Amy Case

United States Solvitur Consulting

Journal

Commented on NUTRITION METABOLISM AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES
It is good to see that this journal "only accepts Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses registered on PROSPERO."

Article

Commented on Assessment of U.S. health care personnel (HCP) attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination in a large university health care system
Only 52% of those who had provided care for COVID-19 patients indicated they would take the vaccine if offered?? While this study was done before vaccinations were actually available, that number is still stunningly high.

Funding

Commented on Community Investment Funds Grants
This fund supports some uniquely direct approaches to alleviating short-term but critical, practical needs such as diapers and car repairs.

Article

Commented on Novel use of Kombucha consortium to reduce Escherichia coli in dairy shed effluent
This sounds like an interesting study. I am curious to see more about the methods they used in applying the SCOBY to the effluent.

Article

Commented on Health effects and probiotic and prebiotic potential of Kombucha: A bibliometric and systematic review
This abstract leaves me somewhat confused about how the "systematic and bibliometric review" was done, as well as what their aims and conclusions were. It begins with pointing out the large variability among different brands and batches of kombucha, but concludes that their review highlights opportunities to "explore the largely unchecked relations between kombucha and its claimed health benefits." Did they review articles that looked at the variability of the beverages, or its health effects? Or somehow, both?

Article

Commented on Birth defect epidemiology since ending one-child policy in Zhejiang province, China, from 2012-2017
I am surprised that this journal allows such grammar in a published abstract: ". . . birth outcomes of anomalies did not worse as the stillbirth proportion reduced."

Article

Commented on Efficacy of berberine in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
Although a small study group was used, this is an excellent start to determining this supplement's efficacy in treating diabetes and high triglycerides.

Article

Commented on Berberine in the treatment of diabetes mellitus: a review
A succinct and well-written abstract, but I think the concluding claim has not been established, at least in humans: "Its interference in intestinal flora reduces levels of monosaccharides and suppresses diabetes mellitus complications development."

Article

Commented on Oxyberberine, an absorbed metabolite of berberine, possess superior hypoglycemic effect via regulating the PI3K/Akt and Nrf2 signaling pathways
This is a nice summary, but the last sentence does not make sense: "OBB possessed favorable hypoglycemic and pancreatic β-cells protective effects, which may stand a huge potential to be further developed into a promising anti-diabetes candidate."

Article

Commented on Effects of Berberine on the Gastrointestinal Microbiota
Very well written narrative review of this supplement and its potential mechanisms.

Article

Commented on Chinese Herbal Medicine Treatment Improves the Overall Survival Rate of Individuals with Hypertension among Type 2 Diabetes Patients and Modulates In Vitro Smooth Muscle Cell Contractility
An excellent article, and a fascinating approach that would be impossible in the USA, where herbal remedies are not covered by insurance.

Article

Commented on Can anticoagulants improve the survival rate for patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension? A systematic review and meta-analysis
It is somewhat alarming that the authors were unable to identify even one RCT for this topic--now wonder it is controversial!

Article

Commented on SIX-YEAR SURVIVAL RATE OF PATIENTS WITH ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION AND WITHOUT CONCOMITANT CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES
This seems to be an important study, but the abstract has several grammar errors and the repeated dashes (quite unnecessary) make it difficult to follow (e.g. "Diseases of the respiratory organs were registered more frequently among deceased patients in 25.3% and 16.5% consequently (p = 0.04),". I have to wonder why the journal does not require standard presentation of numbers. Furthermore, the "Design and method" section only gives information about subjects health conditions, and nothing about analytical approach, etc.

Journal

Commented on CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL HYPERTENSION
Sadly, this journal does not require abstracts to be free of misspellings and grammar errors.

Article

Commented on Survival rate in hypertensive patients with COVID-19
This abstract really could have used some proofreading: "Of all 1239 positive cases, 159 (12.83%) had known with hypertension ant this group was significantly older . . ."