Comments on: McGill committee says Nature figures were “intentionally contrived and falsified”

By: ferniglab

ferniglab — Thu, 09 May 2013 18:58:37 +0000

Another one for the “Thesaurus of euphemisms” I have just posted on. When someone finally gets to work on this tome, it is going to be very substantial…

By: amw

amw — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 23:24:01 +0000

3 months have passed – radio silence from McGill and Nature – what’s happening?

Are Nature insisting on retraction?

Was that a pig I just saw preparing for takeoff?

By: fernando pessoa

fernando pessoa — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 10:34:31 +0000

In reply to michaelbriggs January 31, 2013 at 10:28 pm

What I see in Nature 1064-1068(20 April 2006) Fig. 4c middle box labeled Total Casp-12 is that the right end of the upper band in the 1st (left-most) lane is straight and vertical with a thin white edge to it. I think that some manipulation happened there.

The upper band in the 2nd lane looks very much like the upper band in the 1st lane. The same mottling within the band can be seen,for example, the diagonal light streak near their left ends. The superimposable parts of the upper bands in the 3rd and 4th lanes also have the same mottling pattern. I don’t think that there is any reason that should happen naturally.

The lower bands in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lanes, including the little diagonal streak above and just to the left of their right ends look the same. The left end of the lower band look like the left end of the lower bands in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lanes.

The superimposable parts of the middle bands in the 3rd and 4th lanes look the same to me. The superimposable part of the middle band in the 2nd lane are also the same as in the 3rd and 4th lanes.
The difference is that just under the right end of the middle band in the 2nd lane the edge comes further in.
You think that there is a difference, but it is simply that that part is no longer there.

The mottling in the left half of the middle band looks like the mottling in the left halves of the middle bands in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lanes. The right half of the middle band in the 1st lane is smoother and the little diagonal streak has become 3 little, diagonal streaks.

That makes quite a few things which I think are unnatural just within that box. Nature needs to consider physics.

By: Ressci Integrity

Ressci Integrity — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 10:03:05 +0000

at least they will report that the experiments repeated and conclusions are not changed…they will provide the (new?) data in the correction.

By: chirality

chirality — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 09:22:54 +0000

What do you mean by “repeated”? To repeat something you need to have done it before at least once. These people have either never run this experiment or have not gotten the results they wanted. Neither scenario bodes well for future attempts.

By: michaelbriggs

michaelbriggs — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 03:28:56 +0000

In the PNAS paper Fig. 6 first lane (Csp-12), the 3 bands look very similar to the four lanes of 3 bands in the Nature paper Fig. 4c middle box labeled Total Casp-12, only they are vertically compressed in the Nature figure. You can see the Nature figures more clearly in the powerpoint file: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7087/suppinfo/nature04656.html Look for the little spot on the right between the middle and lowest band.

By: littlegreyrabbit

littlegreyrabbit — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:53:28 +0000

I am sorry, I didn’t realize this was controversial. For the record I was just following the summary of the McGill report above
”

According to a report by the McGill committee, highlights of which were obtained by Retraction Watch, two figures in the Nature paper had been “intentionally contrived and falsified.” One of those figures was duplicated in a PNAS paper, which also contained an image that had incorrectly labeled some proteins.”

That seemed to be the obvious candidate.

By: Freeloader

Freeloader — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 20:14:23 +0000

Nice work Anonymous…

I agree the 1st lane is certainly duplicated (with some exposure difference or Photoshop effect). The right lane is less clear…

A question for Ivan: is the McGill report available publicly somewhere, or could you publish it? It would be helpful to compare their findings with what RW readers have uncovered.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:08:44 +0000

Does seem eerily similar, but probably reading too much into this.

http://imgur.com/wmxPDrA

By: littlegreyrabbit

littlegreyrabbit — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:58:03 +0000

What looks like splicing a pure grey background along side a portion of a blot
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/5237/temppd.jpg – red arrow marks the splice.
This is from Figure 3c, strip: WB IKK-Beta
in Non-apoptotic role of BID in inflammation and innate immunity, Nature 2011 Yeretssian et al.

I don’t think this is the only case in this paper, but it is the clearest one and furthest away from a band so as not to have to worry about compression artefacts.