JerMa88/BMC_Womens_Health_Peer_Reviews huggingface dataset:
Reviewer's report
Title:A Cross-Sectional Study on Health and Physical Functioning in Relation to
Coping Styles among Community-Dwelling, Ethnically Diverse Older Women
Version: 1Date:23 December 2009
Reviewer: Claudia Cooper
Reviewer's report:
I agree that we need to know more about coping strategy use in non-clinical
populations, so think this is potentially a useful addition to the literature.
The introduction comments on conflicting findings regarding emotion-focussed
coping and relationship to health. It is important to emphasise that people define
emotion-focused coping in different ways - they later describe some of the coping
strategies included in this category - positive and negative. The extent to which
scales measure these probably explains much of the variation in findings.
Hypotheses: I think one and two are important. The third and fourth hypotheses
retest well known associations - I suggest leaving them out.
Method: You need to explain where the participants were recruited from, the
types of facility and state, in the methods.
In general results were well presented and explained.
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'
Reviewer's report
Title:A Cross-Sectional Study on Health and Physical Functioning in Relation to
Coping Strategies among Community-Dwelling, Ethnically Diverse Older Women
Version: 2Date:8 February 2010
Reviewer: Torill Christine C. Lindstrøm
Reviewer's report:
Reviewer's second & final comments to manuscript MS 1678647160312837.
I am most pleased about the changes the authors made to the manuscript. All
the changes I suggested have been attended to and made. I recommend that the
paper should now be published.
Torill Christine Lindstrøm
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.
Reviewer's report
Title:Comparing urine samples and cervical swabs for Chlamydia testing in a
female population by means of the SDA method.
Version: 1Date:14 December 2009
Reviewer: Marek Smieja
Reviewer's report:
Major Compulsory Revisions: None.
Minor Essential Revisions:
1. Define all abbreviations in the abstract (CT, BDPT, SDA).
2. Abstract, page 2, line 2: Background…. WAS to evaluate…
3. Page 5, “Participants”. What number/proportion were symptomatic, attending
for contact tracing, or had unprotected sex?
4. How many of the CT “true” positives were symptomatic women? Were a
greater proportion of the discordant results among asymptomatic women? I
would expect a lower chlamydial “load”, and hence greater proportion of
discordant results, among the asymptomatic women.
Discretionary Revisions:
1. Table 1 would be easier to interpret as a 2X2 table, with Cervical specimens
positive/negative along the top and Urine Positive/negative along the side.
Inclusion of total positive and “true” positive after discrepant analysis would be an
appropriate way of summarizing the results in an easily-understandable manner.
2. Table 2 is clear, but could be shortened by adding a column for “frequency”.
Thus, for example, samples 3, 5, 6, and 10 have identical patterns and could
instead by summarized as a frequency of 4.
3. I would present sensitivity/specificity data in a more conventional way (using a
2-test positive reference standard, i.e. conventional discrepant analysis) in
addition to the latent class model. Most readers will not be familiar with the latent
class model, and the results are very similar to the conventional discrepant
analysis results (90% for cervix, 91.3% for urine).
4. My understanding of latent class analysis is that you need a minimum of 3
tests done. Only the discrepant samples had the 3rd and 4th test done, which is
clearly a biased subgroup (generally the three or more tests should have been
done on all samples, and should not be influenced by results of the other tests).
Justify use of latent class modeling in this circumstance, model assumptions and
whether they have been met.
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.
Reviewer's report
Title:Comparing urine samples and cervical swabs for Chlamydia testing in a
female population by means of Strand Displacement Assay (SDA)
Version: 2Date:8 March 2010
Reviewer: marian Currie
Reviewer's report:
I am satisfied that the authors have made the revisions necessary 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'
Reviewer's report
Title:Female reproductive tract infections: understandings and care seeking
behaviour among women of reproductive age in Lagos, Nigeria
Version: 1Date:1 January 2010
Reviewer: Katarina M Eriksson
Reviewer's report:
Reviewers report:
This is a very important and interesting field to survey. The abstract was easy to
follow. The background and methods were also easy to follow. The discussion
was not so easy to follow, specially the frequent referring to the other different
studies.
