Editor Of Lancet Research Articles

After the storm: an objective appraisal of the efficacy of c-kit+ cardiac progenitor cells in preclinical models of heart disease.

The falsification of data related to c-kit+ cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) by a Harvard laboratory has been a veritable tragedy. Does this fraud mean that CPCs are not beneficial in models of ischemic cardiomyopathy? At least 50 studies from 26 laboratories independent of the Harvard group have reported beneficial effects of CPCs in mice, rats, pigs, and cats. The mechanism of action remains unclear. Our group has shown that CPCs do not engraft in the diseased heart, do not differentiate into new cardiac myocytes, do not regenerate dead myocardium, and thus work via paracrine mechanisms. A casualty of the misconduct at Harvard has been the SCIPIO trial, a collaboration between the Harvard group and the group in Louisville. The retraction of the SCIPIO paper was caused exclusively by issues with data generated at Harvard, not those generated in Louisville. In the retraction notice, the Lancet editors stated: "Although we do not have any reservations about the clinical work in Louisville that used the preparations from Anversa's laboratory in good faith, the lack of reliability regarding the laboratory work at Harvard means that we are now retracting this paper". We must be careful not to dismiss all work on CPCs because of one laboratory's misconduct. An unbiased review of the literature supports the therapeutic potential of CPCs for heart failure at the preclinical level.

Scathing COVID-19 book from Lancet editor — rushed but useful

Richard Horton skewers leaders in two of the richest, most powerful and scientifically advanced countries for getting it so wrong. Richard Horton skewers leaders in two of the richest, most powerful and scientifically advanced countries for getting it so wrong.

Lancet Editor Takes Aim at a Dominant Form of Medical Evidence: Systematic Reviews

Lancet Editor Takes Aim at a Dominant Form of Medical Evidence: Systematic Reviews

Preprints with The Lancet: joining online research discussion platforms

Preprints with The Lancet: joining online research discussion platforms

Peter Sands: charting a new course for The Global Fund

Peter Sands had a stormy start before taking up his new position as Executive Director of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on March 5, 2018. He was plunged into controversy last month after the decision by The Global Fund's senior management team to partner with Heineken, among other multinationals, and the implications for global health. The organisation, which invests and raises almost US$4 billion each year, is the world's largest public–private partnership set up to finance programmes to treat and prevent these three diseases and strengthen national health systems in the long term. The Global Fund under Peter SandsWithin the space of a few short weeks, the reputation of Peter Sands, incoming Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, has gone from respected to reckless according to some critics. In an Offline column last November, The Lancet's Editor offered an unreserved welcome to Sands, praising his “credibility” and “refreshing new vision”. Sands had assiduously built a compelling argument for governments to take the economic costs of infectious diseases more seriously. Full-Text PDF Offline: Who is Peter Sands?The appointment of a new Executive Director to lead the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria was not a tidy process. The first attempt to find a successor to Mark Dybul ended in ignominious failure, with questions raised, variously, about the moral probity and conflicts of interest of several prominent candidates. The Global Fund Board tried again. Four names made it through to the final shortlist. And then disaster seemed to strike once more. One candidate, Peter Sands, withdrew his name for “personal reasons”. Full-Text PDF Stop the toasts: the Global Fund's disturbing new partnershipIn the preface to Heather Wipfli's history of WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), she recounts how when she joined WHO to work on the FCTC, a recent fellow graduate from her masters programme invited her to lunch. He had been hired as a consultant for the alcohol industry which, in his words, was “petrified by the progress of the FCTC and believed that they would be the next target.”1 His role was to collect “intelligence on the process to help the industry prepare a defence”.1 Close to 20 years later, it is safe to say that the alcohol industry was largely successful. Full-Text PDF Partnering over the limit: The Global Fund's brewing crisisWe strongly disagree with the recent comments from Peter Sands, the new executive director of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.1 In response to serious concerns from civil society,2 researchers,3 journals,4 and national representatives5,6 about The Global Fund's partnership with Heineken, Sands states that “the global health community needs to engage the private sector more rather than less…Because if we really want to achieve the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] and build more resilient health systems, we need to partner with the private sector to leverage their resources and their capabilities to innovate.”1 This statement seems to reflect a corporate logic that engagement with industries—all industries, regardless of their products and effect—is both inevitable and beneficial in all areas. Full-Text PDF

