point to discuss is: How long will the cystic duct be left ? Reporting
literature data it could be 0,5 - 1 cm
At the end: In case of T2 of cystic duct, as it came from the gallbladder,
and it could be considered as a gallbladder cancer, lymphectomy of hepatic
pedicle and resection of gallbladder bed (Hepatic segment 4 b and hepatic
segment 5 inferior appear to be right).
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:
'I declare that I have no competing interests'
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-14-172 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Risk Factors for Early and Delayed Post-Operative Bleeding after
Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection of Gastric Neoplasms, Including Patients
with Continued Use of Antithrombotic Agents
Version:2Date:21 July 2014
Reviewer: Tomoki Michida
Reviewer's report:
Major Compulsory Revisions
1. The analysis in Table 3 and 4 are uncertain. In Table 3, p-value of male
gender is 0.07 and it is included in multivariate analysis. In Table 4, that of
cession of antithrombotic drugs is 0.03 and it is not included in multivariate
analysis.
2. In Table 2, tumor factors included are only its location. Those such as depth,
size, and ulcer findings should be also assessed.
3. Sample size would be too small to evaluate risk of patients with of
antithrombotic drugs. There are many factors of which OR are over 3, however
there are no significant difference. The authors had better consider these points
in Discussion.
4. In case of 37 patients with cession of antithrombotic drugs, timing of restart of
antithrombotic drugs is important. According to Japanese guideline they are
restarted soon after the second look endoscopy. Timing of their restart would be
assessed more precisely than described as ‘within 5 days’
Minor Essential Revisions
Abstract; Why is this conclusion introduced such as the last sentence?
Methods 1st paragraph; Define epithelial neoplasia, please.
Methods 4th paragraph; Difference in endoscopic findings in second look
endoscopy between in patients with and without antithrombotic drugs
would be also assessed.
Results 3rd paragraph; In case of ESD, specimen size would be usually over
30mm.
Discussion 1st paragraph; There is no original data in it, so it had been better to
be concluded in Introduction.
Discussion 2nd paragraph; In this study, as antithrombotic therapy were
interrupted preoperatively in half of the patients with antithrombotic drugs, the
authors should assess about not only continued use of them but also interrupted
one.
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-14-172 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Risk Factors for Early and Delayed Post-Operative Bleeding after
Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection of Gastric Neoplasms, Including Patients
with Continued Use of Antithrombotic Agents
Version:2Date:23 July 2014
Reviewer: Atsushi Mitsunaga
Reviewer's report:
The detection of the risk factors that influence the bleeding after gastric ESD is
essential to clarify what is necessary to prevent the bleeding after the procedure
when we perform ESD for a patients using antithrombotic agents. The study of
this field is insufficient and the correspondence in the guideline for the
management of antithrombotic agents in gastric ESD is different in each country
and each facility of our country that is pointed out by the authors. In addition, the
opinion that was provided in the past reports about the bleeding after gastric ESD
in a patient using LDA is still controversial.
This study gives one of the suggestion about this point. Especially the result that
LDA does not influence the bleeding after gastric ESD is a useful knowledge
because we can perform ESD with continued LDA in the high-risk patients of
thromboembolism.
Revise points
major
1. On the 3th line of the 7th page authors divided the patients into two groups for
of thromboembolism, I think it is necessary to make the standard of higher- and
lower-risk clear.
2. I think the authors should discuss about the conclusion that is "a maximum
diameter of specimen size has an influence on the bleeding within 5 days after
ESD, and HR or CKD on HD has an influence on the subsequent bleeding" with
regarding to ulcer healing after ESD.
minor
1. I cannot understand the meaning of the 13th line of the 13 page "the patient
age threshold was 40mm".
2. This study was retrospective design as the authors mentioned on the 10th line
of the 17th page, it should be mentioned in Methods at first.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-14-171 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Knockout of MIMP protein in Lactobacillus plantarum lost its regulation of
intestinal permeability on NCM460 epithelial cells via the zonulin pathway
Version:1Date:6 November 2013
Reviewer: Peter Malfertheiner
Reviewer's report:
The current paper from Liu et al. is dedicated to functional analyses of micro
integral membrane protein (MIMP) of Lactobacillus plantarum. Based on the
presented results the authors conclude that MIMPS plays an important protective
role in intestinal permeability in vitro and in vivo. The data are sound and
methods are well described. Overall the discussion and conclusion are in
accordance with results.
