Reviewer’s report
Title: 
Effect of Helicobacter pylori infection on malignancy of undifferentiated-
type gastric cancer
Version: 
1 
Date: 
19 Oct 2021
Reviewer's report:
1. Abstract, Page 2, lines 12 - 14 
"Furthermore, 75% of patients with a tumor detected ≥5 years after eradication
had undergone yearly endoscopy. Submucosal or deeper invasion was observed
in 50% of patients and vascular invasion in 75% of patients whose UD-GC was
detected ≥10 years after eradication."
Please remove these sentences from the Abstract. There were only four patients
who had a cancer detected ≥5 years after eradication. Presenting percentage only
without numbers may mislead the readers of the journal as if there were
statistically higher proportion of patients had submucosal invasion or vascular
invasion in patients with UD-GC detected ≥10 years after eradication compared
to in those with UD-GC detected <10 years. Please replace these sentences to
more relevant findings of this study with statistical significance. 
2. Abstract, Page 2, lines 14 - 16. 
"The proportion of patients with UD-GC and submucosal or deeper invasion was
zero in the group without HP infection, 14.3% in the group with eradicated HP,
and 10.5% in the HP-infected group." 
There was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of submucosal
invasion (14.3% vs. 10.5% vs. 0%). Please avoid presenting results as if they
have substantial difference when they actually can be observed by chance (i.e. P
> 0.05). Please remove these sentences from the Abstract and rewrite the results
part of the Abstract with more relevant findings of this study with statistical
significance. 
3. Abstract, Page 2, lines 18 - 19. 
"Patients with eradicated HP whose UD-GC developed long after eradication
had high rates of vascular and submucosal invasion."
Please remove this sentence from the Abstract. This conclusion may mislead the
readers as commented in the comment #1.
4. Introduction, Page 3, line 17.
"…and a non-infected (UD-U) group)…" -> 
"…and a non-infected (UD-U)
group…"
5. Patients and methods, Page 4, line 2
"The UG-E group was defined as follows" -> "HP eradication group was defined
as follows"
6. Patients and methods, Page 4, lines 12 - 13. 
"HP status was confirmed in 66 cases (71 lesions) in the UD-E group, 503 cases
(616 lesions) in the UD-I group, and 446 cases (622 lesions) in the UD-U
group."
-> "HP status was confirmed in 446 cases (622 lesions) in HP-eradicated, 503
cases (616 lesions) in HP-infected, and 66 cases (71 lesions) in HP-uninfected."
Please notify both group names and numbers were wrong in this sentence.
7. Patients and methods, Page 4, lines 19 - 20. 
"The Kimura-Takemoto classification (Kimura and Takemoto 1969) was used
…"
Please cite (Kimura and Takemoto 1969) as a reference.
8. Patients and methods, Page 4, lines 20 - 21.
"…to evaluate the degree of atrophy (Close(C)-0, none; C-1 and C-2, mild; C-3
to Open(O)-3), moderate-severe)."
-> ""…to evaluate the degree of atrophy (Close[C]-0, none; C-1 and C-2, mild;
C-3 to Open[O]-3, moderate-severe)."
9. Patients and methods, Page 4, line 22.
"differentiated-type gastric cancer (D-GC)" -> "D-GC"
10. Results, Page 5, lines 5 - 6. 
"The ratio of UD-GC to all tumors in each HP infection status group was
significantly higher in the
UD-U group (33.8%) than in the UD-E and UD-I groups (4.5% and 6.2%,
respectively)."
-> "The ratio of UD-GC to all tumors in each HP infection status group was
significantly higher in the
UD-U group (33.8%) than in the UD-E and UD-I groups (4.5% and 6.2%,
respectively) (Fig. 1)."
It seems better to understand here to add 'Fig. 1'.
11. Results, Page 5, lines 8 - 9. 
"The male-to-female ratio was 18:10 in the UD-E group, 14:8 in the UD-I group,
and 20:3 in the UD-U group."
Please change to male or female proportion. It was difficult to understand.
