Whether it’s a one-off or a sign of things to come, Bharat Aggarwal
, the MD Anderson scientist at the center of a blogospheric storm—and an institutional investigation—over the validity of his data, has had a paper withdrawn by the journal Cancer Letters. Continue reading MD Anderson researcher Aggarwal loses paper in Cancer Letters
Category: clinical study retractions
Duplication forces retraction of paper by group whose work is used to justify prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing
A dozen years might seem like a publishing eternity, but the European Journal of Cancer
has decided to purge a duplicate paper from 2000. The article, on the utility of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test for detecting prostate cancer, comes from a group whose work in this area has been widely cited as evidence for the benefits of the highly controversial screening tool.
“Prostate cancer screening in the Tyrol, Austria: experience and results,” by a group of Austrian researchers, has a rather complicated past. It’s been cited 42 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge. Here’s the notice, which appeared in a recent issue of the journal: Continue reading Duplication forces retraction of paper by group whose work is used to justify prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing
Anesthesia journal editor says “if you blow us off, it will be retracted,” and sticks to his word
The Journal of Clinical Anesthesia has retracted a paper by a group of Israeli authors whose study may not have had appropriate ethical approval — or even collected the reported data.
The article, “Accidental venous and dural puncture during epidural analgesia in obese parturients (BMI > 40 kg/m2): three different body positions during insertion,” was published in 2010 by a team from Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, in Zerifin, one of the country’s largest hospitals and an affiliate of Tel Aviv University. Dural puncture is an infrequent but potentially serious complication of labor anesthesia, causing severe headaches and, in rare cases, death if untreated.
According to the retraction notice: Continue reading Anesthesia journal editor says “if you blow us off, it will be retracted,” and sticks to his word
Anil Potti and colleagues retract ninth paper, this one in JCO
Former Duke oncology researcher Anil Potti has retracted another paper, marking his ninth withdrawal. The notice in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) reads:
“An Integrated Genomic-Based Approach to Individualized Treatment of Patients With Advanced-Stage Ovarian Cancer” by Holly K. Dressman, Andrew Berchuck, Gina Chan, Jun Zhai, Andrea Bild, Robyn Sayer, Janiel Cragun, Jennifer Clarke, Regina S. Whitaker, LiHua Li, Jonathan Gray, Jeffrey Marks, Geoffrey S. Ginsburg, Anil Potti, Mike West, Joseph R. Nevins, and Johnathan M. Lancaster (J Clin Oncol 25:517-525, 2007)
The majority of the authors wish to retract this article because Continue reading Anil Potti and colleagues retract ninth paper, this one in JCO
Rabies paper retracted for plagiarism, and more from the Journal of Clinical Pathology
A cardinal (if oft-broken) rule of headline writing is to avoid the use of question marks. We think it’s particularly important to do so when the potential for ironic misadventure lurks.
To wit: The Journal of Clinical Pathology (JCP) has withdrawn/retracted a 2008 paper by a group of Indian authors (from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, at Deemed University) whose cliff-hanging title asks the question “Tracking the footprints of the rabies virus: are we any closer to decoding this elusive virus?” Continue reading Rabies paper retracted for plagiarism, and more from the Journal of Clinical Pathology
University of Perugia researcher faces trial for embezzlement, fraud following 13 retractions and Expressions of Concern
Stefano Fiorucci, a gastroenterology researcher at the University of Perugia in Italy, has been indicted for fraud and embezzlement, after a university investigation found that he had manipulated images in papers that he used to win about 2 million Euros in grant funding.
The case, which has so far resulted in four retractions and nine Expressions of Concern, has dragged on for several years. The trial is scheduled for July. It’s the first time that embezzlement charges have been brought against a scientist found to have committed fraud, according to reports in Umbria 24 and the Umbria Journal.
Fiorucci’s attorney, Stefano Bagianti, told Umbria 24 that there was Continue reading University of Perugia researcher faces trial for embezzlement, fraud following 13 retractions and Expressions of Concern
Errors force retraction of Blood paper on genetics of Hodgkin’s lymphoma
The authors of a paper published last September in Blood about alleged links between certain genes and Hodgkin’s lymphoma have retracted it, after realizing they’d made mistakes in their calculations.
The retraction notice for “Multiple HLA class I and II associations in classical Hodgkin lymphoma and EBV status defined subgroups,” dated January 20 and signed by all of the authors, clearly explains what went wrong, taking pains to note that there was no misconduct involved: Continue reading Errors force retraction of Blood paper on genetics of Hodgkin’s lymphoma
So how peripheral was Dipak Das’ resveratrol work, really?
In the wake of the massive allegations of fraud by resveratrol researcher Dipak Das, other researchers in the field are clearly trying to distance themselves from the University of Connecticut scientist. Nir Barzilai told us yesterday, for example, that despite Das seemingly’ impressive publication record, “Rome was not built on Dr. Das.”
Harvard’s David Sinclair went further, telling The New York Times that he didn’t know who Das was: Continue reading So how peripheral was Dipak Das’ resveratrol work, really?
Resveratrol fraud case update: Dipak Das loses editor’s chair, lawyer issues statement refuting all charges
Many Retraction Watch readers will now be familiar with the case of Dipak Das, the resveratrol researcher about whom the University of Connecticut issued a voluminous report yesterday — summary here — detailing 145 counts of data fabrication and falsification. This has been a fast-moving story, so we wanted to highlight a number of updates to our original post, and offer a few more.
First, we have confirmed with publisher Mary Ann Liebert this morning that Das has been relieved of his duties as co-editor in chief of Antioxidants & Redox Signaling. He had shared that post with Chandan Sen, and his name as been removed from the masthead of that journal. Here’s a statement from the publisher: Continue reading Resveratrol fraud case update: Dipak Das loses editor’s chair, lawyer issues statement refuting all charges
UConn resveratrol researcher Dipak Das fingered in sweeping misconduct case
The University of Connecticut, in what clearly seems like an attempt to get ahead of damaging news, has announced an “extensive” investigation into research misconduct involving one of its scientists, Dipak K. Das.
According to a press release, the university has notified 11 journals that published Das’ work about the alleged fraud. One area of interest for Das, a government-funded professor of surgery and director of the Cardiovascular Research Center, has been resveratrol, a substance in red wine that has allegedly been linked to improved cardiac health.
The university touted some of his early efforts in this field.
[Please also see our update posted Thursday.]
Here’s what the release has to say: Continue reading UConn resveratrol researcher Dipak Das fingered in sweeping misconduct case