Reviewer's report
Title:Effectiveness of polaprezinc for low-dose aspirin-induced small-bowel
mucosal injuries as evaluated by capsule endoscopy: a pilot randomized
controlled study
Version: 4Date:30 January 2013
Reviewer: Toshio Watanabe
Reviewer's report:
The authors examined effects of polaprezinc, a chelate compound consisting of
zinc and L-carnosine, on low-dose aspirin induced small bowel injuries. They
demonstrated significant decreases in the numbers of reddened lesions and
erosins/ulcers by 4-weeks treatment of polaprezinc. There are some new findings
in this manuscript, but this paper has many serious problems to be solved.
Major points
1. The main weakness of this study is that the study population is very small. As
such, it is hard to draw any clinical conclusions based on this very small sample
size.
2. While I understand that this is a pilot study, the efficacy of any intervention
would require a placebo control.
3. Most of small bowel lesions evaluated in this study were mild injuries and not
clinically significant. Therefore, they cannot conclude that polaprezinc is effective
for the treatment of low-dose aspirin-induced small bowel injuries.
Minor points
1. The data presented in figure 1 have already been described in the text and this
figure shows no information valuable to readers. So, figure 1 should be deleted.
2. The authors did not discuss the mechanisms by which polaprezinc stimulated
the healing of the injuries. They should discuss this point.
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.
Reviewer's report
Title:Effectiveness of polaprezinc for low-dose aspirin-induced small-bowel
mucosal injuries as evaluated by capsule endoscopy: a pilot randomized
controlled study
Version: 4Date:30 January 2013
Reviewer: Toshio Watanabe
Reviewer's report:
The authors examined effects of polaprezinc, a chelate compound consisting of
zinc and L-carnosine, on low-dose aspirin induced small bowel injuries. They
demonstrated significant decreases in the numbers of reddened lesions and
erosins/ulcers by 4-weeks treatment of polaprezinc. There are some new findings
in this manuscript, but this paper has many serious problems to be solved.
Major points
1. The main weakness of this study is that the study population is very small. As
such, it is hard to draw any clinical conclusions based on this very small sample
size.
2. While I understand that this is a pilot study, the efficacy of any intervention
would require a placebo control.
3. Most of small bowel lesions evaluated in this study were mild injuries and not
clinically significant. Therefore, they cannot conclude that polaprezinc is effective
for the treatment of low-dose aspirin-induced small bowel injuries.
Minor points
1. The data presented in figure 1 have already been described in the text and this
figure shows no information valuable to readers. So, figure 1 should be deleted.
2. The authors did not discuss the mechanisms by which polaprezinc stimulated
the healing of the injuries. They should discuss this point.
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.
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:Effectiveness of polaprezinc for low-dose aspirin-induced small-bowel
mucosal injuries as evaluated by capsule endoscopy: a pilot randomized
controlled study
Version: 4Date:30 January 2013
Reviewer: Toshio Watanabe
Reviewer's report:
The authors examined effects of polaprezinc, a chelate compound consisting of
zinc and L-carnosine, on low-dose aspirin induced small bowel injuries. They
demonstrated significant decreases in the numbers of reddened lesions and
erosins/ulcers by 4-weeks treatment of polaprezinc. There are some new findings
in this manuscript, but this paper has many serious problems to be solved.
Major points
1. The main weakness of this study is that the study population is very small. As
such, it is hard to draw any clinical conclusions based on this very small sample
size.
2. While I understand that this is a pilot study, the efficacy of any intervention
would require a placebo control.
3. Most of small bowel lesions evaluated in this study were mild injuries and not
clinically significant. Therefore, they cannot conclude that polaprezinc is effective
for the treatment of low-dose aspirin-induced small bowel injuries.
Minor points
1. The data presented in figure 1 have already been described in the text and this
figure shows no information valuable to readers. So, figure 1 should be deleted.
2. The authors did not discuss the mechanisms by which polaprezinc stimulated
the healing of the injuries. They should discuss this point.
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.
assistant