JerMa88/BMC_Womens_Health_Peer_Reviews huggingface dataset:
Title: Prevalence and associated factors of sexual dysfunction in female hemodialysis patients:
First report from Somalia
Version: 0 Date: 18 Nov 2023
Reviewer:  Bothaina Attal
Reviewer's report:
Thank you for this opportunity to review this manuscript. The setting and subject are important
and unfortunately, both combined are under reported in the literature.
The following outlines the main points. Detailed feedback is included in comments in the
attached manuscript file.
The background needs further expansion on issues such as  the size of FSD as a public health
problem and its consequences, mechanisms by which that dialysis leads to FSD and the factors
associated. Authors are recommended to build on regional ad  international literature, and
systematic reviews.
Methods:
as such, the study is not replicable. Methods section will benefit of revision/ expansion in terms
of description of the study setting, the FSDI adaptation and application (please see next section
and manuscript). Study variables should be laid out clearly e.g. what are the sociodemographic
and medical data retrieved and how these were used to understand FSD among dialysis patients.
Results:
Please describe your cohort. what's their level of education, economic status, employment
(previous), nationality and residence.. how often they come to you and if they had previous FSD
(to know if the current FSD is directly related to dialysis).
Please describe the areas of FSD. You mention only scores in table 2  should be commented on
in the results. Also please, describe what is behind the scores e.g.  the  frequent dysfunctions
you found across the areas of the FSDI.
Further analysis  is needed to study associations between FSD on the one hand and
sociodemographic factors and medical data on the other.
Discussion:
This should be revisited to reflect the revision of the methods and results. Please bring in
more references. Please discuss the interaction between the ESRD and underlying cause and
concurrent condition. e.g.  many participants are diabetic and this could be a primary cause of
FSD.
Title: Prevalence and associated factors of sexual dysfunction in female hemodialysis patients:
First report from Somalia
Version: 0 Date: 19 Nov 2023
Reviewer's report:
Thank you for your article.
The study is really important in order to give the readers an overview of the female sexual
dysfunction among patients with hemodialysis.
Follow are comments for improvement.
Title: Title is acceptable and self-explanatory about the study.
Summary:
Authors mentioned in objective section "Our study is the first study " - try avoid this kind
of statement in scientific writing. It is better to be neutral. We suggest authors to revise the
statement.
Authors mentioned about the significant association for the FSD, but based on which analysis
and P value - kindly state this in the summary.
Background:
The literature did not highlight the previous studied factors associated with FSD especially
among those with non-communicable disease or haemodialysis. Even though no similar studies
done in the authors region, authors can always cite from worldwide data to give overview about
the possible associated factors.
Methodology:
Authors did not explained or state the minimum sample size required to achieve the objectives.
The calculation principle should be described.
For the statistical analysis, authors only stated student T-test to be used. But how is about other
univariate analysis and multivariate analysis.
This study should be extended to include multivariate analysis such as multiple logistic
regression or linear regression in order to identify the specific associated factors.
Results:
Authors only include two tables which are the descriptive analysis. Where is the T test?
Kindly include the multivariate analysis as well.
Discussion:
The flow of writing is not homogenous. Authors should highlight the important points from
results and discuss based on previous literatures. Do not include literature first without identify
the exact points first. For example, the second paragraph in the discussion section is more
suitable to be written in the Introduction or Background, rather than as discussion.
Conclusion:
Authors stated once again that "this is the first study". Try to avoid such statements.
References:
Most references are beyond ten years. Kindly cite new literatures.
Thank you.
Title: Prevalence and associated factors of sexual dysfunction in female hemodialysis patients:
First report from Somalia
Version: 0 Date: 21 Nov 2023
Reviewer's report:
I read with great interest the Manuscript titled “Prevalence and associated factors of sexual
dysfunction in female hemodialysis patients: First report from Somalia “.  In my opinion, this
topic analyzed is interesting enough to attract readers’ attention.
Although the manuscript can be considered already of good quality, I would suggest following
recommendations:
- I suggest a round of language revision, in order to correct few typos and improve readability.