Minor comments:
1) Abstract needs editing: more detailed information in results, improve language,
typos and abbreviations, conclusions may be at least partially moved to results.
2) The authors may wish to speculate/discuss potential implication of their
observations.
3) Legends to Figures 2 and 3 are not sufficiently descriptive and need to be
revised (labeling, description, statistical analyses). Number of animals used etc.
4) Figures: labeling needs revision for example - letters should not be inside of
the figures. Signs for statistical analyses should be clearly labeled similarly in all
figures (for example next to the group).
5) Some language editing is needed.
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: 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-14-171 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Knockout of MIMP protein in Lactobacillus plantarum lost its regulation of
intestinal permeability on NCM460 epithelial cells via the zonulin pathway
Version:1Date:4 August 2014
Reviewer: siv AhrnÃ©
Reviewer's report:
The manuscript "Knockout of MIMP protein in Lactobacillus plantarum lost its
regulation of intestinal permeability on NCM460 epithelial cells via the zonulin
pathway" needs to be totally revised when it comes to the language. The study is
very interesting, methods are appropriate and the data are sound. But, the
manuscript is very hard to read and to understand even for me that is in the field.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Not suitable for publication unless extensively edited
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-14-173 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Autoimmune pancreatitis with colonic stenosis: an unusual complication
and atypical pancreatographic finding
Version:2Date:6 July 2014
Reviewer: Peter V Draganov
Reviewer's report:
This is a very interesting case. The paper is well written and easy to follow. The
images compliment the text. The manuscript contributes to our growing
knowledge of autoimmune pancreatitis and will be of interest to the readers of
BMC Gastroenterology.
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' below
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-14-173 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Autoimmune pancreatitis with colonic stenosis: an unusual complication
and atypical pancreatographic finding
Version:2Date:17 July 2014
Reviewer: Andres Sanchez-Yague
Reviewer's report:
attached
Level of interest: An article of limited interest
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-14-173 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Autoimmune pancreatitis with colonic stenosis: an unusual complication
and atypical pancreatographic finding
Version:2Date:20 July 2014
Reviewer: Luca Frulloni
Reviewer's report:
The paper is interisting since describes a case of AIP involving colon, with
stricture, and responding to steroid therapy. I have the following remarks:
1. The case cannot be classified as definitive type 1 AIP, since it has Response
to steroids and level 1 Serology, level 2 ductal and level 2 parenchimal. However,
the very high levels of serum IgG4 indicates a type 1 AIP. In the discussion
section the Author can stress the lack of ICDC in this case before steroid
treatment.
2. the Authors did not report the dosage of steroids.
3. MR and MRCP may evaluate the MPD dilation upstream the stenosis not
evaluable by ERCP, and the length of stenosis. Indeed, a long stenosis (> 1/3)
my let to a definitive diagnosis of type 1 AIP. MR and MRCP is included in ICDC.
This 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-14-169 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Outcome of liver transplantation with Histidine-Tryptophan-Ketoglutarate vs.
University of Wisconsin preservation solution: A retrospective observational
double-center trial
Version:2Date:9 June 2014
Reviewer: Brian Lam
Reviewer's report:
Overall, this is a very interesting and well-done retrospective analysis. The
author's make the clinical and economic relevance of the issue clear.
Major Compulsory Revisions: None
Minor Essential Revisions
1. (pg 10), under Pediatric and living donor transplant: The meaning of this
sentence is unclear: "There was no association of one of the investigated PS with
biliary complications..." This sentence on pg 11 regarding prolonged CIT is
clearer: "there was no statistically significant difference between the rate of biliary
complications in the two PS cohorts (p=0.097)."
2. (pg 14). "HTK is clinically easier to handle, because it is sold in ready-to-use
units while UW must be mixed with additives prior to use. although this might not
be done anymore in some centers without deteriorating outcome."
## if the authors intend to keep the last clause ("although this might ... outcome"),
further details or at least a reference should be provided.