Moving pictures: Highlights 2016 open for submissions

Last autumn the image of a young Syrian boy lying dead on a Turkish beach highlighted the humanitarian plight of refugees and influenced public opinion. The photograph of Alan Kurdi spoke to people more powerfully than any words could have done. Photographs can move us, enrage us, challenge our ideas, and provoke us to action. Other pictures can bring joy and hope. In last year's Lancet Highlights photography competition, one of the winning images showed a 5-year-old boy in Zimbabwe looking in a mirror with rapt attention at his newly repaired cleft lip. These two pictures remind us how photographs capture a moment in a powerful and moving way. Images can highlight an important health issue and we invite readers to send us photographs for our annual photography competition, Highlights 2016. Whether your focus is local or global, we want you to send us photographs that surprise and move us by telling a story about health today. We are interested in photographs that capture any health issue in a thought-provoking way. As in previous years, The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health will run the competition together. Winning photographs will be published in The Lancet's final issue of 2016 and could be selected for the front cover of The Lancet Global Health. Each entry should be submitted with 300 accompanying words that put the image in context. Submissions should not have been previously published in print or online. If a person or patient is featured then you must obtain and keep written consent from the individual or, where this is not an option, their next of kin. Please complete the patient consent section of the author statements form while retaining copies of the signed forms. We also encourage you to submit any additional media to support your submission online, such as video or audio features. All photographs—colour or black and white—should be submitted through our online editorial submission system, along with the required text and any supporting material for online publication. Please select Lancet Photograph as the article type. If a digital camera is used please set it to the highest possible quality setting and submit images as JPEG files. If you are using a film camera please submit an 8 × 11 inch glossy print to The Lancet in the post. The entries will be judged by Lancet editors and there will be a £300 prize for winning entries. The deadline for entries is Nov 7, 2016. So share your photos with The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health: we look forward to looking at the stories you capture.

Highlights 2015: a picture of health.

It's that time of year again when we ask Lancet readers to submit photographs for our annual Highlights photography competition. We are looking for striking images that arrest our attention about any topic in medicine, from global health to clinical medicine, from the individual person to populations. An image can be a powerful way to tell a story. As we have seen with past Highlights winners, your photographs about the health stories that speak to you capture important moments in clinical and global health. Last year's beautiful selection of winning photographs included images about neonatal care in Africa, the work of midwives in Afghanistan, the life of sex workers in India, and the importance of community health workers in bringing health care to homes. We are interested in photographs from any country and invite readers to submit photographs to Highlights 2015 that capture any health issue in a thought-provoking way. As in previous years, The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health will run the competition together. Winning photographs will be published in The Lancet's final issue of 2015 and might also be selected for the front cover of The Lancet Global Health. Each entry should be submitted with 300 accompanying words that put the image in context. Submissions should not have been previously published in print or online. If a person or patient is featured then you must obtain and keep written consent from the individual or, where this is not an option, their next of kin. Please complete the patient consent section of the author statements form while retaining copies of the signed forms. We also encourage you to submit any additional media to support your submission online, such as video or audio features. All photographs—colour or black and white—should be submitted through our online editorial submission system, along with the required text and any supporting material for online publication. Please select Lancet Photograph as the article type. If a digital camera is used please set it to the highest possible quality setting and submit images as JPEG files. If you are using a film camera please submit an 8 × 11 inch glossy print to The Lancet in the post. The entries will be judged by Lancet editors and there will be a £300 prize for winning entries. The deadline for entries is Nov 12, 2015. So share your photos with The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health: we look forward to seeing what health stories you capture. To submit your photographs go to http://ees.elsevier.com/thelancet/For the Lancet author statements and consent see http://www.thelancet.com/pb/assets/raw/Lancet/authors/tl-author-signatures.pdf To submit your photographs go to http://ees.elsevier.com/thelancet/ For the Lancet author statements and consent see http://www.thelancet.com/pb/assets/raw/Lancet/authors/tl-author-signatures.pdf

