PLoS ONE GMO cassava paper retracted after data “could not be found”

via Wikimedia

The authors of a paper suggesting that cassava, a starchy vegetable that’s a major food source in much of the developing world, could one day be turned into a food staple “capable of supplying inexpensive, plant-based proteins for food, feed and industrial applications” have retracted it, following an institutional investigation that failed to find critical supporting data.

Here’s the notice for the PLoS ONE study, “Transgenic Biofortification of the Starchy Staple Cassava (Manihot esculenta) Generates a Novel Sink for Protein:” Continue reading PLoS ONE GMO cassava paper retracted after data “could not be found”

Eighteen years later, derm journal retracts overlapping article, citing editorial error

Eighteen years ago, the Journal of Dermatology published an article, “A sulfated proteoglycan as a novel ligand for CD44,” by a group of Japanese researchers (the journal is the official periodical of the Japanese Dermatological Society).

The JoD is now retracting that paper because it overlaps with another article by the same group, published a few months earlier in a different journal.

Here’s the notice (behind a pay wall — tsk, tsk, Wiley): Continue reading Eighteen years later, derm journal retracts overlapping article, citing editorial error

Senior author “fully confident” in paper that cites retracted Cell study and shares first author

Last week, we reported on an investigation at Glasgow’s Beatson Institute for Cancer Research into the circumstances of a retraction in Cell. That retraction wasn’t signed by the paper’s first author, Lynne Marshall, who had since moved on to another institution. (We have yet to hear back from Marshall about why she didn’t sign.)

As a commenter on that post pointed out, Marshall was the first author on an EMBO Journal paper that cited the now-retracted Cell paper several times. So we wanted to find out if there were any questions about the EMBO Journal paper, “Nutrient/TOR-dependent regulation of RNA polymerase III controls tissue and organismal growth in Drosophila,” published in February of this year. Savraj Grewal, Marshall’s PI at the University of Calgary until her postdoc ended earlier this summer, tells Retraction Watch: Continue reading Senior author “fully confident” in paper that cites retracted Cell study and shares first author

Unnamed “ethical” lapse leads to retraction of fructose paper

The Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition — the official publication of the Society for Free Radical Research Japan — has retracted a 2012 paper by a group of Turkish authors for some form of misconduct better left unstated. At least, that’s what the notice seems to suggest.

The paper, “Effects of coenzyme Q10 and α-lipoic acid supplementation in fructose fed rats,” was written by  Özdoğan Serhat,  Kaman Dilara, Bengü Şimşek Çobanoğlu, of Firat University and published in February of this year. According to the notice: Continue reading Unnamed “ethical” lapse leads to retraction of fructose paper

Fired Kalasalingam prof Gurunathan’s retraction count stands at eight

We’ve found another retraction for a paper bySangiliyandi Gurunathan, the former researcher at Kalasalingam University in India fired over multiple instances of data fabrication that also caused six Ph.D. students to get kicked out of their program.

The retraction was published In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology – Animal in October 2011 but we only saw it last month. It reads, in full: Continue reading Fired Kalasalingam prof Gurunathan’s retraction count stands at eight

Hip, hip, hooray! Hip journal retracts paper that had, well, everything wrong with it

Sometimes, you just gotta retract.

Here’s the retraction notice for “Outcome of short proximal femoral nail antirotation and dynamic hip screw for fixation of unstable trochanteric fractures. A randomised prospective comparative trial,” originally published in Hip International in 2011 by a group of researchers at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi: Continue reading Hip, hip, hooray! Hip journal retracts paper that had, well, everything wrong with it

Carrion, my wayward son: Vulture paper from Spanish researcher suspected of misconduct retracted

Back in March, we wrote about the doubts that had emerged in Spain about the work of a prominent local veterinary scientist, Jesús Ángel Lemus, suspected of being a data fabricator and inventor of co-authors (one in particular).

We hadn’t heard anything since about Lemus — who specialized in the effects of environmental toxins on birds — until now.

The Proceedings of the Royal Society B has retracted a 2009 paper by Lemus and a (legitimate) c0-author, Guillermo Blanco, of the National Museum of Natural History, and issued an expression of concern about another article on which both men appeared.

The retracted paper, “Cellular and humoral immunodepression in vultures feeding upon medicated livestock carrion,” has been cited seven times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge, and purported to find that: Continue reading Carrion, my wayward son: Vulture paper from Spanish researcher suspected of misconduct retracted

Two more retractions for Spanish leukemia researcher Román-Gómez

The journal Haematologica has retracted two papers by José Román-Gómez, both of which involve image manipulation, bringing his total to four.

Here’s the first notice, for a 2007 article titled “Epigenetic regulation of human cancer/testis antigen gene, HAGE, in chronic myeloid leukemia” that has been cited 20 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge: Continue reading Two more retractions for Spanish leukemia researcher Román-Gómez

ORI findings lead to two retractions — nearly 17 years later

Well, it only took 17 years.

As two retraction notices in the September 15 issue of the Journal of Immunology note:

On October 19, 1995, the Office of Research Integrity at the National Institutes of Health found that Weishu Y. Weiser, Ph.D., formerly of the Harvard Medical School at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, committed scientific misconduct by falsifying data in biomedical research supported by two Public Health Service grants. As a result, she agreed to submit a letter to The Journal of Immunology to retract this article. The offices of The Journal of Immunology have no record of receiving such a letter and hence the article is now being retracted.

The retractions, for “Recombinant Migration Inhibitory Factor Induces Nitric Oxide Synthase in Murine Macrophages” and “Human Recombinant Migration Inhibitory Factor Activates Human Macrophages to Kill Leishmania donovani,” both say the same thing.

“Recombinant Migration Inhibitory Factor Induces Nitric Oxide Synthase in Murine Macrophages” has been  cited 66 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge — 40 of those times since the ORI’s report was released. The numbers for the Leishmania paper are almost identical: Continue reading ORI findings lead to two retractions — nearly 17 years later

Fifth Alirio Melendez retraction offers clues about University of Glasgow misconduct findings

A new retraction — his fifth — in the Journal of Immunology for Alirio Melendez, formerly of the National University of Singapore, the University of Glasgow, and the University of Liverpool, sheds some light on the results of an investigation by one of the universities.

Last month, a Glasgow spokesperson told Nature that the university’s investigation had been completed in October 2011, but that it did not comment on individual cases. A spokesperson, according to the Times Higher Education:

…would say only that there was “no evidence that our current staff contributed, falsified or duplicated data to any publications co-authored with (Professor) Melendez”. He also confirmed that relevant journals would be contacted where retractions or corrections were deemed necessary.

The notice for one such necessary retraction, in the September 15 issue of the Journal of Immunology, gives a few details: Continue reading Fifth Alirio Melendez retraction offers clues about University of Glasgow misconduct findings