The big COVID-19 retraction: Top people don’t notice the smell?

_{Denyse O'Leary

June 8, 2020

Intelligent Design, Medicine, Peer review}

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A science journalists’ site weighs in on the historic retraction of Lancet anti-hydroxychloroquine paper:

Only one of the four authors of the paper had access to the data, Dr. Sepan Desai, who is the founder of the company Surgisphere that allegedly collected the data. The Lancet article indicates that he provided the statistical analysis of the dataset, which was subsequently discussed in the paper by the other authors. Since they had known one another for several years and had no reason to doubt his veracity, they accepted the analysis sight unseen. And while that approach frequently works in one-to-one relationships, should that be the standard for co-authorship?
“Mandeep Mehra, a Harvard University doctor who was a co-author on that study, said: “It is now clear to me that in my hope to contribute this research during a time of great need, I did not do enough to ensure that the data source was appropriate for this use. For that, and for all the disruptions — both directly and indirectly — I am truly sorry.” [1]
While this explanation is not quite “the dog ate my homework,” it is not an apology.
Chuck Dinerstein, “Eminence Over Evidence: The Lancet’s COVID-19 Retraction” at American Council on Science and Health

Hit the source for more.

For the record, Uncommon Descent has no official opinion on this mess except to say, yes, a fumigator is badly needed at The Lancet.

ee also: Why not to trust “science” just now: COVID-19 edition We’ve been hearing complaints about Lancet and other journals for years. Trust but verify. “Science” is a discipline, not an incantation.