12. Results, Page 5, line 12.
"The mean age was 63.1 ± 14.3, …" -> "The mean age ± standard deviation was
63.1 ± 14.3, …"
13. Results, Page 5, line 23.
"whereas all cases in the UD-D group were" -> "whereas all cases in the UD-U
group were"
14. Results, Page 6, lines 9 - 10.
"Two of the 3 lesions with lymphovascular invasion had a tumor diameter of
≥30 mm (no
significant difference compared with the UD-I and UD-I groups)."
-> "Two of the 3 lesions with lymphovascular invasion had a tumor diameter of
≥30 mm. There was no significant difference compared either with the UD-I or
UD-I group."
15. Discussion, Page 7, lines 1 - 4. 
"However, all tumors in the UD-U group were intramucosal lesions and not
highly malignant. These cases had the following features: (1) young age, (2) no
atrophy in the background mucosa, (3) discolored tone, (4) relatively small
tumor size, (5) predominantly pure signet ring cell carcinoma, (6) intramucosal
lesions, and (7) no lymphovascular invasion."
Please remove number and parentheses.
16. Discussion, Page 7, lines 7 - 9. 
"The clinicopathological features of UD-E and UD-I are similar in table2 and
table3, including tumor size, microscopic type, color, depth, and the rate of
vascular invasion, and the statistical findings are similar compared with UD-U."
Please remove "in table2 and table3".
17. Discussion, Page 7, lines 17 - 18. 
"A notable finding in this study was that UD-GC detected long after eradication
was more malignant than UDGC detected sooner."
Please remove this sentence. The difference in the malignant potential was not
statistically significant. Please avoid presenting results as if they have substantial
difference when they actually can be observed by chance. 
18. Discussion, Page 7, lines 18 - 19. 
"Alarmingly, 75% of patients in whom UD-E was detected ≥5 years after
eradication had undergone yearly follow-up endoscopy."
Please change "75%" to "three of four".
19. Conclusion, Page 8, lines 3 - 4. 
"Patients with eradicated HP whose UD-GC developed long after eradication
had high rates of vascular and submucosal invasion."
Please remove this sentence. This conclusion may mislead the readers as
commented in the comment #1.
20. Table 1. 
The statistical analysis for Atrophy is not correct. It is not possible to conduct
chi-square test for these numbers because there are too many (three in my
analysis) cells with expected numbers smaller than five. The authors should
combine cells to solve this problem. Please revise this issue.
Publons Reviewer Recognition
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1
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Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or
salary from an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially
from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?
2
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Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way
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or in the future?
3
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Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an
organization that holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of
the manuscript?
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6
. 
Do you have any non-financial competing interests in relation to this
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interests' below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.
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 I agree for my report to be made available
under an Open Access Creative Commons CC-BY License (
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
) if this manuscript is accepted for
publication. Any comments that I do not wish to be included in the published
report have been included as confidential comments to the editor, which will not
be published.
If you are not happy for us to publish this report, please contact the
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prompted. If you change your decision later, we will not be able to publish your
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I agree to the terms of the CC-BY 4.0 license; please 
do not
 publish my name
with my report. (default)
Is the study design appropriate to answer the research question (including the use
of appropriate controls), and are the conclusions supported by the evidence
presented?
No
Are the methods sufficiently described to allow the study to be repeated?
Yes
Is the use of statistics and treatment of uncertainties appropriate?
No
Is the presentation of the work clear?
No
Are the images in this manuscript (including electrophoretic gels and blots) free
from apparent manipulation?
Yes
Reviewer’s report
Title: 
Effect of Helicobacter pylori infection on malignancy of undifferentiated-
type gastric cancer
Version: 
1 
Date: 
19 Oct 2021
Reviewer's report:
1. Abstract, Page 2, lines 12 - 14 
"Furthermore, 75% of patients with a tumor detected ≥5 years after eradication
had undergone yearly endoscopy. Submucosal or deeper invasion was observed
in 50% of patients and vascular invasion in 75% of patients whose UD-GC was
detected ≥10 years after eradication."
Please remove these sentences from the Abstract. There were only four patients
who had a cancer detected ≥5 years after eradication. Presenting percentage only
without numbers may mislead the readers of the journal as if there were
statistically higher proportion of patients had submucosal invasion or vascular
invasion in patients with UD-GC detected ≥10 years after eradication compared
to in those with UD-GC detected <10 years. Please replace these sentences to
more relevant findings of this study with statistical significance. 
