JerMa88/BMC_Gastroenterology_Peer_Reviews huggingface dataset:
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-38 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Polyethylene glycol vs. sodium phosphate for bowel preparation: A
treatment arm meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Version: 2Date:12 October 2010
Reviewer: Mark Korsten
Reviewer's report:
This is a well-written and important contribution that confirms previous studies
showing that a sodium phosphate hyperosmotic preparation is superior to
polyethylene glycol-based lavage solutions prior to colonoscopy. However, I
would point out that the definition of what constitutes an "excellent" prep quality
was not a component of the publication selection criteria. In other words, there is
no mention of how prep efficacy was assessed. Most studies use some sort of
scoring systems but some of these approaches are rather subjective and,
therefore, quite unreliable. I would also point out that compliance is rarely an all
or none phenomenon. "Failure to complete" a preparation may indicate very little
of the material was consumed or, alternatively, could mean that most was
ingested, just not 100%. The reviewer is aware that a meta-analysis probably
cannot capture these subtleties but I believe it would nevertheless be worth
commenting on these issues in the paper.
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:
The reviewer has performed a prospective trial designed to assess the renal
toxicity and efficacy of a sodium phosphate(PhosphoSoda)purgative prior to
colonoscopy. Provided that subjects had no evidence of renal compromise within
one week prior to sodium phosphate administration, renal failure was not noted
and the quality of the sodium phosphate preparation was found to be superior to
that after PEG. Therefore, although the reviewer is probably somewhat biased
from an intellectual standpoint, I can categorically state that I have no other
competing interests, including financial, in this matter.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-38 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Polyethylene glycol vs. sodium phosphate for bowel preparation: A
treatment arm meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Version: 3Date:10 February 2011
Reviewer: John H Kalbfleisch
Reviewer's report:
These comments follow a request for statistical review. The meta-analysis is
acceptable. I offer suggestions to assist (some) readers.
Major Compulsory Revisions – none.
Minor Essential Revisions – none.
Discretionary Revisions
(1)
The meta-analysis was performed using results of 71 (published) RCTs.
Each RCT had 2 or more bowel prep treatments(arms), the prep arms were not
the same for all of the RCTs and, collectively there 104 evaluable arms (Table 3).
Results of each of the 104 arms were based on outcomes of many enrolled
patients. The prep treatment group or arm is the unit for statistical analysis (not
number of patients or number of studies). I expect the terminology that describes
arranging data for meta-analysis will be confusing for some readers (study, trial,
arm, treatment group definitions).
The authors can consider:
- use “Prep Treatment” for the column 1 label in Tables 2 and 3,
- Table 3, change column 2 label from “# Trial Groups” to “# of Treatment Arms”
- “Trial groups” and arms (treatment arms) seem to be the same label – use only
one label throughout – “treatment group” in lines 8 and 9 of page 6 can be
changed to “treatment arm” … and so on
(2)
“Pooled” is mainly a jargon of statistics. Would “Combined” be a replacement ?
(3)
The implications of the statistics in Tables 2 and 3 are clear. I suggest that the
authors consider additionally showing a Figure that plots individual prep arm
results and the meta-analysis summary statistic (% Good or Excellent, or % Prep
Completed). For example, the vertical axis would be “% Good or Excellent” and
the horizontal axis would have 7 tick marks for the 7 Prep treatments in Table 3.
Above each tick mark would be a dotplot of individual prep-arm results (31 dots
for NaP Sol alone…etc) and then place a bar amongst the scatter of dots for the
meta-analysis summary value (76.3 for NaP Sol alone- similar to a bar for a
mean
response). The reader can then see scatter among prep-arm values (outliers?)
and the NaP prep treatment data should be generally higher than the PEG data.
This is just a suggestion to display the results in a figure (which will be easier to
interpret for some of the readers and myself).
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 not competing interests. John H. Kalbfleisch, Ph.D.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-37 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:The effect of H. pylori eradication on meal-associated changes in plasma
ghrelin and leptin
Version: 1Date:9 November 2010
Reviewer: Nathalie Salles
Reviewer's report:
Major Compulsory Revisions
Level of interest: An article of limited interest
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-11-37 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:The effect of H. pylori eradication on meal-associated changes in plasma
ghrelin and leptin
Version: 1Date:23 November 2010
Reviewer: Akiko Shiotani
Reviewer's report:
Major Compulsory Revisions
The study was well designed, and the results are interesting and important,
although the previous studies have indicated the effect of H. pylori infection or
eradication on ghrelin or leptin levels. However, there are problems that should
be solved.
