The Lancet, one of the world's top medical journals, on Thursday retracted a study that claimed the use of a drug favoured by President Donald Trump as a Covid-19 treatment was dangerous, claiming there were data inconsistencies.
Only hours later, another coronavirus paper in the New England Journal of Medicine was redacted, which was not linked to hydroxychloroquine but used the same healthcare company's patient records.
The Lancet study claimed to have retrospectively analysed some 96,000 patient records at 671 hospitals worldwide.
It found that anti-malarial drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were ineffective against Covid-19 and even increased the risk of death.
Mr Trump has promoted them as a "miracle cure" for the coronavirus and this week shipped two million doses of the drug to Brazil.
The findings published in The Lancet led the World Health Organisation to temporarily suspend clinical trials into the medicine.
But the study quickly caused concern in the scientific community due to lack of information about the countries and hospitals that contributed data.
More than 100 scientists questioned the source of the data and the methods use to analyse it.
Mandeep Mehra, a professor at Harvard University who led the research, along with Frank Ruschitzka of the University Hospital Zurich and Amit Patel of the University of Utah, said in a statement they had tried to launch a third-party peer review.
But data provider Surgisphere, a little-known healthcare analytics company based in Chicago, refused to co-operate.
"We can no longer vouch for the veracity of the primary data sources," Dr Mehra of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Dr Ruschitzka of University Hospital Zurich, and Dr Patel of the University of Utah said in a statement issued by The Lancet.
“Due to this unfortunate development, the authors request that the paper be retracted.”
Although three out of four of the authors supported the paper’s retraction, Sapan Desai, a vascular surgeon and Surgisphere's chief executive, did not join and declined to comment.
The journal’s editor, Richard Horton, expressed his dismay at the developments.
"This is a shocking example of research misconduct in the middle of a global health emergency," Horton told The Guardian.
Despite the finding apparently vindicating hydroxychloroquine's safety, there is still no proof from a randomised clinical trial that the medicine works against the virus.
A trial published on Wednesday found it was not significantly better than a placebo in preventing the disease among people who had been recently exposed to Covid-19.
But scientists broadly agree that more such tests are needed, and hydroxychloroquine should not be discounted yet.
The research scandal threatens to undermine confidence in the world's leading medical journals in the middle of a pandemic.
Researchers began to closely scrutinise The Lancet paper shortly after its publication, highlighting red flags ranging from the huge number of patients to the unusually complete information on their demographics.
The Guardian revealed that Surgisphere had a scant online presence, with only a handful of staff listed on LinkedIn, including a science fiction author and an adult model.
The company was involved in another attention-grabbing study that found the anti-parasite drug ivermectin could be useful against Covid-19.
Although this paper had not been peer-reviewed or appeared in a journal, it caused a run on the drug in Latin America where it is widely available.
While Desai and Surgisphere have been the focus of most scrutiny, the lead author of all of these papers was Dr Mehra, who is medical director at his hospital's heart and vascular centre.
Chris Chambers, a professor of psychology at Cardiff University, said the scandal "raises serious questions about the standard of editing at The Lancet and NEJM, ostensibly two of the world's most prestigious medical journals".
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Where to buy art books in the UAE
There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.
In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show.
In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.
In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.
'The Sky is Everywhere'
Director:Josephine Decker
Stars:Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon
Rating:2/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: BorrowMe (BorrowMe.com)
Date started: August 2021
Founder: Nour Sabri
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce / Marketplace
Size: Two employees
Funding stage: Seed investment
Initial investment: $200,000
Investors: Amr Manaa (director, PwC Middle East)
Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
Greatest Royal Rumble results
John Cena pinned Triple H in a singles match
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Bludgeon Brothers retain the SmackDown Tag Team titles against the Usos
Seth Rollins retains the Intercontinental title against The Miz, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe
AJ Styles remains WWE World Heavyweight champion after he and Shinsuke Nakamura are both counted out
The Undertaker beats Rusev in a casket match
Brock Lesnar retains the WWE Universal title against Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
Braun Strowman won the 50-man Royal Rumble by eliminating Big Cass last
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Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
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The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
The drill
Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”
Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”
Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”
ICC Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier 2025, Thailand
UAE fixtures
May 9, v Malaysia
May 10, v Qatar
May 13, v Malaysia
May 15, v Qatar
May 18 and 19, semi-finals
May 20, final
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Drishyam 2
Directed by: Jeethu Joseph
Starring: Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba, Murali Gopy
Rating: 4 stars
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
'The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey'
Rating: 3/5
Directors: Ramin Bahrani, Debbie Allen, Hanelle Culpepper, Guillermo Navarro
Writers: Walter Mosley
Stars: Samuel L Jackson, Dominique Fishback, Walton Goggins
