scholarly journals Experiments from unfinished Registered Reports in the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy M Errington ◽  
Alexandria Denis ◽  
Anne B Allison ◽  
Renee Araiza ◽  
Pedro Aza-Blanc ◽  
...  

As part of the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology, we published Registered Reports that described how we intended to replicate selected experiments from 29 high-impact preclinical cancer biology papers published between 2010 and 2012. Replication experiments were completed and Replication Studies reporting the results were submitted for 18 papers, of which 17 were accepted and published by eLife with the rejected paper posted as a preprint. Here, we report the status and outcomes obtained for the remaining 11 papers. Four papers initiated experimental work but were stopped without any experimental outcomes. Two papers resulted in incomplete outcomes due to unanticipated challenges when conducting the experiments. For the remaining five papers only some of the experiments were completed with the other experiments incomplete due to mundane technical or unanticipated methodological challenges. The experiments from these papers, along with the other experiments attempted as part of the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology, provides evidence about the challenges of repeating preclinical cancer biology experiments and the replicability of the completed experiments.

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy M Errington ◽  
Alexandria Denis ◽  
Nicole Perfito ◽  
Elizabeth Iorns ◽  
Brian A Nosek

We conducted the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology to investigate the replicability of preclinical research in cancer biology. The initial aim of the project was to repeat 193 experiments from 53 high-impact papers, using an approach in which the experimental protocols and plans for data analysis had to be peer reviewed and accepted for publication before experimental work could begin. However, the various barriers and challenges we encountered while designing and conducting the experiments meant that we were only able to repeat 50 experiments from 23 papers. Here we report these barriers and challenges. First, many original papers failed to report key descriptive and inferential statistics: the data needed to compute effect sizes and conduct power analyses was publicly accessible for just 4 of 193 experiments. Moreover, despite contacting the authors of the original papers, we were unable to obtain these data for 68% of the experiments. Second, none of the 193 experiments were described in sufficient detail in the original paper to enable us to design protocols to repeat the experiments, so we had to seek clarifications from the original authors. While authors were extremely or very helpful for 41% of experiments, they were minimally helpful for 9% of experiments, and not at all helpful (or did not respond to us) for 32% of experiments. Third, once experimental work started, 67% of the peer-reviewed protocols required modifications to complete the research and just 41% of those modifications could be implemented. Cumulatively, these three factors limited the number of experiments that could be repeated. This experience draws attention to a basic and fundamental concern about replication – it is hard to assess whether reported findings are credible.


Nematology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa B. Caixeta ◽  
Tiago J. Pereira ◽  
Nancy E.N. Castañeda ◽  
Juvenil E. Cares

This study evaluated the effects of mining practices using soil nematodes as bioindicators. Soil samples represented four different subsystems found in the CeBio Research Center, including natural/undisturbed (rainforest (RF) and savannah (SA)) and disturbed (Eucalyptus spp. (EU) and grassland (GR)) subsystems. Ecological descriptors S (3.5-9.5), d (1.22-4.23) and MI (1.9-3.23) significantly differentiated the subsystem GR (high impact) from the other subsystems. Additionally, poorly covered soil (i.e., subsystem GR) negatively influenced the composition of nematode assemblages, and primarily so for nematodes with high c-p values. Among soil variables, pH strongly influenced the distribution of soil nematodes, negatively affecting the abundance of all c-p groups and diversity of nematodes. On the other hand, pH also positively affected FF and PP trophic groups in the subsystem GR. The similarity of subsystem EU and natural subsystems (RF and SA) suggests that soil restoration with Eucalyptus spp. appears to be an adequate management practice to promote the recovery of areas subjected to mining practices.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
D.G. Shah ◽  
D.N. Mehta ◽  
R.V. Gujar