Comments

Please note that, even if it might not be effictive against the virus itself, in combination with Az (which is also not affective agaiants the virus) hcq increases survival. Steroids also do not work against the virus itself, still dexametasone has benificial effect on the outcome.Peer_{June 22, 2020
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RHampton’s search turned up an article that touts the Lancet study as valid and is best vague on results of another study from Spain. All the article said was HCQ didn’t work as expected. It’s hard to understand just what happened. The tone of the article comes off as another hit piece.
It is a drug that began to increase in popularity when Donald Trump, President of the United States, revealed that he consumed it as prevention against a possible contagion. But that theory was dismantled in an extensive study published in The Lancet, which concluded that its consumption was associated with an increased risk of death
From another source, about 5.7% of those who received HCQ tested positive for. the virus compared to 6.2% of the control group. So as a prophylactic alone it is not much different.jerry_{June 13, 2020
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RH7, all these reports and researchers need to address Raoult and others in their review of literature. That would force explicit addressing of the U-trajectory of the disease and would then so highlight design flaws that the research designs and purposes of experiment would naturally become very different. There needs to be significant respect for in vitro facts of chemical effectiveness at relevant concentrations, for the reality of established drugs that demonstrate ability to get into the body and become active (hence, value of off-label use and repurposing), for the existence of synergistic cocktails and for the further fact from 500 CAT scans showing lung damage from early in the disease process. In that context, the thousands of cases put on the table also cumulatively reinforce a reasonable conclusion on effectiveness. In that context, we would see more exercises like exploring how Ivermectin enhances ability of cocktails to push further down the U, or how doxycycline can substitute for azithromycin, etc. Much of what, instead, is going on is little more than showing that intervening late in the falling arm of the U is unlikely to do much good or that synergistic cumulative effects require the presence of an adequate cluster in the cocktails. Which, we already knew. Sadly, thousands are paying with needless harm for the research and research ethics failure in the face of pandemic. KFkairosfocus_{June 13, 2020
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I am starting to wonder if the people running these trials understand how and why HCQ, alone, can prevent infection. If HCQ doesn't affect the person's pH enough to have an effect on the ACE2 receptors, then the drug will be ineffective. If the virus has mutated to account for that change, then all bets are off. Then it would be on to HCQ as an ionophore and zinc as the element that prevents the virus from replicating.ET_{June 12, 2020
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The clinical trial carried out by the researcher Oriol Mitjà to fight the coronavirus with hydroxychloroquine It has not been effective. The study has concluded that the antimalarial does not serve to prevent infections, as Mitjà himself has revealed in the scientific journal Science. “Given the vast global implications, we have shared the results of the BCN-PEP-VOC study on #hydroxychloroquine with regulatory agencies while the scientific journal is doing the external evaluation. We cannot provide more data until we have your approval.” The investigation raised a double strategy: administer the antiviral Darunavir to about 200 positives of COVID-19 to reduce viral load and try hydroxychloroquine with 3,000 people that they were contacts of the first, to see if it could be useful. Finally, the results have not been as expected. After monitoring the contacts, it was confirmed that the same percentage of people in both groups had been infected, which showed that hydroxychloroquine was not effective against coronavirus. https://www.explica.co/the-oriol-mitja-trial-concludes-that-hydroxychloroquine-is-not-effective-against-the-coronavirus/rhampton7_{June 12, 2020
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Helping research in any way, if anyone has the capacity, that’s how we get answers and how drugs get discovered. I’m grateful for all that UAB is doing to help further research and save lives.”
Nice sentiment but a hundred thousand are dead in the US waiting for the answer which was obvious from the beginning. Wonder what the dead in the study had to say. Somehow they are never interviewed.jerry_{June 12, 2020
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RH7, the pivotal issue remains, what Dr Raoult has put on the table. Until and unless that is squarely addressed, all else becomes drowning out of key but unwelcome evidence, often by making resort to irrelevancies. KFkairosfocus_{June 12, 2020
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In late March 2020, Drew McDonald of Trussville, Alabama, started noticing some backaches and body pains along with a low-grade fever after eating dinner with his family on a Friday night. The father of two went to bed and woke up the next morning to a fever of more than 102, and aches that he recalls “hitting” his bones. Upon arrival and admission to UAB, McDonald was approached by Division of Infectious Diseases physicians about potentially enrolling in a clinical trial for COVID-19 treatment that he could be a candidate for. He agreed, with little hesitation. As the trial was randomized, double-blinded and placebo-controlled, McDonald and his doctors still are unsure if he received the remdesivir or placebo as part of his role in the trial; however, he believes that his quick recovery and subsequent discharge from the hospital just five days after admission is due to receiving remdesivir. “I had confidence in the research being done at UAB. Sometimes we hear conflicting information, whether from social media or different news outlets that we are listening to; but these doctors who are approaching people like me to enroll in a trial live and breathe this every day and truly want to find the answer,” McDonald shared. “Helping research in any way, if anyone has the capacity, that’s how we get answers and how drugs get discovered. I’m grateful for all that UAB is doing to help further research and save lives.” https://www.uab.edu/news/health/item/11372-young-father-speaks-on-beating-covid-19-enrolling-in-remdesivir-clinical-trialrhampton7_{June 11, 2020