Highlights 2015: a picture of health

www.thelancet.com Vol 386 July 11, 2015 119 It’s that time of year again when we ask Lancet readers to submit photographs for our annual Highlights photography competition. We are looking for striking images that arrest our attention about any topic in medicine, from global health to clinical medicine, from the individual person to populations. An image can be a powerful way to tell a story. As we have seen with past Highlights winners, your photographs about the health stories that speak to you capture important moments in clinical and global health. Last year’s beautiful selection of winning photographs included images about neonatal care in Africa, the work of midwives in Afghanistan, the life of sex workers in India, and the importance of community health workers in bringing health care to homes. We are interested in photographs from any country and invite readers to submit photographs to Highlights 2015 that capture any health issue in a thoughtprovoking way. As in previous years, The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health will run the competition together. Winning photographs will be published in The Lancet’s fi nal issue of 2015 and might also be selected for the front cover of The Lancet Global Health. Each entry should be submitted with 300 accompanying words that put the image in context. Submissions should not have been previously published in print or online. If a person or patient is featured then you must obtain and keep written consent from the individual or, where this is not an option, their next of kin. Please complete the patient consent section of the author statements form while retaining copies of the signed forms. We also encourage you to submit any additional media to support your submission online, such as video or audio features. All photographs—colour or black and white— should be submitted through our online editorial submission system, along with the required text and any supporting material for online publication. Please select Lancet Photograph as the article type. If a digital camera is used please set it to the highest possible quality setting and submit images as JPEG fi les. If you are using a fi lm camera please submit an 8 × 11 inch glossy print to The Lancet in the post. The entries will be judged by Lancet editors and there will be a £300 prize for winning entries. The deadline for entries is Nov 12, 2015. So share your photos with The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health: we look forward to seeing what health stories you capture.

The future hospital – implications for acute care

The future hospital – implications for acute care

Retraction—Valsartan in a Japanese population with hypertension and other cardiovascular disease (Jikei Heart Study): a randomised, open-label, blinded endpoint morbidity-mortality study

The Lancet published the Jikei Heart Study in April, 2007. 1 Mochizuki S Dahlof B Shimizu M et al. Valsartan in a Japanese population with hypertension and other cardiovascular disease (Jikei Heart Study): a randomised, open-label, blinded endpoint morbidity-mortality study. Lancet. 2007; 369: 1431-1439 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (321) Google Scholar On July 31, 2013, we were informed by Professor Kazuhiro Hashimoto (Jikei University) that there had been a press conference on July 30 reporting an interim conclusion from an internal investigation into this research. The report considered that “The data on blood pressure are not reliable…”. Given this finding, we now wish to retract the Jikei Heart Study on the grounds that we no longer have confidence in the published results. RETRACTED: Valsartan in a Japanese population with hypertension and other cardiovascular disease (Jikei Heart Study): a randomised, open-label, blinded endpoint morbidity-mortality studyThe addition of valsartan to conventional treatment prevented more cardiovascular events than supplementary conventional treatment. These benefits cannot be entirely explained by a difference in blood pressure control. Full-Text PDF Retraction of the Jikei Heart Study: misquotation of a CommentThe Lancet Editors recently announced (Sept 7, p 843)1 the retraction of the Jikei Heart Study. The Editors stated that when the Jikei Heart Study2 was first published, “Staessen and Richart3 congratulated the investigators on their report.” However, this citation would have been much more balanced had the Editors also quoted the next sentence of our Comment:3 “Nevertheless, one should not accept at face value the main conclusions of the Jikei report”. We clearly listed the many weaknesses of the study, including inadequate sample size, insufficient dosing of study medications, the weakness of soft endpoints, the open-blinded-label endpoint assessment that did not account for bias in reporting endpoints by unblinded investigators, the between-group differences in blood pressure during the early phase of the randomised follow-up, and the lack of generalisability to general practice. Full-Text PDF Research misconduct and scientific integrity: a call for a global forumRecent data falsification in clinical trials of an antihypertensive drug—valsartan—including the Jikei Heart Study published in The Lancet, has damaged the scientific integrity of the Japanese medical community, but it has also provoked a discussion on how to prevent research misconduct.1–3 Such large-scale misconduct might not be an isolated event. It is critical for the Japanese Government and the medical community to examine and report exactly what happened to recover their credibility in clinical research. Full-Text PDF

Highlights 2013: health through the lens.

The worn out shoes of a 6-year-old girl in a Tanzanian orphanage. Counterfeit drugs in a back street of Lahore. Prostheses made from recycled material used by landmine victims in Cambodia. Children collecting water from a pump in Haiti. The hands of an elderly woman with severe rheumatoid arthritis in a remote African village. A window in a medical school hostel in Kathmandu, Nepal, repaired with old radiographs and CT scans. These are just some of the images that have featured in The Lancet’s annual Highlights photography competition since 2009. The fl eeting moment captured in a photograph can be a powerful way to highlight health stories from around the world—from global health to clinical medicine, from the individual person to populations. We invite readers to submit photographs to Highlights 2013 that capture any health issue in a compelling way. This year The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health will run the competition together. Winning photographs will be published in The Lancet’s fi nal issue of 2013 and might also be selected for the front cover of The Lancet Global Health. Each entry should be submitted with 300 accompanying words that put the image in context. Submissions should not have been previously published in print or online. If a person or patient is featured then you must obtain and keep written consent from the individual or, where this is not an option, their next of kin. Please complete the patient consent section of the Author statements form while retaining copies of the signed forms. We also encourage you to submit any additional media to support your submission online, such as video or audio features. All photographs—colour or black and white—should be submitted through our online editorial submission system, along with the required text and any supporting material for online publication. Please select Lancet Photograph as the article type. If a digital camera is used please set it to the highest possible quality setting and submit images as JPEG fi les. If you are using a fi lm camera please submit an 8×11 inch glossy print to The Lancet in the post. The entries will be judged by Lancet editors and there will be a £300 prize for winning entries. The deadline for entries is Nov 12, 2013. So share your photos with The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health: we look forward to seeing them.

