A response to readers comments and questions (Karleen Gribble, 29 January 2012)
After the publication of our paper ¿Emergency preparedness for those who care for infants in developed country contexts¿ the authors received questions, helpful comments and suggestions for possible modification of emergency kits for babies. We would like to...
read full comment
Comment on: Gribble et al. International Breastfeeding Journal, 6:16
concerns about study method (Katja Taxis, 26 January 2012)
Szczepura et al have written an interesting and certainly important study on medication administration errors for older people in long-term residential care. My primary concern about this study is the term ¿disguised observation method¿ they use in the method section to describe their data collection. To support their data collection method, they specifically refer to a study by van den Bemt et al. (2009)....
read full comment
Correction to recruitment data. (Janet de Moor, 26 January 2012)
The manuscript contains a typographical error on page 2, under Eligibility Criteria and Sample Recruitment. There were 773 survivors who were alive and eligible for PFH-2, not 733 as reported in the paper.
read full comment
About the use of GADS as outcome measure (Enric Aragonès, 25 January 2012)
The Goldberg¿s Anxiety and Depression Scales (GADS) are heteroapplied questionnaires that were derived by latent trait analysis from a standardized psychiatric research interview. They were designed and calibrated to aid general practitioners and other non-psychiatrists in the better recognition of anxiety and depression...
read full comment
in support of KT training (David Phipps, 25 January 2012)
Having recently presented at a knowledge brokers forum in the UK there is international interest in capacity building for knowledge brokering, more than we usually do through individual peer sessions and one off workshops. As valuable as these are for supporting and sustaining knowledge brokering there is a need for accredited knowledge brokering training. 30 years into technology transfer that industry has established a series of accredited training courses for tech transfer. We need the same degree of rigour in training for knowledge brokering. The KTPC session described in the previous comment by Melanie Barwick has been accredited by Univ. Toronto. We need more KTPC across Canada
read full comment
Comment on: Straus et al. Implementation Science, 6:127
Typographical error in Table 1 (James Hane, 24 January 2012)
In the fourth line of Table 1 (beginning "CpT"), the 3rd and 4th columns ("ApA ApG") should instead read ("ApG ApA").
read full comment
Comment on Belda-Lois et al. (william rymer, 23 January 2012)
This review focuses on assessing the impact of a wide range of rehabilitation therapies promoting gait recovery after hemispheric stroke. The review emphasizes the role of reorganizing the central nervous system in promoting gait recovery, by contrasting this approach with classical therapies targeting peripheral neuromuscular interventions. The review is detailed, broad and...
read full comment
Comment on: Belda-Lois et al. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 8:66
Correction of Figure 4B (Maria Jose Lopez-Barragan, 23 January 2012)
The ID numbers of the genes and isoforms shown in Figure 4B are MAL7P1.157, MAL7P1.157a and MAL7P1.157b, instead of MAL7P1.175, MAL7P1.175a and MAL7P1.175b, respectively.
read full comment
Correction of typographical error in statistical methods (Karen Heichman, 19 January 2012)
Following publication of this article, we noticed a significant typographical error in the statistical section that needs to be corrected. Please note that specificity of the test was determined according to the following formula:
Specificity = 1 - false-positives/total controls
The same results are obtained if the following formula is used:
Th17-Related Cytokines Important (Carr Smith, 19 January 2012)
The article on Th17-related cytokines by Monteleone et al. (BMC Med 2011, 9:122) is very important. While TNF-alpha blockers and other immunosupressants do much to alleviate the symptoms of Crohn's Disease, remission does not usually occur. Many patients still suffer some level of GI discomfort or bleeding, and sometimes arthralgia which can be severe. The localization of new molecular pathways for Crohn's therapy holds forth the promise of eventually figuring out the critical pro- and anti-inflammatory signals that sustain gut inflammation. The complexity of this article indirectly points out the technical difficulty of designing human clinical trials for new Crohn's drugs optimized by patient enrollment criteria and number, stage of disease presentation, and ongoing level of GI tract...