1. Gastric atrophy is known to be the key factor that modulates plasma
acyl-ghrelin levels. Authors did not indicate histological scores of atrophy in
Suppl Table 3. Authors should estimate histological atrophy. If it is difficult, serum
pepsinogen levels should be checked to estimate atrophy. What is active gastritis
or chronic active gastritis?
2. In Table1, values of BMI are significantly higher in the Hp-positive group than
those in –negative group. The frequency of DM was higher in the Hp-positive
group than those in –negative group. However there is no evidence confirming
that Hp infection effects on BMI before eradication. How did authors select
subjects? It is better to select the subjects matching those factors. At least
authors should discuss the difference in clinical characteristics before eradication
between the two groups.
3. Authors should also discuss about the significant change in GLP-1 and PYY
after eradication.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-37 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:The effect of H. pylori eradication on meal-associated changes in plasma
ghrelin and leptin
Version: 1Date:25 November 2010
Reviewer: Lucia Pacifico
Reviewer's report:
The aim of the present paper by Francois et al. was to evaluate the effect of H.
pylori eradication on meal-associated changes in serum ghrelin and leptin levels,
and body weight.
Comments
1. H. pylori-negative has BMI significantly different in comparison with H.
pylori-positive group. Since all studied parameters (ghrelin, leptin) are greatly
influenced by weight, height, or BMI, direct comparisons of groups with different
BMI using statistics applied in the present study, give biased results.
1A. BMI is a fat accumulation index. Waist circumference could have been used
as well.
2. Did the Authors measure body fat composition? An MRI could have been used
to estimate fat distribution precisely, especially the subcutaneous fat, which has
the strongest correlation with leptin (95% of circulating leptin is produced from
this tissue).
3. There is no control group of healthy subjects.
4. The fact that 81.5% of the H. pylori-negative patients failed to complete the
follow-up is a disadvantage for the survey.
5. When referring to leptin, it would be best to state if it is the free (active) or
bound type of the hormone.
6. Published findings suggest ghrelin positive cells are found primarily in oxyntic
mucosa. Because of this, the association with antral inflammation seems likely to
be a marker of overall gastric inflammation. Repeat analysis of the association
between antral inflammation and ghrelin levels after correcting for corpus
inflammation would clarify the true association.
7. The Authors should discuss whether ghrelin levels reflect H. pylori infection or
whether they reflect the severity of gastritis from any cause.
8. The Authors have not addressed the question of changes in the ratio of the
circulating active and inactive form of ghrelin before and after eradication. Under
the assumption that the changes in BMI are not responsible for the changes in
circulating acyl ghrelin levels it would be interesting to know whether the ratio of
acyl- to desacyl-ghrelin is changed in favour to desacyl-ghrelin and whether this
ratio changed after eradication. In case the samples are still stored and have
been adequately collected it should be possible to answer this question.
Level of interest: An article of insufficient interest to warrant publication in a
scientific/medical journal
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, but I do not feel adequately qualified to assess the
statistics.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-37 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:The effect of H. pylori eradication on meal-associated changes in plasma
ghrelin and leptin
Version: 2Date:10 January 2011
Reviewer: Lucia Pacifico
Reviewer's report:
None
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' below
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-37 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:The effect of H. pylori eradication on meal-associated changes in plasma
ghrelin and leptin
Version: 2Date:19 January 2011
Reviewer: Akiko Shiotani
Reviewer's report:
- Major Compulsory Revisions
1. Gastric atrophy is known to be the key factor that modulates plasma
acyl-ghrelin levels. Authors did not indicate histological scores of atrophy in
Suppl Table 3.
Authors should indicate the atrophy scores instead of intestinal metaplasia.
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' below.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-37 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:The effect of H. pylori eradication on meal-associated changes in plasma
ghrelin and leptin
Version: 2Date:21 February 2011
Reviewer: Nathalie Salles
Reviewer's report:
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.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-36 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Diffuse duodenal nodular lymphoid hyperplasia: A large cohort of patients
etiologically related to helicobacter pylori infection.
Version: 1Date:7 December 2010
Reviewer: Ozlem Yonem
Reviewer's report:
Major Compulsory Revisions
None
Minor Essential Revisions
1)Ascaris lumbricoides was reported in 11 patients. Did these patients receive
any treatment for this parasite?
2)All patients (40 patients ) with isolated diffuse duodenal nodular hyperplasia
received H.pylori eradication therapy. The H.pylori status of these patients before
therapy was not mentioned. Were they all H.pylori positive?
3)Iron lack anemia is used as a term throughout the text. It will be better to use
the term iron deficiency anemia.
4)The time period during which the study was carried out should be stated in the
abstract section. From March 2005… is not enough.
