Reviewer's report
Title:To compare the effect of two Zhizhu pills in the treat- ment of functional
dyspepsia of spleen-deficiency and qi-stagnation syndromea randomized ,
double- blinded multicenter and group sequential study design
Version: 1Date:6 August 2010
Reviewer: Muhammad Nabeel Ghayur
Reviewer's report:
Wu et al have presented some very good data in terms of looking for a potential
therapy by use of traditional Chinese therapy and presenting it after assessing
the results obtained in a double blinded randomized controlled trial.
The paper deserves publication in the journal, but would be good to add the
following suggestions in the paper:
Minor revisions
1. It would be good to show if the plants (used as therapy for functional
dyspepsia) have been used traditionally in Chinese medicine for gastrointestinal
disorders. Please provide relevant references.
2. How and from where the test plant drug was obtained? Was it
formulated/prepared by the authors or purchased from some manufacturers?
Also state the method of its preparation and formulation if it was prepared by the
authors themselves. In this case also provide how and by whom the plant
material was identified and the relevant herbarium registration material.
3. It will be good to expand (in the discussion part) more on the pharmacological
reasoning/mechanism of action behind the chemicals possibly responsible for the
beneficial effect in dyspepsia.
4. Please expand more on the TCM equivalent term for f.dyspepsia, especially
where the authors refer to 'spleen-deficiency' and 'qi-stagnation syndrome'. It will
help the readers to get a grip of what the authors ate referring to here.
Level of interest: An article of outstanding merit and interest 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
Reviewer's report
Title:To compare the effect of two Zhizhu pills in the treat- ment of functional
dyspepsia of spleen-deficiency and qi-stagnation syndromea randomized ,
double- blinded multicenter and group sequential study design
Version: 1Date:6 August 2010
Reviewer: Muhammad Nabeel Ghayur
Reviewer's report:
Wu et al have presented some very good data in terms of looking for a potential
therapy by use of traditional Chinese therapy and presenting it after assessing
the results obtained in a double blinded randomized controlled trial.
The paper deserves publication in the journal, but would be good to add the
following suggestions in the paper:
Minor revisions
1. It would be good to show if the plants (used as therapy for functional
dyspepsia) have been used traditionally in Chinese medicine for gastrointestinal
disorders. Please provide relevant references.
2. How and from where the test plant drug was obtained? Was it
formulated/prepared by the authors or purchased from some manufacturers?
Also state the method of its preparation and formulation if it was prepared by the
authors themselves. In this case also provide how and by whom the plant
material was identified and the relevant herbarium registration material.
3. It will be good to expand (in the discussion part) more on the pharmacological
reasoning/mechanism of action behind the chemicals possibly responsible for the
beneficial effect in dyspepsia.
4. Please expand more on the TCM equivalent term for f.dyspepsia, especially
where the authors refer to 'spleen-deficiency' and 'qi-stagnation syndrome'. It will
help the readers to get a grip of what the authors ate referring to here.
Level of interest: An article of outstanding merit and interest 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
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:To compare the effect of two Zhizhu pills in the treat- ment of functional
dyspepsia of spleen-deficiency and qi-stagnation syndromea randomized ,
double- blinded multicenter and group sequential study design
Version: 1Date:6 August 2010
Reviewer: Muhammad Nabeel Ghayur
Reviewer's report:
Wu et al have presented some very good data in terms of looking for a potential
therapy by use of traditional Chinese therapy and presenting it after assessing
the results obtained in a double blinded randomized controlled trial.
The paper deserves publication in the journal, but would be good to add the
following suggestions in the paper:
Minor revisions
1. It would be good to show if the plants (used as therapy for functional
dyspepsia) have been used traditionally in Chinese medicine for gastrointestinal
disorders. Please provide relevant references.
2. How and from where the test plant drug was obtained? Was it
formulated/prepared by the authors or purchased from some manufacturers?
Also state the method of its preparation and formulation if it was prepared by the
authors themselves. In this case also provide how and by whom the plant
material was identified and the relevant herbarium registration material.
3. It will be good to expand (in the discussion part) more on the pharmacological
reasoning/mechanism of action behind the chemicals possibly responsible for the
beneficial effect in dyspepsia.
4. Please expand more on the TCM equivalent term for f.dyspepsia, especially
where the authors refer to 'spleen-deficiency' and 'qi-stagnation syndrome'. It will
help the readers to get a grip of what the authors ate referring to here.
Level of interest: An article of outstanding merit and interest 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
assistant