Submited on: 05 May 2012 10:22:39 PM GMT
Published on: 07 May 2012 04:22:31 PM GMT
 

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

    This is a review paper focusing mostly on role of calcium and inflammatory mediators in acute pancreatitis. The exact cause of this disease is not clearly known. Furthermore, there is currently no cure for this disease, and there is no definitive ways of preventing it. In addition there is no defined clinical diagnostic methods and biomarkers for this disease.   There are many mediators in the gastrointestinal environments starting from gut bacteria to parasite which ultimately modulates the immune system and thus maintain homeostasis in the gut and pancreas. The author has reviewed different articles and text book and summarizes the results in this review paper. The role of calcium in acute pancreatitis is not well studied. The author has finally concluded based on literature search to link the role of calcium in this disease. Calcium can play as an important signals and mediators for different inflammatory diseases and can affect the immune system. There is no experiment in this article. Most of their statements are supported by previously published literatures. The author has failed to quote some of the most recent literature in this subject published in 2012. This review paper will be good addition to the database of knowledge on this disease


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

    N/A

     


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

    N/A

     


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

    N/A


  • 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?

    In the methods can the author add a sentence to explain the criteria used to differentiate Hits and Hits with limits as mentioned in the table1.


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

    N/A


  • 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?

    There is no experiment in this paper. Illustration1 suggest the different web searches and  number of literatures. This is a review papers. The following suggestion may further improve this paper.

     

    1) A schematic diagram explaining the different mediators ( Enzymes, Cytokine, hormones, calcium) causing acute pancreatitis can further improve the paper.

    2) Including some of the recently published literatures will further improve the paper.

    3) I recommend including some of the views from the New England Journal medicine  paper ,Acute Pancreatitis David C. Whitcomb, M.D., Ph.D.,N Engl J Med 2006; 354:2142-2150

    4) zymogen activation is complex and that distinct pathways may lead to activation of specific subsets of proteases. The author can include some of the papers focusing more on this. For example the paper by Edwin C. Thrower,Alexander P. E. Diaz de Villalvilla,Thomas R. Kolodecik and Fred S. Gorelick,Zymogen activation in a reconstituted pancreatic acinar cell system,Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 290: G894 –G902, 2006.

     

    It would not be difficult to incorporate these suggested comments to further improve this paper.


  • 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?

    N/A


  • Other Comments:

    N/A

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

    N/A

  • Experience and credentials in the specific area of science:

    No

  • How to cite:  Mishra P K.The Role of Calcium and Pro-Inflammatory Mediators in Acute Pancreatitis [Review of the article 'The Role of Calcium and Pro-Inflammatory Mediators in Acute Pancreatitis ' by Siddiqui M].WebmedCentral 2012;3(7):WMCRW002024
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Acuta pancreatitis and calcium
Posted by Dr. Amit Gupta on 12 May 2012 04:29:10 PM GMT

1 Is the subject of the article within the scope of the subject category? Yes
2 Are the interpretations / conclusions sound and justified by the data? No
3 Is this a new and original contribution? No
4 Does this paper exemplify an awareness of other research on the topic? Yes
5 Are structure and length satisfactory? No
6 Can you suggest brief additions or amendments or an introductory statement that will increase the value of this paper for an international audience? Yes
7 Can you suggest any reductions in the paper, or deletions of parts? Yes
8 Is the quality of the diction satisfactory? No
9 Are the illustrations and tables necessary and acceptable? No
10 Are the references adequate and are they all necessary? Yes
11 Are the keywords and abstract or summary informative? Yes
  • Other Comments:

    At the outset i fail to understand the exact design of this study which author should have emntioned at the start.

    While publishing an international article one does not require to describe the anatomy and physiology and focus should be on the lead points only and the article should justify its title.

    The author have given a very vague definition of mild and severe forms of acute pancreatitis Hoever there are several scoring system (Ranson's score, APACHE2 score etc.) which determine the severity of pancreatitis in a very scientific and predicatable manner.

    In conclusion author fails to arrive at a conclusion for the role of calcium in acute pancreatitis.

    Also the limited access to some of the articles regarding this topic (As author has himself stated) I fail to understand how these concluions were derived.

    Definitely the article throws a light for future research in such a commonly occuring emergency condition occuring globally.

  • Competing interests:
    None
  • Invited by the author to review this article? :
    No
  • Have you previously published on this or a similar topic?:
    No
  • References:
    None
  • Experience and credentials in the specific area of science:

    We are treating may pts of pancreatitits at our centre.

  • How to cite:  Gupta A .Acuta pancreatitis and calcium[Review of the article 'The Role of Calcium and Pro-Inflammatory Mediators in Acute Pancreatitis ' by Siddiqui M].WebmedCentral 2012;3(5):WMCRW001799
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