Reviewer's report 
 Bone mineral density and cytokine levels during interferon therapy in children with chronic Title: 
hepatitis B: does interferon therapy prevent osteoporosis? 
 1  18 February 2005 Version: Date: 
 Helen Gruber Reviewer: 
Reviewer's report: 
General 
This study investigates BMD, biochemical markers and levels of selected cytokines in children with 
chronic hepatitis B treated with interferon-alpha compared to levels in age-matched, healthy 
children. Specific comments follow: 
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Major Compulsory Revisions (that the author must respond to before a decision on publication can 
be reached) 
Please specify the length of time the children had hepatitis B, and the length of treatment time. If 
these parameters varied, how do the authors think this might have influenced their findings? 
Table 1. please state whether +/- values are SD or sem values. 
Table 2. please change this to present only significant correlations. 
Minor point: please capitalize the W in Ward’s triange. 
Final paragraph of Discussion: First sentence: revise to first state what was significant, and then 
state what these findings may suggest. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Minor Essential Revisions (such as missing labels on figures, or the wrong use of a term, which the 
author can be trusted to correct) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Discretionary Revisions (which the author can choose to ignore) 
 Accept after minor essential revisions What next?: 
 An article whose findings are important to those with closely related research Level of interest: 
interests 
 Needs some language corrections before being published Quality of written English: 
 No Statistical review: 
Declaration of competing interests: 
I declare that I have no competing interests 
Reviewer's report 
 Bone mineral density and cytokine levels during interferon therapy in children with chronic Title: 
hepatitis B: does interferon therapy prevent osteoporosis? 
 1  18 February 2005 Version: Date: 
 Helen Gruber Reviewer: 
Reviewer's report: 
General 
This study investigates BMD, biochemical markers and levels of selected cytokines in children with 
chronic hepatitis B treated with interferon-alpha compared to levels in age-matched, healthy 
children. Specific comments follow: 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Major Compulsory Revisions (that the author must respond to before a decision on publication can 
be reached) 
Please specify the length of time the children had hepatitis B, and the length of treatment time. If 
these parameters varied, how do the authors think this might have influenced their findings? 
Table 1. please state whether +/- values are SD or sem values. 
Table 2. please change this to present only significant correlations. 
Minor point: please capitalize the W in Ward’s triange. 
Final paragraph of Discussion: First sentence: revise to first state what was significant, and then 
state what these findings may suggest. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Minor Essential Revisions (such as missing labels on figures, or the wrong use of a term, which the 
author can be trusted to correct) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Discretionary Revisions (which the author can choose to ignore) 
 Accept after minor essential revisions What next?: 
 An article whose findings are important to those with closely related research Level of interest: 
interests 
 Needs some language corrections before being published Quality of written English: 
 No Statistical review: 
Declaration of competing interests: 
I declare that I have no competing interests 
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report 
 Bone mineral density and cytokine levels during interferon therapy in children with chronic Title: 
hepatitis B: does interferon therapy prevent osteoporosis? 
 1  18 February 2005 Version: Date: 
 Helen Gruber Reviewer: 
Reviewer's report: 
General 
This study investigates BMD, biochemical markers and levels of selected cytokines in children with 
chronic hepatitis B treated with interferon-alpha compared to levels in age-matched, healthy 
children. Specific comments follow: 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Major Compulsory Revisions (that the author must respond to before a decision on publication can 
be reached) 
Please specify the length of time the children had hepatitis B, and the length of treatment time. If 
these parameters varied, how do the authors think this might have influenced their findings? 
Table 1. please state whether +/- values are SD or sem values. 
Table 2. please change this to present only significant correlations. 
Minor point: please capitalize the W in Ward’s triange. 
Final paragraph of Discussion: First sentence: revise to first state what was significant, and then 
state what these findings may suggest. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Minor Essential Revisions (such as missing labels on figures, or the wrong use of a term, which the 
author can be trusted to correct) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Discretionary Revisions (which the author can choose to ignore) 
 Accept after minor essential revisions What next?: 
 An article whose findings are important to those with closely related research Level of interest: 
interests 
 Needs some language corrections before being published Quality of written English: 
 No Statistical review: 
Declaration of competing interests: 
I declare that I have no competing interests 
assistant