## "prior to use" should be followed by a comma.
Discretionary Revisions:
1. Under Patients and Methods (pg 5), 1376 males + 1177 females = a total
cohort of 2553. Was gender not specified for the remaining subject?
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-14-166 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Long term follow-up and liver-related death rate in patients with
non-alcoholic and alcoholic related fatty liver disease
Version:1Date:15 July 2014
Reviewer: Mattias Ekstedt
Reviewer's report:
Thank you for your constructive comments. I agree with the changes made to the
manuscript, and compliment all authors on a job well done.
In Table 1 mean, median and IQR are presented. To me, it is clearer if you
choose mean plus standard devitaion for normally distributed variables, and
median IQR for not normally distributed.
If possible, add the number of individuals at risk at different time points in the
Kaplan-Meier curves.
I have nothing further.
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-14-166 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Long term follow-up and liver-related death rate in patients with
non-alcoholic and alcoholic related fatty liver disease
Version:1Date:21 July 2014
Reviewer: Jeremy Cobbold
Reviewer's report:
The authors have made substantial revisions to the text which have addressed
the major comments from my review of an earlier version (6 June 2014).
Minor essential revisions:
Methods; Histological classification: I understand from the new text that the
biopsies were each reviewed retrospectively by one of three pathologists. Was
there any second review to examine inter-observer variability?
Results; Survival and mortality: please include the range for median survival
quoted.
Discussion; para4: I do not understand what is meant by the phrase starting "we
realise... portal tracts". Please could this be rephrased and explained, or omitted.
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-14-168 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Fluorescence imaging in vivo visualizes delayed gastric emptying of liquid
enteral nutrition containing pectin
Version:2Date:28 May 2014
Reviewer: James Hollis
Reviewer's report:
Fluorescence imaging in vivo visualizes delayed gastric emptying of liquid enteral
nutrition containing pectin
This paper describes an innovative method for measuring gastric emptying in
mice. It is applied to determine the gastric emptying rate of a novel pectin based
enteral nutrition product. As expected, the addition of pectin to the bolus
increased viscosity in simulated gastric environment. However, a viscosity
measurement was only conducted at one speed on the viscometer and it is not
clear how the material would respond at other speeds (e.g., is it sheer thinning or
sheer thickening) (discretionary revision – may be worth mentioning in
discussion). The bolus with the added pectin reduced gastric emptying rate as
indicated by the florescence imaging. While this result would not be unexpected
the use of the florescence imaging to measure the gastric emptying rate makes it
of interest.
The paper is generally well written and easy to follow. The paper is brief and the
results may be limited in scope. Moreover, I feel the authors should discuss the
limitations of this approach in a little more depth (compulsory revision). However,
I feel this is a worthwhile addition to the literature.
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-14-167 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Tracking the foreign body, a rare cause of hepatic abscess
Version:2Date:15 April 2014
Reviewer: Ammar Hassan
Reviewer's report:
Minor Essential Revisions:
1- Other conditions include quickly ( believed to mean eating quickly).
Discretionary Revisions:
1- Since the patient had a history of steroid use, it may be interesting to know the
dose of steroid he was on and if a cortisol level was checked to asses for adrenal
insufficiency.
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-14-167 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Tracking the foreign body, a rare cause of hepatic abscess
Version:2Date:11 June 2014
Reviewer: Terry Lairmore
Reviewer's report:
The manuscript was reviewed for clarity, appropriateness of conclusions, and
level of interest or clinical impact. The report describes the clincal features of an
unusual cause for hepatic abscess. The authors review the available literature
and emphasize important clinical features associated with fish bone perforation
of the aerodigestive tract. The figures are informative and appropriate. The
essential clinical points that are of potential value to the reader are emphasized
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-14-164 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Endoscopic-ultrasound-assisted transmural cholecystolithotomy after
placement of a novel, fully covered metal stent: initial feasibility study using a
porcine model
Version:3Date:18 November 2013
Reviewer: Michael Pitiakoudis
Reviewer's report:
Dear Editor-in-chief,
I read the case report entitled '' Endoscopic-ultrasound-assistedtransmural
cholecystolithotomy after placement of a novel, fully covered metal stent: initial
feasibility study using a porcine model'' that you sent me for review and I am
writing hereby in order to send you my comments.
