Posted by: Alison Abritis
Caught Our Notice: A paper mistakenly ID’d a patient. Its retraction notice did, too. (Oops!)
What Caught Our Attention: Last year, a journal retracted a paper about a child who developed a rare complication related to the inherited disorder Gaucher Disease, after realizing it had inadvertently identified the child. It wasn’t an immediately obvious mistake — the authors listed the drugs the patient was taking, and in the case of … Continue reading Caught Our Notice: A paper mistakenly ID’d a patient. Its retraction notice did, too. (Oops!)
Caught Our Notice: A team from Harvard, Cornell, Cambridge, HHMI, and UCSF can’t reproduce a paper’s findings
What Caught Our Attention: Any time there’s an issue with a paper co-authored by researchers from such high-profile institutions as Harvard, Cornell, and the University of Cambridge, we take notice. In this case, the group — which included Laurie Glimcher, then-dean at Cornell, now president of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute — chose to retract a … Continue reading Caught Our Notice: A team from Harvard, Cornell, Cambridge, HHMI, and UCSF can’t reproduce a paper’s findings
Posted by in caught our notice, cell biology, Cell Host & Microbe, cell press, elsevier, freely available, harvard, united states
Caught Our Notice: Hey peer reviewers — did you even read this paper??
What Caught Our Attention: A tree of life paper has been axed — and based on the information in the retraction notice, we’re wondering how it ever passed peer review. Specifically, the notice states a review of the paper found “concerns regarding the study design, methodology, and interpretation of the data.” Overall, the research “contradict(s) … Continue reading Caught Our Notice: Hey peer reviewers — did you even read this paper??
Caught Our Notice: Forged email for corresponding author dooms diabetes paper
Title: Naringin Alleviates Diabetic Kidney Disease through Inhibiting Oxidative Stress and Inflammatory Reaction What Caught Our Attention: PLOS ONE had a few reasons for retracting a 2015 paper about a treatment for kidney disease due to diabetes: For one, despite what the paper claims, the authors did not obtain ethical approval to conduct the reported … Continue reading Caught Our Notice: Forged email for corresponding author dooms diabetes paper
Caught Our Notice: Make love, not fake reviews — semen papers retracted
Titles: 1) Study of enzyme activities and protein content of beluga (Huso huso) semen before and after cryopreservation 2) Determination of some blood and seminal plasma ions in the beluga, Huso huso (Linnaeus, 1758) 3) Effects of multiple collections on spermatozoa quality of Persian sturgeon, Acipenser persicus: Motility, density and seminal plasma composition What Caught … Continue reading Caught Our Notice: Make love, not fake reviews — semen papers retracted
Caught Our Notice: Researcher who once threatened to sue Retraction Watch now up to 19 retractions
Title: Curcumin-Free Turmeric Exhibits Activity against Human HCT-116 Colon Tumor Xenograft: Comparison with Curcumin and Whole Turmeric What Caught Our Attention: We haven’t heard much about Bharat Aggarwal since his seven retractions in 2016 propelled him onto our leaderboard (and long after he threatened to sue Retraction Watch for our reporting). There was a whisper … Continue reading Caught Our Notice: Researcher who once threatened to sue Retraction Watch now up to 19 retractions
Caught Our Notice: 54 problems in three scientific images equals one expression of concern
Title: Effects of microRNA-223 on morphine analgesic tolerance by targeting NLRP3 in a rat model of neuropathic pain What Caught Our Attention: Usually, an Expression of Concern (EOC) offers general language about “concerns regarding the validity of the data” or “concerns regarding the integrity of the study.” Here the language is anything but, saying that … Continue reading Caught Our Notice: 54 problems in three scientific images equals one expression of concern
Caught Our Notice: Researcher who sued PubPeer commenter up to 21 retractions
Titles: 1) Notch-1 induces Epithelial-mesenchymal transition consistent with cancer stem cell phenotype in pancreatic cancer cells 2) Sensitization of squamous cell carcinoma to cisplatin induced killing by natural agents What Caught Our Attention: Regular readers will be familiar with the saga involving Fazlul Sarkar and PubPeer: In 2014, Sarkar sued anonymous commenters on the site, claiming … Continue reading Caught Our Notice: Researcher who sued PubPeer commenter up to 21 retractions
Caught Our Notice: Gorilla paper in the mist? Journal flags ape hormone paper
Title: Biologically validating the measurement of oxytocin in western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) urine and saliva using a commercial enzyme immunoassay What Caught Our Attention: Quite frankly, anything with “gorilla gorilla gorilla” in the title will catch our eye, even if it is just the scientific name of the western lowland gorilla. In this … Continue reading Caught Our Notice: Gorilla paper in the mist? Journal flags ape hormone paper
Caught Our Notice: Duplicates, errors prompt two retractions for same author
Titles: 1) Angiopoietin-Like 4 Confers Resistance to Hypoxia/Serum Deprivation-Induced Apoptosis through PI3K/Akt and ERK1/2 Signaling Pathways in Mesenchymal Stem Cells 2) Novel Mechanism of Inhibition of Dendritic Cells Maturation by Mesenchymal Stem Cells via Interleukin-10 and the JAK1/STAT3 Signaling Pathway What Caught Our Attention: In the span of 48 hours, PLOS ONE retracted two papers … Continue reading Caught Our Notice: Duplicates, errors prompt two retractions for same author
Posted by in caught our notice, cell biology, china retractions, erroneous data, image manipulation, PLOS One