Category: clinical study retractions

“Knowledgeable informant” topples ovarian cancer paper

ijcepA group of cancer researchers in China has lost their 2013 paper in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology after someone tipped off the journal that the data were copied.

The article, “Importance of spondin 1 and cellular retinoic acid binding protein 1 in the clinical diagnosis of ovarian cancer,” came from Ting-Ting Jiao, Ye-Min Zhang, Lin Yao, Yuan Gao, Jian Sun, Dong-Fang Zou, Guo-Ping Wu, Dan Wang, Jun Ou, Ning Hui, who work at various Shanghai hospitals.

Here’s the retraction notice: Continue reading “Knowledgeable informant” topples ovarian cancer paper

Pharmaceutical journal retracts antibiotics paper with dodgy data, with an unclear notice

aapsAAPS PharmSciTech, a journal of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, has retracted a 2013 paper by a group from India. The reason appears to be manipulated data, although the wording of the notice leaves that open to interpretation.

The article, “Design and Formulation Technique of a Novel Drug Delivery System for Azithromycin and Its Anti-Bacterial Activity Against Staphylococcus aureus,” was written by a trio of researchers at the Center for Nanobiotechnology at VIT University in Vellore.

The article, published online in June, purported to find that: Continue reading Pharmaceutical journal retracts antibiotics paper with dodgy data, with an unclear notice

“Protracted and unresolved authors dispute” and “striking similarities” lead to two retractions

panafmedjrIt’s been a busy month for retractions at the Pan African Medical Journal (PAMJ) — dedicated to “Better health through knowledge sharing and information dissemination.”

The journal has retracted a 2013 article by a group from Bangalore, India, for plagiarism. And unlike the authors, the editors didn’t mince words.

The paper, “Detection of ESBL among ampc producing enterobacteriaceae using inhibitor-based method,” concluded that: Continue reading “Protracted and unresolved authors dispute” and “striking similarities” lead to two retractions

Immunology researcher with Expression of Concern has cluster of recent retractions, corrections

j heart lung transplantXia Jiahong, an immunology researcher at Huazhong Science and Technology University in Wuhan, China, who had a paper subject to a fascinating Expression of Concern earlier this month, turns out to have had a few other entries in his retraction and correction record recently.

Here’s a retraction in the January 2014 issue of the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, for “Combined treatment with chemokine receptor 5 blocker and cyclosporine induces prolonged graft survival in a mouse model of cardiac transplantation,” a paper first published in 2010: Continue reading Immunology researcher with Expression of Concern has cluster of recent retractions, corrections

IRB mishap costs MD Anderson team a paper on prostate cancer

bjuifeb14A group of researchers from MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston has lost a 2013 paper in BJU International for running afoul of their institution’s ethics review board, and of military reviewers, as well.

The paper, “Many young men with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screen-detected prostate cancers may be candidates for active surveillance,” looked at prostate cancer screening in men 55 and under — considered young for the older-man’s disease. According to the abstract: Continue reading IRB mishap costs MD Anderson team a paper on prostate cancer

Dispute with “unlisted author whose claim to authorship could not be solved” topples cancer paper

cancreschCancer Science, the journal of the Japanese Cancer Association, has retracted a 2012 article by a group of researchers because, well, it wasn’t clear who made up the group in the first place.

The article,  “Antitumor activity of human γδ T cells transducted with CD8 and with T-cell receptors of tumor-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes,” appeared online in July 2012 and was written, ostensibly, by Takeshi Hanagiri, Yoshiki Shigematsu, Koji Kuroda, Tetsuro Baba, Hironobu Shiota, Yoshinobu Ichiki, Yoshika Nagata, Manabu Yasuda, Tomoko So, Mitsuhiro Takenoyama and Fumihiro Tanaka from the Second Department of Surgery at the University of Occupational and Environmental Health, in Kitakyushu.

The abstract states: Continue reading Dispute with “unlisted author whose claim to authorship could not be solved” topples cancer paper

Psychiatric Times retracts essay on “satanic ritual abuse”

psych timesSome Retraction Watch readers may recall this episode, recounted in a recent op-ed by Lew Powell:

During the 1980s and early ’90s a wave of nonexistent “satanic ritual abuse” claims shut down scores of day cares such as Little Rascals, McMartin in California and Fells Acres in Massachusetts. In virtually every instance the charges lacked any basis in fact. Today no reputable psychologist or other social scientist will argue otherwise. The defendants were innocent victims of a “moral panic” that bore striking similarities to the Salem witch hunts 300 years earlier.

Psychologist Richard Noll found the charges troubling too, so he wrote a piece last year for Psychiatric Times because: Continue reading Psychiatric Times retracts essay on “satanic ritual abuse”

A first? Dental journal retracts three papers because authors didn’t pay publication charges

dmj_33_1Dental Materials Journal has retracted three papers by different groups of authors for “violation of our publishing policies and procedures” — which turns out to be a polite way of saying “they wouldn’t pay our fees.”

The articles are: Continue reading A first? Dental journal retracts three papers because authors didn’t pay publication charges

Author blames “young coworker” for duplication as paper is retracted

doveDoes anyone know how to say “thrown under the bus” in Italian?

A group of researchers in Italy has retracted a paper after it became clear that they had duplicated some of their previous work. Or, as one of the senior authors put it, as a “young coworker” had reused their material.

Here’s the notice from Biologics: Targets and Therapy: Continue reading Author blames “young coworker” for duplication as paper is retracted

Faked HIV vaccine research presentation retracted

retrovirologyIn December, we reported on the case of Dong-Pyou Han, who was found by the Office of Research Integrity to have spiked rabbit blood samples to make it look as though a vaccine for HIV was working.

At the time, Han’s former institution, Iowa State, told us that “one oral presentation and some abstracts will be removed from the web.”

One of those retractions has occurred, in Retrovirology, of “Eliciting broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV-1 that target gp41 MPER.” Here’s the notice: Continue reading Faked HIV vaccine research presentation retracted