PONE-D-24-26828Time as a significant factor in the release of potassium from lithium heparin plasma and serum​PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Reuter,

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Abeer El Wakil, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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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: Partly

Reviewer #2: Partly

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

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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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: No

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: While this topic is interesting, unfortunately, the article is not clearly written and many parts read more like a review than a research paper. The main issues are summarized below:

1.The introduction section of the article fails to reflect the purpose of the study and does not follow a clear flow. Some paragraphs are written in a review-like manner.

2. Similarly, the materials and methods section includes many details that are not helpful to the reader and lacks a clear methodological flow.

3.The results are not easily understandable.

4.The discussion section falls short of highlighting and explaining the main findings of the study and comparing them with the existing literature. It is written more like a review.

Reviewer #2: The article titled "Time as a Significant Factor in the Release of Potassium from Lithium Heparin Plasma and Serum" addresses a crucial aspect of clinical practice in human medicine. However, there are several areas that require improvement:

1. Introduction: The research objective is not clearly stated, making it difficult to understand the study's purpose.

2. Materials and Methods: This section is challenging to follow and should be restructured to offer a clearer, more comprehensive overview of the study's procedures. I recommend adding subheadings to enhance clarity and meet the high standards expected in scientific research. Additionally, the sample size and experimental procedures need to be clearly outlined.

3. Statistical Analysis: The statistical methods are not well-explained. Although the use of the Student’s t-test is mentioned, it’s unclear whether assumptions of normality and equal variances were tested. Furthermore, while the results discuss a correlation between changes in potassium concentration and renal function, as well as blood parameters, there is no explanation of the statistical tests used for these analyses. Additionally, there is no comparison of potassium concentrations at different centrifugation times (30 min, 4 h, 6 h, 8 h), which would have been valuable.

4. Results: Some figures are unclear. Specifically, in subsection 3.5 (lines 194-200), there is no explanation of the correlation coefficient (r value) or its significance.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Time as a significant factor in the release of potassium from lithium heparin plasma and serum​

PONE-D-24-26828R1

Dear Dr. Reuter,

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,

Abeer El Wakil, PhD

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 #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 #2: Yes

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

Reviewer #2: Yes

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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 #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 #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 #2: Authors have revised their manuscript and follow the reviewer suggestion. Therefore the manuscript much better and clear. It is now acceptable for publication

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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 #2: No

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