Manuscript

We appreciate Dr Abdelmaksoud's thorough review of our manuscript (1) and would like to reply to the comments that were raised with this letter. First, it appears that the understanding is that the study describes the 'clinical response of common warts to a topical application of a fixed dose of 980 mg of the ICVT gel on the patients' lower back. It should be clarified that the main objective of this first-in-man study was evaluate the systemic exposure, safety and tolerability of ionic-contra-viral therapy (ICVT) (2)...

We study the framework for semi-parametric estimation and statistical inference for the sample average treatment-specific mean effects in observational settings where data are collected on a single network of connected units (e.g., in the presence of interference or spillover). Despite recent advances, many of the current statistical methods rely on estimation techniques that assume a particular parametric model for the outcome, even though some of the most important statistical assumptions required by these models are most likely violated in the observational network settings, often resulting in invalid and anti-conservative statistical inference...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Activated fibroblasts are critically implicated in repair and remodeling of the injured heart. This manuscript discusses recent progress in the cell biology of fibroblasts in the infarcted and remodeling myocardium, highlighting advances in understanding the origin, function and mechanisms of activation of these cells. RECENT FINDINGS: Following myocardial injury, fibroblasts undergo activation and myofibroblast transdifferentiation. Recently published studies have suggested that most activated myofibroblasts in the infarcted and pressure-overloaded hearts are derived from resident fibroblast populations...

The debate on whether the peer-review system is in crisis has been heated recently. A variety of alternative systems have been proposed to improve the system and make it sustainable. However, we lack sufficient evidence and data related to these issues. Here we used a previously developed agent-based model of the scientific publication and peer-review system calibrated with empirical data to compare the efficiency of five alternative peer-review systems with the conventional system. We modelled two systems of immediate publication, with and without online reviews (crowdsourcing), a system with only one round of reviews and revisions allowed (re-review opt-out) and two review-sharing systems in which rejected manuscripts are resubmitted along with their past reviews to any other journal (portable) or to only those of the same publisher but of lower impact factor (cascade)...

To gain insight into the duration and quality of the scientific peer review process, we analyzed data from 3500 review experiences submitted by authors to the SciRev.sc website. Aspects studied are duration of the first review round, total review duration, immediate rejection time, the number, quality, and difficulty of referee reports, the time it takes authors to revise and resubmit their manuscript, and overall quality of the experience. We find clear differences in these aspects between scientific fields, with Medicine, Public health, and Natural sciences showing the shortest durations and Mathematics and Computer sciences, Social sciences, Economics and Business, and Humanities the longest...

In this article we study to what extent the academic peer review process is influenced by social relations between the authors of a manuscript and the editor handling the manuscript. Taking the open access journal PlosOne as a case study, our analysis is based on a data set of more than 100,000 articles published between 2007 and 2015. Using available data on handling editor, submission and acceptance time of manuscripts, we study the question whether co-authorship relations between authors and the handling editor affect the manuscript handling time, i...

This paper investigates the fate of manuscripts that were rejected from JASSS-The Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, the flagship journal of social simulation. We tracked 456 manuscripts that were rejected from 1997 to 2011 and traced their subsequent publication as journal articles, conference papers or working papers. We compared the impact factor of the publishing journal and the citations of those manuscripts that were eventually published against the yearly impact factor of JASSS and the number of citations achieved by the JASSS mean and top cited articles...

The editors of Veterinary Sciences would like to express their sincere gratitude to the following reviewers for assessing manuscripts in 2016.[...].

Our manuscript highlights the viewpoints and reflections of the native Marshallese community health workers (CHWs) engaged in research with the local Marshallese community in Northwest Arkansas. In particular, this paper documents the vital role Marshallese CHWs play in the success of programs and research efforts. The negative health effects of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands has been passed down through many generations, along with unfavorable attitudes toward the U.S. government and researchers. However, the community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach used by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has allowed the native Marshallese CHWs to become advocates for the Marshallese community...

The analysis of biomarkers by ligand-binding assays offers significant challenges compared with the bioanalysis of small and large molecule drugs. The presence of endogenous analyte is a commonly cited issue. Also the sourcing and application of appropriate calibration or reference standards can present many issues. One of the main challenges is ensuring the continuity and validity of biomarker data when the source or lot number of calibration standard changes within or between studies. Several strategies exist in attempting to deal with this and standardize the biomarker data through the assay life or looking for ways to compare and normalize biomarker data...