5)In the last paragraph of the Results section, MAL was written instead of MALT
lymphoma. It should be corrected.
6)In the 4th paragraph of the Discussion section, It can be better to change the
sentence “Chronic corpus atrophic gastritis with intestinal metaplasia caused by
H.pylori infection is an initiating event in most cases of intestinal type
adenocarcinomas stomach” as “Chronic corpus atrophic gastritis with intestinal
metaplasia caused by H.pylori infection is an initiating event in most cases of
intestinal type gastric adenocarcinomas” .
7)In table 1, some results are given in greater punto than others. For example
mean age of patients written in greater punto while the mean scores or follow-up
months of the patients were not.The number of Grade 1 nodular disease patients
(which is 4) was also given in larger punto. The punto of the variables in table 1
should be corrected.
8)In the H.pylori eradication part of the methods section amoxicillin was
miswritten as amoxillin.
Discretionary Revisions
The prevalence of nodular lymphoid hyperplasia in the world and the prevalence
of nodular lymphoid hyperplasia , H.pylori infection and intestinal lymphoma in
the country where the study was conducted can be given within the text.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
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-11-36 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Diffuse duodenal nodular lymphoid hyperplasia: A large cohort of patients
etiologically related to helicobacter pylori infection.
Version: 1Date:16 December 2010
Reviewer: vatsala misra
Reviewer's report:
Diffuse duodenal nodular lymphoid hyperplasia
Reviewer’s comments:
Back ground and Introduction –
The authors state – “There are no published reports of association of nodular
lymphoid hyperplasia in association with H.pylori infection”
Probably they have not searched the literature properly. Few reports from India
are quoted below and there are more from other parts of the world –
Misra SP, Misra V, Dwivedi M, Singh PA. Helicobacter pylori induced
lymphonodular hyperplasia: a new cause of gastric outlet obstruction Journal Of
Gastroenterology And Hepatology 1998; 13: 1189-92.
Dwivedi M, Misra SP, Misra V. Nodular gastritis in adults: Clinical features,
endoscpic appearance, histological feature and response to therapy. J
Gastroenterol and Hepatol 2008;23:943-7.
Material and methods –
Which classification was used to classify gastritis and duodenitis on histology?
Please give method of doing RUT
Results: -
It appears to be quite unusual that despite 100% biopsies showing presence of
H. pylori (heavy in 34 patients), only 2 patients had MALToma and rest others
had no evidence of lymphoid hyperplasia in stomach but all the cases had
nodules in the duodenum.
How many duodenal biopsies had evidence of gastric metaplasia and evidence
of H.pylori
How the H.pylori present in the stomach led to nodular lymphoid hyperplasia in
the duodenum without producing any change in the gastric mucosa – please
explain
Diagnosis of H.pylori was made by RUT and histology but after treatment only
Breath test was used
How can you compare the three different methods for showing eradication.
A pre and post Urea breath test should have been done to show the eradication.
Discussion –
Authors try to state that the nodules in the duodenum were probably due to
immune stimulation secondry to heavy H.pylori infection.If it was so, then how the
stomach, small intestine and colon were spared
References – Most of the references are quite old.some new references should
be added.
Photographs –
Histology photograph is not good. Getting a single lymphoid follicle is not
unusual. A scanner or low magnification (10x) showing multiple large follicles
should be given
Level of interest: An article of insufficient interest to warrant publication in a
scientific/medical journal
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've no competing interests
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-36 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Diffuse duodenal nodular lymphoid hyperplasia: A large cohort of patients
etiologically related to helicobacter pylori infection.
Version: 5Date:18 March 2011
Reviewer: Guido Tytgat
Reviewer's report:
I read the manuscript and advise to accept the paper as it is. Although the
subject is largely descriptive,there are original aspects in the study justifying
publication.The critiques of reviewer 2 are excessive and are somewhat
inappropriate.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-35 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Perforated acute appendicitis resulting from appendiceal villous adenoma
presenting with small bowel obstruction: a case report
Version: 1Date:29 November 2010
Reviewer: Runjan Chetty
Reviewer's report:
This is an unusual cause of acute appendicitis.
I have two criticisms:
1. The Abstract could be more informative in the Conclusions. rather than saying
these will be discussed, provide a short summary.
2. With regards to the pathology: clarify that this is a villous adenoma rather than
an appendiceal mucinous cystadenoma. The latter is by far commoner and is a
diffuse process. A villous adenoma would imply that there is a solitary leson with
the surrounding appendiceal mucosa not showing similar change. If this is truly a
villous adenoma, then where exactly in the appendix was it located?
