public function getStats($request){

    // some custom input filtering

    $params = array('uid' => $this->uid);
    $reply = $db->get($query,$params);

    return function() use (&$reply){

        //localization of some strings

        return $reply;
    };
}

public function getStats($request){

    // some custom input filtering

    $params = array('uid' => $this->uid);
    $reply = $db->get($query,$params);

    $myfunction = function() use ($reply){

        //localization of some strings

        return $reply;
    };

    return $myfunction();
}

<?php
$greet = function($name)
{
    printf("Hello %srn", $name);
};

$greet('World');
$greet('PHP');
?>