- Considering topic and patients cohort of this study, it would be interesting to add few
lines about current evidence about the use of CO2 laser for sexual dysfunction to improve
quality of life. I would be glad if the authors discuss this important point, referring to PMID:
32720802  and Di Donato V, D'Oria O, Giannini A,  Scudo M, Sher C,  Fischetti M,  et al.. The
Efficacy of Fractional CO2 Laser in the Treatment of Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause:
A Large Prospective Observational Study. Clin. Exp. Obstet. Gynecol. 2022, 49(9), 212. https://
doi.org/10.31083/j.ceog4909212
Because of these reasons, the article should be revised and completed. Considering all these
points, I think it could be of interest to the readers and, in my opinion, it deserves the priority
to be published after minor revisions.
Title: Prevalence and associated factors of sexual dysfunction in female hemodialysis patients:
First report from Somalia
Version: 0 Date: 23 Nov 2023
Reviewer's report:
I read with great interest the manuscript, which falls within the aim of this Journal and offers
a high-quality overview of the topic.
Although the manuscript can be considered already of high quality, I would suggest taking into
account the following minor recommendations:
- I suggest another round of language revision, in order to correct a few typos and improve
readability.
- Inclusion/exclusion criteria should be better clarified by extending their description.
- Discussions can be expanded and improved by citing relevant articles about the use of fractional
CO2 laser for the treatment of sexual dysfunction symptoms in young women (see PMID:
36037664 and PMID: 37076125).
- What is already known on this subject? What do the results of this study add?
-What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research?
Title: An Immune-related Exosome Signature Predicts The Prognosis And Immunotherapy
Response In Ovarian Cancer
Version: 2 Date: 20 Jun 2023
Reviewer's report:
PEER REVIEWER ASSESSMENTS:
OBJECTIVE - Full research articles: is there a clear objective that addresses a testable research
question(s) (brief or other article types: is there a clear objective)?
Yes - there is a clear objective
DESIGN - Is the current approach (including controls and analysis protocols) appropriate for
the objective?
Yes - the approach is appropriate
EXECUTION - Are the experiments and analyses performed with technical rigor to allow
confidence in the results?
No - there are major issues
STATISTICS - Is the use of statistics in the manuscript appropriate?
Yes - appropriate statistical analyses have been used in the study
INTERPRETATION - Is the current interpretation/discussion of the results reasonable and not
overstated?
No - there are minor issues
OVERALL MANUSCRIPT POTENTIAL - Is the current version of this work technically
sound? If not, can revisions be made to make the work technically sound?
Maybe - with major revisions
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS:
GENERAL COMMENTS: This study deals with an interesting question. The authors use
bioinformatics in order to define which exosome-related factors are important in ovarian cancer.
There are a few issues:
- The prognosis based on the two groups needs to be  compared to other known prognostic
factors, so a multivariate analysis is necessary.
- In the Results an immunohistochemistry sectionappears not explained at the MM, most
important: what kind of "normal" and tumor tissues used, how many, what kind of antibodies
etc..
- The discussion should further develop previous studies in exosomes and ovarian cancer
REQUESTED REVISIONS:
- The prognosis based on the two groups needs to be  compared to other known prognostic
factors, so a multivariate analysis is necessary.
- In the Results an immunohistochemistry sectionappears not explained at the MM, most
important: what kind of "normal" and tumor tissues used, how many, what kind of antibodies
etc..
- The discussion should further develop previous studies in exosomes and ovarian cancer
Title: An Immune-related Exosome Signature Predicts The Prognosis And Immunotherapy
Response In Ovarian Cancer
Version: 2 Date: 20 Jul 2023
Reviewer:  Irene iavarone
Reviewer's report:
I read with great interest the present Manuscript which falls within the aim of the Journal. In my
honest opinion, the topic is interesting enough to attract the readers’ attention. Methodology is
accurate and conclusions are supported by the data analysis. Nevertheless, authors should clarify
some points and improve the discussion citing relevant and novel key articles about the topic.
For all those reasons, I suggested performing the minor revisions.
