Hold the broccoli, garlic, and wine: Three Dipak Das retractions appear in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry has retracted three papers by Dipak Das, the resveratrol researcher found to have committed more than 100 counts of fraud by the University of Connecticut.

Journal editor James Seiber writes:

The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, as all Journals published by the American Chemical Society, is committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity in the content of manuscripts submitted for publication. In adherence to this commitment, the following three previously published articles are being retracted:

Freshly Crushed Garlic is a Superior Cardioprotective Agent than Processed Garlic

Subhendu Mukherjee, Istvan Lekli, Shyamal Goswami, and Dipak K. Das

J. Agric. Food Chem.2009, 57 (15), 7137–7144

DOI: 10.1021/jf901301w

Does White Wine Qualify for French Paradox? Comparison of the Cardioprotective Effects of Red and White Wines and Their Constituents: Resveratrol, Tyrosol, and Hydroxytyrosol

Jocelyn I. Dudley, Istvan Lekli, Subhendu Mukherjee, Manika Das, Alberto A. A. Bertelli, and Dipak K. Das

J. Agric. Food Chem.2008, 56 (20), 9362–9373

DOI: 10.1021/jf801791d

Broccoli: A Unique Vegetable That Protects Mammalian Hearts through the Redox Cycling of the Thioredoxin Superfamily

Subhendu Mukherjee, Hiranmoy Gangopadhyay, and Dipak K. Das

J. Agric. Food Chem.2008, 56 (2), 609–617

DOI: 10.1021/jf0728146

These papers were the subject of a recently completed (January 2012) research misconduct investigation by the University of Connecticut Health Center. This investigation determined that images appearing in these papers contained instances of data fabrication and/or data falsification. This is a violation of the ethical standards of the American Chemical Society (Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research, 2011; Section B.1) and Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry policy.

This action is effective immediately.

The papers have been cited 5, 37, and 34 times, respectively, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge. The white vs. red wine study was the subject of a UConn press release.

The editor’s note is freely available, while the individual notices are behind paywalls. And as in other American Chemical Society journals, the original abstracts list an “Addition/Correction” rather than a retraction. The journal has made the original papers freely available, as this notice for one of the retractions says:

This paper was withdrawn at the request of the Editor-in-Chief due to violations of the Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research of the American Chemical Society. A Special Review Board formed by the University of Connecticut Health Center investigated allegations of research misconduct brought to its attention by the U.S. Office of Research Integrity (Case DIO 3995) and found three instances of data fabrication in Figures 6, 7, and 8 of the above paper. The Special Review Board voted unanimously that this represented research misconduct as defined in the University of Connecticut Health Center’s policy. The original paper was published ASAP on July 17, 2009, and withdrawn on March 14, 2012. The PDF content of the original paper is attached to the Addition and Correction as Supporting Information.

As we’ve reported, Antioxidants & Redox Signaling, where Das was a co-editor-in-chief, has already retracted two of Das’s papers. UConn notified a total of 11 journals about their findings.

Hat tip: Clare Francis

8 thoughts on “Hold the broccoli, garlic, and wine: Three Dipak Das retractions appear in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry”

  1. 2 more retractions: online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ars.2012.4520

    ANTIOXIDANTS & REDOX SIGNALING
    Volume 16, Number 7, 2012
    ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
    DOI: 10.1089/ars.2012.4520

    Retractions
    Abstract
    Due to the recent findings of an investigation led by the U.S. Office of Research Integrity, and as a direct result of
    the falsification and manipulation of data in the articles listed below, Antioxidants and Redox Signaling (ARS) is
    officially retracting the following published papers, authored by Dipak K. Das.

    1. Malik G, Gorbounov N, Das S, Gurusamy N, Otani H, Maulik N, Goswami S, Das DK. Ischemic preconditioning triggers nuclear
    translocation of thioredoxin and its interaction with Ref-1 potentiating a survival signal through the PI-3-kinase-Akt pathway.
    Antioxid Redox Signal 8:2101–2109, 2006.