The native English language is used in an acceptable level. Despite the fact that
the experimental models, in my opinion, are limited in number for this study, I
think that this experimental study contributes to the development of minimally
laparoscopic surgeries with a special benefit of the patients. So, I suggest the
publication of this expermental paper without further revision and comments.
Yours sincerely,
Pitiakoudis Michael
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-14-163 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Minithoracotomy oesophagectomy for oesophageal carcinoma with
aberrant right subclavian artery:A rare case of dysphagia
Version:2Date:6 July 2014
Reviewer: Sabita Jiwnani
Reviewer's report:
Minor Essential Revisions
1. Contrast enhanced CT image showing aberrant right subclavian artery and
relevant intra-operative photographs should be added
2. more complete review of literature describing the same condition, at least 3
more case series/ reports have been published in the last 2 years
3. Evidence to support transhaiatal esophagectomy is old, need to state that the
surgical approach to esophageal cancer is determined by the location of the
tumour as well as the surgiocal expertise avaialble.
4. A more comprehensive investigation into the cause of death of the patient on
post-operative day 7. As the patient had no co-morbid conditions, there could
have been a post-operative complication leading to sudden cardiac arrest on
shifting the patient to the ward from the ICU such as major anastomotic leak,
deep vein thrombosis, or pulmonary complication.
Level of interest: An article of limited interest
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-14-163 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Minithoracotomy oesophagectomy for oesophageal carcinoma with
aberrant right subclavian artery:A rare case of dysphagia
Version:2Date:22 July 2014
Reviewer: C S Pramesh
Reviewer's report:
The authors describe a case report regarding their experience of treating a
patient with an aberrant right subclavian artery. I have the following comments:
1. The condition is not very uncommon and the report emphasizes the
importance of identifying it preoperatively with radiology. This message is
important because failure to recognize it may result in catastrophic hemorrhage
during a transhiatal esophagectomy, or with surgeons who prefer to divide the
esophagus in the mediastinum to facilitate VATS esophageal mobilization, even
result in injury to the vessel.
2. Preoperative recognition of this anomaly is crucial but quite easy on contrast
enhanced CT scans as the radiological features are classical and can be easily
identified.
Major compulsory revisions - None
Minor essential revisions
3. The report of the case especially some of the preoperative symptoms
description could be cut short to make the report crisper.
Discretionary revisions
4. There are some errors of language, spelling, grammar and style - these need
to be corrected to make it more readable.
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-14-163 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Minithoracotomy oesophagectomy for oesophageal carcinoma with
aberrant right subclavian artery:A rare case of dysphagia
Version:3Date:17 September 2014
Reviewer: Sabita Jiwnani
Reviewer's report:
Revised manuscript may be accepted for publication
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-14-161 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Endoscopic Nasobiliary Drainage for Obstructive Jaundice Using Either a 5
Fr or 7 Fr Catheter: a Prospective, Randomized Trial
Version:2Date:29 July 2014
Reviewer: Bharat Joshi
Reviewer's report:
Major Compulsory Revision:
1. The authors should describe the primary and secondary endpoints adequately
in the materials and methods section. It is not clear how reproducibly the
effectiveness of bile duct drainage was evaluated among patients using these
catheters. Whether these patients developed any clinical symptoms? Did authors
observe any correlation between bilirubin drainage and improvement in health of
the patients? This information should be included in the materials and methods
section and assessment should be described in Results section.
2. Secondly, they should provide information how these patients were clinically
examined for their levels of discomfort in materials and methods section. The
manuscript does not provide how clinical presentations corroborated the
questionnaire for assessing the levels of discomfort. The authors should describe
this issue adequately in Results section.
Minor Comments:
3. Some references are redundant and do not add any additional information.
Please keep the key references that support the theme of 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-14-161 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Endoscopic Nasobiliary Drainage for Obstructive Jaundice Using Either a 5
Fr or 7 Fr Catheter: a Prospective, Randomized Trial
Version:2Date:30 July 2014
Reviewer: Daiuske Masuda
Reviewer's report:
This article is very interesting in comparison of 5Fr and 7Fr ENBD tube for
efficacy of improving jaundice. So I think it is appropriate for acceptance to BMC
Gastroenterology.