Bryophytes are the second largest group of land plants and are also known as the amphibians of the plant kingdom. 67 species of bryophytes have been reported from select locations across the state of Gujrat. The status of family fissidentaceae which is a large moss family is being presented in this paper. Globally the family consists of 10 genera but only one genus, Fissidens Hedw. has been collected from Gujarat. Fissidens is characterized by a unique leaf structure and shows the presence of three distinct lamina, the dorsal, the ventral and the vaginant lamina. A total of 8 species of Fissidens have been reported from the state based on vegetative characters as no sporophyte stages were collected earlier. Species reported from the neighboring states also showed the absence of sporophytes. The identification of different species was difficult due to substantial overlap in vegetative characters. Hence a detailed study on the diversity of members of Fissidentaceae in Gujarat was carried out between November 2013 and February 2015. In present study 8 distinct species of Fissidens have been collected from different parts of the state. Three species Fissidens splachnobryoides Broth., Fissidens zollingerii Mont. and Fissidens curvato-involutus Dixon. have been identified while the other five are still to be identified. Fissidens zollingerii Mont. and Fissidens xiphoides M. Fleisch., which have been reported as distinct species are actually synonyms according to TROPICOS database. The presence of sexual reproductive structures and sporophytes for several Fissidens species are also being reported for the first time from the state.


Author(s):  
Kyle Fruh

Discussions of closely associated notions of practical necessity, volitional necessity, and moral incapacity have profited from a focus on cases of agential crisis to further our understanding of how features of an agent’s character might bind her. This paper turns to agents in crises in order to connect this way of being bound to the phenomenon of moral heroism. The connection is fruitful in both directions. Importing practical necessity into examinations of moral heroism can explain the special sense of bindingness moral heroes frequently express while preserving the status of heroic acts as supererogatory. It also helps explain how heroes persevere and act as so few others do. On the other hand, the context of moral heroism allows a fuller development of some features of the concept of practical necessity, shedding more illuminating light on the roots of practical necessity in character through recent findings in the psychology of moral exemplars.


Author(s):  
Edna Ullmann-Margalit

Some of the most difficult decisions in law and ordinary life are simplified by the use of some kind of presumption. Accused criminals are presumed to be innocent, and most of the time, legislative acts are presumed to be constitutional. And when people do not know what to do, they often adopt a presumption of some kind—for example, sticking with the status quo, or perhaps in favor of making a specific change. In countless domains, presumptions help people to extricate themselves from difficult situations. They can serve as a way of breaking an initial symmetrical situation by using a supposition not fully justified, yet not quite rash either—favoring one action over the other.


Author(s):  
Jenny Andersson

Alvin Toffler’s writings encapsulated many of the tensions of futurism: the way that futurology and futures studies oscillated between forms of utopianism and technocracy with global ambitions, and between new forms of activism, on the one hand, and emerging forms of consultancy and paid advice on the other. Paradoxically, in their desire to create new images of the future capable of providing exits from the status quo of the Cold War world, futurists reinvented the technologies of prediction that they had initially rejected, and put them at the basis of a new activity of futures advice. Consultancy was central to the field of futures studies from its inception. For futurists, consultancy was a form of militancy—a potentially world altering expertise that could bypass politics and also escaped the boring halls of academia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. e000648
Author(s):  
Swetha Bindu Velaga ◽  
Muneeswar Gupta Nittala ◽  
Michael S Ip ◽  
Luc Duchateau ◽  
SriniVas R Sadda