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-11-35 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Perforated acute appendicitis resulting from appendiceal villous adenoma
presenting with small bowel obstruction: a case report
Version: 1Date:7 January 2011
Reviewer: ABDULZAHRA HUSSAIN
Reviewer's report:
Major compulsory :
1.The abstract needs to be structured
2.The discussion should be focused on rare causes of perforation of the
appendix and not on bowel obstruction,therefore I urged authors to delete the
first four paragraphs of discussion.
3.It is not clear to me whether the perforation in the appendix or in the small
bowel as figure A showed!
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-11-35 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Perforated acute appendicitis resulting from appendiceal villous adenoma
presenting with small bowel obstruction: a case report
Version: 1Date:1 February 2011
Reviewer: Aravind Suppiah
Reviewer's report:
Minor issues not for publication
Abstract paragraph 1 - References should not be placed in abstract
Background - Paragraph 1 - Sequence of referencing is wrong. Please pay
attention to numerical sequence
Case presentation:
Second paragraph - please place references 6 and 7 at end of sentence, not
middle of sentence
Hours, not hours’
Minute - full text to be used the first occasion before abbreviating
Figures - please mark on images the level of obstruction
Minor essential revisions
1. Case presentation
Please clarify how the appendix came to lie on left side ? tethered
2. Fifth paragraph - please elaborate or give exact numbers or % of benign
appendiceal tumours from your references 6 and 7
3. Fifth paragraph - How rare is villous adenoma? Please give a % or
approximate number of reported cases in the literature.
4. Paragraph 7 - please explain what you mean by atypical symptoms - the
patient presented with typical symptoms of SBO
5. Paragraph 8. Last sentence - surely it is common sense to perform right
hemicolectomy if carcinoma was diagnosed pre-operatively or during surgery.
6. How would carcinoma be diagnosed preoperatively in this patients with SBO?
Is CT sufficiently sensitive to detect appendiceal adenocarcinoma?
7. Paragraph 8/9 - you should discuss the role of colonoscopy in surveillance in
greater depth i.e how frequent should it be performed and up to what age?
8. Conclusion
The last 2 sentences do not make sense. Please re-write
9. If this is so rare, why would you recommend routine frozen section?
Discretionary revision
10. The paragraphs in all sections are inconsistent in length. Please re-format
11. Discussion - the first 3 paragraphs should be shortened to one paragraph as
this does not add any educational value. Concentrate on the literature
surrounding your case
Summary
1. Much of the discussion in this case report has revolved around commonly
known facts.
2. There is little added in terms of further scientific interest. The true prevalence
e.g % or adenomas etc, have been avoided by using generic terms such as
“small proportions” or “quite rare” rather than providing a number.
3. The discussion about the potentially difficult issues in this case, e.g. what
proportions of adenomas, recommendation for colonoscopic follow-up, surgical
approach etc, have been avoided.
4. The conclusion is unsound
a. 3rd sentence is obvious i.e look for hernias - nothing to do with this case
b. 4th sentence - please re-write. Following up a specimen?
c. 5th - if so rare, how can the authors conclude the need for regularly arranged
frozen sections
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
Declaration of competing interests:
No competing interest
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-35 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Perforated acute appendicitis resulting from appendiceal villous adenoma
presenting with small bowel obstruction: a case report
Version: 2Date:8 March 2011
Reviewer: ABDULZAHRA HUSSAIN
Reviewer's report:
After reading the revised version,I think it is much better and it has an
educational value.
I don't have any other comments.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-35 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Perforated acute appendicitis resulting from appendiceal villous adenoma
presenting with small bowel obstruction: a case report
Version: 2Date:22 March 2011
Reviewer: Aravind Suppiah
Reviewer's report:
Comments: This revision is a vast improvement on the previous submission and I
appreciate the effort and diligence by the authors in this.
Minor issue
1. Page 3 Line 8 - "TThis" should be "This"
2. Page 4 Line 13 - there are 2 fullstops
3.Page 5 Line 1 - "Figures 2" should be "Figure 2"
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-34 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Presence of intestinal Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis
(MAP) DNA is not associated with altered MMP expression in ulcerative colitis
Version: 2Date:27 January 2011
Reviewer: Robert Greenstein
Reviewer's report:
1. Is the question posed by the authors well defined?
YES
2. Are the methods appropriate and well described?
YES
3. Are the data sound?
YES
4. Does the manuscript adhere to the relevant standards for reporting and data
deposition?
YES
5. Are the discussion and conclusions well balanced and adequately supported
by the data?
