A retraction in a chemistry journal has us scratching our heads. And we’re apparently not alone — the authors are scratching theirs, too.
Here’s the notice for “Achievement of 1.4 ng detection limit of cesium with TXRF spectrometer by changing the X-ray detector and reducing noise:” Continue reading Chemistry article retracted “due to the way data was presented”
We have a fourth retraction in the Journal of Biochemistry for Naohito Aoki, a Japanese researcher and former postdoc in a German lab, whose images have been called into question but whose retraction notices were scant. In this case, however, the journal, while not exactly overbrimming with information about the article, at least gives us some sense of what’s going on.
Aoki worked in the lab of Axel Ullrich, of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, and appeared on two retracted articles in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) with his mentor, along with a third with a co-author from Japan, Tsukasa Matsuda. Although those notices don’t say anything about the reason for the retractions — this was before the JBC started providing such information — Ulrich told us that Aoki had been manipulating images. Continue reading Aoki notches fourth retraction for image problems
The Lancet has retracted a study of Novartis’ blood pressure drug valsartan (Diovan) that has been subject to an investigation following the retraction of a related study earlier this year.
Continue reading Lancet retracts Jikei Heart Study of valsartan following investigation
Hisashi Moriguchi, who retracted two papers last year because he and his colleagues could not “guarantee the accuracy of the results and conclusions,” has now had another paper withdrawn — at least temporarily.
A notice on the paper, “Autologous human cardiac stem cells transplantation for the treatment of ischaemic cardiomyopathy: first study of human-induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell-derived cardiomyocytes transplantation,” which appeared in BMJ Case Reports, now reads: Continue reading Dubious stem cell researcher Moriguchi notches temporary withdrawal, notice of redundant publication
The University of Tokyo panel investigating the work of a former professor there, Shigeaki Kato, has recommended the retraction of 43 of his group’s articles, according to a report in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
If the papers are indeed retracted, Kato, who already has at least five articles subject to an expression of concern and five retractions, would be fifth on the list of most retractions for a single author, by our unofficial tally. His fellow countryman, Yoshitaka Fujii, continues to hold the lead at what appears to be 183, followed by Joachim Boldt (~89), John Darsee (~83), and Diederik Stapel, at 53. [See note at end.]
The Asahi report quotes Kato — who has received some $20 million in government funding for his work — as acknowledging problems with the data in his studies: Continue reading Tokyo panel calls for retraction of 43 Kato papers
Shigeaki Kato, an endocrinology researcher who resigned last year from the University of Tokyo and has retracted five papers, now has five more papers subject to an expression of concern.
Here’s the notice in Molecular and Cellular Biology: Continue reading Five Kato papers subject to an expression of concern, plus, a statute of limitations on correcting the literature?
The American Heart Association (AHA) is retracting five studies by Hiroaki Matsubara, a former Kyoto Prefectural University cardiology researcher, that it had subjected to an expression of concern last year.
Here’s the notice: Continue reading Cardiology journals retract five Matsubara studies
The journal Neuro-Oncology has retracted a 2011 paper by a group of researchers in Japan who had purported to find a genetic mechanism for how fluorescence can be used to diagnose certain brain tumors.
The paper, “Enhanced expression of coproporphyrinogen oxidase in malignant brain tumors: CPOX expression and 5-ALA–induced fluorescence,” reported measurements using quantitative real-time (qRT)-PCR.
As the retraction notice explains: Continue reading “Technical but fundamental errors” lead to retraction of brain tumor paper
Two different teams of physicists have retracted papers from Physical Review B after realizing that a sample used in the paper published first — and which formed the basis of the second paper — was mislabeled.
Here’s the notice for the first paper, “s-wave superconductivity in barium-doped phenanthrene as revealed by specific-heat measurements,” by Jianjun Ying of the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, and colleagues: Continue reading Mislabeled sample leads to a chain reaction of physics retractions
A group of cancer researchers in Japan has retracted their 2011 paper in the journal Medicine. The reason: They seem to have had some trouble — well, perhaps a bit more than some — with their patient population.
The article, titled “Usefulness of systemic CT scanning in the detection of malignant lymphadenopathy,” came from the lab of Norio Komatsu, a hematologist at Juntendo University School of Medicine.
The paper’s no longer online, but we did find an abstract floating around: Continue reading Authors retract CT scan-cancer paper, citing faulty data