I have some queries.
Major revision
1) There is no significant difference about incidence of post ERCP pancreatitis
(PEP) between 2 groups in this present study. But you insert prophylactic
pancreatic stent (PPS) in 7Fr catheter patients more than in 5Fr catheter patients
so it is thought that incidence of PEP may not be equal between 2 groups
because PPS has an influence on incidence of PEP. Why you inserted PPS
more in 7Fr patients? How is your opinion?
Minor revision
2) You use 2 types catheter pig tail type and alfa type in present study. Is there
no difference about frequency of 2 type catherter between 2 groups?
3) You write that 22 acute cholangitis cases were observed and all cases
recovered from acute cholangitis. Is there anything difference about improvemet
of inflammation?
Level of interest: An article of limited interest
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, and I have assessed the statistics in my report.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-14-160 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Successful Management of Severe Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy:
Report of a First Japanese Case
Version:3Date:16 June 2014
Reviewer: Toru Takahashi
Reviewer's report:
The authors of this manuscript report a first Japanese case of severe intrahepatic
cholestasis of pregnancy that was successfully treated with ursodeoxycholic acid.
Genetic analysis disclosed SNPs in the ABCB11 and ABCB4 loci that were
informative for diagnosis.
Major comments:
1. Authors should describe or even speculate why intrahepatic cholestasis only
appears in the term of pregnancy as a phenotype while genetic polymorphism
(predisposition) exists or continues throughout her lifetime.
2. Authors should describe or even speculate why UDCA is so effective for this
disease condition. Is it effective only because a bad (cytotoxic) bile acid is
substituted by a good bile acid (cytoprotective) like UDCA?
Minor comments:
1. Page 5, line 15. Multidrug resistance protein (MDR3) should be multidrug
resistance protein 3 (MDR3).
2. Page 5, line 16. Bile salt export protein (BSEP) should be bile salt export pump
(BSEP).
3. Page 6, line 6. What is SBP? May be SNP.
4. Page 7, line 13. AFP should be spelled out to alpha-fetoprotein (AFP).
5. Page 7, line 14. Spell out LCA.
6. Page 7, line 15. Tumor markers other than AFP and AFP-L3 are not described
in Table 1. Describe other tumor markers in Table 1, if present. Otherwise,
authors should omit the sentence, “no increases in tumor markers were
detected.”
7. Page 9, line 14. Spell out ABC.
8. Page 10, line 11. Spell out HELLP.
All above-mentioned comments are included into Minor Essential Revisions.
Level of interest: An article of limited interest
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-14-160 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:Successful Management of Severe Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy:
Report of a First Japanese Case
Version:3Date:19 August 2014
Reviewer: Giammarco Fava
Reviewer's report:
This paper by Kamimura et al. describes accurately a clinical case of severe
intrahepatic cholestasis in a Japanese pregnant woman. This case was
successfully treated with ursodeoxycholic acid and the genetic sequence
analysis has supported the diagnosis. The novelty of the manuscript is that such
disease is rare in Asian women. The paper is well written and easy to follow. The
Reviewer has only a concern to address.
Minor Essential Revisions
Page 9, line 17. The Authors should explain why they didn’t utilize MRI in the
pregnant woman.
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-14-159 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:A new family with hereditary lysozyme amyloidosis with gastritis and
inflammatory bowel disease as prevailing symptoms.
Version:4Date:23 June 2014
Reviewer: Saulius Girnius
Reviewer's report:
To Whom It May Concern:
Thank you for the opportunity to review the article named “A new family with
hereditary lysozyme amyloidosis with gastritis and inflammatory bowel disease
as prevailing symptoms” by Dr. Estelle Jean et al. In this paper, the authors
present a new family of hereditary amyloidosis with Trp82Arg, previously
described as Trp64Arg.
This paper is certainly justified to be published in a journal read by
gastroenterologist, not only to for scientific interest by describing a new family,
but also increase awareness for amyloidosis. As typical for patients with
amyloidosis, the proband had multiple endoscopies without a diagnosis and had
been treated with medications that were not effective, although a PPI certainly
has minimal harm. Increased awareness could lead to faster diagnosis.
