Effects of pre-transport diet, transport duration and transport condition on immune cell subsets, haptoglobin, cortisol and bilirubin in young veal calves

Francesca Marcato; Henry van den Brand; Christine A. Jansen; Victor P. M. G. Rutten; Bas Kemp; Bas Engel; Maaike Wolthuis-Fillerup; Kees van Reenen

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0246959

Peer Review History

Original SubmissionOctober 12, 2020
7 Dec 2020 Decision Letter - Juan J Loor, Editor PONE-D-20-32019 Effects of pre-transport diet, transport duration and transport condition on immune cell subsets, haptoglobin, cortisol and bilirubin in young veal calves PLOS ONE Dear Dr. Marcato, Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process. Please submit your revised manuscript by Jan 18 2021 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file. Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript: A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'. A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'. An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'. If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter. If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript. Kind regards, Juan J Loor Academic Editor PLOS ONE Journal Requirements: When submitting your revision, we need you to address these additional requirements. 1. Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming. The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=wjVg/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_main_body.pdf and https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=ba62/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_title_authors_affiliations.pdf 2. In your Methods section, please state the volume of the blood samples collected for use in your study. 3. In your Methods section, please include a comment about the state of the animals following this research. Were they euthanized or housed for use in further research? If any animals were sacrificed by the authors, please include the method of euthanasia and describe any efforts that were undertaken to reduce animal suffering. [Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.] Reviewers' comments: Reviewer's Responses to Questions Comments to the Author 1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions? The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented. Reviewer #1: Yes ******** 2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? Reviewer #1: Yes ****** 3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available? The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified. Reviewer #1: Yes ****** 4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English? PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here. Reviewer #1: No ****** 5. Review Comments to the Author Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters) Reviewer #1: The aim of this study was to investigate effects of pre-transport diets, transport durations and transport conditions on immune cell subsets, haptoglobin, cortisol and bilirubin of young calves upon arrival at the veal farm. This reviewer considers that the manuscript is suitable for publication. Materials and methods were extensively described, specially the statistical analysis and results were properly discussed. I only have some grammar corrections as follows: Line 28: Please, separate the word fowcytometry Lines 85 – 89: please, compile these two sentences in one sentence. Line 146, 235, 268, 401, 412, 449, 486 and 591: please, change centre for center. Line 162: Americans spell it "titer" while the English spell it "titre". Line 194: Please change “permeabilized with a permeabilization” for “permeabilised with a permeabilisation”. Line 199: Same as above Table 4, 5 and 6 title: please, change centre for center. Line 463: Please, change “However, there are to our knowledge no studies” to “However, to our knowledge, there are no studies…” Line 576: Please, change hypothesized for hypothesized Definition and clarity of main images must be improved. ****** 6. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files. If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public. Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review?** For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy. Reviewer #1: No [NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.] While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246959.r001
Revision 1
22 Jan 2021 Author Response Dear Sir/Madam, Thank you for reserving time to judge the paper and for your feedback. Please find below the list of changes we have made in the manuscript according to your comments. Our answers are indicated as Authors. These answers can also be found in the attached document "Response to Reviewers". Journal requirements 1. Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming. The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=wjVg/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_main_body.pdf and https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=ba62/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_title_authors_affiliations.pdf Authors: We have checked the manuscript and it meets PLOS ONE's style requirements. We have made few corrections in L 277- 279 in the new manuscript. 2. In your Methods section, please state the volume of the blood samples collected for use in your study. Authors: We have added the volume of the blood samples collected during the experiment (see L148 in the new manuscript). 3. In your Methods section, please include a comment about the state of the animals following this research. Were they euthanized or housed for use in further research? If any animals were sacrificed by the authors, please include the method of euthanasia and describe any efforts that were undertaken to reduce animal suffering. Authors: The animals included in the current research followed the normal production cycle of the veal industry, at the end of which calves were slaughtered and their meat was used for human consumption (see L136-138 in the new manuscript). Reviewer 1 1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions? The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented. Reviewer #1: Yes 2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? Reviewer #1: Yes 3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available? The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified. Reviewer #1: Yes Authors: We would like to provide a new version of the Data Availability Statement (please check the cover letter). 4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English? PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here. Reviewer #1: No Authors: We have checked the manuscript and made all corrections raised by the reviewer. 5. Review Comments to the Author Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters) Reviewer #1: The aim of this study was to investigate effects of pre-transport diets, transport durations and transport conditions on immune cell subsets, haptoglobin, cortisol and bilirubin of young calves upon arrival at the veal farm. This reviewer considers that the manuscript is suitable for publication. Materials and methods were extensively described, specially the statistical analysis and results were properly discussed. I only have some grammar corrections as follows: Line 28: Please, separate the word fowcytometry Authors: we have corrected the word in the manuscript (see L28 in the new manuscript). Lines 85 – 89: please, compile these two sentences in one sentence. Authors: we have combined the two sentences into one (see L 85-88 in the new manuscript). Line 146, 235, 268, 401, 412, 449, 486 and 591: please, change centre for center. Authors: we have corrected the word in the manuscript (see L146, 235, 268, 401, 412, 449, 486 and 591 in the new manuscript). Line 162: Americans spell it "titer" while the English spell it "titre". Authors: we have corrected the word in the manuscript (see L162 in the new manuscript). Line 194: Please change “permeabilized with a permeabilization” for “permeabilised with a permeabilisation”. Authors: we have corrected the words in the manuscript (see L194 in the new manuscript). Line 199: Same as above Authors: we have corrected the word in the manuscript (see L199 in the new manuscript). Table 4, 5 and 6 title: please, change centre for center. Authors: we have corrected the word in tables 4, 5, 6 (see L347, 351 and 380 in the new manuscript). Line 463: Please, change “However, there are to our knowledge no studies” to “However, to our knowledge, there are no studies…” Authors: we have corrected the sentence (see L463-464 in the new manuscript). Line 576: Please, change hypothesized for hypothesized Authors: we have corrected the word (see L576 in the new manuscript). Definition and clarity of main images must be improved. Authors: we have improved the quality, definition and clarity of the figures (please see new attached files). Attachments Attachment Submitted filename: Response to reviewers.docx https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246959.r002
29 Jan 2021 Decision Letter - Juan J Loor, Editor Effects of pre-transport diet, transport duration and transport condition on immune cell subsets, haptoglobin, cortisol and bilirubin in young veal calves PONE-D-20-32019R1 Dear Dr. Marcato, We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements. Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication. An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org. If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org. Kind regards, Juan J Loor Academic Editor PLOS ONE Additional Editor Comments (optional): Reviewers' comments: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246959.r003
Formally Accepted
2 Feb 2021 Acceptance Letter - Juan J Loor, Editor PONE-D-20-32019R1 Effects of pre-transport diet, transport duration and transport condition on immune cell subsets, haptoglobin, cortisol and bilirubin in young veal calves Dear Dr. Marcato: I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department. If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact onepress@plos.org. If we can help with anything else, please email us at plosone@plos.org. Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access. Kind regards, PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff on behalf of Dr. Juan J Loor Academic Editor PLOS ONE https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246959.r004

Open letter on the publication of peer review reports

PLOS recognizes the benefits of transparency in the peer review process. Therefore, we enable the publication of all of the content of peer review and author responses alongside final, published articles. Reviewers remain anonymous, unless they choose to reveal their names.

We encourage other journals to join us in this initiative. We hope that our action inspires the community, including researchers, research funders, and research institutions, to recognize the benefits of published peer review reports for all parts of the research system.

Learn more at ASAPbio .