Forget about masks, wear a jade amulet
The most interesting recalled articles of 2020
Lydia Sorokina, XX2 century
For links, see the original article – VM.
Over the past year, scientific journals have withdrawn more than a hundred articles on COVID-19. But research on other topics also did not go unnoticed: the publications "removed" previously published works on homeopathic medicines, a black hole from DNA (don't ask) and even photos of doctors in bikinis. The XX2 Century tells about the most interesting recalled articles that caused an active controversy in social networks.
From beheading birds to covid–themed fantasies
"After reading this article, my jaw dropped," the microbiologist wrote Elisabeth Bik on the work "5G and the introduction of coronavirus into skin cells" (5G Technology and induction of coronavirus in skin cells). The name is promising, isn't it? The authors of the article (including employees of Moscow Sechenov University) claim that it was the 5G towers that led to the epidemic. How? According to would-be specialists, electromagnetic waves emitted by 5G equipment are absorbed by skin cells, which, in turn, produce new nucleotides and produce coronaviruses. "Why cells produce coronaviruses, and not other viruses, cats, roses or dollar bills, remains a mystery," Elizabeth Bick says ironically.
By the way, the authors of the work did not conduct any experiments, but supplemented their article with strange formulas and diagrams. One of the authors – Alireza Sepehri, an astrophysicist known for having previously beheaded 400 birds to prove that they can live without a head. Seperi also implanted beans in birds to "give birth to a new life." He also claimed that "a woman's DNA emits waves that are suppressed by male DNA," and water has a memory.
Fortunately, after numerous outrages by scientists and scientific journalists, the article about 5G was withdrawn. However, it is depressing that it was published at all – and the work appeared on the pages of the Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents, which is indexed by PubMed.
We stock up on jade amulets
And a little more "coronabred": magazine Science of the Total Environment has published an extremely strange article, according to which jade amulets can be saved from covid. The authors of the work told the world that COVID-19 is caused by magnetic anomalies. The idea about anomalies appeared like this: once the leading author of the work Moses Bility was suddenly taken ill by laboratory rats. Biliti recalls that "12 hours ago they were healthy animals, and now they were falling and could not breathe." In February and March 2020, especially a lot of mice died with such symptoms, and the scientist and colleagues came to the conclusion that changes in the Earth's magnetic field were to blame for this. But just at this time, COVID-19 cases appeared in the USA and around the world! So Moses and his colleagues came to the conclusion that SARS-CoV-2 is a virus already existing in the human genome that "wakes up" with changes in the Earth's magnetic field (as social media users rightly noted, "the main thing is not to think about this nonsense").
And why do jade amulets help from covid? Maybe the authors of the work conducted experiments during which they came to this conclusion? No. Scientists just remembered that jade amulets supposedly saved the inhabitants of ancient China during "unfavorable geomagnetic conditions."
After criticizing the article, its authors themselves asked that the publication be withdrawn.
Are Muslims worse at coping with pain?
Back in 2020, a rather interesting article was withdrawn, the authors of which came to the following conclusion: Muslim patients are especially sensitive to pain. The study was published in the German journal Der Ophthalmolog. The authors, ophthalmologists, stated that Muslims allegedly complain of painful sensations more often than representatives of other religions, and like to emphasize how much they suffer. However, doctors made these conclusions based, in particular, on the words of nurses, and the sources of some statements were simply absent. When the article was withdrawn, the authors "agreed that the publication did not meet the scientific criteria."
So are protective masks needed or not?
Probably, only a lazy person has not read numerous arguments about whether protective masks are effective during a pandemic. In April 2020, an article appeared in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, according to which masks do not save from infection. However, only four volunteers participated in the study based on the materials of which it was written, which caused a lot of criticism of both scientists and editors of the journal. As a result, the article was withdrawn a few months later, but the Internet still likes to refer to researchers who allegedly proved the uselessness of masks.
WHO , meanwhile , advises: "Develop the habit of wearing a mask in crowded places. In order to maximize the effectiveness of masks, they must be properly used, stored, processed and disposed of."
Masks are useful to wear during a pandemic. Publishing articles in scientific journals with a sample of four people is not very good.
Forget about a bikini if you're a vascular surgeon
Practically no withdrawn article remains without the attention of Internet users. The publication in the Journal of Vascular Surgery attracted particular attention: in response to it, a real flash mob #medbikini broke out. According to the publication, doctors who post their own photos in swimsuits on social networks demonstrate unprofessionalism to the world. Facebook Insta-social network The authors of the study concluded that out of 480 young vascular surgeons, 235 had public accounts on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. And 26% of these 235 doctors posted "unprofessional content" that colleagues, patients or potential employers could see.
After outraged doctors criticized the article, its authors apologized on Twitter. The publication about surgeons in bikinis was withdrawn, and the editors of the Journal of Vascular Surgery promised to be more circumspect in the future.
Homeopathy will not save you from impotence
In the summer of 2020, the International Journal of Impotence Research withdrew an article by our compatriot Oleg Epstein about the impaza drug, which is produced by his company Materia Medica Holding. According to biologist Alexander Panchin, "The active substance in impase is antibodies to human endothelial NO-synthase. The problem is that these antibodies are "applied to lactose monohydrate in the form of a water-alcohol mixture with a content of no more than 10 in minus the fifteenth ng /g of the active form of the active substance." This means that there is no active substance in the preparation. As in other preparations of the company: anaferon, ergoferon, tenotene, sublette, proprotene and others. In other words, we are faced with homeopathy manufacturers who pretend to make normal medicines." Previously at Oleg Epstein has already been recalled by four "homeopathic" articles, and two more publications have been marked as "doubtful".
The editorial board of the "XX2 century" reminds that homeopathy is a pseudoscience, and advises no one to purchase homeopathic medicines.
Who inherits Mom's temperament?
2020 did not spare the spouses either Israfil (Israfil) – Azer and Natiga. These working in In Saudi Arabia and Turkey, doctors came to the conclusion that temperament is inherited – and it is transmitted to girls from dads, and to boys from moms (this conclusion arose as a result of "long–term observations" of acquaintances, patients, relatives and friends of the Israfil couple). In addition, the couple are sure that a certain "temperament gene" is located on the X chromosome (because "temperament is not transmitted from father to son"). "This article is purely theoretical and does not rely on any scientific research," the editorial board of Meta Gene magazine concluded after numerous criticism of the publication. "We have changed the process of editing and reviewing articles to prevent such situations in the future."
After the article was withdrawn, Azer Israfil said "thank you" to the critics: thanks to them, as it seemed to him, the scientific community became interested in the topic of inheritance of temperament.
A hole in the center of the Earth and not only
"Recently, some NASA scientists have stated that there may be a structure similar to a black hole in the center of the Earth. <...> This black hole is the main reason for the high temperature of the Earth's core, the appearance of the Earth's magnetic field, as well as the force of gravity that allows the Earth to rotate around the Sun." No, this is not an excerpt from paranientific fiction, but a phrase from a withdrawn study published in the Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences. By the way, one of the authors of the work, Massimo Fioranelli, is a very versatile person: he is also the author of a work on the connection of coronavirus with 5G towers.
According to the authors of the work, "a black hole consisting of dark DNA" is 109 times larger than the Earth's core, and also exchanges information with the DNA of living organisms and is associated with "some water molecules", helping the latter to store information and "have memory".
Thirteen people signed up for it. All the employees of the scientific centers of Rome, Florence, Belgrade, Hanoi are physicists, biologists, dermatologists (for some reason), even one clinical psychiatrist. The latter, of course, is especially amazing.
Take care of yourself. And do not turn off critical perception, even when reading articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
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