Reviewer's report
Title:Imbalanced shift of cytokine expression between T helper 1 and T helper 2
(Th1/Th2) in intestinal mucosa of patients with post-infectious irritable bowel
syndrome
Version: 1Date:8 May 2012
Reviewer: Mark Pimentel
Reviewer's report:
in this manuscript, the authors gather colon biopsies in PI-IBS, non-PI-IBS, and
controls and measured mRNA and protein expression for interferon, IL-10, IL-12
and IL-4 to examine the Th1 and Th2 balance. They find elevated interferon and
lower IL-10 but not IL-12 or IL-4.
This is an important finding and taking biopsies is a direct technique compared to
serum measurements. Two things are problematic. First, the authors take
biopsies throughout the colon and yet comment only on one result. Was the first
result an average of all three segments. I see that the segments were consistent
in most cases.
Secondly, the standard deviation for all measurements is too small. This must be
standard error, not standard deviation.
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.
Reviewer's report
Title:Imbalanced shift of cytokine expression between T helper 1 and T helper 2
(Th1/Th2) in intestinal mucosa of patients with post-infectious irritable bowel
syndrome
Version: 1Date:8 May 2012
Reviewer: Mark Pimentel
Reviewer's report:
in this manuscript, the authors gather colon biopsies in PI-IBS, non-PI-IBS, and
controls and measured mRNA and protein expression for interferon, IL-10, IL-12
and IL-4 to examine the Th1 and Th2 balance. They find elevated interferon and
lower IL-10 but not IL-12 or IL-4.
This is an important finding and taking biopsies is a direct technique compared to
serum measurements. Two things are problematic. First, the authors take
biopsies throughout the colon and yet comment only on one result. Was the first
result an average of all three segments. I see that the segments were consistent
in most cases.
Secondly, the standard deviation for all measurements is too small. This must be
standard error, not standard deviation.
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.
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:Imbalanced shift of cytokine expression between T helper 1 and T helper 2
(Th1/Th2) in intestinal mucosa of patients with post-infectious irritable bowel
syndrome
Version: 1Date:8 May 2012
Reviewer: Mark Pimentel
Reviewer's report:
in this manuscript, the authors gather colon biopsies in PI-IBS, non-PI-IBS, and
controls and measured mRNA and protein expression for interferon, IL-10, IL-12
and IL-4 to examine the Th1 and Th2 balance. They find elevated interferon and
lower IL-10 but not IL-12 or IL-4.
This is an important finding and taking biopsies is a direct technique compared to
serum measurements. Two things are problematic. First, the authors take
biopsies throughout the colon and yet comment only on one result. Was the first
result an average of all three segments. I see that the segments were consistent
in most cases.
Secondly, the standard deviation for all measurements is too small. This must be
standard error, not standard deviation.
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.
assistant