Background/aimsOASIS is a Phase IIIb trial (NCT01429441) assessing long-term outcomes in subjects with symptomatic vitreomacular adhesion (VMA). The purpose of this study is to report on the frequency, severity, location and time course of ellipsoid zone (EZ) alterations in ocriplasmin-treated and sham control eyes in the OASIS study.Methods220 patients (146 ocriplasmin, 74 sham) subjects with VMA were enrolled in this masked post hoc analysis phase IIIb, randomised, sham-controlled double-masked multicentre clinical trial. A masked post hoc analysis of OCT images was performed at the Doheny Image Reading Center from subjects enrolled in the OASIS trial. The status of the EZ band was assessed in three different macular regions: the central subfield (CS) (≤1 mm diameter), the parafoveal area (PAA) (>1 to ≤3 mm) and the perifoveal area (PEA) (>3 to ≤6 mm). The EZ band was rated as normal/intact, full thickness macular hole (FTMH), abnormal but continuous, discontinuous/disrupted or absent at visits from baseline (pretreatment) to week 1 (day 7), month 1 (day 28), month 3, month 6, month 12 and the final follow-up at month 24. EZ band status was compared in both study and control eyes.ResultsA total of 208 patients (138 ocriplasmin, 70 sham) were included in this analysis. At baseline, FTMH was present in 48.6%, 8.0%, 0% and 52.8%, 2.9%, 0% in the CS, PAA and PEA of the ocriplasmin and sham groups, respectively. The EZ was graded to be abnormal but continuous, discontinuous/disrupted or absent at Baseline in 21.0%, 4.3%, 2.8% in the CS, PAA and PEA, respectively, of the ocriplasmin group; and 12.9%, 10.0%, 4.3% in the CS, PAA and PEA of the sham group. For the ocriplasmin group in the PAA, this frequency increased to 6.6% at week 1, was 9.8% at month 1, but improved to 3.8% at month 3, and remained stable to 1.6% at month 24. These differences, however, were not statistically significant.ConclusionsOcriplasmin treatment for symptomatic VMA was associated with EZ abnormalities in a small percentage of patients that was best assessed in regions (PEA) relatively unaffected by the VM interface disease at baseline. The EZ abnormalities were apparent by week 1, persisted at month 1, and appeared to resolve in the majority of cases by month 3.Trial registration numberNCT01429441


1999 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerry Maher ◽  
Barry J. Rodger

It is a well-known facet of litigation that the first step is often more important than any to follow. Virtually all legal systems bestow on litigants a variety of interim and provisional remedies. These remedies have a number of different functions and rationales but two in particular are thought to be fundamental.1 First, protective remedies provide a litigant with a degree of protection by ensuring that the status quo is preserved while the litigation is proceeding; second, these remedies secure the position of a litigant not only during the course of an action but also once it is over and he has judgment in his favour. This second function is usually achieved, in one way or another, by tying up and freezing the property of the other party to the action.2 However, protective remedies also serve other functions. Some remedies exist to promote the interest of a party in the advancement of his case (e.g. orders for disclosure of evidence), whereas others provide a litigant with part of the overall final remedy or judgment that he is seeking to gain from the action (e.g. interim payment or interim damages).


1943 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-34
Author(s):  
Kenneth Scott Latourette

A strange contrast exists in the status of the Christian Church in the past seventy years. On the one hand the Church has clearly lost some of the ground which once appeared to be safely within its possession. On the other hand it has become more widely spread geographically and, when all mankind is taken into consideration, more influential in shaping human affairs than ever before in its history. In a paper as brief as this must of necessity be, space can be had only for the sketching of the broad outlines of this paradox and for suggesting a reason for it. If details were to be given, a large volume would be required. Perhaps, however, we can hope to do enough to point out one of the most provocative and important set of movements in recent history.


2007 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 5-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kader Konuk

AbstractThe place of Jews was highly ambiguous in the newly founded Turkish Republic: In 1928 an assimilationist campaign was launched against Turkish Jews, while only a few years later, in 1933, German scholars—many of them Jewish—were taken in so as to help Europeanize the nation. Turkish authorities regarded the emigrants as representatives of European civilization and appointed scholars like Erich Auerbach to prestigious academic positions that were vital for redefining the humanities in Turkey. This article explores the country's twofold assimilationist policies. On the one hand, Turkey required of its citizens—regardless of ethnic or religious origins—that they conform to a unified Turkish culture; on the other hand, an equally assimilationist modernization project was designed to achieve cultural recognition from the heart of Europe. By linking historical and contemporary discourses, this article shows how tropes of Jewishness have played—and continue to play—a critical role in the conception of Turkish nationhood. The status of Erich Auerbach, Chair of the Faculty for Western Languages and Literatures at İstanbul University from 1936 to 1947, is central to this investigation into the place of Turkish and German Jews in modern Turkey.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document