Major revisions: none
Minor revisions:
Page 4: Pappiloma: Consider whether pappilloma or papilloma should be used
Discretionary revisions:
Background:
Page 3: “In some instances….” I suggest a reference
Page 4: “Other sequelae…” I suggest a reference
Page 10: “…paucity…” I suggest another word instead
Page 10: “This is similar…..in the affirmative” Reconsider this sentence or
complete it.
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.
Reviewer's report
Title:Female reproductive tract infections: understandings and care seeking
behaviour among women of reproductive age in Lagos, Nigeria
Version: 1Date:7 January 2010
Reviewer: Annsofie Adolfsson
Reviewer's report:
Discreationary Revisons
> 1. Is the question posed by the authors well defined?
# Yes
> 2. Are the methods appropriate and well described?
# The method is well described.
> 3. Are the data sound?
# How many did accept to participate in the study? Is not possible with 100%
answers.
> 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?
# Need of clarification.
> 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
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. If your reply is yes to any,
please give details below.
Reviewer's report
Title:The use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by women
experiencing menopausal symptoms in Bologna
Version: 1Date:7 August 2009
Reviewer: Ichramsjah A Rachman
Reviewer's report:
Dear BCM Editorial Board Team,
While still waiting for the list of question that I inquired yesterday through e-mail, I
would like to share my preliminary review of the paper; “The use of CAM …. in
Bologna.”
I consider this manuscript requires a major compulsory revision. The method that
this study uses is a survey, in which the respondents filled in a questionnaire.
This allows for rooms for bias as the authors can’t control whether the responds
given are biased, as we cannot control whether the respondents took the
treatment(s) in schedule or whether it was only incidental.
The data compiled from analyzing the questionnaire can only be used as
descriptions of the study. However, under no circumstances, the data cannot be
used to conclude the results of the treatments, in which shown by the authors by
dividing the perceived effectiveness scores into three categories – not effective,
moderately effective and very effective.
I suggest that a revision is needed. The authors can take one of these
approaches. First, by changing this manuscript into a description study. This
means the authors can only give information of the use of CAM; however, not to
give conclusions, such as mentioned above.
The second approach is by conducting an additional research – for this
manuscript, a case control study is strongly advised – which will give the authors
more solid data to be further analyzed as conclusions.
Reviewer's report
Title:The use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by women
experiencing menopausal symptoms in Bologna
Version: 1Date:5 November 2009
Reviewer: Santiago Palacios
Reviewer's report:
My brief report is as follows:
This is a very interesting study, clear and well structured, with a conclusion that
reflects the practical reality. My comments are the following:
1. Keywords are missing
2. Methods section, page 5: it should be explained in more detail which the
validating method for the questionnaire was. Furthermore, should there be a
table to collect the 19 items of the questionnaire.
3. Discussion: lack of self-criticism about the methodology: for example,
recruitment does not reflect what happens in general population, as there are
patients attending different clinical centres.
Reviewer's report
Title:New Paradigm, Old Thinking: The Case for Emergency Obstetric Care in
the Prevention of Maternal Mortality in Nigeria
Version: 2Date:15 August 2009
Reviewer: Chibuike Chigbu
Reviewer's report:
This article is timely. The design and conduct of the study is sound. The article
brings to the fore one of the major problems of implementing sound
evidence-based interventions in the prevention of maternal mortality in
resource-poor countries, which is the problem of training and re-training of
maternity care givers in line with evidenced based useful interventions. However,
I would suggest a few discretionary revisions as follows:
1. The sampling method may be included in the method section.
2. The general tone of the article gives a wrong impression that antenatal care
may not be necessary anymore. This is not so. Antenatal care is preventive
obstetrics and was just one of the components of the safe motherhood initiative
alongside clean & safe delivery practices, family planning and emergency
obstetric care. With the three levels of prevention in mind, in the prevention of
maternal mortality, family planning represents the primary level of prevention
(preventing unwanted pregnancies), antenatal care and safe delivery practices
represent secondary prevention (preventing pregnant women from developing
complications) while emergency obstetric care represents tertiary prevention care
(preventing death in pregnant women who develop complications). All these
levels of prevention must work synergistically if maternal mortality is to be
conquered. While it is true that among all the interventions necessary in the
prevention of maternal mortality, EMOC has been found to be the most single
important intervention in having an immediate and significant impact on reduction
of maternal mortality, prompting the shift in emphasis, antenatal care remains
evidently important and indispensable especially in developing countries where
the bulk of maternal mortality is seen in women who did not receive any form of
formal antenatal care. Despite the current emphasis on EMOC, measures to
improve the provision, content and uptake of antenatal care services should not
be de-emphasised. Antenatal care is not just about risk assessment. Antenatal
care prepares the ground for the provision and uptake of EMOC services.
