PONE-D-22-07282Clinical and growth outcomes after meconium-related ileus improved with Gastrografin enema in very low birth weight infants.PLOS ONE

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PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

Thank you for your submission titled “Clinical and growth outcomes after meconium-related ileus improved with Gastrografin enema in very low birth weight infants.” for publication in PLOA One. Kindly find attached comments by the two reviewers. Kindly modify your submission as suggested and resubmit for consideration to publish if you so desire. Thanks

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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

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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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

Reviewer #2: Yes

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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: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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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 authors reported the incidence, presentation, and likely associated prenatal risk factors with meconium-related ileus in very low birth weight (VLBW) newborns and investigated the clinical and the growth outcomes after gastrographin enema of 24 infants. All infants had successful evacuation without procedure-related complications. Despite the later and longer time to start enteral feeding in the study group compared to the control group; the time to reach full enteral feeding was statistically insignificant. The treatment group required longer respiratory support and had a higher incidence of moderate to severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia. The novelty of the study is reporting the Z-scores for weight and height for VLBW infants with meconium-related ileus at term corrected gestational age and 6 months corrected age which was statistically insignificant between the study group and the control group. Despite the small sample size of this study, it confirms the importance of early identification of meconium-related ileus, the efficacy of gastrographin enema treatment after trial of glycerin/saline enema, and that gastrographin enema is a safe option for these patients.

Reviewer #2: - Please concise the previous studies related to meconium related ileus if possible in the introduction section.

- We define the primary aim and secondary aims more clearly in the hypothesis section.

- Can we combine the table 1 and 2. Keep the maternal factors first followed by infant factors.

- Can we look into the factors why there is delay in start of the feeds after in gastrograffin group?

- I would advised to keep the hypothesis focused to the characteristics of MRI and immediate outcomes

- I would take the growth outcomes out of the hypothesis.

- Can we change the MRI to meconium associated ileus.

- The BPD effect is more related to gestation age rather than MRI. I would not include that in the conclusion.

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Mahmoud AM Ali

Reviewer #2: Yes: Parvesh Mohan Garg

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: Plos MRI review.docx

Clinical and growth outcomes after meconium-related ileus improved with Gastrografin enema in very low birth weight infants.

PONE-D-22-07282R1

Dear Dr. Kim,

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.

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Kind regards,

Prem Singh Shekhawat, MD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. 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

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. 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

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. 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: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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6. 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: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Thank you for addressing all the raised questions.

I would advise grammar check again before publication.I have no further comments and suggestions.

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7. 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

Reviewer #2: Yes: Parvesh Mohan garg

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