Emory cardiology researcher up to six retractions

R. Wayne Alexander, a cardiology researcher at Emory whose lab has retracted four papers following university investigations, has notched retractions five and six. Here’s the notice from Circulation Research:

Danish commitee finds Klarlund Pedersen, Penkowa guilty of scientific dishonesty

Two researchers in Denmark are guilty of scientific dishonesty, the Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty (DCSD, Danish acronym UVVU) has concluded. In July, the DCSD said in a draft report that Bente Klarlund Pedersen had acted in a “scientifically dishonest” and “grossly negligent” manner. She — and many of her defenders — responded by saying … Continue reading Danish commitee finds Klarlund Pedersen, Penkowa guilty of scientific dishonesty

UCLA probe ends in retraction for neuroscience post-doc

The Journal of Neuroscience has retracted a 2011 paper by a group of UCLA researchers after the institution concluded that a post-doc at the institution had falsified data. The article, “Epigenetic Enhancement of BDNF Signaling Rescues Synaptic Plasticity in Aging,” came from the lab of Cui-Wei “Tracy” Xie, a behavioral scientist. It has been cited 42 … Continue reading UCLA probe ends in retraction for neuroscience post-doc

Journal takes different tacks on two cancer papers with image problems

Carcinogenesis has the publishing world’s version of a twin problem: two dysfunctional articles yet one gets retracted while the other merely suffers a correction. Is it nature — or nurture? Here are the details. One article, “Chemopreventive effect of dietary glutamine on colitis-associated colon tumorigenesis in mice,” came from a group in China. Published earlier … Continue reading Journal takes different tacks on two cancer papers with image problems

Herbicide-ovarian cancer study to be retracted

The authors of a 2008 study purporting to explain how the herbicide atrazine acts on cancer cells have asked the journal that published it to retract it for “inadvertent errors,” Retraction Watch has learned. The notice for “G-Protein-Coupled Receptor 30 and Estrogen Receptor-a are Involved in the Proliferative Effects Induced by Atrazine in Ovarian Cancer … Continue reading Herbicide-ovarian cancer study to be retracted

Shigeaki Kato notches five more retractions, including one in Nature

Shikeagi Kato, an endocrinology researcher who resigned from the University of Tokyo in March 2012 amid an investigation that concluded 43 of his papers should be retracted, has retracted five more papers. The newest is in this week’s Nature, for “GlcNAcylation of a histone methyltransferase in retinoic-acid-induced granulopoiesis,” a paper first published in 2009. Here’s … Continue reading Shigeaki Kato notches five more retractions, including one in Nature

Should scientific misconduct be handled by the police? It’s fraud week at Nature and Nature Medicine

It’s really hard to get papers retracted, police might be best-equipped to handle scientific misconduct investigations, and there’s finally software that will identify likely image manipulation. Those are three highlights from a number of pieces that have appeared in Nature and Nature Medicine in the past few weeks. Not surprisingly, there are common threads, so … Continue reading Should scientific misconduct be handled by the police? It’s fraud week at Nature and Nature Medicine

Retraction appears for Italian cancer specialist facing criminal investigation

The first retraction has appeared for Alfred Fusco, a leading cancer researcher in Italy under criminal investigation for fraud. Here’s the notice from the Journal of Clinical Investigation:

ALS paper retracted for figure problems

A group of researchers in Ireland has retracted their 2013 article on a possible new method for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — ALS, also commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease — after identifying errors in several images in the paper. The article, “Acidotoxicity and acid-sensing ion channels contribute to motoneuron degeneration,” was published online in Cell … Continue reading ALS paper retracted for figure problems