YES
6. Are limitations of the work clearly stated?
YES
7. Do the authors clearly acknowledge any work upon which they are building,
both published and unpublished?
YES
8. Do the title and abstract accurately convey what has been found?
YES
9. Is the writing acceptable?
YES
In reviewing the revised manuscript, please consider whether the authors have
answered your points sufficiently well to allow their manuscript to be published.
As before, we would like you to divide your comments into the following three
categories:
- Discretionary Revisions (which are recommendations for improvement but
which the author can choose to ignore)
SATISFACTORILY COMPLETED
- Minor Essential Revisions (such as missing labels on figures, or the wrong use
of a term, which the author can be trusted to correct)
SATISFACTORILY COMPLETED
Major Compulsory Revisions (which the author must respond to before a
decision on publication can be reached)
SATISFACTORILY COMPLETED
Once you have done this, there are also some questions for you to answer,
including one that asks your advice on what the next step should be. Please bear
in mind that it is journal policy to publish work deemed by peer reviewers to be a
coherent and sound addition to scientific knowledge and to put less emphasis on
interest levels, provided that the research constitutes a useful contribution to the
field.
BMC Gastroenterology takes seriously issues of misconduct. Any manuscript or
substantial parts of it submitted to the journal must not be under consideration by
any other journal although it may have been deposited on a preprint server. The
manuscript should not have already been published in any journal or other citable
form, with that exception that the journal is willing to consider peer reviewing
manuscripts that are translations of articles originally published in another
language so long the consent of the journal in which the article was originally
published has been obtained. Reviewers are asked to note whether they think
duplication or plagiarism has occurred. Reviewers should also let the journal
know if they believe that research has been falsified or manipulated, or if there
are issues with the authorship or contributions towards the manuscript, such as
the unacknowledged involvement of a medical writer.
NONE NOTED
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.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-34 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Presence of intestinal Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis
(MAP) DNA is not associated with altered MMP expression in ulcerative colitis
Version: 2Date:14 February 2011
Reviewer: Brian Bressler
Reviewer's report:
I am impressed with the efforts made by the authors to respond to the review. I
feel this manuscript as written is suitable for publication.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-34 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Presence of intestinal Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis
(MAP) DNA is not associated with altered MMP expression in ulcerative colitis
Version: 3Date:14 March 2011
Reviewer: Paul Scully
Reviewer's report:
Major Compulsory Revisions:
Satisfactory
Discretionary Revisions:
Satisfactory
Minor Essential Revisions:
1: Methods: Page 6: Paragraph 2: Capital “G” with germans.
2: Methods: Page 6: Paragraph 2: laboratory “for” further investigations. Missing
word.
3: Results: Page 12: Paragraph 4: “When comparing patients stratified to the
treatment…..more frequently obtained” This sentence needs to be reworded.
4: Discussion: Page 16: Paragraph 2/3: Captial “G” and “N”.
5: Discussion: Page 17: Final paragraph. “,” required after thalidomide.
6: Discussion; Page 19: Paragraph 2: “and MMP, which” comma again required.
Level of interest: An article of limited interest
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-11-33 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Polymyositis complicating pancreatic adenocarcinoma treated with
corticosteroids along with cancer specific treatment: case report
Version: 1Date:23 December 2010
Reviewer: Kiet Phong Tiev
Reviewer's report:
I have a major comment on this observation:
The authors used Peter and Bohan criteria to define the polymyositis. these
criteria overestimated the diagnosis of polymyositis. Recent knowledge on the
pathogenesis of inflammatory myopathies provided some immunochemistry
markers, that may help to differentiate polymyositis from dermatomyositis. It is
better to define polymyositis according to European Neuro Muscular Center
criteria (2004). Therefore, the authors must provide immunochemistry findings of
muscle biopsy (CD8, MHCI, and membrane attack complex).
As this present observation looks like that reported by Ardavanis et al. in
Anticancer
Res 2005, 25(1B):523-525. The authors need to show the immunological
features of the myositis, that will differentiate this present observation from the
previous one.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-33 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Polymyositis complicating pancreatic adenocarcinoma treated with
corticosteroids along with cancer specific treatment: case report
Version: 3Date:14 February 2011
Reviewer: Albert Selva-O'Callaghan
Reviewer's report:
Author’s answers to the reviewer comments are properly achieved. In my opinion
the case report is now suitable for publication.
