A trio of skin specialists in Egypt has lost a 2009 paper in the Indian Journal of Dermatology for duplication. And the journal wasn’t happy about it.
The article, “Serum mucosa-associated epithelial chemokine in atopic dermatitis : A specific marker for severity,” came from a group at Ain Shams University in Cairo. According to the abstract: Continue reading Rash decision? Duplicate submission of dermatitis paper leads to publishing ban
A Korean stem cell journal has retracted a paper on a controversial Italian treatment that involves harvesting stem cells from bone marrow and injecting them back into the patient.
“Stamina therapy” has been pitched as a treatment for everything from Parkinson’s disease to coma, based on a U.S. patent application filed in 2010. The Italian government pledged about $3.9 million in 2013 to support a clinical trial for stamina therapy. More than 100 people signed up for the trials, with a wide range of neurological ailments; half were children.
However, allegations of fraud led to a criminal investigation into the Stamina Foundation’s leader, psychologist David Vannoni, as well as 17 other members of the organization. Continue reading Paper on controversial stem cell “stamina therapy” retracted
The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) has sanctioned Kaushik Deb, a former post-doc at the University of Missouri-Columbia, who “engaged in misconduct in science by intentionally, knowingly, and recklessly” fabricating data in papers in both Science and Nature (which ultimately rejected his manuscript).
Deb was big news in 2007, when Science retracted his paper. Articles about the case appeared in many outlets, including The Scientist and USA Today. At the time, Missouri’s research integrity officer, Rob Hall, told the Columbia Tribune that: Continue reading Faking data earns stem cell researcher a ban on federal funding
Alfredo Fusco, a researcher in Italy under criminal investigation, now has a seventh retraction for manipulated images.
Here’s the notice for “Retraction: Identification of new high mobility group A1 associated proteins,” to which not all of the authors agreed: Continue reading Italian researcher facing criminal charges notches seventh retraction
A paper in the Journal of Clinical Investigation has been retracted for manipulated images, including duplicated bands in a Western blot.
Take a look at figure one to the right and see if you can spot all the doubles.
Click here for a more zoomable image.
Here’s the notice: Continue reading JCI lymphoma paper retracted after authors can’t find underlying data to explain duplicated bands
A 2011 paper in the Journal of Clinical Investigation whose PubPeer entry we highlighted in September has been retracted.
Here’s the notice for “Denitrosylation of HDAC2 by targeting Nrf2 restores glucocorticosteroid sensitivity in macrophages from COPD patients,” a 2011 paper by researchers at Johns Hopkins and Imperial College: Continue reading COPD paper in JCI retracted following PubPeer critiques
Three doctors at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh are losing a paper based on phone calls to the Drug Information Unit, a phone line that patients could call to learn more about the drugs they were considering taking.
The catch: It was all made up.
According to an investigation by the Hindustan Times, the phone was disconnected between 2012 and May 2014, though ‘data’ for the paper was allegedly collected in 2013. We imagine that would make it difficult to answer the 56 calls the paper claims a junior resident took over the course of a month.
The HT reports that the Journal of Clinical & Diagnostic Research paper, “Drug Information Unit as an Effective Tool for Promoting Rational Drug Use,” is being retracted, and that the dean has asked for an official investigation. We’ve reached out to the journal, and will update with any new information.
This isn’t the worst of recent allegations against hospital staff at PGIMER. Orthopedics professor Vishal Kumar was accused of being in bed with pharmaceutical companies and harassing several employees. From the HT: Continue reading Hospital in India wracked by allegations of scientific misconduct, poor sanitation
The Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology has retracted a 2011 paper on depersonalization disorder by a pair of authors in Azerbaijan who got a bit too familiar with their source material without proper attribution. And the journal has offered its readers a handy — if depressingly obvious — admonition about publication ethics.
The article, “Lamotrigine in the immediate treatment of outpatients with depersonalization disorder without psychiatric comorbidity. Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study,” by researchers at the Central Mental Clinic for Outpatients of Baku City, purported to find that: Continue reading Psych paper falls afoul of journal’s plagiarism policy (hint: don’t plagiarize)
Here’s another installment of PubPeer Selections: Continue reading PubPeer Selections: More questions about stem cells, price-shopping access charges
Two Oxford journals have now put out three more retractions for ob-gyn and former University of Florida professor Nasser Chegini, who has been under ORI investigation since at least 2012. That makes a total of five retractions, by our count.
Here is the notice for “The expression profile of micro-RNA in endometrium and endometriosis and the influence of ovarian steroids on their expression” in Molecular Human Reproduction: Continue reading Three more retractions appear for Florida ob-gyn under investigation