    2. Muinck ED, Nagy N, Tirziu D, Murakami M, Gurusamy N, Goswami SK, Ghatpande S, Engelman RM, Simons M, Das DK.
    Protection against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury by the angiogenic Masterswitch protein PR 39 gene therapy: the roles
    of HIF1alpha stabilization and FGFR1 signaling. Antioxid Redox Signal 9:437–445, 2007.
    These actions reinforce the high standards to which ARS is committed.

  2. I’m doing a presentation on this crazy business of Das’s this Friday and came across more retractions I haven’t seen listed on Retraction Watch. I may have missed it, but here we go anyway. There are 2 in “Free Radical Biology”:

    1. RETRACTED: Redox regulation of resveratrol-mediated switching of death signal into survival signal
    Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Volume 44, Issue 1, 1 January 2008, Pages 82-90
    Samarjit Das, Nadeem Khan, Subhendu Mukherjee, Debasis Bagchi, Narasimman Gurusamy, Harold Swartz, Dipak K. Das.

    2. RETRACTED: Expression of the longevity proteins by both red and white wines and their cardioprotective components, resveratrol, tyrosol, and hydroxytyrosol
    Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Volume 46, Issue 5, 1 March 2009, Pages 573-578
    Subhendu Mukherjee, Istvan Lekli, Narasimman Gurusamy, Alberto A.A. Bertelli, Dipak K. Das

  3. I think I found one more retraction from this author which I’m not sure if it is covered by this site. This time in “Free Radical Research”. The retraction note appeared in:
    March 2012, Vol. 46, No. 3 , Pages 359-359 (doi:10.3109/10715762.2012.659892)

    Free Radical Research, October 2006; 40(10): 1066–1075

    (Received 30 March 2006)

    The Editor, Editorial Board and Publisher of Free Radical Research hereby retract the following article from publication in the journal:

    SAMARJIT DAS, CESAR G. FRAGA & DIPAK K. DAS. 2006. Cardioprotective effect of resveratrol via HO-1 expression involves p38 map kinase and PI-3-kinase signaling, but does not involve NFkB. Free Radical Research, October 2006; 40(10): 1066–1075.

    This article has been found to contain fabricated data during a research misconduct investigation by the University of Connecticut Health Center. Specifically, the institution has determined that images appearing in Figure 4 of that paper contain instances of data fabrication.

    As a consequence, and as per accepted best practice, the article is withdrawn from all print and electronic editions.

    Michael Davies (Editor in Chief)

    Joris Roulleau (Managing Editor, Informa Healthcare)

  4. Please let me know the status of these articles please to continue my research

    Molecules. 2012 ;17 (4):4755-69 22525440

    Health benefits of wine and alcohol from neuroprotection to heart health.

    Hannah R Vasanthi, Royapuram P Parameswari, Joel DeLeiris, Dipak K Das

    Front Biosci (Elite Ed). 2012 ;4 :1505-12 22201971

    Dynamic action of carotenoids in cardioprotection and maintenance of cardiac health.
    Mahesh Agarwal, Royapuram P Parameswari, Hannah R Vasanthi, Dipak K Das

    Curr Pharm Des. 2011 ;17 (21):2170-5 21774785

    Tocotrienols and its role in cardiovascular health–a lead for drug design.
    Hannah R Vasanthi, R P Parameswari, Dipak K Das

    Genes Nutr. 2012 Jan ;7 (1):19-28 21604025

    Multifaceted role of tocotrienols in cardioprotection supports their structure: function relation.
    Hannah R Vasanthi, R P Parameswari, Dipak K Das

    Mini Rev Med Chem. 2009 Jun ;9 (6):749-59 19519500 Cit:2

    Potential health benefits of broccoli- a chemico-biological overview.
    Hannah R Vasanthi, Subhendu Mukherjee, Dipak K Das

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