Search Results for: medical

New Dutch psychology scandal? Inquiry cites data manipulation, calls for retraction

The University of Amsterdam has called for the retraction of a 2011 paper by two psychology researchers after a school investigation concluded that the article contained bogus data, the Dutch press are reporting. The paper, “Sense Creative! The Impact of Global and Local Vision, Hearing, Touching, Tasting and Smelling on Creative and Analytic Thought,” was … Continue reading New Dutch psychology scandal? Inquiry cites data manipulation, calls for retraction

Wrong cell line leads to retraction of kidney cancer study

A group of authors in China has retracted their December 2013 paper in PLoS ONE after realizing that they’d been studying the wrong cells. The paper, “Up-Regulation of pVHL along with Down-Regulation of HIF-1α by NDRG2 Expression Attenuates Proliferation and Invasion in Renal Cancer Cells,” came from Lei Gao, of the Fourth Military Medical University, … Continue reading Wrong cell line leads to retraction of kidney cancer study

How common is scientific misconduct in Nigeria?

We’ve only covered one retraction from Nigeria. But as we’ve often noted, retraction rates don’t necessarily correlate with rates of problematic research, so the low number doesn’t really answer the question in this post’s title. Lucky for us, a group of authors have started publishing surveys of Nigerian scientists on the subject. In a new … Continue reading How common is scientific misconduct in Nigeria?

Fraud fells Alzheimer’s “made to order” neurons paper in Cell

In 2011, a group of researchers at Columbia University reported in Cell that they had been able to convert skin cells from patients with Alzheimer’s disease into functioning neurons — a finding that raised the exciting prospect of “made to order” brain cells for patients with the degenerative disease. As one researcher not involved with … Continue reading Fraud fells Alzheimer’s “made to order” neurons paper in Cell

Harvard-Brigham heart researcher under investigation earns Lancet Expression of Concern

On Tuesday, we broke the news of the retraction in Circulation of a paper on cardiac stem cells by a group of researchers being investigated by Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Today, The Lancet has issued an Expression of Concern about another paper led by Piero Anversa, the last author of … Continue reading Harvard-Brigham heart researcher under investigation earns Lancet Expression of Concern

Lack of citation prompts correction in Nature journal

It’s not unusual to hear authors bemoan the fact that a new paper doesn’t cite their work that set the stage for a scientific advance. “The journal limited me to [a seemingly abitrary number of] references,” authors sometimes shrug, with or without apology. This week, however, we found a case of that which seems to … Continue reading Lack of citation prompts correction in Nature journal

Harvard and the Brigham investigating leading heart group for “compromised” data

Circulation has retracted a 2012 study by a group of Harvard heart specialists over concerns of corrupt data, and the university is investigating. The group was led by Piero Anversa, a leading cardiologist, and Joseph Loscalzo — who will be familiar to readers of Circulation as the editor in chief of that journal. (Anversa’s also … Continue reading Harvard and the Brigham investigating leading heart group for “compromised” data