Research Issues
American Heart Association retracts e-cigarette study
March 18th, 2020 In a rare decision, the Journal of the American Heart Association announced the retraction of a widely publicised study claiming vaping increased the likelihood of heart attack. The study by Dr Stanton Glantz, professor of medicine and director...
WHO's malaria vaccine study a 'serious breach of ethical standards'
March 4th, 2020 A large-scale malaria vaccine study led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has been criticised by a leading bioethicist for committing a “serious breach” of international ethical standards", finds a special BMJ report. The cluster...
Researchers question new guidelines on aspirin in primary prevention
February 26th, 2020 There has been considerable confusion from three large-scale randomised trials of aspirin in high risk primary prevention subjects, leaving doctors understandably confused about whether or not to prescribe aspirin for primary prevention of heart...
Chinese research that coronavirus passed from pangolins questioned
February 12th, 2020 Independent scientists have questioned research that suggested that the outbreak of coronavirus disease spreading from China might have passed from bats to humans through the illegal traffic of pangolins, reports Reuters Health. South China...
Call for top UK geneticist to resign over a decade of research fraud
February 5th, 2020 A row over scientific fraud at the highest level of British academia has led to calls for one of the country’s leading geneticists and highest-paid university chiefs to leave his posts, reports The Guardian . David Latchman, professor of...
Curb chronic inflammation to reduce risk of chronic disease mortality
December 11th, 2019 The group of international experts, which also includes scientists from the National Institutes of Health, Stanford University, Harvard Medical School, Columbia University Medical Centre and University College London, point to inflammation-related...
South Africa shines in global overview of HIV/Aids research excellence
November 27th, 2019 A global analysis of four years of HIV/Aids research identifies the US as research leader in the field, followed by the UK and South Africa, writes MedicalBrief. The University of Cape Town is named as the most influential research institution in...
Chinese organ donation statistics may have been falsified
November 20th, 2019 The Chinese government may have been systematically falsifying its organ donation numbers, raising renewed concerns over the use of executed prisoners and other forced donors for transplants, an Australian study found. The Guardian reports that...
UK scientists damn EU clinical trials directive for 'killing academic research'
October 23rd, 2019 A UK report has criticised the EU’s Clinical Trial Directive saying it has “killed academic research” by making trials so “horrendously expensive” that only the largest pharmaceutical companies can afford to get new...
African resistance to genetically modified mosquitoes
October 16th, 2019 A not-for-profit research group has developed a mosquito that can kill off its own species by spreading a faulty gene. In Burkina Faso, the move towards genetic modification has unleashed unprecedented opposition. At the start of the rainy...Turkish academic jailed over study linking toxic pollution and cancer
A Turkish food safety engineer has been jailed after releasing to a newspaper details of a study that he had done for the health ministry, which linked toxic pollution to a high incidence of cancer in the west of the country. Science Mag...
Study investigates 'spin' in psychology and psychiatry journals
August 14th, 2019 More than half of papers in published over five years in six leading psychiatry and psychology journals — including JAMA Psychiatry, the American Journal of Psychiatry and the British Journal of Psychiatry — showed evidence of 'spin' to...
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...