PURPOSE: Transplantation patients have a series of associated risk factors that make appearance of incisional hernia (IH) more likely. A number of aspects of the closure of large defects remain controversial. In this manuscript, we present the repair of a large IH following liver transplantation through the technique of posterior components separation combined with the anterior, together with the intraoperative use of botulinum toxin A and the placement of mesh. As a secondary objective, we analyze the incidence of IH following liver transplantation in our service...

Despite polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) being one of the most common endocrine disorders affecting reproductive-aged women, the etiopathogenesis and mechanisms of this syndrome remain unclear. Considering the ethical limitations in human studies, animal models that reflect many features of PCOS are crucial resources to investigate this syndrome. We aimed to introduce the most suitable rat model of PCOS that closely mimics the endocrine, ovarian and metabolic disturbances of human PCOS phenotype, while maintaining normal reproductive system morphology in adulthood, in order to further more detailed investigations about PCOS...

Publishing, as everything else these days, is living in the fast lane. From writing to printing these words, our topmost original articles will have changed. Citations bode very well for Acta Physiologica, suggesting another stark increase in our impact factor after the large leap the impact factor took last year.(1) Yet, what may interest authors and readers even more are the prospects for our Acta-Physiologica-Award, which is probably the greatest prize ever to be presented in recognition of scientific publishing...

This manuscript describes the development of a sensitive, fast and easily-performed fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA) for detection of microcystins (MCs) and nodularin-R (NOD) in water. MCs and NOD, the most widespread cyanobacterial toxin are hepatotoxins and tumor promoters, and their acute exposure may result in severe health problems in animals and humans. The fluorescein-based tracers were synthesized, and for the first time preparative high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was employed for their purification...

Although exogenous contamination and unreliable reference values have limited the utility of scalp hair as a biomarker of chemical elements exposure, its use in toxicological, clinical, environmental and forensic investigations is growing and becoming more extensive. Therefore, hair elemental analysis is reviewed in the current manuscript which spans articles published in the last 10 years. It starts with a general discussion of history, morphology and possible techniques for elemental analysis, where inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is clearly highlighted since this technique is leading quantitative ultra-trace elemental analysis...

ICMJE is a non-profit working group of biomedical journal editors. In their annual meetings, ICMJE members work on and update the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE guidelines). In 1978, the first edition was published as Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (URMs). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Proportional-integral-derivative (PID) parameters play a vital role in the imaging process of an atomic force microscope (AFM). Traditional parameter tuning methods require a lot of manpower and it is difficult to set PID parameters in unattended working environments. In this manuscript, an intelligent tuning method of PID parameters based on iterative learning control is proposed to self-adjust PID parameters of the AFM according to the sample topography. This method gets enough information about the output signals of PID controller and tracking error, which will be used to calculate the proper PID parameters, by repeated line scanning until convergence before normal scanning to learn the topography...

AIMS: To describe the historical changes from antiquity until present in the presentation and treatment of male urinary incontinence. METHODS: A literature review of PubMed articles in English pertaining to male incontinence was performed. RESULTS: Male urinary incontinence was first mentioned in Egyptian manuscripts in 1500 B.C. In 1564, Ambroise Pare designed portable urinals for incontinent males. Wilhem Hildanus created the first condom catheter with pig bladder in the 1600s and was also credited with fashioning the first penile clamp...

BACKGROUND: There is widespread evidence that statistical methods play an important role in original research articles, especially in medical research. The evaluation of statistical methods and reporting in journals suffers from a lack of standardized methods for assessing the use of statistics. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate an instrument to assess the statistical intensity in research articles in a standardized way. METHODS: A checklist-type measure scale was developed by selecting and refining items from previous reports about the statistical contents of medical journal articles and from published guidelines for statistical reporting...

Over the past few years, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is found as a substantial application-layer protocol for the multimedia services. It is extensively used for managing, altering, terminating and distributing the multimedia sessions. Authentication plays a pivotal role in SIP environment. Currently, Lu et al. presented an authentication protocol for SIP and profess that newly proposed protocol is protected against all the familiar attacks. However, the detailed analysis describes that the Lu et al.'s protocol is exposed against server masquerading attack and user's masquerading attack...