read full comment
Incorrect interpretation of previously published data in the paper ¿Identification, characterization, and comparative genomic distribution of the HERV-K (HML-2) group of human endogenous retroviruses¿ written by Ravi P Subramanian, Julia H Wildschutte, Crystal Russo and John M Coffin. (Anton Buzdin, 17 January 2012)
Incorrect interpretation of previously published data in the paper ¿Identification, characterization, and comparative genomic distribution of the HERV-K (HML-2) group of human endogenous retroviruses¿ written by Ravi P Subramanian, Julia H Wildschutte, Crystal Russo and John M...
read full comment
Response to Erren and Morfeld, 2011 (Sally Hutchings, 13 January 2012)
We have read the paper by Erren and Morfeld (2011) [1] with interest and offer the following comments on the concerns expressed by them about our work estimating the burden of occupational cancer in Britain [2]. We agree with Erren and Morfeld that burden of disease studies inform public health decision making by providing useful indicators of the contribution of different risk factors and indeed the results from our study are already being used for this purpose....
read full comment
Comment on: Erren et al. Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations, 8:4
Conclusions not supported by the data (A Dusty Miller, 13 January 2012)
This report claims two major conclusions (last paragraph of Abstract):...
read full comment
Figure 4B is the correct photograph of the left eye but, as shown, the image is flipped left to right.
read full comment
Comment on: Gao et al. BMC Infectious Diseases, 11:260
Understanding contrasting patterns of relative differences in survival and relative differences in mortality (James Scanlan, 12 January 2012)
Hockey et al.[1] state that the lack of convergence over time between the survival rates of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women¿s Health (ALSWH) cohort and the Australian female population was unexpected given prior research finding convergence over time of mortality rates of sample and unsampled populations. This observation overlooks the pattern by which the rarer an outcome the greater tends to be the relative difference in experiencing it and the smaller tends to be the relative difference in avoiding it.[2-4] For reasons related to the shapes of the underlying risk distributions, as populations age and survival generally declines, relative differences between the survival rates of healthier and less healthy groups tend to increase while relative differences in mortality rates...
read full comment
Comment on: Hockey et al. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology, 8:3
Estimation of treatment effects across a range of baseline rates should not be based on assumptions of either constant relative risks or constant odds ratios (James Scanlan, 12 January 2012)
Wang et al.[1] note that it is generally accepted that the relationship between baseline risk and risk under treatment is linear (i.e., that the relative risk will be constant) and that absolute benefits will be greatest among high-risk patients, but that there exists an alternative assumption of a curvilinear relationship based on the odds ratio. While observing that there is no theoretical support for either approach, the authors conclude that the assumption of a curvilinear benefit reflected by a constant odds ratio will be more useful for estimating risk...
read full comment
Comment on: Wang et al. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology, 6:1
SAMMate Website has Moved (Dongxiao Zhu, 12 January 2012)
aSAMMate is the new site with extended de novo assembly modules.
Comment on: Xu et al. Source Code for Biology and Medicine, 6:2
This project has been moved to Google Code (Pengyi Yang, 12 January 2012)
The algorithm and software described in this article have been moved to Google Code.
Please refer to:
http://code.google.com/p/genetic-ensemble-snpx/
read full comment
Comment on: Yang et al. BMC Bioinformatics, 11:524
Efforts to appraise changes in inequalities in poor health over the life course must consider the implications of general increases in poor health as the population ages (James Scanlan, 12 January 2012)
Benzeval et al.[1] have endeavored to address some complex issues concerning whether socioeconomic inequalities in health increase or decrease with age. But, as with other research on the topic, the effort suffers from a failure to recognize the way that, for reasons related to the shapes of normal distributions of factors associated with experiencing an outcome, standard measures of differences between rates tend to be affected by the overall prevalence of the...
read full comment
Errata for Mushtaq et al. BMC Public Health 2011, 11:790 (Muhammad Umair Mushtaq, 12 January 2012)
There are four typographical errors in the final published version of this paper, for which the corresponding author accepts full responsibility. Page references are to the final PDF version....