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Utah Gov. Gary Herbert instituted a "pause" on lifting any additional virus-related restrictions on Thursday as the state's rate of positive COVID-19 tests continues to skyrocket. "I know we've asked a lot of everybody over the past several months, but you know we're not at the end yet," Dunn told reporters Thursday. "So it's going to really take us a lot of discipline to continue taking these measures individually." Dr. Samuel Brown, a critical care researcher at Intermountain Healthcare, has said he's concerned that Utah may have to shut down again if people don't practice mask wearing and social distancing in the rush to get the economy jump started. https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2020/06/11/utah-pause-lifting-virus-restrictions-cases-rise/5346741002/rhampton7_{June 11, 2020
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How many is a Brazilian?ET_{June 11, 2020
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Brazilian officials on Thursday announced an agreement with China’s Sinovac Biotech to produce its coronavirus vaccine in the state of Sao Paulo, where tests involving 9,000 volunteers are to begin next month. Brazil has the world’s second-highest coronavirus caseload after the United States, with more than 770,000 confirmed infections and nearly 40,000 deaths. Sao Paulo governor Joao Doria told a news conference that the Butantan Institute, Brazil’s leading research centre, had reached a technology transfer agreement with Sinovac Biotech. “The studies show that the vaccine could be distributed by June 2021,” if tests prove conclusive, Doria said. https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3088694/coronavirus-brazil-signs-agreement-produce-chinese-virusrhampton7_{June 11, 2020
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday decided to place new coronavirus restrictions on the public as the rate of infection began to rise again in Israel. the government will define “red zones” where the infection rates are high. Restrictions will be imposed in the red zones as needed and enforcement will be stepped up. The threat of a “second wave” of the virus appeared to be growing on Thursday, with the release of new data showing 22 new infections in 24 hours. The death toll has risen to 300, and 93 children and 25 nurses in the city of Sderot have been quarantined as a result of an outbreak. Professor Eli Waxman, who leads the Israeli government’s advisory board on the coronavirus, told Kan, “The epidemic is continuing to spread and the number of new patients is growing. This is no surprise, but we need to ensure the required tools so we won’t have to impose a closure on the country again.” https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/06/11/netanyahu-decides-to-impose-new-restrictions-as-coronavirus-infections-rise-again-in-israel/rhampton7_{June 11, 2020
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Less than one percent of the general population in India is inflicted with Covid-19, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Thursday citing the findings of the sero-survey it conducted across 83 districts. The study covered 28,595 households and 26,400 individuals. The ICMR said that 0.73% of the population in surveyed districts had evidence of past exposure to SARS CoV-2 but the susceptibility to the highly infectious disease cannot be undermined. ICMR calculated that compared to rural areas, risk of spread is 1.09 times higher in urban areas and 1.89 times higher in urban slums. “Lockdown and the containment measures have been successful in keeping the positivity low in these districts preventing the rapid spread. However, it means that a large proportion of the population is still susceptible," said Dr Balram Bhargava, Director General, ICMR. The sero-surveillance was aimed at monitoring the trend of SARS-CoV-2 infection transmission in general population in India. https://www.livemint.com/news/india/less-than-1-of-general-population-contracted-covid-19-icmr-11591881944342.htmlrhampton7_{June 11, 2020
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A Catholic church in Wichita has temporarily closed after a priest tested positive for COVID-19. Matt Davied of the Church of the Magdalen said in a Facebook post on the church’s account that he underwent testing after waking up feeling ill on Wednesday. He said he is now in isolation. Since the priests live together in the rectory, a second priest is in quarantine. The Wichita Eagle reports that all Masses at the church have been suspended and live streams will be temporarily discontinued. https://www.kshb.com/news/state/kansas/wichita-priest-infected-with-covid-19-church-closesrhampton7_{June 11, 2020
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A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in June 2020 shows that the drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) suppresses a form of immunity called ‘trained immunity,’ with repercussions for its potential use to treat COVID-19. the current study adds to this knowledge via the findings that HCQ prevents the development of trained immunity via epigenetic regulation. This may be via its effect on mTOR signaling since this is a lysosome-associated enzyme transmitting information from the lysosome to the cell, and thus mediates inflammation. The data on the changes in lipids that play a key role in mTOR activation supports this reading. Since trained immunity is required to upregulate the innate immune response and so prevent infection, HCQ is less likely to be of use in preventing or clearing SARS-CoV-2 infection. This agrees with the findings of a recent randomized controlled trial that HCQ given post-exposure does not help prevent symptomatic COVID-19. The question remains whether the immunomodulatory effects of HCQ could mediate its effectiveness in severe COVID-19 by muting the cytokine storm. The researchers say this is likely to be less useful than IL-6 receptor antibodies or IL-1 receptor antagonists, and an observational study lends some support to this prediction. More research is required to test this hypothesis. They sum up: “Our findings suggest that hydroxychloroquine may not have a beneficial effect on the antiviral immune response in SARS-CoV-2 infection.” https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200611/Hydroxychloroquine-suppresses-trained-immunity.aspxrhampton7_{June 11, 2020
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wrong threadjohn_a_designer_{June 11, 2020
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BO'H, understood, we are all tired and distracted. Please note Raoult. KFkairosfocus_{June 11, 2020
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kf - Sorry, I misread what you wrote. I agree that there is a process (at least for drugs) where treatments are first tested in vitro before being tested on humans.Bob O'H_{June 11, 2020
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It looks like RHampton has gone back to doom and gloom rather than answering questions about inappropriate posts.jerry_{June 11, 2020
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I think that came out wrong