Sincerely yours
Dr Albert Selva-O’Callaghan
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-11-33 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Polymyositis complicating pancreatic adenocarcinoma treated with
corticosteroids along with cancer specific treatment: case report
Version: 3Date:28 February 2011
Reviewer: Kiet Phong Tiev
Reviewer's report:
This case report is suitable for publication.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-29 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Images of colonic real-time tissue elastography correlate with those of
colonoscopy and may predict response to therapy in patients with ulcerative
colitis
Version: 1Date:11 December 2010
Reviewer: Svein Odegaard
Reviewer's report:
The paper is well written and the scientific part is relevant, however I have some
major and some minor comments.
1. Elastography may be performed using different imaging techniques, thus the
term "sonoelastography" should probably appear in the title of the paper.
2. Figures 1 and 2 should be omited and replaced by a B-mode ultrasound image
of the normal colon wall with its differt layers (at least the 5 layer structure, which
should be clearly described and labeled). Furthermore, the correponding EG of
the normal wall and the layers should be shown indicating the different colours
which usually are seen for mucosa, submucosa and muscularis propria.
3. There is a difference in ultrasound layers and EG interpretation when the GI
wall is imaged from the muscularis propria side or from the intraluminal side (e.g.
the dorsal wall of the colon).
4. What ultrasound frequency is used?
5. Why is the pressure indicator not seen on the dual image (is normally seen on
this equipment). The pressure influences on GI wall thickness, echogenicity and
individual wall layers.
6. 4 mm is a thick wall in this part of the colon.
7. Figure 3 A is not good, the B-image is too dark and the GI wall is not easily
seen. Why not white arrows? The arrows on the EG image is partly out of
position. Figure 3B is also not correctly interpreted because two GI loops are
close to each other adding two muscle layers in the area which is indicated by
arrows on the EG-image.Fig 3C, the B-image cannot be interpreted. Figure 3D.
B-mode image is not good, however, EG indicates a harder area.
8. Figure 4C looks more like Crohn's disease (?).
9. Reference 10. Only the first author seems to have his family name, the others
are probably given their first name which I think might be an error.
10. The authors have used the default setting on the ultrasound maschine.
Several possibilities to adjust the parameters are available and may be helpful in
EG imaging e.g. E-dyn setting.
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 am working in this field, mainly using endoscopic ultrasound in the evaluation of
gastrointestinal cancer and other tumours. I also use ultrasound,
sonoelastography, contrast enhanced ultrasound in the characterization of
inflammatory and malignant disorders. However, I think the authors of this paper
will accept that my comments are relevant and the paper has no influence on my
work and.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-29 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Images of colonic real-time tissue elastography correlate with those of
colonoscopy and may predict response to therapy in patients with ulcerative
colitis
Version: 1Date:14 December 2010
Reviewer: Govind Makharia
Reviewer's report:
Images of colonic real-time tissue elastography correlate with those of
colonoscopy
and may predict response to therapy in patients with ulcerative colitis
In this novel study, the authors have evaluated the utility of elastrography in
predicting activity of ulcerative colitis and have reported a correlation between
elastrographic types and colonoscopy findings and treatment outcome based on
elastographic findings.
While this study is novel, there are a few concerns:
1. Patient selection: The ulcerative colitis is a disease which involves generally
mucosa and may involve sub-mucosa also. The endoscopic characteristics are
features which are superficial (erythema, friability, granularity, ulcerations which
generally are superficial). Punched out ulcers and longitudinal ulcers are features
of deeper degree of inflammation which are seen more often in Crohn’s disease.
The image placed in this study shows longitudinal ulcer, which is a feature of
Crohn’s disease. Are these really patients with UC?
2. The interpretation of the response to treatment according to EG type is
premature. The treatment decision was taken as per the clinical indication and
number of patients is too small to derive any meaningful information on this
issue. Although, three of five patients with active disease with hard type EG
required colectomy, five patients with clinical remission also had hard type EG.
Therefore it is not appropriate to conclude that treatment outcome can be
predicted on the basis of EG findings. It will be better if the correlation between
the EG grade and treatment are deleted. The main focus of this paper may
highlight correlation between colonoscopic features and EG.
3. Correlation between clinical activity score and EG: Although there is an
association between the EG grades and clinical activity indices; however one can
see a lot of overlap between EG findings (normal, homogeneous and hard)
clinical activity status ( patients either having an active disease or their diseases
being in remission).
4. Since air is an important barrier to the transmission of US waves, did the
author find any difficulty in getting good EG images and B mode images in all
these patients? If so, that should be mentioned. Or only those having good
images were included in this study?
Minor:
The paragraph on the leukocyte therapy from the introduction may be deleted.
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-11-29 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Images of colonic real-time tissue elastography correlate with those of
colonoscopy and may predict response to therapy in patients with ulcerative
colitis
Version: 2Date:15 February 2011
Reviewer: Svein Odegaard
Reviewer's report:
I think they are acceptable from my point of view. However the names in
reference 10 are still wrong because the family names are not used (only the first
names, except for the first author. PubMed- and I know many of the authors).