Discretionary Revisions
There are multiple small grammatical errors, but these are easily fixed and
should not adversely affect the decision to publish. Listed are a few examples,
but there are others
1) Abstract, second paragraph. “To describe symptoms and Gi tract involvement
in a new family with hereditary lysozyme amyloidosis”. This is not a complete
sentence.
2) Abstract, conclusion: “evoke” is used incorrectly. Consider writing “Amyloidosis
should be considered in atypical or treatment resistant, upper or lower chronic
gastrointestinal symptom”
3) There are multiple minor grammatical errors in this paper, for instance:
“Lysozyme amyloidosis (ALys) belongs to the group of hereditary
non-neuropathic systemic amyloidosis” Should change “systemic amyloidosis” to
“systemic amyloidoses
Was the hepatomegaly on exam or imaging? I believe the protein C reactive is
more commonly know as C reactive protein.
I am curious, did any treatment help the proband? Or did she continue to have
stable, GERD symptoms
Minor Essential Revisions.
Three of the proband’s siblings had the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease.
The description suggests that the diagnosis was made based on visualization,
rather than biopsy. Is this correct? Do you believe these patients had
concomitant IBD or just mis-diagnosed? Since symptoms improved with
mesalamine, would you consider mesalamine a possible treatment?
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:
No. I do not have any competing interests
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-14-159 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:A new family with hereditary lysozyme amyloidosis with gastritis and
inflammatory bowel disease as prevailing symptoms.
Version:4Date:26 June 2014
Reviewer: Tadashi Nakamura
Reviewer's report:
The review result is as following.
Major revision
General comments:
The case was very interesting clinically, but rare and unique.
The authors should be suggested to revise the manuscript according to my
request.
Specific comments:
1. Tell me the mechanisms why the case showed gastrointestinal symptoms.
2. How do we analyze ALys? Could you check the materials for ALys by sending
our samples?
3. How degree do you find ALys among patients with sicca symptoms?
4. In patients with symptoms of alimentary tracts, how do we differentiate AA
amyloidosis from ALys?
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-14-159 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:A new family with hereditary lysozyme amyloidosis with gastritis and
inflammatory bowel disease as prevailing symptoms.
Version:4Date:10 July 2014
Reviewer: Jason Theis
Reviewer's report:
Major Compulsory Revisions: None
Minor Essential Revisions: None
Discretionary Revisions:
1) The authors state that Lysozyme immunohistochemistry was not performed on
all histological specimens. Given the wide array of amyloid subtypes and the
relative rarity of ALys I feel that is important to prove that each patients amyloid
deposits did consist of the lyzome protein. Did they consider requesting
unstained FFPE slides for lysozyme IHC?
2) Did the authors attempt any sort of computational modeling to assess the
potential of this mutation to alter the rate of fibril formation?
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-14-157 (2014)

Reviewer's report
Title:CD44 but not CD24 expressions are related to poor prognosis in gastric
cancer
Version:1Date:13 March 2014
Reviewer: Hideo Baba
Reviewer's report:
In this study, authors presented that individual expression of CD44 was
associated with poor survival of gastric carcinoma. But they also showed there is
no significant correlation between expression of CD24 and prognosis. Then
authors concluded CD44 is clinically useful for prediction of gastric cancer. This
study is not novel because they only reveal correlation between CD44 and
prognosis of gastric cancer that had been reported many times. Furthermore,
although authors concluded that CD44 might play important role in the gastric
carcinogenesis in the abstract, it sounds too much to conclude there is
correlation between carcinogenesis and CD44 only because of correlation
between CD44 and prognosis.
Major query
1. The conclusion of abstract is not consistent with that of main article. If authors
conclude CD44 might play important role in the gastric carcinogenesis, authors
should reveal correlation between CD44 and carcinogenesis. This study only
shows CD44 and prognosis.
2. The contents in this report are not novel enough to publish. Authors rewrite the
article after something novel is revealed such as correlation between CD24 and
prognosis.
Minor query
1. There are many reports about CD44 and stem cells. Authors should show
more appropriate references.
2. Many grammatical mistakes are found. We recommend performing English
proofreading.
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.