scholarly journals Is there evidence for biased reporting of published adverse effects data in pharmaceutical industry-funded studies?

2008 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 767-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Su Golder ◽  
Yoon K. Loke
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae-Suk Choi

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) has been widely used in traditional medicine, and as raw material for cosmetics, beverages, and health functional foods. However, some adverse effects of ginger have been reported. In addition, the hot and pungent taste of ginger leads to reduced consumption. To overcome these problems, methods for the production of fermented, steamed (or steamed-dried), aged, roasted and beopje ginger have been developed. This review provides an overview and summary of new ginger processing procedures, including methods to reduce the pungent flavor of ginger, extend shelf-life, increase the health-functional compound content, and improve safety. These attempts might improve the consumption of ginger as well as prospective applications of processed ginger for food, cosmetics, and the pharmaceutical industry, also as discussed in various patents.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaakov Ophir ◽  
Yaffa Shir Raz

Background: Critics of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) warn against overdiagnosis and overtreatment of millions of children. Objective: The goal of this article is to raise awareness to manipulations and "spins" that might occur in attention disorders research. Method: An in-depth inspection was conducted on a high-profile study that suggested that ADHD increases the risk for infection with COVID-19 and that stimulants reduce that risk1. Two additional studies by the same first author were inspected as well – one that was published in the same journal and one that relied on the same dataset. Results: Seven manipulations and spins were identified, including inappropriate operational definitions, misrepresentations, and omissions that produced bogus results and might have concealed potential adverse effects of medications on COVID-19 outcomes. Without correcting for these distortions, it is therefore not possible to determine that ADHD increases the risk of COVID-19 and that stimulant medications reduce this risk. Conclusions: The manipulations and spins identified in this article may raise awareness to poor methodologies and biases that occur in the field of attention disorders, mainly due to the contaminating influences of the pharmaceutical industry. In turn, these biases may contribute to the ethically problematic phenomena of overdiagnosis and overmedication. Altogether, this article may encourage physicians to apply healthy scientific skepticism and serve scientists who wish to conduct reliable and transparent research on ADHD and its related medications.


Author(s):  
Nestor J. Zaluzec

The application of electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) to light element analysis is rapidly becoming an important aspect of the microcharacterization of solids in materials science, however relatively stringent requirements exist on the specimen thickness under which one can obtain EELS data due to the adverse effects of multiple inelastic scattering.1,2 This study was initiated to determine the limitations on quantitative analysis of EELS data due to specimen thickness.


Author(s):  
Dirk K. Wolter

Zusammenfassung. Zielsetzung: Übersicht über Suchtpotenzial und andere Risiken von Opioidanalgetika im höheren Lebensalter. Methodik: Narrativ review. Literaturrecherche in PubMed (Suchbegriffe: opioid analgesics UND abuse; opioid analgesics UND dependence; opioid analgesics UND addiction; opioid analgesics UND adverse effects; jeweils UND elderly) sowie aktuellen einschlägigen Standardwerken; Auswahl nach altersmedizinischer Relevanz und Aktualität. Ergebnisse: Die Verordnung von Opioidanalgetika (OA) hat in den letzten 25 Jahren massiv zugenommen, die weitaus meisten Verordnungen entfallen auf alte Menschen und Menschen mit chronischen Nicht-Tumorschmerzen (CNTS). Die diagnostischen Kriterien für die Opiatabhängigkeit in ICD-10 und DSM-5 sind für die OA-Behandlung von CNTS ungeeignet. Bei langfristiger OA-Behandlung bei CNTS kann eine spezifische Form von Abhängigkeit entstehen, die nicht mit der illegalen Opiat-(Heroin-)Sucht gleichzusetzen ist. Vorbestehende Suchterkrankungen und andere psychische Störungen sind die wesentlichsten Risikofaktoren. Weitere Nebenwirkungen sind zu beachten. Schmerztherapie bei Suchtkranken stellt eine besondere Herausforderung dar. Schlussfolgerungen: Die Anwendung von OA bei CNTS verlangt eine sorgfältige Indikationsstellung. Die besondere Form der Abhängigkeit von OA ist nicht ausreichend erforscht und wird zu wenig beachtet.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 182-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenta Matsumura ◽  
Koichi Shimizu ◽  
Peter Rolfe ◽  
Masanori Kakimoto ◽  
Takehiro Yamakoshi

Abstract. Pulse volume (PV) and its related measures, such as modified normalized pulse volume (mNPV), direct-current component (DC), and pulse rate (PR), derived from the finger-photoplethysmogram (FPPG), are useful psychophysiological measures. Although considerable uncertainties exist in finger-photoplethysmography, little is known about the extent of the adverse effects on the measures. In this study, we therefore examined the inter-method reliability of each index across sensor positions and light intensities, which are major disturbance factors of FPPG. From the tips of the index fingers of 12 participants in a resting state, three simultaneous FPPGs having overlapping optical paths were recorded, with their light intensity being changed in three steps. The analysis revealed that the minimum values of three coefficients of Cronbach’s α for ln PV, ln mNPV, ln DC, and PR across positions were .948, .850, .922, and 1.000, respectively, and that those across intensities were .774, .985, .485, and .998, respectively. These findings suggest that ln mNPV and PR can be used for psychophysiological studies irrespective of minor differences in sensor attachment positions and light source intensity, whereas and ln DC can also be used for such studies but under the condition of light intensity being fixed.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document