Submited on: 21 Aug 2013 01:07:34 PM GMT
Published on: 21 Aug 2013 02:35:17 PM GMT
 

  • What are the main claims of the paper and how important are they?

    This paper studies the RBC's behaviour (motion) in the boundary of the CFL, in microchannels. The goal is to find the function that better resembles the RBC motion around the cell depleted layer in a polydimethysiloxane. A genetic algorithm was used to analyse the motion obtained manually.


  • Are these claims novel? If not, please specify papers that weaken the claims to the originality of this one.

    The claims here stated are of great relevance for future research in medical imaging, rheology and simulation of vascular systems.

    The use of adaptive genetic algorithms is very promising due to its ability to find an optimal or near-optimal solution for the test problem.


  • Are the claims properly placed in the context of the previous literature?

    Yes.


  • Do the results support the claims? If not, what other evidence is required?

    Yes.


  • If a protocol is provided, for example for a randomized controlled trial, are there any important deviations from it? If so, have the authors explained adequately why the deviations occurred?

    NA


  • Is the methodology valid? Does the paper offer enough details of its methodology that its experiments or its analyses could be reproduced?

    NA


  • Would any other experiments or additional information improve the paper? How much better would the paper be if this extra work was done, and how difficult would such work be to do, or to provide?

    NA


  • Is this paper outstanding in its discipline? (For example, would you like to see this work presented in a seminar at your hospital or university? Do you feel these results need to be incorporated in your next general lecture on the subject?) If yes, what makes it outstanding? If not, why not?

    NA

     


  • Other Comments:

    A statistical analysis should be included. It would be interesting to analyse and compare the use of genetic algorithms with other optimization techniques and metaheuristicmethods.

  • Invited by the author to review this article? :
    No
  • Have you previously published on this or a similar topic?:
    Yes
  • References:

    None

  • Experience and credentials in the specific area of science:

    None

  • How to cite:  Joao A .Cell-Free Layer (CFL) Analysis in a Polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) Microchannel: a Global Approach[Review of the article 'Cell-Free Layer (CFL) Analysis in a Polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) Microchannel: a Global Approach ' by Lima R].WebmedCentral 2013;4(8):WMCRW002855
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  • What are the main claims of the paper and how important are they?

    This study investigated red blood cells motion in microchannels to search for a theoretical function that best fit the experimental data of RBC motion in the boundary of the cell-free-layer. This is an important article to those interested in blood rheology and simulation of the vascular system.


  • Are these claims novel? If not, please specify papers that weaken the claims to the originality of this one.

    The originality of this paper relies on the search for a function that describes RBCs motion.


  • Are the claims properly placed in the context of the previous literature?

    Yes


  • Do the results support the claims? If not, what other evidence is required?

    Yes


  • If a protocol is provided, for example for a randomized controlled trial, are there any important deviations from it? If so, have the authors explained adequately why the deviations occurred?

    Not applicable.


  • Is the methodology valid? Does the paper offer enough details of its methodology that its experiments or its analyses could be reproduced?

    The methods are sound, although minor details on the experimental procedure may be add.


  • Would any other experiments or additional information improve the paper? How much better would the paper be if this extra work was done, and how difficult would such work be to do, or to provide?

    Yes. A statistical analysis could be performed to better support the discussion.


  • Is this paper outstanding in its discipline? (For example, would you like to see this work presented in a seminar at your hospital or university? Do you feel these results need to be incorporated in your next general lecture on the subject?) If yes, what makes it outstanding? If not, why not?

    It is not an outstanding paper. However, there are some interesting results that I would consider incorporating them in my next lecture.


  • Other Comments:

    Specific comments:

    1) Abstract: Please define RBCs (red blood cells?).

    2) Materials and Methods, Experimental set-up: Please explain what flow rates were used. The first paragraph of “Results and Discussion” section could be moved to “Materials and Methods” to provide readers such an information.

    3) Materials and Methods, Image analysis: How many cells were tracked around the boundary?

    4) Materials and Methods: A “statistical analysis” section is important here. In this section, the criterion to be satisfied could be briefly introduced, as well as all functions that were tested, and most importantly, how they were compared. Maybe the authors could consider applying a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), considering position and microchannels width to test for main and interaction effects on the function’s criterion.

    5) Results and Discussion: Illustration 4 needs improvement and further interpretation. For instance: Why all initial values are set to “0”? What does a trend represent in this graph? Try to cluster some line graphs, for instance comparing different widths of microchannels.

    6) Results and Discussion: The explanation of Illustration 5 would be better positioned under the “Material and Methods” section for explanation of the criterion and functions.

  • Competing interests:
    0
  • Invited by the author to review this article? :
    No
  • Have you previously published on this or a similar topic?:
    Yes
  • References:

    http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1746809408000517

  • Experience and credentials in the specific area of science:

    I have published several articles on pulse waveform analysis and arterial modelling.

  • How to cite:  Ferreira A S.Cell-Free Layer (CFL) Analysis in a Polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) Microchannel: A Global Approach[Review of the article 'Cell-Free Layer (CFL) Analysis in a Polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) Microchannel: a Global Approach ' by Lima R].WebmedCentral 2013;4(8):WMCRW002850
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