read full comment
Errata for Mushtaq et al. BMC Public Health 2011, 11:724 (Muhammad Umair Mushtaq, 12 January 2012)
There are two typographical errors in the final published version of this paper, for which the corresponding author accepts full responsibility. Page references are to the final PDF version....
read full comment
Anterior/posterior tibial translation (Yasuharu Nagano, 11 January 2012)
Although we calculated knee kinematics, including anterior/posterior tibial translation, we have not described tibial translation because of the low validity of the results obtained.
read full comment
Comment on: Nagano et al. Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy, Rehabilitation, Therapy & Technology, 3:14
Use of Tranexamic acid is a cost effective method in preventing blood loss during and after total knee replacement (Sanjay Meena, 10 January 2012)
I read with interest the article, Use of Tranexamic acid is a cost effective method in preventing blood loss during and after total knee replacement. However , I have some comments for authors and...
read full comment
Comment on: Sepah et al. Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research, 6:22
Classification and treatment of proximal humerus fractures: inter-observer reliability and agreement across imaging modalities and experience (Raphael Adobor, 10 January 2012)
Kappa values do not adequately describe agreement properties when comparing two methods. As described by Altman and Blant, agreement should be evaluated using repeatability coefficients. This is well described in the literature but it is a shame very few use it.
read full comment
Comment on: Foroohar et al. Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research, 6:38
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Latest comments
A response to readers comments and questions (Karleen Gribble, 29 January 2012)
After the publication of our paper ¿Emergency preparedness for those who care for infants in developed country contexts¿ the authors received questions, helpful comments and suggestions for possible modification of emergency kits for babies. We would like to... read full comment
Comment on: Gribble et al. International Breastfeeding Journal, 6:16
concerns about study method (Katja Taxis, 26 January 2012)
Szczepura et al have written an interesting and certainly important study on medication administration errors for older people in long-term residential care. My primary concern about this study is the term ¿disguised observation method¿ they use in the method section to describe their data collection. To support their data collection method, they specifically refer to a study by van den Bemt et al. (2009).... read full comment
Comment on: Szczepura et al. BMC Geriatrics, 11:82
Correction to recruitment data. (Janet de Moor, 26 January 2012)
The manuscript contains a typographical error on page 2, under Eligibility Criteria and Sample Recruitment. There were 773 survivors who were alive and eligible for PFH-2, not 733 as reported in the paper. read full comment
Comment on: de Moor et al. BMC Cancer, 11:165
About the use of GADS as outcome measure (Enric Aragonès, 25 January 2012)
The Goldberg¿s Anxiety and Depression Scales (GADS) are heteroapplied questionnaires that were derived by latent trait analysis from a standardized psychiatric research interview. They were designed and calibrated to aid general practitioners and other non-psychiatrists in the better recognition of anxiety and depression... read full comment
Comment on: Tello-Bernabe et al. Implementation Science, 6:123
in support of KT training (David Phipps, 25 January 2012)
Having recently presented at a knowledge brokers forum in the UK there is international interest in capacity building for knowledge brokering, more than we usually do through individual peer sessions and one off workshops. As valuable as these are for supporting and sustaining knowledge brokering there is a need for accredited knowledge brokering training. 30 years into technology transfer that industry has established a series of accredited training courses for tech transfer. We need the same degree of rigour in training for knowledge brokering. The KTPC session described in the previous comment by Melanie Barwick has been accredited by Univ. Toronto. We need more KTPC across Canada read full comment
Comment on: Straus et al. Implementation Science, 6:127
Typographical error in Table 1 (James Hane, 24 January 2012)
In the fourth line of Table 1 (beginning "CpT"), the 3rd and 4th columns ("ApA ApG") should instead read ("ApG ApA"). read full comment
Comment on: Hane et al. BMC Genomics, 11:655
Comment on Belda-Lois et al. (william rymer, 23 January 2012)