2. Abstract, Page 2, lines 14 - 16. 
"The proportion of patients with UD-GC and submucosal or deeper invasion was
zero in the group without HP infection, 14.3% in the group with eradicated HP,
and 10.5% in the HP-infected group." 
There was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of submucosal
invasion (14.3% vs. 10.5% vs. 0%). Please avoid presenting results as if they
have substantial difference when they actually can be observed by chance (i.e. P
> 0.05). Please remove these sentences from the Abstract and rewrite the results
part of the Abstract with more relevant findings of this study with statistical
significance. 
3. Abstract, Page 2, lines 18 - 19. 
"Patients with eradicated HP whose UD-GC developed long after eradication
had high rates of vascular and submucosal invasion."
Please remove this sentence from the Abstract. This conclusion may mislead the
readers as commented in the comment #1.
4. Introduction, Page 3, line 17.
"…and a non-infected (UD-U) group)…" -> 
"…and a non-infected (UD-U)
group…"
5. Patients and methods, Page 4, line 2
"The UG-E group was defined as follows" -> "HP eradication group was defined
as follows"
6. Patients and methods, Page 4, lines 12 - 13. 
"HP status was confirmed in 66 cases (71 lesions) in the UD-E group, 503 cases
(616 lesions) in the UD-I group, and 446 cases (622 lesions) in the UD-U
group."
-> "HP status was confirmed in 446 cases (622 lesions) in HP-eradicated, 503
cases (616 lesions) in HP-infected, and 66 cases (71 lesions) in HP-uninfected."
Please notify both group names and numbers were wrong in this sentence.
7. Patients and methods, Page 4, lines 19 - 20. 
"The Kimura-Takemoto classification (Kimura and Takemoto 1969) was used
…"
Please cite (Kimura and Takemoto 1969) as a reference.
8. Patients and methods, Page 4, lines 20 - 21.
"…to evaluate the degree of atrophy (Close(C)-0, none; C-1 and C-2, mild; C-3
to Open(O)-3), moderate-severe)."
-> ""…to evaluate the degree of atrophy (Close[C]-0, none; C-1 and C-2, mild;
C-3 to Open[O]-3, moderate-severe)."
9. Patients and methods, Page 4, line 22.
"differentiated-type gastric cancer (D-GC)" -> "D-GC"
10. Results, Page 5, lines 5 - 6. 
"The ratio of UD-GC to all tumors in each HP infection status group was
significantly higher in the
UD-U group (33.8%) than in the UD-E and UD-I groups (4.5% and 6.2%,
respectively)."
-> "The ratio of UD-GC to all tumors in each HP infection status group was
significantly higher in the
UD-U group (33.8%) than in the UD-E and UD-I groups (4.5% and 6.2%,
respectively) (Fig. 1)."
It seems better to understand here to add 'Fig. 1'.
11. Results, Page 5, lines 8 - 9. 
"The male-to-female ratio was 18:10 in the UD-E group, 14:8 in the UD-I group,
and 20:3 in the UD-U group."
Please change to male or female proportion. It was difficult to understand.
12. Results, Page 5, line 12.
"The mean age was 63.1 ± 14.3, …" -> "The mean age ± standard deviation was
63.1 ± 14.3, …"
13. Results, Page 5, line 23.
"whereas all cases in the UD-D group were" -> "whereas all cases in the UD-U
group were"
14. Results, Page 6, lines 9 - 10.
"Two of the 3 lesions with lymphovascular invasion had a tumor diameter of
≥30 mm (no
significant difference compared with the UD-I and UD-I groups)."
-> "Two of the 3 lesions with lymphovascular invasion had a tumor diameter of
≥30 mm. There was no significant difference compared either with the UD-I or
UD-I group."
15. Discussion, Page 7, lines 1 - 4. 
"However, all tumors in the UD-U group were intramucosal lesions and not
highly malignant. These cases had the following features: (1) young age, (2) no
atrophy in the background mucosa, (3) discolored tone, (4) relatively small
tumor size, (5) predominantly pure signet ring cell carcinoma, (6) intramucosal
lesions, and (7) no lymphovascular invasion."
