Guidelines For Scientists Research Articles

Cancer in the news: Bias and quality in media reporting of cancer research.

Cancer research in the news is often associated with sensationalised and inaccurate reporting, which may give rise to false hopes and expectations. The role of study selection for cancer-related news stories is an important but less commonly acknowledged issue, as the outcomes of primary research are generally less reliable than those of meta-analyses and systematic reviews. Few studies have investigated the quality of research that makes the news and no previous analyses of the proportions of primary and secondary research in the news have been found in the literature. We analysed distribution of study types, research sources, reporting quality, gender bias, and national bias in online news reports by four major news outlets in USA, UK and Australia over six-months. We measured significant variation in reporting quality and observed biases in many aspects of cancer research reporting, including the types of study selected for coverage, the spectrum of cancer types, gender of scientists, and geographical source of research represented. We discuss the implications of these findings for guiding accurate, contextual reporting of cancer research, which is critical in helping the public understand complex science, appreciate the outcomes of publicly-funded research, maintain trust, and assist informed decision-making. The striking gender bias observed may compromise high-quality coverage of research by limiting diversity of opinion, reinforces stereotypes and skews public visibility and recognition towards male scientists. Our findings provide useful guidelines for scientists and journalists alike to consider in providing the most informative and accurate reporting of research.

Building Parasitology Communities to Promote Gender Equality

In an ideal world, there are equal opportunities for women to enter and progress in all scientific disciplines without bias or prejudice. Here, we share our experiences in building communities of women parasitology and offer easy-to-implement guidelines for scientists and institutions to overcome unconscious bias and create environments with better gender equality and diversity.

Fuzzy risk assessment for electro-optical target tracker

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evolve a guideline for scientists and development engineers to the failure behavior of electro-optical target tracker system (EOTTS) using fuzzy methodology leading to success of short-range homing guided missile (SRHGM) in which this critical subsystems is exploited. Design/methodology/approach – Technology index (TI) and fuzzy failure mode effect analysis (FMEA) are used to build an integrated framework to facilitate the system technology assessment and failure modes. Failure mode analysis is carried out for the system using data gathered from technical experts involved in design and realization of the EOTTS. In order to circumvent the limitations of the traditional failure mode effects and criticality analysis (FMECA), fuzzy FMCEA is adopted for the prioritization of the risks. FMEA parameters – severity, occurrence and detection are fuzzifed with suitable membership functions. These membership functions are used to define failure modes. Open source linear programming solver is used to solve linear equations. Findings – It is found that EOTTS has the highest TI among the major technologies used in the SRHGM. Fuzzy risk priority numbers (FRPN) for all important failure modes of the EOTTS are calculated and the failure modes are ranked to arrive at important monitoring points during design and development of the weapon system. Originality/value – This paper integrates the use of TI, fuzzy logic and experts’ database with FMEA toward assisting the scientists and engineers while conducting failure mode and effect analysis to prioritize failures toward taking corrective measure during the design and development of EOTTS.

Reporting Experiments in Homeopathic Basic Research (REHBaR)

The aim of this study was to develop a criteria catalogue serving as a guideline for authors to improve quality of Reporting Experiments in Homeopathic Basic Research (REHBaR). Main focus was in the field of biochemical and biological experiments. So far, there was no guideline for scientists and authors available, unlike criteria catalogues common in clinical research. A Delphi Process was conducted among experts who published experimental work within the last five years in this field. The process included a total of five rounds, three rounds of adjusting and phrasing plus two consensus conferences. A checklist of 23 items was achieved, augmented with detailed examples how to handle each item while compiling a publication. Background, objectives and possible hypotheses are necessary to be given in the part 'introduction'. The section 'materials and methods' is the most important part, where a detailed description of chosen controls, object of investigation, experimental setup, replication, parameters, intervention, allocation, blinding, and statistical methods is mandatory. In the 'results' section sufficient details on analysed data, descriptive as well as inferential are needed. Moreover, authors should discuss their results and interpret them in the context of current evidence. REHBaR was compiled for authors when preparing their manuscripts, and to be used by scientific journals in the reviewing process. Reporting experiments in basic research in homeopathy is an important issue to state the quality and validity of gained results. A guideline for REHBaR seemed to be the first step to come to a commitment what information is necessary to be given in a paper. More than that, the catalogue can serve as a statement what the standards in good basic research should be.

Deciphering the Subunit Composition of Multimeric Proteins by Counting Photobleaching Steps

The limit of subdiffraction imaging with fluorescent proteins currently lies at 20 nm, and therefore most protein complexes are too small (2-5 nm) to spatially resolve their individual subunits by optical means. However, the number and stoichiometry of subunits within an immobilized protein complex can be resolved by the observation of photobleaching steps of individual fluorophores or co-localization of single-molecule fluorescence emission in multiple colors. We give an overview of the proteins that have been investigated by this approach and the different techniques that can be used to immobilize and label the proteins. This minireview should serve as a guideline for scientists who want to employ single-molecule subunit counting for their research.

Enhancement of PM2.5 exposure estimation using PM10 observations.

The adverse consequences of particulate matter (PM) inhalation on human health are well documented. Most of the epidemiological work assessing the health impacts of PM exposure concentrates on PM2.5, however, many of the PM monitoring records available for retrospective studies are of coarser PM10 data. This study explores the possibility to simulate PM2.5 data using PM10 records and assesses the trade-off between introduction of the unavoidable simulation errors and the improved spatial coverage enabled by the simulated series. Several modelling approaches are studied, bearing in mind the range of exposure time scales typical to environmental epidemiology studies. The modelling capability is evaluated by cross-testing between three stations observing both the PM2.5 and PM10 fractions. The trade-off between improved spatial coverage and simulation errors is assessed using leave-one-out cross-validation interpolations. Interpolations including both original and simulated data resulted in richer spatial patterns. Their cross-validated performance was comparable to or slightly better than that obtained using the original PM2.5 data only. The study provides methodologies and guidelines for scientists and practitioners on how to properly exploit their PM10 data to enhance their PM2.5 spatial coverage and minimise investment in new PM2.5 monitoring.

Objective Measurement of Physical Activity and Diet—New Technologies and Standards: The NIH Genes, Environment and Health Initiative for Technology Development

This symposium addressed the ongoing development of new technologies for the objective measurement of physical activity and diet and efforts to provide best practice guidelines for scientists developing, evaluating and using existing and new technologies for the objective measurement of physical activity. The research projects discussed and the workshop overview presented are components of the Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI) of the National Institutes of Health. The rationale, plans and progress of the GEI physical activity and diet initiative were presented. Detailed presentations described 2 projects focused on the use of mobile phone based systems designed to collect, process and store data; 1 uses multiple wireless accelerometers to detect body movement and the other uses a camera built into a mobile phone and advanced software to quantify dietary intake. Given the rapid development of new accelerometer-based physical activity measurement devices and analytical approaches, it is important that best practices be used by scientists and practitioners using theses devices. An overview of a “best practices” workshop held in July 2009 was presented. The presentations and discussions during this symposium made evident the progress, potential and challenges of implementing advanced technologies to enhance the measurement of physical activity and diet.

Proposal of a new editorial policy for EHPM and Nippon Eiseigaku Zasshi

Proposal of a new editorial policy for EHPM and Nippon Eiseigaku Zasshi

Evaluation of methods for determining adverse impacts of air pollution on terrestrial ecosystems

Methods used to determine adverse impacts of air pollution on four levels of biological organization of terrestrial ecosystems were evaluated for their use in decision making by federal land managers of class I areas and as guidelines for scientists employed to design field studies in these areas. At the level of the individual, visible injury, biomass, and sulfur uptake were the most often used components; at the population level, natality and mortality; at the community level, diversity; and at the ecosystem level, biogeochemical cycling. Most studies focused on structural responses of individual organisms. These components are relatively sensitive and are easy and inexpensive to measure; however, linkages of these parameters to adverse impacts on populations, communities, or ecosystems are lacking. Measurements of effects of air pollution at the higher levels of organization are confounded by natural variability, long response times, climatic variation, pathogens, and other factors. In addition, the lack of replication and of true control areas creates severe problems for design of monitoring programs and testing of hypotheses concerning effects.