This review focuses on assessing the impact of a wide range of rehabilitation therapies promoting gait recovery after hemispheric stroke. The review emphasizes the role of reorganizing the central nervous system in promoting gait recovery, by contrasting this approach with classical therapies targeting peripheral neuromuscular interventions. The review is detailed, broad and... read full comment
Comment on: Belda-Lois et al. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 8:66
Correction of Figure 4B (Maria Jose Lopez-Barragan, 23 January 2012)
The ID numbers of the genes and isoforms shown in Figure 4B are MAL7P1.157, MAL7P1.157a and MAL7P1.157b, instead of MAL7P1.175, MAL7P1.175a and MAL7P1.175b, respectively. read full comment
Comment on: López-Barragán et al. BMC Genomics, 12:587
Errata for Mushtaq et al. BMC Public Health 2011, 11:724 (II) (Muhammad Umair Mushtaq, 20 January 2012)
Please note corrections to the following errors. Page references are to the final PDF version.... read full comment
Comment on: Mushtaq et al. BMC Public Health, 11:724
Correction of typographical error in statistical methods (Karen Heichman, 19 January 2012)
Following publication of this article, we noticed a significant typographical error in the statistical section that needs to be corrected. Please note that specificity of the test was determined according to the following formula:
Specificity = 1 - false-positives/total controls
The same results are obtained if the following formula is used:
Specificity = true negatives/total controls read full comment
Comment on: Warren et al. BMC Medicine, 9:133
Th17-Related Cytokines Important (Carr Smith, 19 January 2012)
The article on Th17-related cytokines by Monteleone et al. (BMC Med 2011, 9:122) is very important. While TNF-alpha blockers and other immunosupressants do much to alleviate the symptoms of Crohn's Disease, remission does not usually occur. Many patients still suffer some level of GI discomfort or bleeding, and sometimes arthralgia which can be severe. The localization of new molecular pathways for Crohn's therapy holds forth the promise of eventually figuring out the critical pro- and anti-inflammatory signals that sustain gut inflammation. The complexity of this article indirectly points out the technical difficulty of designing human clinical trials for new Crohn's drugs optimized by patient enrollment criteria and number, stage of disease presentation, and ongoing level of GI tract... read full comment
Comment on: Monteleone et al. BMC Medicine, 9:122
Incorrect interpretation of previously published data in the paper ¿Identification, characterization, and comparative genomic distribution of the HERV-K (HML-2) group of human endogenous retroviruses¿ written by Ravi P Subramanian, Julia H Wildschutte, Crystal Russo and John M Coffin. (Anton Buzdin, 17 January 2012)
Incorrect interpretation of previously published data in the paper ¿Identification, characterization, and comparative genomic distribution of the HERV-K (HML-2) group of human endogenous retroviruses¿ written by Ravi P Subramanian, Julia H Wildschutte, Crystal Russo and John M... read full comment
Comment on: Subramanian et al. Retrovirology, 8:90
Response to Erren and Morfeld, 2011 (Sally Hutchings, 13 January 2012)
We have read the paper by Erren and Morfeld (2011) [1] with interest and offer the following comments on the concerns expressed by them about our work estimating the burden of occupational cancer in Britain [2]. We agree with Erren and Morfeld that burden of disease studies inform public health decision making by providing useful indicators of the contribution of different risk factors and indeed the results from our study are already being used for this purpose.... read full comment
Comment on: Erren et al. Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations, 8:4
Conclusions not supported by the data (A Dusty Miller, 13 January 2012)
This report claims two major conclusions (last paragraph of Abstract):... read full comment
Comment on: Dey et al. Virology Journal, 8:531
Correction (Peter Russo, 12 January 2012)
Figure 4B is the correct photograph of the left eye but, as shown, the image is flipped left to right. read full comment
Comment on: Gao et al. BMC Infectious Diseases, 11:260
Understanding contrasting patterns of relative differences in survival and relative differences in mortality (James Scanlan, 12 January 2012)