Women who utilise antenatal care services are more likely to utilise EMOC
services. In deed, all the major components of the safe motherhood initiative are
important but the difference lies in the weight of importance of the individual
components.In the light of these, I would therefore suggest a modification of the
general language tone of the article in order not to create the wrong impression
that antenatal care is no longer useful.
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.
Reviewer's report
Title:New Paradigm, Old Thinking: The Case for Emergency Obstetric Care in
the Prevention of Maternal Mortality in Nigeria
Version: 2Date:15 August 2009
Reviewer: Marleen Temmerman
Reviewer's report:
This paper targets a very importnat and too often negelected public health
problem which is maternal mortality. It is well written, contains important
information and deserves publication, in particular because it addresses useful
and practical information related to the health sector and staff.
For many years health staff has been trained with the concept of risk
identification and referral, hence it is not surprising that most are still not
familiar/aware of the new concepts in maternity care. My question to the authors
is whether the new concept is already part of the current basic training of doctors
and nurses.
The main age in he group is 36 years old, hence most have graduated > 10
years ago. Was there a difference according to age of the respondents?
In addition, the paper points not only at lack of knowledge but also on the job
training, supervision and monitoring. Why would staff bother to fill partograms if
the supervisors do not request it?
There are some small items that need correction
page 3; typo :heamorraghe
page 3 the goal of the national program was to reduce maternal mortlaity by 50%
between 2001-2006. What are the figures in these years in Nigeria
reference 2: please add year of publication of report
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
Reviewer's report
Title:New Paradigm, Old Thinking: The Case for Emergency Obstetric Care in
the Prevention of Maternal Mortality in Nigeria
Version: 2Date:16 August 2009
Reviewer: Cynthia Stanton
Reviewer's report:
This paper sets out to assess to assess the knowledge and some practices of
staff regarding emergency obstetric care in the maternity unit of public facilities in
two Nigerian states. The idea is a good one, but I have questions regarding both
the methods and interpretation of results. My comments are summarized below
as MAJOR COMPULSORY REVISIONS:
# I think that most readers would assume that doctors, nurses/midwives and
CHEWs have different responsibilities regarding birth, and therefore, their
training, knowledge and practices are likely to vary, one might expect knowledge
and practices to vary by medical qualification). The same is true for those
providing antenatal care. Perhaps this assumption is incorrect, but in any case no
information is provided to the reader to explain the roles of the various health
care cadres.
# Knowledge is assessed with a 14 point score, but we are never informed about
the content of the questionnaire. Consequently, it is not possible to interpret what
the scores mean.
# I see the benefit of interpreting the scores using the same system as used by
the Nigerian University system. However, in this case the categories are not well
suited to the data. 70% (the cut-off for excellence) of 14 is 9.8; 40% of 14 is 5.6 –
it is not possible to obtain these scores with only 14 points. Categories reflecting
the possible distribution of results would make more sense.
# We are not given any information regarding the content of LSS training nor of
the questions asked to assess this training. Again, it just isn’t possible to interpret
the results.
# It is unfortunate that this paper is meant to draw attention to the issue of
emergency obstetric care and yet the most detail provided in this paper is
regarding antenatal care. Given the focus of this paper, if one were to choose
what to observe, it would have been preferable to observe deliveries over ANC.
# The authors do not acknowledge that self-reported practices by medical staff
are notoriously inaccurate.
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.
