Research Issues
The challenge of studying paradoxical lucidity in dementia
July 10th, 2019 It happens unexpectedly: a person long thought lost to the ravages of dementia, unable to recall the events of their lives or even recognise those closest to them, will suddenly wake up and exhibit surprisingly normal behaviour, only to pass away...
US crackdown on foetal tissue use shuts some research
June 12th, 2019 The Trump crackdown on foetal tissue research, with new hurdles for government-funded scientists around the country who call the special cells vital for fighting a range of health threats. Stat News reports that already, the administration has shut...
NHS assesses studies on mortality risk of ultra-processed foods
June 5th, 2019 Two recent widely-publicised international studies, which found people who ate the most ‘ultra-processed’ food were more likely to have a heart attack or stroke, or to die sooner, are assessed by the UK's NHS in its Behind the Headlines...
Top medical journals are failing — and both they and authors are full of excuses
February 27th, 2019 It’s a well-known problem with clinical trials: Researchers start out saying they will look for a particular outcome – heart attacks, for example – but then report something else when they publish their results. That practice can make a drug...
Side-effects of health interventions not properly reported in 35% of studies
February 20th, 2019 The potential side-effects of health interventions — either a drug reaction or an effect of a procedure, such as surgery — were not fully reported in more than a third of published reviews, a University of York study of 187 sytematic reviews...
Japanese stem cell research 'dangerous and unwise'
January 30th, 2019 There is real hope for treating spinal cord injury with stem cell-based therapies in the future. However, writes Paul Knoepfler on the Knoepfler Lab Stem Cell blog, unfortunately regulators in Japan have taken a major misstep in approving a...
Leading research centre bars execs from serving on corporate boards
January 16th, 2019 Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, one of the world’s leading research institutions, has announced that it would bar its top executives from serving on corporate boards of drug and health care companies that, in some cases, had paid them...
Leading cancer expert resigns as journal editor after disclosure issues
January 9th, 2019 Dr José Baselga, the former chief medical officer of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, resigned under pressure as one of the editors-in-chief of the American Association for Cancer Research's journal Cancer Discovery, after he failed to...
UCT professor warns about Africa's science brain drain
December 12th, 2018 Not only are many science graduates in Africa unemployed but the situation is getting worse, fuelling a brain drain to Europe, the UK and North America, warned Professor Kelly Chibale of the University of Cape Town at a ceremony awarding him...
Mischievous responders misleading LGBQ researchers
December 5th, 2018 Many research studies have reported on the elevated health risk and deviance of youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or questioning (LGBQ). But a study using US national data suggests that many of those estimates may be overstated and that...
Doubts and outrage over genetically edited babies claims
November 28th, 2018 Significant doubts have been expressed, as well as international outrage, over unverified claims from a Chinese scientist that he has helped make the world's first genetically edited babies, reports BBC News. Professor He Jiankui says the twin...
Cochrane Collaboration in turmoil over expulsion of board member
September 19th, 2018 A the expulsion of a board member of the Cochrane Collaboration, one of medicine's most respected bodies for its reviews of clinical research, has raised questions on the limits of free speech, when it is perceived to damage an organisation's...
Top breast cancer researcher failed to disclose pharma payments
September 12th, 2018 One of the world’s top breast cancer doctors failed to disclose millions of dollars in payments from drug and health care companies in recent years, omitting his financial ties from dozens of research articles in prestigious publications like...
Protecting pregnant women in clinical trials is a delicate balancing act
September 12th, 2018 Treatment decisions during pregnancy are a balancing act that should be informed by available data and expert input, notes an article in The New England Journal of Medicine. Shifting the default from exclusion of pregnant women to a careful...Financial disclosure lacking in publication of clinical trials
A substantial proportion of pharmaceutical industry payments to authors of oncology clinical trials published in major scientific journals are not disclosed, research shows. The publications focused on clinical trials that tested new cancer...