Hockey et al.[1] state that the lack of convergence over time between the survival rates of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women¿s Health (ALSWH) cohort and the Australian female population was unexpected given prior research finding convergence over time of mortality rates of sample and unsampled populations. This observation overlooks the pattern by which the rarer an outcome the greater tends to be the relative difference in experiencing it and the smaller tends to be the relative difference in avoiding it.[2-4] For reasons related to the shapes of the underlying risk distributions, as populations age and survival generally declines, relative differences between the survival rates of healthier and less healthy groups tend to increase while relative differences in mortality rates... read full comment
Comment on: Hockey et al. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology, 8:3
Estimation of treatment effects across a range of baseline rates should not be based on assumptions of either constant relative risks or constant odds ratios (James Scanlan, 12 January 2012)
Wang et al.[1] note that it is generally accepted that the relationship between baseline risk and risk under treatment is linear (i.e., that the relative risk will be constant) and that absolute benefits will be greatest among high-risk patients, but that there exists an alternative assumption of a curvilinear relationship based on the odds ratio. While observing that there is no theoretical support for either approach, the authors conclude that the assumption of a curvilinear benefit reflected by a constant odds ratio will be more useful for estimating risk... read full comment
Comment on: Wang et al. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology, 6:1
SAMMate Website has Moved (Dongxiao Zhu, 12 January 2012)
aSAMMate is the new site with extended de novo assembly modules.
http://asammate.sourceforge.net/ read full comment
Comment on: Xu et al. Source Code for Biology and Medicine, 6:2
This project has been moved to Google Code (Pengyi Yang, 12 January 2012)
The algorithm and software described in this article have been moved to Google Code.
Please refer to:
http://code.google.com/p/genetic-ensemble-snpx/ read full comment
Comment on: Yang et al. BMC Bioinformatics, 11:524
Efforts to appraise changes in inequalities in poor health over the life course must consider the implications of general increases in poor health as the population ages (James Scanlan, 12 January 2012)
Benzeval et al.[1] have endeavored to address some complex issues concerning whether socioeconomic inequalities in health increase or decrease with age. But, as with other research on the topic, the effort suffers from a failure to recognize the way that, for reasons related to the shapes of normal distributions of factors associated with experiencing an outcome, standard measures of differences between rates tend to be affected by the overall prevalence of the... read full comment
Comment on: Benzeval et al. BMC Public Health, 11:947
Errata for Mushtaq et al. BMC Public Health 2011, 11:790 (Muhammad Umair Mushtaq, 12 January 2012)
There are four typographical errors in the final published version of this paper, for which the corresponding author accepts full responsibility. Page references are to the final PDF version.... read full comment
Comment on: Mushtaq et al. BMC Public Health, 11:790
Errata for Mushtaq et al. BMC Public Health 2011, 11:724 (Muhammad Umair Mushtaq, 12 January 2012)
There are two typographical errors in the final published version of this paper, for which the corresponding author accepts full responsibility. Page references are to the final PDF version.... read full comment
Comment on: Mushtaq et al. BMC Public Health, 11:724
Anterior/posterior tibial translation (Yasuharu Nagano, 11 January 2012)
Although we calculated knee kinematics, including anterior/posterior tibial translation, we have not described tibial translation because of the low validity of the results obtained. read full comment
Comment on: Nagano et al. Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy, Rehabilitation, Therapy & Technology, 3:14
Use of Tranexamic acid is a cost effective method in preventing blood loss during and after total knee replacement (Sanjay Meena, 10 January 2012)
I read with interest the article, Use of Tranexamic acid is a cost effective method in preventing blood loss during and after total knee replacement. However , I have some comments for authors and... read full comment
Comment on: Sepah et al. Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research, 6:22
Classification and treatment of proximal humerus fractures: inter-observer reliability and agreement across imaging modalities and experience (Raphael Adobor, 10 January 2012)
Kappa values do not adequately describe agreement properties when comparing two methods. As described by Altman and Blant, agreement should be evaluated using repeatability coefficients. This is well described in the literature but it is a shame very few use it. read full comment
Comment on: Foroohar et al. Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research, 6:38