Friday, December 6, 2013

GM Maize Study Retracted

The journal Food and Chemical Toxicology has retracted a much-criticized paper that links a strain of genetically modified (GM) maize with diseases in rats. Elsevier, the journal's publisher, said in a 28 November statement that "the results presented (while not incorrect) are inconclusive, and therefore do not reach the threshold of publication for Food and Chemical Toxicology."
In the 2-year study, rats who received various doses of Monsanto's herbicide-resistant NK603 maize suffered from more tumors, organ damage, and premature deaths than control animals. Many scientists dismissed the paper as flawed when it was published in September 2012. Explaining the retraction, the journal's editor-in-chief, Wallace Hayes, cited the low number of animals in each study group and the high natural incidence of tumors in the strain of rat used.
At a press conference in Belgium, the paper's author, biologist Gilles-Eric Séralini of the University of Caen, countered that his experiment was modeled after Monsanto's own NK603 toxicity study. He called the decision an attempt by the GM crop industry to muzzle scientists who question the safety of its products.

China's Publication Bazaar

Science
Vol. 342 no. 6162 pp. 1035-1039 
DOI: 10.1126/science.342.6162.1035
  • NEWS FOCUS

China's Publication Bazaar

Science investigation has uncovered a smorgasbord of questionable practices including paying for author's slots on papers written by other scientists and buying papers from online brokers.

SHANGHAI, CHINA—The e-mail arrived around noon from the mysterious sender "Publish SCI Paper," with the subject line "Transfer co-first author and co-corresponding author." A message body uncluttered with pleasantries contained a scientific abstract with all the usual ingredients, bar one: author names. The message said that the paper, describing a potential strategy for curbing drug resistance in cancer cells, had been accepted by Elsevier's International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology. Now its authorship was for sale.
"There are some authors who don't have much use for their papers after they're published, and they can be transferred to you," a sales agent for a company called Wanfang Huizhi told a Science reporter posing as a scientist. Wanfang Huizhi, the agent explained, acts as an intermediary between researchers with forthcoming papers in good journals and scientists needing to snag publications. The company would sell the title of co–first author on the cancer paper for 90,000 yuan ($14,800). Adding two names—co–first author and co–corresponding author—would run $26,300, with a deposit due upon acceptance and the rest on publication. A purported sales document from Wanfang Huizhi obtained by Science touts the convenience of this kind of arrangement: "You only need to pay attention to your academic research. The heavy labor can be left to us. Our service can help you make progress in your academic path!"



Monday, September 19, 2011

Journal editor resigns over climate-change paper


The editor of the journal Remote Sensing has resigned over a climate-change paper that he admits should "not have been published". Wolfgang Wagner of the Vienna University of Technology in Austria announced his resignation on 2 September, taking responsibility for his reviewers’ decision to publish the "controversial paper".

Climate debate

Every year, one or two sceptical papers get published, and these are then trumpeted by sympathetic media outlets as if they had discovered the wheelAndrew Dessler of Texas A&M University

Climate scientist Kerry Emanuel from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says the affair reflects the broad debate over climate change rather than the specific detail of the Spencer–Braswell paper. "There's a huge discrepancy between what the paper says and what people, including Roy Spencer, say that it says," he explains. "People seem to be replying to the climate-change sceptics rather than the paper itself."

Andrew Dessler of Texas A&M University agrees. "Every month, dozens if not hundreds of papers are published that are in agreement with the mainstream theory of climate science," he says. "But every year, one or two sceptical papers get published, and these are then trumpeted by sympathetic media outlets as if they had discovered the wheel. It therefore appears to the general public that there's a debate."

Monday, March 7, 2011

Former MIT Researcher Convicted of Fraud

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/03/former-mit-researcher-convicted-.html#sci-comments

on 4 March 2011, 5:03 PM

The ordeal isn't over for biologist Luk van Parijs, who was fired by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2005 after admitting to fabricating research data. Yesterday, Van Parijs, 40, pleaded guilty in a U.S. District Court in Boston to one count of making a false statement on a federal grant application.

Van Parijs worked in the field of RNA interference. MIT launched an investigation after his students and postdocs raised questions about his research and found that he had fabricated and falsified data in grant applications, submitted manuscripts, and a published paper. In 2009, the federal Office of Research Integrity found that he had also falsified data in other publications.

The U.S. attorney's office in Boston announced yesterday that Van Parijs will be sentenced 14 June and that he could receive up to 5 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. The government alleges that he falsely claimed to have developed a specific transgenic mouse and to have obtained certain results from an experiment. According to a plea agreement, the U.S. attorney will not recommend a fine, but Van Parijs has agreed to pay MIT $61,117 in restitution.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Scientific misconduct

http://blogs.sciencemag.org/sciencecareers/2011/02/more-on-culture.html

February 22, 2011

More on Culture and Misconduct

Some months back, Science Careers looked into research exploring the relationship between academic misconduct and social structure. Studies by Andrew Schrank of the University of New Mexico and Cheol-Sung Lee of the University of Chicago had identified structural features of universities in some East Asian countries that they say contribute to higher rates of dishonesty in research.

