Analysis of Metabolites in Gout: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
, Jinlin Tong 1, Yuhe Wang 1, Xin Liu 1, Zeqi Liao 1, Miao Jiang 2,* and Hongyan Zhao 1,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
An observational study of this nature is difficult at best and the authors state this in the limitations. However, in trying to define a metabolic profile of a disease like gout, consideration of factors such as sex, metabolic issues such as menopause status, relation of gouty attack and hyperuricemia,,as well as comorbidities specifically T2DM and lipid levels, presence or absence of kidney disease, hypertension and obesity, and CAD, need to be considered. . Also medications need to be addressed. Statistical analysis should be applied that consider these variables. The metabolic findings would be easier to understand if grouped by metabolic pathways and/or functional pathways such as inflammation/inflammasome, hyperuicemia and acute gout. Other metabolic pathways including glucose metabolism and T2DM etc are probably related to increased uric acid and gout, but how? Why are the forrest plots capturing congruency of authors; they could be better used to demonstrate significance of clinical variables. How do the predictive markers mentioned in the conclusion result in gout and or hyperuricemia?
The tables 1 and 2 should be in the suppl.
Number of syntax errors in methods section
Author Response
请参阅附件。
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
|
|
article section |
error |
description |
|
1 |
all |
English quality |
Minor revision by an expert is needed. |
|
2 |
Introduction |
abbreviation management |
“Gout” is only 1 word, 4 letters, you do not need to abbreviate it to “GA”. It is contra-intuitive and it makes the text harder to read. |
|
3 |
Introduction |
academic style |
“Rock deposition” - “rock” is not an appropriate term, it is “tophi”. |
|
4 |
Introduction |
scientific fact |
“The clinical diagnosis of GA is based on serum uric acid detection, joint synovial fluid examination and imaging examination”. The authors forgot to mention clinical manifestations (e.g., anamnesis, arthritis). Please add them. |
|
5 |
Introduction |
fact omission |
“It has been found that not all GA patients have elevated UA”. In fact, not all persons with hyperuricemia have or will ever develop gout. This is worth mentioning. |
|
6 |
Introduction |
information redundancy |
“bone mineral density, and osteoporosis”. Osteoporosis can be diagnosed by revealing low bone mineral density, therefore it suffices to write “osteoporosis”. |
|
7 |
Introduction |
academic style |
“is not friendly to patients”. Please use a more impersonal rigorous style. For example: “colchicine is associated with higher risk of kidney damage”. |
|
8 |
Introduction |
incomprehensibility |
“early development of subcutaneous routes in GA patients”. What are “subcutaneous routes”? Do you mean tophi? Please clarify and update the text accordingly. |
|
9 |
Data synthesis |
abbreviation management |
“Std mean difference” – please write the full name: “standardized mean difference” |
|
10 |
Characteristics of included studies |
academic style |
“46 metabolites with accurate concentration”. Please do not start a phrase with a numeral. |
|
11 |
Qualitative synthesis |
academic style |
“2 metabolites showed a decrease in concentration”. Please do not start a phrase with a numeral. |
|
12 |
Characteristics of included studies |
reference management |
“All GA patients were diagnosed according to the clinical diagnostic guidelines.” Please indicate what guidelines and include their reference. |
|
13 |
Table 1 |
incomprehensibility |
The footnotes contain the phrase “The following articles and tables are the same”. What does that mean? If it is not important, please remove it. |
|
14 |
Table 1 |
abbreviation management |
The third column name is “Sample (GA/HL)”. “GA” is “gout”, but “HL” is explained in the footnote as “health”. Do you mean “healthy controls”? Please clarify and update the text accordingly. |
|
15 |
Table 1 |
abbreviation management |
Please explain in the footnote all the other abbreviations used in the table, for example NG, LC-MS, LG-GC etc. A table should be understandable alone from the text. |
|
16 |
Table 2 |
incomprehensibility |
Please do not use “/” to indicate the absence of metabolites, since this is misleading the reader. Just leave the cell blank. |
|
17 |
Figure 3 |
typing error |
Figure 3 (Forest plots) is wrongly numbered as Figure 2. |
|
18 |
Meta-analysis |
information redundancy |
The text of subchapter “3.5. Meta-analysis” is unreadable because of all the numbers it reports. These numbers are also found in figure 3 and table 3, so please clean the text. |
|
19 |
Discussion |
incomprehensibility |
“meta-inflammation” – what does this term mean? Please clarify in the text. |
|
20 |
Discussion |
incomprehensibility |
“hyper UA”. This is not an abbreviation and not an actual term. Please use “hyperuricemia”. |
|
21 |
Discussion |
scientific fact |
“pro-inflammatory cytokines, which are deposited in the kidney”. In fact, cytokines are not deposited, but they act on the kidney. |
|
22 |
Discussion |
abbreviation management |
“MSU crystals”. This abbreviation is not explained anywhere in the text. |
|
23 |
Discussion |
scientific fact |
“MSU crystals precipitate in the less perfused joints and then trigger the anti-inflammatory response of the immune system”. MSU crystals induce an inflammatory response, not an anti-inflammatory response. |
|
24 |
Discussion |
causality |
“The journal 'The Lancet' revealed that LB4 is a significant chemical mediator during acute GA attacks”. It is not Lancet who revealed this, but the authors of study reference 94 who did, so there is no point in naming the journal. |
|
25 |
Limitations of the study |
incomprehensibility |
“gray literature”. What is this? Please clarify or rephrase. |
Minor English revision by an expert is needed.
Author Response
请参阅附件。
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