Highlights 2013: health through the lens

The worn out shoes of a 6-year-old girl in a Tanzanian orphanage. Counterfeit drugs in a back street of Lahore. Prostheses made from recycled material used by landmine victims in Cambodia. Children collecting water from a pump in Haiti. The hands of an elderly woman with severe rheumatoid arthritis in a remote African village. A window in a medical school hostel in Kathmandu, Nepal, repaired with old radiographs and CT scans. These are just some of the images that have featured in The Lancet’s annual Highlights photography competition since 2009. The fl eeting moment captured in a photograph can be a powerful way to highlight health stories from around the world—from global health to clinical medicine, from the individual person to populations. We invite readers to submit photographs to Highlights 2013 that capture any health issue in a compelling way. This year The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health will run the competition together. Winning photographs will be published in The Lancet’s fi nal issue of 2013 and might also be selected for the front cover of The Lancet Global Health. Each entry should be submitted with 300 accompanying words that put the image in context. Submissions should not have been previously published in print or online. If a person or patient is featured then you must obtain and keep written consent from the individual or, where this is not an option, their next of kin. Please complete the patient consent section of the Author statements form while retaining copies of the signed forms. We also encourage you to submit any additional media to support your submission online, such as video or audio features. All photographs—colour or black and white—should be submitted through our online editorial submission system, along with the required text and any supporting material for online publication. Please select Lancet Photograph as the article type. If a digital camera is used please set it to the highest possible quality setting and submit images as JPEG fi les. If you are using a fi lm camera please submit an 8×11 inch glossy print to The Lancet in the post. The entries will be judged by Lancet editors and there will be a £300 prize for winning entries. The deadline for entries is Nov 12, 2013. So share your photos with The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health: we look forward to seeing them.

Expression of concern—Effect of tesofensine on bodyweight loss, body composition, and quality of life in obese patients: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

In 2008, The Lancet published a phase 2 study of tesofensine as an adjunct to a hypocaloric diet in the treatment of obesity. 1 Astrup A Madsbad S Breum L Jensen TJ Kroustrup JP Larsen TM Effect of tesofensine on bodyweight loss, body composition, and quality of life in obese patients: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2008; 372: 1906-1913 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (150) Google Scholar The study was also published in Ugeskrift for Læger.2 Nielsen AL Larsen TM Madsbad S et al. The effect of tesofensine on body weight and body composition in obese subjects—secondary publication [Article in Danish]. Ugeskr Laeger. 2009; 171: 2974-2977 PubMed Google Scholar In 2011, The Danish Health and Medicines Authority decided to inspect completed trials at random. This study was among those selected and was inspected in November of that year. Concerns were expressed about two of the five sites where the trial was undertaken, and were brought to the attention of The Lancet in 2012 by the Article's corresponding author. Effect of tesofensine on bodyweight loss, body composition, and quality of life in obese patients: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trialOur results suggest that tesofensine 0·5 mg might have the potential to produce a weight loss twice that of currently approved drugs. However, these findings of efficacy and safety need confirmation in phase III trials. Full-Text PDF Under-reporting of adverse effects of tesofensineThe Lancet Editors (April 6, p 1167)1 recently expressed concern regarding issues raised by the Danish Health and Medicines Authority (DHMA) audit2 of two of the five clinical sites and the sponsor of our study reported in The Lancet.3 We appreciate this opportunity to clarify the issues. Full-Text PDF