-In Introduction, Authors may cite the role of extra-cellular vesicles in ovarian cancer – please
consider: “Lucidi A., Buca D., Ronsini C., Tinari S., Bologna G., Buca D., Leombroni M.,
Liberati M., D’Antonio F., Scambia G., et al. Role of Extracellular Vesicles in Epithelial Ovarian
Cancer: A Systematic Review. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020;21:8762. doi: 10.3390/ijms21228762” –
Or in early diagnosis of similar contexts like endometriosis. Please consider: “Ronsini C,
Fumiento P, Iavarone I, Greco PF, Cobellis L, De Franciscis P. Liquid Biopsy in Endometriosis:
A Systematic Review. Int J Mol Sci. 2023;24(7):6116. Published 2023 Mar 24. doi:10.3390/
ijms24076116”;
-in Discussion, Authors could explain whether other compartments as gut microbiota may
be a predictor of prognosis and/or response to therapy, similarly to other conditions like
endometriosis. Please consider: “Iavarone I, Greco PF, La Verde M, et al. Correlations between
Gut Microbial Composition, Pathophysiological and Surgical Aspects in Endometriosis: A
Review of the Literature. Medicina (Kaunas). 2023;59(2):347. Published 2023 Feb 12.
doi:10.3390/medicina59020347”;
-in Discussion, Authors may parallel the use of liquid biopsy in ovarian cancer staging versus
standardized methods. Please see: “Ronsini C, Pasanisi F, Molitierno R, et al. Minimally
Invasive Staging of Early-Stage Epithelial Ovarian Cancer versus Open Surgery in Terms of
Feasibility and Safety: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Clin Med. 2023;12(11):3831.
Published 2023 Jun 2. doi:10.3390/jcm12113831”;
-the Authors have not adequately highlighted the limitations and strength of the study. I suggest
better specifying those points.
Title: An Immune-related Exosome Signature Predicts The Prognosis And Immunotherapy
Response In Ovarian Cancer
Version: 4 Date: 21 Aug 2023
Reviewer:  Irene iavarone
Reviewer's report:
I read the revised version of the Manuscript and noticed that the Authors have taken into account
the recommendations provided for first revision. In my opinion, the work can be accepted in
the present form.
Title: An Immune-related Exosome Signature Predicts The Prognosis And Immunotherapy
Response In Ovarian Cancer
Version: 4 Date: 23 Aug 2023
Reviewer's report:
PEER REVIEWER ASSESSMENTS:
OBJECTIVE - Full research articles: is there a clear objective that addresses one or several
testable research questions? (Brief or other article types: is there a clear objective?)
Yes - there is a clear objective
DESIGN - Is the current approach (including controls and analysis protocols) appropriate for
the objective?
Yes - the approach is appropriate
EXECUTION - Are the experiments and analyses performed with sufficient technical rigor to
allow confidence in the results?
Yes - experiments and analyses were performed appropriately
STATISTICS - Is the use of statistics in the manuscript appropriate?
Yes - appropriate statistical analyses have been used in the study
INTERPRETATION - Is the current interpretation/discussion of the results reasonable and not
overstated?
Yes - the author's interpretation is reasonable
OVERALL MANUSCRIPT POTENTIAL - Has the author addressed your concerns sufficiently
for you to now recommend the work as a technically sound contribution? If not, can further
revisions be made to make the work technically sound?
Probably - with minor revisions
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS:
GENERAL COMMENTS: The authors respond and add the requested information. Their will
is complete and described thoroughly.
ADDITIONAL REQUESTS/SUGGESTIONS:
It would be easier to add a comment for the multivariare analysis in the main text.
Similarly, some more explanation on the association between these genes and the immune TME
would be helpful.
Title: A bivariate Poisson regression to analyse impact of outlier women on correlation between
female schooling and fertility in Malawi
Version: 1 Date: 01 Oct 2023
Reviewer's report:
Thank you very much for the opportunity to review the manuscript. The author has done
marvelous with the manuscript, but there are still concerns that needs to be addressed.
The abstract is too bulky. It should be revised to about half the current size using the following
format.
Objectives,
Methods,
Results, and
Conclusion
Limitations and directions for further studies should be taken off from the abstract and added
at the end of the conclusion
Key words need to be revised to a more accurate form in line with the study
The literature review is shallow and needs to be broadened to more recent studies between 2020
and 2023. There is no established gab that the study seems to fill. I cannot see any novelty in
the manuscript.
Section 2.1 contains a lot of unnecessary and irrelevant information. The period of the surveys
as well as the sampling techniques used are already available on the MDHS website. The author
should remove the all that information and replace the current Section 2.1 with the current section
3.1. Also, provide the specific URL that leads directly to the data in the section.
In the first line of Equation (1), what is C_k? How was the second line obtained from the first
one? Alt least provide an explanation or an introductory sentence before expressing it in the
exponential family form so that your readers can easily understand. Why the difference in the
terms of the expression after the transformation?
In Equation (3), there is no #^T, so I am surprised at it introduction. Again, there is no term as
X_ik^T, so where it coming from?
Provide all the required score functions (or score vectors as used by the author).
The paragraph after Equation (3), needs at least three (3) more references (one for almost every
sentence) as the terms used and the explanations given are not those from the author’s own
novelty.
Please, provide references for the last paragraph of section 2.2 at the bottom of page 6 and the
beginning of page 7.
How was #=0.000001 chosen? Provide references for such choices or prove it.
The results section lacks comparison with recent studies from 2019 to 2023.
The discussion section lacks comparison with recent studies from 2019 to 2023.
The conclusion section lacks policy recommendations for Malawi in line with the findings of
the study. Include limitations and direction for further studies at the end of the conclusion.
Few grammatical errors exist in the manuscript. Please, correct them! I recommend the use of
a language editing tool after the manual checks are completed.
Title: A bivariate Poisson regression to analyse impact of outlier women on correlation between
female schooling and fertility in Malawi
Version: 1 Date: 23 Oct 2023
Reviewer's report:
The number of words in the abstract section seem too lengthy, the author should find a way of
reducing this.
The nature of analysis carried out with R and STATA should be specified.
What makes an outlier woman should be clearly defined.
The justification for the use of the bivariate  Poisson regression should be clearly stated.
There is need for overhauling of the grammatical statements in the research. See page 2, line
1, to increased.
The statement: the years of schooling doubled from 2.99 to 7.2 ... should be clarified. 7.2 is
more than double 2.99
In the discussion section, the author should relate finding of each result to previous work done
on similar variable
Title: A bivariate Poisson regression to analyse impact of outlier women on correlation between
female schooling and fertility in Malawi
Version: 4 Date: 15 Nov 2023
Reviewer's report:
The manuscript has greatly improved! The author has done well by addressing most of the
concerns raised earlier. However, I still have some few other concerns that needs to be addressed.
In Section 2.1, the heading must be ‘Data’ and not “Data and sources.” The author should correct
it.
I suggest the author replaces ‘yi1^C_k’ and ‘yi2^C_k’ in the first line of Equation (1) with
(#(y_i1@k)) and (#(y_i2@k)), respectively as that is the standard.
Please, detach the sentence “the rest of the paper is structured as follows: …” from the last
sentence of the current introduction section and make it a separate paragraph. In that sense,
the sentence “the rest of the paper is structured follows: …” becomes the last paragraph of the
revised introduction section.
The author failed to include the limitations of the study at the end of the conclusion. Please,
add it.
The author should be consistent in his/her write up as there is a mix up of American and British
English. Please, be consistent and use only one. Check and correct grammatical errors as some
still exist.
Please, include all the R and STATA codes used as an appendix.
Title: A bivariate Poisson regression to analyse impact of outlier women on correlation between
female schooling and fertility in Malawi
Version: 4 Date: 07 Dec 2023
Reviewer's report:
The primary goal of this paper is to examine the influence of outliers on assessing the correlation
between women's education and fertility rates, drawing from three Demographic and Health
Surveys conducted in Malawi. The approach involves investigating changes in correlation and
effect sizes upon outlier removal. The findings indicate no significant alterations in direction or
significance post-removal, resulting in null findings.
My concern lies in the study's objective, given the extensive literature on outliers that has led to
the development of robust estimation techniques. Section 2.2 delves into the Poisson model and
the log-likelihood method used for estimation, while section 2.3 explicates deviance residuals
—topics commonly found in standard software manuals or other resources. Notably, the paper
doesn't introduce any novel methods; it could streamline its content by citing pertinent literature,
potentially saving substantial space.
Moreover, the paper surprisingly omits reference to widely adopted robust methods for
outlier handling, such as the Huber-White ('sandwich') method or replication-based estimators
(bootstrap or jackknife), commonly available in software packages. The former addresses
non-standard error term distributions, often associated with outliers, while the latter involves
outlier removal and replacement with other observed values, maintaining effect sizes while
recalculating standard errors and significance statistics (z-scores and p-values) without altering
sample sizes.
Contrarily, the paper employs an arbitrary outlier cutoff (why ±2.5?), eliminating outliers to
estimate new effect sizes once, wherein varying thresholds would yield different outcomes. This
approach doesn't improve upon the original effect size estimation; rather, it imposes a more
evenly distributed and concentrated error assumption. The resultant effect size estimate is biased
towards a subset of observations closer to each other, influenced by a one-time, non-random
choice by the author. The apparent similarity between the new and original effect sizes, despite
a smaller sample, is primarily due to large sample sizes and the relatively low number of outliers
based on an arbitrary cutoff. Notably, changes in p-values stem not just from outlier removal
but also from reduced sample size, unlike estimations that would be obtained from replication
methods.
In summary, the outlier-handling method proposed in this paper appears rudimentary and
outdated compared to the array of well-established techniques available today.
Title: A bivariate Poisson regression to analyse impact of outlier women on correlation between
female schooling and fertility in Malawi
Version: 6 Date: 15 Dec 2023
Reviewer's report:
Thank you for your point-by-point response to my comments. I am still not very convinced by
the approach but I am also in favour of diversity and debate.  A detail: Considering that you
make reference to the  normal distribution of errors, it would actually make sense to use the 2.58
and 1.96 thresholds (which are closed to your 2.5 and 2.0 thresholds), but that is not essential
since the distribution is not necessarily normal.
Title: A bivariate Poisson regression to analyse impact of outlier women on correlation between
female schooling and fertility in Malawi
Version: 6 Date: 15 Dec 2023
Reviewer's report:
In equation (1), please replace C(y_1i,k) with (y_1i\atop k) and C(y_2i,k) with (y_2i\atop k).
This requires that you use the 'column vector' representation of combination and not the 'C' for
combination.
Title: KNOWLEDGE, PRACTICES AND BARRIERS TO ACCESS SEXUAL HEALTH
OF WOMEN IN THE MENOPAUSAL STAGES: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY WITH
BRAZILIAN GYNECOLOGISTS
Version: 1 Date: 08 Oct 2023
Reviewer:  Andréa Cronemberger Rufino
Reviewer's report:
I congratulate the authors for choosing the topic of sexual health care for menopausal women.
The methods were well described, demonstrating methodological criteria for data collection
and analysis. The results were clearly presented combined with a robust comparative and
argumentative discussion with global literature and the study's country of origin.
Title: KNOWLEDGE, PRACTICES AND BARRIERS TO ACCESS SEXUAL HEALTH
OF WOMEN IN THE MENOPAUSAL STAGES: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY WITH
BRAZILIAN GYNECOLOGISTS
Version: 2 Date: 08 Jan 2024
Reviewer:  Phuc Nhon Nguyen
Reviewer's report:
Dear authors,
Thank you for addressing all the reviewer's concerns.
The paper is  well improved now and can be considered for publication.
Congratulation.
Best regards,
Phuc Nhon Nguyen MD, Msc
Tu Du Hospital
Title: KNOWLEDGE, PRACTICES AND BARRIERS TO ACCESS SEXUAL HEALTH
OF WOMEN IN THE MENOPAUSAL STAGES: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY WITH
BRAZILIAN GYNECOLOGISTS
Version: 2 Date: 11 Jan 2024
Reviewer:  Andréa Cronemberger Rufino
Reviewer's report:
I congratulate the authors for the quality of the article. The topic is relevant to the sexual health
care of women during menopause.
Title: The causal relationship of female infertility and psychiatric disorders in the European
population: A Bidirectional Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study
Version: 0 Date: 22 Oct 2023
Reviewer:  Sanghmitra Acharya
Reviewer's report:
As clinical scientists, the team has taken up a research issue very central to social sciences.
While the paper is strong technically and puts logical arguments, it may be relevant to consider
a potential association between depression and female infertility and propose relevant data
collection to overcome the lack of empirical evidence which is important for the analysis of
depression.