Comprehensive Library Of Resveratrol News

In recent days allegations of scientific fraud by a leading researcher who has conducted experiments using resveratrol, a red wine molecule, have been aired. Negative news report have cast a pall over the idea of drinking red wine or red wine pills as an elixir for what ails the heart. Was the science behind red wine pills all made up, as one popular radio commentator recently said? Preventive cardiologist Nate E. Lebowitz, M.D., FACC, with the Advanced Cardiology Institute in Ft. Lee, New Jersey, answers questions on this topic:

Read the whole post »

As one can learn from the following 2006 report in NATURE METHODS, western blot tests are a perfect tool to out any vulnerable scientist.

According to the following report, 25% of accepted manuscripts contained at least one “inappropriately manipulated figure,” but obviously the authors of these papers did not all face expulsion from their institutions as did Dr. Das. This report in Nature Methods does not say that editors also reject papers where western blot images that are not of sufficient quality to be reproduced, forcing authors to enhanced the images. But it should. Furthermore, apparently most of these cases involve researchers who did not have intent to deceive.

The question arises, why didn’t the editors of the 11 journals involving 26 papers submitted by Dr. Das ever catch these “altered images” in their peer review and scientific integrity efforts? It seems to me researchers should submit raw images and let the journals take all the ethical criticism rather than risk their careers over this. Would firing 25% of the researchers fix the problem? Obviously no. But it’s OK to pillory Dr. Das.

Read the whole post »

Was An Award-Winning Researcher Falsely Accused Of Scientific Fraud And His Career Destroyed To Send A Message To Any Researcher Who Dares To Cooperate With Resveratrol Pill Makers?

In recent days a clear message has been sent to laboratory investigators – cooperate with a resveratrol pill maker and your career will be over. And this is not the first time this has happened.

Leading resveratrol researcher accused of fraudulent science

If you were listening to Rush Limbaugh on the radio in the past week you heard him impugn the work of East-Indian born researcher, Dipak Das PhD., a University of Connecticut researcher widely known for his work in studying resveratrol (rez-vair-ah-troll), a red wine molecule, for heart health.

According to Limbaugh and over 300 news agencies, Dr. Das is unequivocally guilty of doctoring tests that measure the amount of proteins in tissues, a test called a western blot. The University of Connecticut, Dr. Das’ employer, released a damning report that appears to present undeniable evidence that Dr. Das had doctored images on his office computer and published those images in a scientific journal in 2008.

The fraud that wasn’t fraud

But hold on. The alleged faulty tests in no way altered the outcome of his research studies. The western blot test was only one of many tests used to draw scientific conclusions in published studies. Furthermore, other independent labs, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) itself, validated Dr. Das’ work, as did researchers in Europe and Japan.

Read the whole post »

January 12, 2012: An East Indian researcher accused of scientific misconduct by a University of Connecticut Health Center review board claims all of the allegations against him can be “easily refuted” and that the charges against him involve prejudice within the university against Indian researchers. Six other East Indian researchers were also named as “potential respondents” to charges of scientific fraud, but no researchers of other ethnicities.

Scott Tips, a California-based attorney representing the accused, Dr. Dipak Das, calls into question the following irregularities in the University’s 600-page report which claims Dr. Das doctored images of tests conducted at his laboratory or instructed others to doctor them. Some of these irregularities include:

Read the whole post »