Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Friday 15 June 2018
Science Says: What happens when researchers make mistakes

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE of the 11 cases," Drazen " about six articles by Brian
AP Chief Medical Writer said. In five, Carlisle was Wansink, head of the
Everyone makes mistakes, wrong. Five others were Cornell Food and Brand
but when scientists do, the terminology errors by the Lab, "to alert the scientific
remedy goes far beyond authors — Wednesday's community to the ongoing
saying you're sorry. Two corrections. concerns about the validity
fresh examples show The last was the diet of these publications"
how some journals and study on 7,500 people in and ask Cornell to do an
universities react when Spain, which established independent evaluation.
the need arises to set the that eating lots of fish, Wansink has had seven
record straight. vegetables, olive oil and papers retracted (one
On Wednesday, the nuts could slash heart risks twice), 15 corrections and
New England Journal by 30 percent — front- now this expression of
of Medicine retracted page news everywhere. concern, Oransky said.
and republished a This Dec. 29, 2011 file photo shows the entrance to the editorial Researchers dug through Wansink said in an email
landmark study on the offices of the New England Journal of Medicine in Boston. records and discovered that he has been working
Mediterranean diet, and Associated Press that one study site had not with co-authors in France,
issued an unprecedented followed procedures — if Israel and the Netherlands
five other corrections after "Retractions are definitely and that's why journals are one person in a household "to locate the original data
an obscure report last year on the rise" and there so meticulous when that joined the study, others sets and reanalyze and
scrutinized thousands of are 10 times as many evidence is called into such as a spouse also were the data in the papers,"
articles in eight journals corrections as retractions, question. allowed in. That makes and that materials will be
over more than a decade said Dr. Ivan Oransky, a ANATOMY OF A MISTAKE the group assignments not independently analyzed
and questioned some health journalism professor Here's what happened at truly random. When results by Cornell and reported
methods. at New York University and the New England Journal. were re-analyzed without back to the journal.
Separately, Cornell co-founder of Retraction Many experiments those folks, the bottom line Cornell's statement says
University said it was Watch, a website that randomly assign people remained the same, and a committee of faculty
investigating "a wide range tracks errors in science to different groups to the journal is now publishing members has been
of allegations of research journals. compare one treatment to both versions. investigating allegations
misconduct" raised But they're still pretty rare. another. The groups should "I've been impressed" with against Wansink since
against a prominent food About 1,350 papers were be similar on height, weight, the response, Carlisle said. last fall and working with
marketing faculty member. retracted in 2016 out of age and other factors, and His analysis also covered federal agencies that
The New England Journal's 2 million published — less statistical tests can suggest 518 studies in the Journal sponsor research.
review did not alter any than a tenth of a percent, whether the distribution of of the American Medical "The assertions being made
conclusions and should but up from 36 out of 1 these traits is implausible, Association, but JAMA by outside researchers and
raise public trust in science, million in 2000, he said. compromising any results. has not done a systematic the retraction of multiple
not erode it, said its top "The main reason they're Dr. John Carlisle of Torbay review, said its top editor, Dr. papers from academic
editor, Dr. Jeffrey Drazen. up is that people are Hospital in England used Howard Bauchner. Instead, journals by the Food and
"When we discover a looking," and the internet one such test to scrutinize the journal asks authors Brand Lab are concerning.
problem we work very hard makes it easier with tools thousands of studies from to respond if concerns Our silence on this matter
to get to the bottom of it," to detect plagiarism and 2000 through 2015 including are raised about specific to date should in no way be
he said. "There's no fraud manipulated images, 934 in the New England articles and publishes those construed as a disregard
here as far as we can tell. Oransky said. Journal and flagged 11 as as they arise. for the seriousness of the
But we needed to correct Studies are often the main suspicious. FOOD ARTICLES UNDER A claims being raised nor
the record." source of evidence that The journal contacted CLOUD as an abdication of our
HOW COMMON ARE guides doctors' decision- each author and "within Last week, JAMA published obligation to explore
ERRORS? making and patient care, a week we resolved 10 an "expression of concern them."q
Study: 2014 Napa quake may be linked to groundwater changes

NAPA, Calif. (AP) — Re- Napa and Sonoma valleys. lished in the American and contracts. related to the groundwater
search suggests the mag- The vineyard-filled valleys Geophysical Union's Jour- The amount of the horizon- system. We don't know if it
nitude 6.0 earthquake that flank the West Napa Fault, nal of Geophysical Re- tal stretching measured is is groundwater pumping
rocked California wine which produced the quake search: Solid Earth suggests tiny — about 3 millimeters specifically, or something
country in 2014 may have that killed one person, in- land between the valleys is (0.12 inch) — but enough related to how the natural
been caused by an ex- jured several hundred and stretched each summer as to stress faults, according aquifer system works, or a
pansion of Earth's crust be- caused more than $500 groundwater levels fall be- to the researchers. combination," said lead
cause of seasonally reced- million in losses. neath the valleys and the "We think it's more of a lo- author Meredith Kraner,
ing groundwater under the The study recently pub- ground in the valleys sinks calized effect, something formerly of the Department
of Geosciences at Stony
Brook University in New York
and now with the University
of Nevada, Reno.
Co-authors were William
E. Holt of Stony Brook Uni-
versity and Adrian A. Borsa
of the Scripps Institution of
Oceanography at the Uni-
versity of California, San Di-
ego.
q