The Paroxetine 352 Bipolar Study Revisited: Deconstruction of Corporate and Academic Misconduct

Medical ghostwriting is the practice in which pharmaceutical companies engage an outside writer to draft a manuscript submitted for publication in the names of “honorary authors,” typically academic key opinion leaders. Using newly-posted documents from paroxetine litigation, we show how the use of ghostwriters and key opinion leaders contributed to the publication of a medical journal article containing manipulated outcome data to favor the proprietary medication. The article was ghostwritten and managed by SmithKline Beecham, now GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Scientific Therapeutics Information, Inc. without acknowledging their contribution in the published article. The named authors with financial ties to GSK, had little or no direct involvement in the paroxetine 352 bipolar trial results and most had not reviewed any of the manuscript drafts. The manuscript was originally rejected by peer review; however, its ultimate acceptance to the American Journal of Psychiatry was facilitated by the journal editor who also had financial ties to GSK. Thus, GSK was able to take an under-powered and non-informative trial with negative results and present it as a positive marketing vehicle for off-label promotion of paroxetine for bipolar depression. In addition to the commercial spin of paroxetine efficacy, important protocol-designated safety data were unreported that may have shown paroxetine to produce potentially harmful adverse events

Fungal Biopesticide for cattle tick and buffalo fly control

Cattle ticks and buffalo flies impose significant economic burdens on the Northern Australian cattle and dairy industries. With the increased temperatures expected under climate change the range of parasites such as these is likely to extend. Current control options for these ectoparasites are limited by problems associated with chemical resistance and residues. Fungal biopesticides offer a sustainable and promising alternative method of control. Laboratory and animal studies have established the potential for the fungus Metarhizium in tick control and provided data that suggests a secondary effect of buffalo fly control is possible. Small field trials are required to obtain a proof of concept for the control of ticks and buffalo flies on animals

Experience and relations in the metaphysics of A.N. Whitehead and F.H. Bradley

The central purpose of this thesis is to examine the affinities and contrasts in the metaphysical systems of A. N. Whitehead and F. H. Bradley. Not only does this thesis aim to explore thoroughly and show exactly where these two philosophers agree, it also attempts to provide an analysis and evaluation of the arguments where conflict does arise.After a brief introduction which sets out Whitehead's and Bradley's respective positions on philosophic method and approach to metaphysics, Chapter II "Immediate Experience and Feeling ", shows where Whitehead and Bradley unite in their reaction against the ontology of scientific materialism of the 17th century cosmology. At this point various affinities are shown concerning the central role of the doctrine of feeling. But in Chapter III "The Analysis of Experience ", Whitehead's interpretation of feeling in terms of a distinctive pluralistic ontology is seen to conflict with Bradley's doctrine, and thus the stage is set for the central Chapter IV "Relations: Internal and External ". In this chapter Whitehead is confronted with Bradley's very rigorous and exhaustive analysis of the relational form. Despite Bradley's arguments it is here concluded that Whitehead's scheme can be shown to be consistent, given various modifications of the pluralist ontology in terms of the temporal asymmetry of one -way dependence. In Chapter V "Extension and Whole -Part Relations ", an attempt is made to defend the new doctrine of event -pluralism against a recent version of the ontology of material substance; and it is shown how such an ontology of events can account for the physical bodies which make up the system of nature. In the remainder of this chapter and the following Chapter VI "Time ", special problems of space and time are raised in connection with Whitehead's and Bradley's very different conceptions of the extended universe; and various attempts are made to defend Whitehead's view of process against an eternalistic view of the universe largely consistent with the Bradleian Absolute. However in the course of evaluating the arguments, it is discovered that Whitehead's ultimate metaphysical position must make certain concessions to the theory of eternalism; and this gives rise to the final Chapter VII "God and the Absolute ", where it is concluded that Whitehead's God must be seen as an 'Absolute open at one end'. Here Whitehead and Bradley merge on the notion of universal absorption of all finite actualities into one eternal actual entity; though Whitehead's conception, in the end, differs in the sense that God is not the only real entity, but one divine actuality which is in unison of becoming with the whole of creation

Challenging Medical Ghostwriting in US Courts

Xavier Bosch and colleagues expand upon a recent analysis by Simon Stern and Trudo Lemmens in PLoS Medicine and outline areas in which authors participating in medical ghostwriting could be held legally liable

Virulence Screen of Beauveria Bassiana Isolates for Australian Carpophilus (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) Beetle Biocontrol

Carpophilus beetles are serious pests of Australian fruit and nut crops, causing significant damage through adult and larval feeding and vectoring plant diseases. Six strains of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana ((Balsamo) Vuillemin; Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae), isolated from a range of hosts in Australia, together with one commercial strain, were screened for virulence to adult and larval stages of Carpophilus attacking stone fruits (C. davidsoni (Dobson)) and almonds (C. truncatus (Murray)) under laboratory conditions. The two species differed significantly in their susceptibility to the B. bassiana isolates. In the adult beetle assay, C. truncatus had a maximum Abbott’s control corrected mortality of 19% when treated with the most effective isolate, B54, compared to 52% for C.davidsoni. In larval bioassays, mortality rates for the two species were generally higher than adults: four isolates caused greater than 80% mortality in C. davidsoni; while only one isolate was considered effective against C. truncatus (causing 73% mortality), all other isolates caused less than 40% mortality. The results indicate promising potential for B. bassiana to be applied as a biopesticide as part of an integrated pest management strategy, which might take the form of a soil application against larvae or an autodissemination program using adult beetles. View Full-Tex