Please remove number and parentheses.
16. Discussion, Page 7, lines 7 - 9. 
"The clinicopathological features of UD-E and UD-I are similar in table2 and
table3, including tumor size, microscopic type, color, depth, and the rate of
vascular invasion, and the statistical findings are similar compared with UD-U."
Please remove "in table2 and table3".
17. Discussion, Page 7, lines 17 - 18. 
"A notable finding in this study was that UD-GC detected long after eradication
was more malignant than UDGC detected sooner."
Please remove this sentence. The difference in the malignant potential was not
statistically significant. Please avoid presenting results as if they have substantial
difference when they actually can be observed by chance. 
18. Discussion, Page 7, lines 18 - 19. 
"Alarmingly, 75% of patients in whom UD-E was detected ≥5 years after
eradication had undergone yearly follow-up endoscopy."
Please change "75%" to "three of four".
19. Conclusion, Page 8, lines 3 - 4. 
"Patients with eradicated HP whose UD-GC developed long after eradication
had high rates of vascular and submucosal invasion."
Please remove this sentence. This conclusion may mislead the readers as
commented in the comment #1.
20. Table 1. 
The statistical analysis for Atrophy is not correct. It is not possible to conduct
chi-square test for these numbers because there are too many (three in my
analysis) cells with expected numbers smaller than five. The authors should
combine cells to solve this problem. Please revise this issue.
Publons Reviewer Recognition
. Springer Nature can send verification of this
review directly to Publons (a subsidiary of Clarivate Analytics). If you would
like to take advantage of this service, please click on the “Yes” option below.
Your name, email address, title of the reviewed manuscript, name of the journal,
and date of your review submission (the “Review Data”) will then be transmitted
to Publons after the final decision on the manuscript has been made. If you have
already registered at Publons, they will notify you of the receipt of this review
and update your profile 
as per your settings and their policy. If you are not
registered with Publons, you will receive an email from them asking you to
register in order for them to be able to recognize your review on your new
profile page. Publons may use the Review Data to generate derivative metadata
for the benefit of Publons and you as a reviewer, carefully considering the
sensitivity of such information. For example, Publons may verify your record as
a reviewer by updating your profile published on its webservice if you have
registered for such service or help editors to identify candidate reviewers. Please
find the details of processing in Publons’ privacy policy
https://publons.com/about/terms
No
Declaration of competing interests
Please complete a declaration of competing
interests, considering the following questions:
1
. 
Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or
salary from an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially
from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?
2
. 
Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way
gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now
or in the future?
3
. 
Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the
content of the manuscript?
4
. 
Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an
organization that holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of
the manuscript?
5
. 
Do you have any other financial competing interests?
6
. 
Do you have any non-financial competing interests in relation to this
paper?
If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have no competing
interests' below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.
No COI
Reviewer Publication Consent.
 I agree for my report to be made available
under an Open Access Creative Commons CC-BY License (
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
) if this manuscript is accepted for
publication. Any comments that I do not wish to be included in the published
report have been included as confidential comments to the editor, which will not
be published.
If you are not happy for us to publish this report, please contact the
editorial office before completing the review.
If you wish, you can include your
name in your published report. Please note you must decide whether to include
your name at the start of the process and confirm this decision whenever
prompted. If you change your decision later, we will not be able to publish your
name.
I agree to the terms of the CC-BY 4.0 license; please 
do not
 publish my name
with my report. (default)
Is the study design appropriate to answer the research question (including the use
of appropriate controls), and are the conclusions supported by the evidence
presented?
No
Are the methods sufficiently described to allow the study to be repeated?
Yes
Is the use of statistics and treatment of uncertainties appropriate?
No
Is the presentation of the work clear?
No
Are the images in this manuscript (including electrophoretic gels and blots) free
from apparent manipulation?
Yes
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer’s report
Title: 
Effect of Helicobacter pylori infection on malignancy of undifferentiated-
type gastric cancer
Version: 
1 
Date: 
19 Oct 2021
Reviewer's report:
1. Abstract, Page 2, lines 12 - 14 
"Furthermore, 75% of patients with a tumor detected ≥5 years after eradication
had undergone yearly endoscopy. Submucosal or deeper invasion was observed
in 50% of patients and vascular invasion in 75% of patients whose UD-GC was
detected ≥10 years after eradication."