The name of the last author is by the way Adrian (which is his first name).
This is reference 10. wpr Svein Odegaard
Endoscopic ultrasound elastography for evaluation of lymph nodes and
pancreatic masses: A multicenter study
Marc Giovannini, Thomas Botelberge, Erwan Bories, Christian Pesenti, Fabrice
Caillol, Benjamin Esterni, Geneviève Monges, Paolo Arcidiacono, Pierre Deprez,
Robert Yeung, Walter Schimdt, Hanz Schrader, Carl Szymanski, Christoph
Dietrich, Pierre Eisendrath, Jean-Luc Van Laethem, Jacques Devière, Peter
Vilmann, and Adrian Saftoiu
World J Gastroenterol. 2009 April 7; 15(13): 1587–1593. Published online 2009
April 7. doi: 10.3748/wjg.15.1587.
PMCID: PMC2669942
| Abstract | Full Text | PDF–1.2M |
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-29 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Images of colonic real-time tissue elastography correlate with those of
colonoscopy and may predict response to therapy in patients with ulcerative
colitis
Version: 2Date:27 February 2011
Reviewer: Govind Makharia
Reviewer's report:
Figure 3C still shows a deep longitudinal ulcer, which is a feature of Crohn's
disease and may be misleading for the readers. This figure may be deleted.
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-11-32 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Anastrozole-related acute hepatitis with autoimmune features: a case
report.
Version: 1Date:8 December 2010
Reviewer: James H Lewis
Reviewer's report:
Major Revisions:
1) the authors fail to provide any baseline liver tests prior to the patient starting
the drug - are any pre-treatment LFTs available? Also, no pre-treatment
autoantibodies are available - since the ANA was low titer - and disappeared, can
it truly be linked to the drug if no baseline values are available. The apparent
positive De-challenge cannot be verified.
2) The word "flogistic" does not appear in any dictionary I consulted - did the
biopsy have any features that are accepted as autoimmune hepatitis-like, such
as plasma cell infiltrate, rosetting or interface hepatitis? Mild steatosis is
nonspecific.
3) did the authors apply any standard causality assessment methodology to the
case report such as RUCAM ; and given the possiblity of autoimmune injury , did
they attempt to apply the international autoimmune hepatitis scoring system to
the case? If so, what values did they get? And would those scores allow
classification of the case of at least "probably related" ? Anything less than
probably related does not warrant publication as a case report and should be
relegated to a letter to the editor or some other hypothesis -generating medium.
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 I have no competing interests
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-32 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Anastrozole-related acute hepatitis with autoimmune features: a case
report.
Version: 1Date:23 December 2010
Reviewer: Raúl J J Andrade
Reviewer's report:
In this manuscript, Inno et al. present a case of anastrozole induced acute liver
injury with mild titer of antinuclear antibodies. The authors conclude that
anastrozole can cause liver injury through an immune mechanism. The case
report is well documented and interesting since only two cases of hepatotoxicity
attributed to the compound have been previously reported. The main problem is
that the discussion regarding the mechanisms potentially involved in
anastrozle-related hepatic injury is not focused enough.
General suggestions to consider for improving the manuscript are as follow:
1. Abstract: the first 3 lines of the conclusions are speculative and should be
removed.
2. Case description: normal values for liver enzymes should be listed. The mild
dilatation of intrahepatic bile ducts elicited by abdominal ultrasound and CT scan
would suggest an obstructive process in biliary tract. Why did the authors not
perform another imaging technique to rule out this possibility? Please, explain.
3. Discussion: this subsection needs to be more focused. Rather than general
comments on the several mechanisms and underlying pathways leading to
drug-induced liver injury, a detailed comparison with the other two reports
published is necessary. Besides, comments on the most specific finding of this
case report, the presence of antinuclear antibodies that disappeared upon
normalization of liver enzymes as compared with other typical instances of
hepatotoxicity with autoimmune features (i.e. minocycline, nitrofurantoin.,) is also
advisable. Autoimmune like DILI is a controversial and poorly understood issue.
A recent article that could help shed light on this area is available (Hepatology
2010; 51:2040-2048).
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-11-32 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Anastrozole-related acute hepatitis with autoimmune features: a case
report.
Version: 2Date:8 February 2011
Reviewer: James H Lewis
Reviewer's report:
see my comments above and below
the revision is largely satisfactory
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-11-32 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Anastrozole-related acute hepatitis with autoimmune features: a case
report.