Now an article in the journal Human Organization amplifies the discussion. "Stereotypes of Asian students as being more prone to plagiarize are frequently found in the literature," write Daniel E. Martin and Asha Rao of California State University-East Bay and co-author LLoyd Sloan, whose affiliation was not mentioned. Their research examined plagiarism among students to find any cultural connection. The results do reveal "significant differences" among students in the likelihood to plagiarize, but these did not relate to students' ethnic backgrounds, they report. Rather, the key factor is acculturation to American standards. The authors therefore see "significant implications for training and managing international students and workers."


Taken for granted: Ain't misbehavin'

According to studies reported in The New York Times in October, for example, half of the scientists queried in one survey in China claimed to know someone who had committed academic misconduct. In another survey, a third of scientists at top Chinese institutions said they had committed misconduct themselves.

The German model

Universities in Northeast Asia are "particularly prone to scientific scandal" because of a specific combination of structural factors, argue Schrank and Lee in their article. One structural factor is the enormous rewards that governments bestow on conspicuously successful senior scientists as incentives "to overtake their advanced industrial counterparts." The "illiberal laboratory cultures inherited from Germany by way of Japan" is another.

Numerous "high profile" cases have emerged in South Korea, Japan, and China, where some people "worry that disclosure is the exception to the rule, especially among the scientific elite," Schrank and Lee state. In the interview, Schrank hastens to acknowledge that American scientists also cheat, but, he adds, "We simply think that the incentive structure and the organizational structure in Northeast Asia are much more conducive to this type of fraud than either the incentive structure or the organizational structure in the United States."

Discouraging misconduct

So how do you lessen the likelihood of fraud? "I think the way to combat this is to recognize that it's not Asian culture, but that it's organizational, and then to think about what types of organizations militate against it," Schrank says. He cites as evidence Taiwan and Singapore, which share an Asian cultural background with China, South Korea, and Japan and "have pursued the same sort of intensive drive to give incentive for blockbuster publications, with monetary rewards," but haven't seen nearly as much scandal.

The reason? They "have broken with the German model. Taiwan is particularly interesting" because it used to follow the highly hierarchical German system, but it changed to the American one. Singapore has consistently followed a British system that is also similar to that of the United States.

The key is institutional structures that value, encourage, and reward skeptical interchange among personnel at all levels. Events such as a regularly scheduled lab meeting can discourage would-be cheaters "precisely because every week they have this confrontation and someone can call them on it." The research systems in more scandal-prone countries "don't have this sort of built-in mechanism for quality control, and as a result there isn't a structured space for that sort of challenge."

Rampant Fraud Threat to China’s Brisk Ascent

Friday, February 18, 2011

High-Priced Recruiting of Talent Abroad Raises Hackle

Science 18 February 2011:
Vol. 331 no. 6019 pp. 834-835
DOI: 10.1126/science.331.6019.834
  • NEWS & ANALYSIS
CHINA

High-Priced Recruiting of Talent Abroad Raises Hackles

How much would it take to get you to relocate to China? Would 150 million yuan ($23 million) do the trick? If so, pack your bags—if you are a Nobel laureate, that is. Science has learned that the Chinese government will soon announce a new initiative to lure up to 10 winners of prestigious inter national science prizes—including the Nobel Prize—to China each year by offering what may be the heftiest reward ever paid to individual researchers.

Some prizewinners may be salivating, but at least one prominent Chinese-American scientist aware of the new program blasts it as a massive waste of resources. “It is better to invest in a whole new generation of talent than to buy reputation,” says David Ho, director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center (ADARC) in New York City. “Someone should step up and put an end to this folly.”

...

Thursday, February 10, 2011

6 Serious Office Health Risks

by Althea Chang
Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Sitting at a desk all day can be hazardous to your health. Back pain, eyestrain and sleep problems can all be results of increasingly sedentary yet stressful work environments.

The number of physically demanding jobs has dropped to less than 10% from 20% in the 1950s, according a study published by economic and social policy researchers at the Urban Institute, meaning the number of jobs that require some exertion were cut in half, leaving more Americans susceptible to desk-job-related health problems.

