Two detailed retraction notices correct the cardiology record

jaccTwo American College of Cardiology conference abstracts published earlier this year in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) have been retracted, one because the authors were actually measuring something other than what they reported, and the other because newer software invalidated the results.

Here’s the notice for “Worsening of Pre-Existing Valvulopathy With A New Obesity Drug Lorcaserin, A Selective 5-Hydroxytryptamine 2C Receptor Agonist: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials” by Hemang B. Panchal, Parthav Patel, Brijal Patel, Rakeshkumar Patel, and Henry Philip of East Tennessee State University: Continue reading Two detailed retraction notices correct the cardiology record

NEJM paper on sleep apnea retracted when original data can’t be found

nejmThe authors of a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine are retracting it, after being unable to find data supporting a table that required corrections.

Here’s the notice: Continue reading NEJM paper on sleep apnea retracted when original data can’t be found

Dispute over data rights forces retraction of obesity paper

bmcresnotesA group of researchers in South Africa has lost their 2012 article in BMC Research Notes after one of the author’s institutions evidently pulled rank and sought to claim the data as its own.

The article, “Association of body weight and physical activity with blood pressure in a rural population in the Dikgale village of Limpopo Province in South Africa,” appeared last February. Its first author was Seth Mkhonto, who listed two affiliations, the Human Sciences Research Council, in Pretoria, and the University of the Limpopo.

But the latter institution seems not to have given Mkhonto approval to publish the data — a rather strange state of affairs given the whole “publish or perish” ethos of academia.

According to the retraction notice: Continue reading Dispute over data rights forces retraction of obesity paper

Cardiology researcher faked data in his prizewinning PhD thesis — and NIH, AHA grants: ORI

nitin_aggarwal
Nitin Aggarwal

Nitin Aggarwal, formerly of the Medical College of Wisconsin, faked data in his PhD thesis, grant applications to the NIH and American Heart Association, and in two papers, according to new findings by the Office of Research Integrity.

(The case would have apparently first been published in the Federal Register on October 2, except for the government shutdown.)

Here were their findings: Continue reading Cardiology researcher faked data in his prizewinning PhD thesis — and NIH, AHA grants: ORI

Cardiac arrestees: Questions surface about Heart paper from Italian group that faces charges

heartcoverWe don’t usually cover “pretractions” (see #5 for why), but our friend Larry Husten over at Forbes has a story today about what appears to be a dead paper walking.

The article, in Heart, comes from a group of prominent researchers in Italy who have been arrested for possibly failing to adequately consent their patients, among other potential misdeeds.

According to Husten, the 2010 article in question, “A randomised trial of target-vessel versus multi-vessel revascularisation in ST-elevation myocardial infarction: major adverse cardiac events during long-term follow-up,” by Maria Grazia Modena (a past president of the Italian Society of Cardiology) and colleagues, may have been grossly misrepresented to the journal. Continue reading Cardiac arrestees: Questions surface about Heart paper from Italian group that faces charges

Lancet retracts Jikei Heart Study of valsartan following investigation

logo_lancetThe 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

Dubious stem cell researcher Moriguchi notches temporary withdrawal, notice of redundant publication

bmj case reportsHisashi 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

Cell line mixup causes retraction of paper on blood vessel damage

britjournnutWe’ve written before about retractions for cell lines that turn out not to be what researchers thought they were. In a few cases, that has involved contamination by HeLa cells, named for Henrietta Lacks. Today, we note the retraction of a paper whose authors, from Taiwan, thought they were using human muscle cells that line blood vessels when they were actually studying such cells from rat embryos.

Here’s the notice in the British Journal of Nutrition for “Molecular mechanism of green microalgae, Dunaliella salina, involved in attenuating balloon injury-induced neointimal formation”: Continue reading Cell line mixup causes retraction of paper on blood vessel damage

Cardiology journals retract five Matsubara studies

matsubaraThe 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

Author break prompts retraction of bone protein paper

ejpcoverThe European Journal of Pharmacology has — against its will, it would seem — retracted a 2012 paper by a group of Chinese heart researchers embroiled in a what appears to be a rather messy authorship dispute.

The article, “The effect of alendronate on the expression of osteopontin and osteoprotegerin in calcified aortic tissue of the rat,”  came from the Institute of Cardiovascular Disease at Tongji Hospital, part of of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

As the retraction notice states:

Continue reading Author break prompts retraction of bone protein paper