Version: 2Date:10 February 2011
Reviewer: Raúl J J Andrade
Reviewer's report:
I have no additional comments
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-11-31 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:1 MAC Isoflurane Preconditioning Induce Protective Effects of Heme
oxygenase-1 on Hepatic Ischemia Reperfusion in Rats
Version: 1Date:29 April 2010
Reviewer: Leandra Ramalho
Reviewer's report:
Major Compulsory Revisions
The authors should reinforce in the introduction and objective sets the
unpublished purpose of the study. It was better defined in the abstract set.
The hepatic TNF-alpha may be more representative using a PCR-RT analysis.
The Heme oxygenase-1 pathway is related with oxidative stress, the authors
should investigate another markers of oxidative stress, as well as, nitrotyrosine,
MDA, etc.
Minor Essential Revisions
There are excessive arrows in the figure 3
The figure 7 presented H&E stain with a yellow background
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.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-31 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:1 MAC Isoflurane Preconditioning Induce Protective Effects of Heme
oxygenase-1 on Hepatic Ischemia Reperfusion in Rats
Version: 1Date:17 May 2010
Reviewer: Holger K Eltzschig
Reviewer's report:
In the present study, Win Lv and co-authors investigate the role of
preconditioning with isoflurane on Heme oxygenase 1-dependent liver protection
during ischemia reperfusion injury.
Major comments:
1.) The authors need to include arterial blood pressure values for both groups. I
suspect that the induction and HO-1 protection are induced by
hypotension/ischemia - like ischemic preconditioning - by isoflurane induced
decrease in blood pressure.
2.) The authors need to provide genetic evidence for a role of HO-1 in their
responses.
3.) The paper needs to be re-written in better English.
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-31 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:1 MAC Isoflurane Preconditioning Induce Protective Effects of Heme
oxygenase-1 on Hepatic Ischemia Reperfusion in Rats
Version: 1Date:3 June 2010
Reviewer: Pronobesh Chattopadhyay
Reviewer's report:
Xin et al, shows novelty of Isoflurane Preconditioning anesthesia and Heme
oxygenase-1 relationship. Though prolong surgery Isoflurane is not
recommended because slow recovery rate. However the finding is novel and is
suitable for publication. I will be convinced and the paper may give good look if
the authors are followed this suggestion.
1. The authors should mention the HO-1 activity in ischemia followed reperfusion.
Introduction should be start with HO-1
2. Ischemia followed reperfusion should be noted uniformly IR or I/R through out
the paper.
3. The authors also suggested the IL-6 and IL-10 level along with neutrophil
accumulation.
4. Was any necrotic cells and any hyperplasia was observed? Should mentioned
in histopathology.
5. What was the viability of hepatocytes?
6. In research paper Phenobarbitone should not use in Ischemia group. May be
Phenobarbitone effect participate Isoflurane action
The paper has novelty with relation HO-1 expression and anesthesia. The paper
can be published with improving English and above said suggestion
Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-11-31 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Isoflurane Preconditioning at Clinically Relevant Doses Induce Protective
Effects of Heme oxygenase-1 on Hepatic Ischemia Reperfusion in Rats
Version: 3Date:21 December 2010
Reviewer: Greg Barritt
Reviewer's report:
The authors have appropriately addressed the criticisms
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-11-30 (2011)

Reviewer's report
Title:Acute pericarditis due to alpha-interferon therapy for chronic HCV hepatitis
- Case report
Version: 2Date:27 January 2011
Reviewer: Curtis L Cooper
Reviewer's report:
Interesting work that is of educational interest to clinicians. The review of the
differential for pericariditis is valuable. Editting for grammer throughout is
required.
Key Issues:
1) This complication is widely recognized. However, I think that this complete
review of the topic is valuable.
2) Need to consider ribavirin on the differential as well as mentioning the other
medications that this patient was receiving.
3) A comment on the effect of interferon immune suppression on diagnostic
serology results would be useful.
4) Case Presentation, Page 4: Tuberculosis is on the differential. The prevelance
of latent TB in the HCV population is actually high. Therefore, the statement 'We
had no reason to suspect a tuberculosis etiology...' is inaccurate.
5) Case Presentation, final paragraph of page 4: How many weeks after IFN was
interrupted was treatment resumed? Resumption after 2 weeks would likely have
been of no value in terms of increasing the likelihood of SVR.
6) Discussion (para 1)- There are other interferons besides alpha and beta
(lamda is under investigation)
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 am a clinical investigator, advisor and speaker in the field of HCV. IN this
capacity I interact with many pharma companies. I do not believ that I am
conflicted.