Here are six office-related maladies and how they can be prevented.

handxray.jpg
©MGSpiller



Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Problem: Any motion that is repeated over and over again can cause injury or pain, according to occupational-health-focused Denver Chiropractor Dr. T. Randall Eldridge. But carpal tunnel syndrome isn't just pain or soreness from too much typing. It's the tingling, numbness, itching or even sharp pain caused when a nerve that runs through the forearm is compressed by swollen ligaments and bones in the wrist, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Prevention: Before you're forced to treat carpal tunnel with acupuncture, drugs or even surgery, stretching and other exercises may help release tension in the wrist, the NIH says. And, contrary to what many believe, your wrists shouldn't actually rest on those cushy wrist pads that sit below your keyboard or mouse pad. They should actually be used as a guide for how high your wrists should be, according to occupational therapist to Marji Hajic. Hajic says hands should hover over the wrist rest and it should only be used as a rest in between bouts of typing.

xrayback.jpg
©Yugenro

Lower-Back Pain

Problem: Sitting for hours on end, particularly if you have bad posture, can be devastating to your body over time if you don't get moving on a regular basis. And back pain is actually a major reason for missed work for adults of all ages, according to the Georgetown University Center on an Aging Society.

But bad posture at your desk goes beyond the obvious slouching. Sitting up straight but curving your back too much can be a cause of lower-back pain as well, notes the NIH.

Prevention: Besides being better aware of your posture as you're sitting at your desk, getting regular exercise including abdominal strengthening activities should relieve some of the pressure on your lower back.

Having too fat a wallet in your back pocket can be a bad thing as well. Sitting on a large wallet can put pressure on the sciatic nerve, which can cause sharp back pain, according to UAB Health System in Birmingham, Ala.

Other Joint Problems

Problem: The human body is meant to move, and staying in one position for too long can make joints feel tight. Sitting at a desk especially shortens and tightens the hip flexors, the muscles than help pull your legs toward your body, according to the Yoga Journal. And tight hip flexors can actually contribute to back pain as well since tight hips force the pelvis to tilt forward, compressing the back, Yoga Journal says.

Prevention: Besides getting up from your desk at regular intervals and walking around a bit, the Mayo Clinic recommends a number of stretches that can help loosen up your hips.

eyestrain.jpg
©Just A Prairie Boy

Eyestrain

Problem: Office workers who spend hours a day staring at a computer screen might tell you that after a certain amount of time, their vision gets blurry and their eyes generally become more sensitive. Those symptoms (as well as too-watery or too-dry eyes, a headache or a sore neck) could be indications of eyestrain, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Prevention: To prevent eyestrain at your computer, increase your font size so you don't have to squint, suggests Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT - News) (though the font on this informative page might cause readers to do just that). You may also want to rest your eyes frequently by looking away from your computer screen and reducing any glare on your monitor, the Mayo Clinic suggests.

Bacteria

Problem: "The desk, in terms of bacteria, is 400 times more dirty than your toilet," University of Arizona microbiologist Dr. Charles Gerba told WebMD (NASDAQ: WBMD -News). "People turn their desks into bacteria cafeterias because they eat at them, but they never clean them. The phone is the dirtiest, the desktop is next, and the mouse and the computer follow."

But bacteria problems at your desk could be more severe than Gerba thinks. Breadcrumbs and other food remnants get can get in between keys on your keyboard, attract rats and lead to unintended exposure to their germs. What's more, many raw and cooked foods need to remain refrigerated, and leaving them out for two hours or more is a food safety no-no.

Prevention: If you frequently eat your lunch at your desk, you may want to make sure you have hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes to wipe down your work surface daily. That can also protect you from germs sprayed into the air by your coughing and sneezing coworkers.

If your office has a communal kitchen sink with a sponge, the American Dietetic Association suggests using paper towels instead, just to stay safe from bacteria.

The association goes as far as recommending that those who eat in the office bring a refrigerator thermometer and a meat thermometer as well.

typing.jpg
©Adikos

Stressful Situations

Problem: Stress can be a problem at work regardless of how physical your day-to-day activities are, but those who do exert themselves on the job can actually use some of their activities to ease their stress. If you're chained to a desk, however, you may be even more likely to have stress-related outbursts.

About one-sixth of workers said anger at work led to property damage, and 2%-3% of workers admit to pushing, slapping or hitting someone at work, according to Reuters.

"With roughly 100 million people in the U.S. work force ... that's as many as 3 million people," Reuters reports.

Additionally, about 22% of U.S. workers say they've been driven to tears because of workplace stress and 9% say that stress has led to physically violent situations, reports RJC Associates, a career development firm.

Prevention: Smaller stressors can be handled with breathing and relaxation techniques at your desk or a break outside of the office, but some conflicts may call for mediation by an unbiased party.

And believe it or not, video games have been suggested as a method for easing workplace stress, according to CareerBuilder.com. With the job market recovering and more companies hiring, however, it's starting to look like new job prospects could be a promising way out of stressful work conditions as well.


http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/109579/serious-office-health-risks?mod=career-worklife_balance