Reviewer's report
Title:New Paradigm, Old Thinking: The Case for Emergency Obstetric Care in
the Prevention of Maternal Mortality in Nigeria
Version: 3Date:24 November 2009
Reviewer: Elina Hemminki
Reviewer's report:
The authors have well responded to the criticism in the letter to the editor. But
many of the responses are not added to the text of the paper. They include:
Chigbu: 1
Temmerman: 1, 2,
Stantton (I have numbered the comments in the order they were given): 2, 3, 4,
5.
As the future readers will not see the explanations and additions in the letter, this
is not useful. I recommend revising the paper and incorporating the relevant
sections of the current letter to the paper itself.
While reading the paper, I noticed a few more things, which might be changed to
improve the value of the paper.
1. The paragraphs are long; breaking the text into shorter paragraphs might help
readers.
2. Abstract Results contain only some of the key findings. Abstract Results could
be more factual and detailed.
3. The methods of observations are not given (how many, by whom, where, how
made etc).
4. The new chapter “limitations” suits better to Discussion; it could be expanded
to include the other limitations, including the generalizibility from one area to the
rest of Nigeria/ the studied state.
5. Relations= relatives
6. The authors do not refer to earlier similar studies. If there are none, that could
be said.
7. The tables cannot be fully understood: the row variables need further
clarification. When the questionnaire is added to an Appendix, reference to the
relevant question might help. Another option is to use footnotes.
8. Discussion is too much on the policy/ recommendations and not on the paper
itself.
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'
Reviewer's report
Title:Preconception care for women with diabetes: A review of current guideline
recommendations
Version: 1Date:24 August 2009
Reviewer: James Walker
Reviewer's report:
This short report assesses the quality of 5 pregnancy and diabetes guidelines
using the AGREE instrument and details areas of similarity and differences.
Discretionary Revisions
Minor grammatical error in the 'Background' section.
The authors may wish to expand on the AGREE instrument to help readers
understand the computed final scores.
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
Reviewer's report
Title:Preconception care for women with diabetes: A review of current guideline
recommendations
Version: 2Date:23 November 2009
Reviewer: Denise Charron-Prochownik
Reviewer's report:
Reviewer's report Table 3:
- - Under column "ADA 2004":
place a check in "Review all medication" (p. S77),
The title should accurately reflect type 2 diabetes. It should read, "Preconception
care for women with type 2 diabetes: A review of current guideline
recommendations".
All other comments and concerns have been addressed.
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 I have no competing interests
Reviewer's report
Title:Perceived control over condom use among sex workers in Madagascar: a
cohort study
Version: 1Date:12 May 2009
Reviewer: Petrus Schonken Steyn
Reviewer's report:
• Major Compulsory Revisions
1. Construction of the questionnaire: How were the measurements developed
and validated?
The study is of importance in the field of perceived behavioral control (in this
case perceived control over condom use), and the attempt to quantify the
concept. However, perceived behavioural control represents the individual's
perception of the presence or absence of necessary resources and opportunities,
as well as anticipated obstacles or impediments. These are further explained with
social theories. It is difficult to detect from the methodology how perceived control
over condoms was defined (measured) and what the underpinning theory was
(and if a theory was used) in the construction of the measurement.
1. Construction of questionnaire – explain testing for validity and other
psychometric testing
2. On page 6 explain the development/ construction of the 6 questions
(references and see 2 above)
• Minor Essential Revisions
1. Explain or cite references for eligibility (inclusion) criteria on page 5
2. Confusion on question 5 – angry or argue – what are we testing? See also
results later when referring to this question (page 10, all 3 tables).
3. Check statistics again – page 8 – main partner characteristics, page 9 – last
sentence before condom use at baseline, significant testing last sentence in
section of condom use at baseline
• Discretionary Revisions
1. Define measures of gender-based power (page 10)
This article may be of interest to the authors:
Mu#oz-Silva, A, Saánchez-García , Nunes, C and Martins A. Gender differences
in condom use prediction with Theory of Reasoned Action and Planned
Behaviour: The role of self-efficacy and control. AIDS Care, 2007
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
Reviewer's report
Title:Perceived control over condom use among sex workers in Madagascar: a
cohort study
Version: 2Date:30 August 2009
Reviewer: Petrus Schonken Steyn
Reviewer's report:
Second submission accept.
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'