Please remove these sentences from the Abstract. There were only four patients
who had a cancer detected ≥5 years after eradication. Presenting percentage only
without numbers may mislead the readers of the journal as if there were
statistically higher proportion of patients had submucosal invasion or vascular
invasion in patients with UD-GC detected ≥10 years after eradication compared
to in those with UD-GC detected <10 years. Please replace these sentences to
more relevant findings of this study with statistical significance. 
2. Abstract, Page 2, lines 14 - 16. 
"The proportion of patients with UD-GC and submucosal or deeper invasion was
zero in the group without HP infection, 14.3% in the group with eradicated HP,
and 10.5% in the HP-infected group." 
There was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of submucosal
invasion (14.3% vs. 10.5% vs. 0%). Please avoid presenting results as if they
have substantial difference when they actually can be observed by chance (i.e. P
> 0.05). Please remove these sentences from the Abstract and rewrite the results
part of the Abstract with more relevant findings of this study with statistical
significance. 
3. Abstract, Page 2, lines 18 - 19. 
"Patients with eradicated HP whose UD-GC developed long after eradication
had high rates of vascular and submucosal invasion."
Please remove this sentence from the Abstract. This conclusion may mislead the
readers as commented in the comment #1.
4. Introduction, Page 3, line 17.
"…and a non-infected (UD-U) group)…" -> 
"…and a non-infected (UD-U)
group…"
5. Patients and methods, Page 4, line 2
"The UG-E group was defined as follows" -> "HP eradication group was defined
as follows"
6. Patients and methods, Page 4, lines 12 - 13. 
"HP status was confirmed in 66 cases (71 lesions) in the UD-E group, 503 cases
(616 lesions) in the UD-I group, and 446 cases (622 lesions) in the UD-U
group."
-> "HP status was confirmed in 446 cases (622 lesions) in HP-eradicated, 503
cases (616 lesions) in HP-infected, and 66 cases (71 lesions) in HP-uninfected."
Please notify both group names and numbers were wrong in this sentence.
7. Patients and methods, Page 4, lines 19 - 20. 
"The Kimura-Takemoto classification (Kimura and Takemoto 1969) was used
…"
Please cite (Kimura and Takemoto 1969) as a reference.
8. Patients and methods, Page 4, lines 20 - 21.
"…to evaluate the degree of atrophy (Close(C)-0, none; C-1 and C-2, mild; C-3
to Open(O)-3), moderate-severe)."
-> ""…to evaluate the degree of atrophy (Close[C]-0, none; C-1 and C-2, mild;
C-3 to Open[O]-3, moderate-severe)."
9. Patients and methods, Page 4, line 22.
"differentiated-type gastric cancer (D-GC)" -> "D-GC"
10. Results, Page 5, lines 5 - 6. 
"The ratio of UD-GC to all tumors in each HP infection status group was
significantly higher in the
UD-U group (33.8%) than in the UD-E and UD-I groups (4.5% and 6.2%,
respectively)."
-> "The ratio of UD-GC to all tumors in each HP infection status group was
significantly higher in the
UD-U group (33.8%) than in the UD-E and UD-I groups (4.5% and 6.2%,
respectively) (Fig. 1)."
It seems better to understand here to add 'Fig. 1'.
11. Results, Page 5, lines 8 - 9. 
"The male-to-female ratio was 18:10 in the UD-E group, 14:8 in the UD-I group,
and 20:3 in the UD-U group."
Please change to male or female proportion. It was difficult to understand.
12. Results, Page 5, line 12.
"The mean age was 63.1 ± 14.3, …" -> "The mean age ± standard deviation was
63.1 ± 14.3, …"
13. Results, Page 5, line 23.
"whereas all cases in the UD-D group were" -> "whereas all cases in the UD-U
group were"
14. Results, Page 6, lines 9 - 10.
"Two of the 3 lesions with lymphovascular invasion had a tumor diameter of
≥30 mm (no
significant difference compared with the UD-I and UD-I groups)."
-> "Two of the 3 lesions with lymphovascular invasion had a tumor diameter of
≥30 mm. There was no significant difference compared either with the UD-I or
UD-I group."
15. Discussion, Page 7, lines 1 - 4. 
"However, all tumors in the UD-U group were intramucosal lesions and not
highly malignant. These cases had the following features: (1) young age, (2) no
atrophy in the background mucosa, (3) discolored tone, (4) relatively small
tumor size, (5) predominantly pure signet ring cell carcinoma, (6) intramucosal
lesions, and (7) no lymphovascular invasion."
Please remove number and parentheses.
16. Discussion, Page 7, lines 7 - 9. 
"The clinicopathological features of UD-E and UD-I are similar in table2 and
table3, including tumor size, microscopic type, color, depth, and the rate of
vascular invasion, and the statistical findings are similar compared with UD-U."
Please remove "in table2 and table3".
17. Discussion, Page 7, lines 17 - 18. 
"A notable finding in this study was that UD-GC detected long after eradication
was more malignant than UDGC detected sooner."
Please remove this sentence. The difference in the malignant potential was not
statistically significant. Please avoid presenting results as if they have substantial
difference when they actually can be observed by chance. 
18. Discussion, Page 7, lines 18 - 19. 
"Alarmingly, 75% of patients in whom UD-E was detected ≥5 years after
eradication had undergone yearly follow-up endoscopy."
Please change "75%" to "three of four".
19. Conclusion, Page 8, lines 3 - 4. 
"Patients with eradicated HP whose UD-GC developed long after eradication
had high rates of vascular and submucosal invasion."
Please remove this sentence. This conclusion may mislead the readers as
commented in the comment #1.
20. Table 1. 
The statistical analysis for Atrophy is not correct. It is not possible to conduct
chi-square test for these numbers because there are too many (three in my
analysis) cells with expected numbers smaller than five. The authors should
combine cells to solve this problem. Please revise this issue.
Publons Reviewer Recognition
. Springer Nature can send verification of this
review directly to Publons (a subsidiary of Clarivate Analytics). If you would
like to take advantage of this service, please click on the “Yes” option below.
Your name, email address, title of the reviewed manuscript, name of the journal,
and date of your review submission (the “Review Data”) will then be transmitted
to Publons after the final decision on the manuscript has been made. If you have
already registered at Publons, they will notify you of the receipt of this review
and update your profile 
as per your settings and their policy. If you are not
registered with Publons, you will receive an email from them asking you to
register in order for them to be able to recognize your review on your new
profile page. Publons may use the Review Data to generate derivative metadata
for the benefit of Publons and you as a reviewer, carefully considering the
sensitivity of such information. For example, Publons may verify your record as
a reviewer by updating your profile published on its webservice if you have
registered for such service or help editors to identify candidate reviewers. Please
find the details of processing in Publons’ privacy policy
https://publons.com/about/terms
No
Declaration of competing interests
Please complete a declaration of competing
interests, considering the following questions:
1
. 
Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or
salary from an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially
from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?
2
. 
Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way
gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now
or in the future?
3
. 
Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the
content of the manuscript?
4
. 
Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an
organization that holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of
the manuscript?
5
. 
Do you have any other financial competing interests?
6
. 
Do you have any non-financial competing interests in relation to this
paper?
If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have no competing
interests' below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.
No COI
Reviewer Publication Consent.
 I agree for my report to be made available
under an Open Access Creative Commons CC-BY License (
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
) if this manuscript is accepted for
publication. Any comments that I do not wish to be included in the published
report have been included as confidential comments to the editor, which will not
be published.
If you are not happy for us to publish this report, please contact the
editorial office before completing the review.
If you wish, you can include your
name in your published report. Please note you must decide whether to include
your name at the start of the process and confirm this decision whenever
prompted. If you change your decision later, we will not be able to publish your
name.
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Is the study design appropriate to answer the research question (including the use
of appropriate controls), and are the conclusions supported by the evidence
presented?
No
Are the methods sufficiently described to allow the study to be repeated?
Yes
Is the use of statistics and treatment of uncertainties appropriate?
No
Is the presentation of the work clear?
No
Are the images in this manuscript (including electrophoretic gels and blots) free
from apparent manipulation?
Yes
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