Highlights 2012: camera, action

www.thelancet.com Vol 380 July 14, 2012 93 We are once again accepting entries to our annual Highlights competition, now in its fourth year. We invite anyone working or training in a health-related profession to submit eye-catching and thoughtprovoking images, relevant to an aspect of international health. One need only glance at last year’s winning entries (fi gure) to appreciate what a powerful way this is to focus attention on a health issue, perhaps even revealing it in a new light. It is often said that a photograph captures a moment forever, and wherever you are capturing a moment, be it Sweden, Somalia, or somewhere else in the world, we ask entrants to seize this opportunity and submit original photographs that are visually arresting and engaging. Each entry should be submitted with 300 accompanying words to contextualise the image and submissions should not have been published anywhere else, either in print or online. If a person or patient is featured then you must obtain and keep written consent from the individual or, where this is not an option, their next of kin. Please use the Lancet consent form. We also encourage you to submit any additional media to support your submission online, such as video or audio features. All photographs (including colour and black and white) should be submitted through our online editorial submission system, along with the required text and any supporting material for online publication. Please select ‘Lancet Photograph’ as the article type. If a digital camera is used please set it to the highest possible quality setting and submit images as JPEG fi les. If you are using a fi lm camera please submit an 8 × 11 inch glossy print to The Lancet in the post. The entries will be judged by Lancet Editors and winning photographs published in the fi nal issue of 2012. There will be a £300 prize for winning entries. The deadline for entries is October 26.

GRIST: Growing Recruitment in Interventional and Surgical Trials

GRIST: Growing Recruitment in Interventional and Surgical Trials

The Wakley Prize 2011: all that matters

Out of a bulging (electronic) postbag of entries for the 2011 Wakley Essay Prize, The Lancet's editors have selected a winner: Jo Stutchbury of Newcastle University, UK. We asked for the sharpest writing, and this piece—the first ever winning essay by a medical student—cuts deep. Who's meant to be teaching us?“Who's meant to be teaching you?” Full-Text PDF

To the Editors of The Lancet: Professor Lustig's Plague Serum

To the Editors of The Lancet: Professor Lustig's Plague Serum

Let there be light: The Wakley Prize 2011

In 1823, reformer Thomas Wakley chose to call his medical journal The Lancet as a play on words: his publication would both illuminate, like a lancet window, and “cut out the dross” like a surgical instrument. In his introduction to the fi rst issue, Wakley signalled his intent to make his publication accessible to as wide an audience as possible, promising to “exclude from our pages the semibarbarous phraseology of the Schools, and adopt as its substitute, plain English diction”. This year, we would like to invite entrants for the Wakley Prize to do the same. We are looking for the brightest and sharpest essays about a topic of importance to health. Whether you are a medical student starting your fi rst year, a mid-career researcher working on a health-related project, a retiring consultant looking back on decades of change and innovation, or a front-line nurse or paramedic describing the day-to-day challenges you face, we want to hear your story, and your opinions. We invite submissions from professionals or students in any health-related specialty. Essays should be no longer than 2000 words and must be submitted by Oct 11, 2011 through the journal’s electronic submission system, specifying “Wakley Prize” as the article type. The winner, as judged by Lancet editors (with authors’ identities masked), will receive £2000 and publication in the fi nal issue of the year. We hope the winning essay will move, entertain, and cast fresh light on the medical world.

Calling all photographers: Highlights 2011

Clowns, windowpanes, prostheses, and footdrop have all been the subject of winning entries in The Lancet’s annual Highlights photography competition (fi gure), now in its third year. Images can transcend barriers of language, demography, and status, and off er the viewer an unparalleled opportunity to share another person’s experience. As perinatal bereavement photographer Todd Hochberg wrote in his Art of Medicine essay earlier this year, a photograph can also validate—in his case “life and loss, affi rmation of parenthood, and confi rmation of...death”. We invite you to share your experiences, in photo graphic form, of life as a health professional or student, whether from a personal, clinical, or global health perspective. Photographs should be striking, thought-provoking, and of course original, and should not have been published previously online or in print. For photographs of people or patients, the person’s written consent to publication, or that of the next of kin, must be obtained and stored with the photographer. Please use The Lancet’s consent form. To accompany the photograph, please write 300 words that put the image in context. You can also include additional media, such as a slide show, video, or audio feature, to accompany the photograph online. Colour or black-and-white photographs, accompanying text, and any additional material for online publication should be submitted through the journal’s electronic submission system, specifying Lancet Photograph as the article type. If using a digital camera, set your camera to the highest quality setting and supply JPEG fi les. If using a fi lm camera, supply an 8×11 inch glossy print, which can be posted to The Lancet. Winning photographs will be selected by Lancet editors and published in the fi nal issue of 2011 with an award of £300. The deadline is Oct 17.

Dual blockade of the renin‐angiotensin system with angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs)

Dual blockade of the renin‐angiotensin system with angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs)