Source of threshold for Symptom Inventory (SI) criteria (Tom Kindlon, 20Nov2009)
This new set of criteria uses three sets of questionnaires: the SF-36, the MFI and the Symptom Inventory (SI). In the paper, we are given information on where the thresholds came from for the first two instruments, but not the third one: "We defined substantial reduction in occupational, educational, social, or recreational activities as scores lower than the 25th percentile of published US population [11] on the physical function (<= 70), or... read full comment

Study demonstrates that the criteria for CFS remain too vague (Ellen Goudsmit, 20Nov2009)
Firstly, I concur with the reviewer who questioned the inclusion of non-melancholic depression and exclusion of melancholic depression. The response; that melancholic depression overlaps with CFS (subtext: non-melancholic depression is very different) might benefit from testing. My interpretation of the findings is that the current working case definition of CFS relies on to many ubiquitous symptoms, that we need to review the concept and renew... read full comment

Real reason for endless production of conflicting results (Shi Huang, 19Nov2009)
On the position of tarsiers, the paper wrote:The majority of molecular evidence supports the latter grouping [4,10-13], although a large number of molecular studies still provide support for the Prosimii concept [14-18]. When a method or technique can lead to two opposite results repeatedly and seemingly endlessly while only one of the two can be true, it is time to ask whether something is fundamentally missing with our method. Let us start... read full comment

Clarification on NRKs (Karen Wilson, 19Nov2009)
In the manuscript, NRKs refer to Drosophila melanogaster NRK orthologues lacking, like Drosophila melanogaster NRK, an "NPxY" adaptor sequence prior to the tyrosine kinase domain. NRKs have however been shown to be orthologues of the Musk family of RTKs in deuterostomes (Sossin WS, 2006: Brain Behav Evol.; 68(3):145-56). ... read full comment

Musks are the vertebrate NRK orthologue (Wayne Sossin, 19Nov2009)
In the manuscript it is stated that there are no deuterostome orthologues of the Nrk family. However, we had earlier pointed out that the Nrk family is orthologous to the deuterostome Musk family (Sossin, 2006 BBE 68:145-156). The Musk family, despite its close similarity to Rors and Trks was not examined in this manuscript.... read full comment

Prerequisites for cytokine measurements (Kirsten Kortekaas, 19Nov2009)
De Jager et al.1 stress the need for rigorous quality control when measuring cytokines in plasma or serum in the context of clinical trials. The authors rightly state that proper timing of sampling, careful sample handling and storage, and strict quality control is crucial for reliable cytokine measurements. However, they did not point towards potential pitfalls of the early steps of blood collection and handling which may profoundly affect the results... read full comment

Small corrections (Anand Patil, 18Nov2009)
We spotted a couple of small errors after the article had already gone into press. In the caption of Figure 5, 'any given year' should be replaced with 'any given two-year period'. Similarly, in B.11.1, 'predictions for a given year in a single population' should be 'predictions for a given two-year period in a single population'.... read full comment

Disclaimer: TBioMed 2009, 6:25 (Paul Agutter, 17Nov2009)
As Editor-in-Chief of the journal, I respectfully draw the attention of readers to the author's disclaimer in the Acknowledgments section of this paper. Dr Smieszek is conerned that no liability issues arise from the publication of the data in the Supplementary File. The Editors share that concern, for ethical as well as business reasons. Anyone who wishes to use the data in this paper must credit Dr Smieszek, and his institution (the data are owned... read full comment

Leptin-signaling inhibition trial (Kathleen Riley, 12Nov2009)
Are there currently any clinical trials involving leptin-signaling inhibition for Stage IV breast cancer patients?... read full comment

Typo Table 1 (Andres Legarra, 12Nov2009)
A typo exists in Table 1. Correct pedigree is as follows: 1 0 0 2 0 0 3 0 0 4 1 2 5 3 2 6 3 2 7 4 5 8 4 5 Sorry for any inconvenient. I thank Ross Whetten for finding this out. Andrs... read full comment

ColorCode 3-D (Maged Nabih Kamel Boulos, 06Nov2009)
Another anaglyph-like system worth mentioning that promises good colour fidelity: http://www.colorcode3d.com/info/pages/what_is_cc3d.pdf... read full comment

Correction to this article (Akira Kato, 06Nov2009)
In the legend to Figure 1, scale bars represent "100 mm" instead of "50 mm".... read full comment

Routine use of weaning preditors: better if we go faster (Sergio Nemer, 06Nov2009)
Srgio N. Nemer and Carmen S.V. Barbas We thank Dr. Epstein for his interest in our article. We also thank him for his interesting comments and considerations. We agree that the great majority of weaning predictors presented only moderate accuracy in predicting the weaning outcome. Although, some integrative indexes, like the frequency to tidal volume ratio (f / Vt ratio) [1] and the ratio of airway occlusion pressure to maximal inspiratory... read full comment

Note from the author (Sean Rice, 05Nov2009)
This is the first in a series of papers deriving the exact mathematical rules underlying evolution. A description of the project, and links to other papers in the series is found at:<http://bi154.dhcp.ttu.edu/axiomatic/>.... read full comment

addendum to article (Henrik Edgren, 05Nov2009)
Information on the exact nonsense mutation in RIC8A was inadvertently omitted from the article. The mutation is c724G>T resulting in pGlu242X in the protein sequence. We regret this oversight.... read full comment

Outcome misclassification and incorrect odds ratios (Aaron Kipp, 05Nov2009)
In the ongoing struggle against TB transmission and drug resistant TB, information on treatment outcomes and what factors affect these outcomes are vitally important. Tessema et al take the first step toward that goal by reporting for the first time on treatment outcomes in northwest Ethiopia since the introduction of directly observed therapy in 2000 at the Gondar University Teaching Hospital. However, I believe there are some serious limitations... read full comment

UNCLEAR ARTICLE (Vikal Shakya, 05Nov2009)
The cause of the conversion has not been mentioned anywhere in the case report. Neither do we have nay photographs that can give us an idea of the type of the bile dust injury (assumed from the discussion section). The spelling of cholecystectomy in the title is also incorrect. ... read full comment

Query about materials (Shaun Fountain, 05Nov2009)
Great series very useful for patient information. It would be reassuring to know that the two deaths reported were not related to the tape procedure.... read full comment

Why are we only given information on 3 out of the 8 SF-36 subscales? (Tom Kindlon, 05Nov2009)
Reading this paper, one could be forgiven for thinking that the SF-36 questionnaire only has 3 subscales: Physical Functioning, Mental Health and Social Functioning as that is all we are given information on. In fact, of course, the SF-36 questionnaire has 8 subscales: Physical function, Role physical, Bodily pain, General health, Vitality, Social function, Role emotional and Mental health[1]. The authors use the empiric definition for CFS[2]... read full comment

There has been criticism of how CFS is defined in this study (Tom Kindlon, 05Nov2009)
I thought it would be useful to point out that there is controversy [1,2] with regard to the criteria [3] used in this study to define Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). For example, the criteria for CFS used in this study do not even require a patient to have fatigue. The authors say: We used the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) [4] to measure characteristics of fatigue but they do not give the thresholds. Given the MFI-20 has five... read full comment