No it came out exactly right. It is just that you continually make non sequiturs. The purpose of the treatment with HCQ + is to prevent hospitalization. So how is evaluating it on this population appropriate. The best analogy I have seen is using a fire extinguisher to put out a small fire before the house is ablaze. Once the house is ablaze a fire extinguisher is useless even a lot of them. So one has to use other more drastic but less effective techniques for a burning house to save the house when ithe burning house could have been prevented in the first place. Just as one has to use more dire approaches for the widespread internal virus. People pointing to the lack of success for HCQ alone in a hospital setting is like evaluating a fire extinguisher on putting out a blazing fire. The Minnesota study was on an inappropriate population for which the outcome was the desired one. No hospitalization. So while the study was done on the wrong population the desired outcome happened. Also the oldest person was 51 in one cohort and50 in the other. You should check with someone who understands the concept of averages. By treatment we have meant for the last couple months treatment to eliminate the virus by some procedure. The only treatment so far as I know of is amelioration of symptoms with the hope that the immune system fights the virus. You probably should read the comments that have been written as well as the links provided. All this has been addressed to you several times. My guess is that you don’t read about this much.jerry_{June 11, 2020
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BO'H: that's a grammar stretch there. I am speaking of basic prudence, given serious financial costs of tests and medical issues. No treatment will go into testing without some basis, simply on risk analysis. Further to this, you need to respond to the retraction of the Lancet paper i/l/o earlier remarks and to both the Kennedy School of Government article and Raoult's submission to BMJ about HCQ+, pandemics and when gold standards fail ethically. KFkairosfocus_{June 11, 2020
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kf @ 37 -
BO’H, no treatment makes it to tests without significant evidence.
I don't think "no treatment" is used by anyone, that would be deeply unethical. What is being discussed is looking at one component of treatment. kf @ 39 -
BO’H: deaths from CV19 are heavily biased to the aged and to those with vulnerabilities
yes, I know. That's why I wrote "Yes, older people are more likely to have a severe case ...".Bob O'H_{June 11, 2020
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BO'H: deaths from CV19 are heavily biased to the aged and to those with vulnerabilities; which of course is a strongly overlapping pair of clusters. KFkairosfocus_{June 11, 2020
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Headlined from above https://uncommondescent.com/medicine/dr-raoult-roars-new-articles-on-findings-and-issues-about-hcq-cocktails-for-covid-19/kairosfocus_{June 11, 2020
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BO'H, no treatment makes it to tests without significant evidence. You need to interact with Raoult above and onward. The persistent ignoring of the elephant in the room is speaking. KFkairosfocus_{June 11, 2020
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Jerry -
So what have we learned – the wrong treatment (HCQ alone) does not work on an inappropriate population(hospitalized patients for which the treatment is too late.)
I think that came out wrong. Surely that's the most appropriate population to try to cure.
Or that nothing bad happened to an inappropriate population (young people) for which nothing bad was the expected outcome.
As far as I can see, these studies haven't been restricted to young people - the University of Minnesota study had a median age of 40, and 25% of participants were aged over 50. Also, why does age matter for deciding if HCQ + X works? Yes, older people are more likely to have a severe case, but unless there's something more going on, that will only affect the power of the study (i.e. you need more patients to get a good estimate of the effect).Bob O'H_{June 11, 2020
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kf @ 18 -
RH7 & BO’H: so soon as we are giving people facing a life threatening fast moving disease deliberately mislabeled sugar pills or the equivalent we are in gross ethical violation.
It's better than giving them an equally ineffective treatment that also has side effects, though.Bob O'H_{June 11, 2020
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The number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 in Texas has hit record highs each day this week as the state enters a third phase of reopening its economy, a situation that the Republican governor acknowledged is worth keeping an eye on. “I’m concerned, but not yet alarmed,” Governor Greg Abbott said Tuesday during an interview with Dallas CBS affiliate KTVT. Numbers from the Texas Department of State Health Services show 2,153 people were hospitalized with the disease caused by the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, up from 2,056 the day before and 1,878 on Sunday. Before Sunday, the state’s previous record of 1,888 hospitalizations was set back in early May. http://www.courthousenews.com/texas-virus-hospitalizations-break-records-as-reopening-continues/rhampton7_{June 10, 2020
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At Wednesday’s news conference with Gov. Henry McMaster, State epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell said she’s more concerned about COVID-19 in South Carolina than she’s ever been before. In the past two weeks, Bell said South Carolina has reported its highest new daily case counts since the pandemic began. Bell also addressed testing. She said though an increase in testing does typically yield more positive results, the recent uptick is not due to testing but is a consequence of not social distancing and not wearing masks. The governor said slowing the virus rests on the shoulders of the community and people need to be smart. “There’s a lot of stupid floating around out there,” he said referring to the lack of social distancing and people not taking the virus seriously. https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/south-carolina-top-health-official-concerned-about-virus-more-now-than-ever/YI54SNEM4RA25O6AGKS7C2NWNQ/rhampton7_{June 10, 2020
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Arkansas will further ease its coronavirus restrictions on businesses next week, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Wednesday, despite recent dramatic increases in the state's active cases and hospitalizations. The Republican governor decided to further reopen businesses even with the state in the midst of what he's called a second peak of the outbreak. The number of active cases, meaning ones that don't include people who have recovered or died, has increased by more than 85% since Memorial Day. Hospitalizations have increased by more than 82% in that same period. https://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/arkansas/story/2020/jun/11/arkansas-further-lift-virus-limits-despite-spike-cases/830432/rhampton7_{June 10, 2020
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