UK-based medical journal __The Lancet__ has linkurl:retracted;http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet a linkurl:paper;http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607610149/abstract reporting on a clinical trial of a stem cell therapy for urinary incontinence, which has been mired in allegations of misconduct. In this week's issue of the journal, editors Sabine Kleinert and Richard Horton write that authors of an Austrian government inquiry "raise doubts as to whether a trial as described in __The Lancet__ ever existed." They also outline a slew of linkurl:ethical problems;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54932/ uncovered during the investigation of the trial, such as irregularities with patient consent forms and the fact that the study did not attain the proper ethics approval. "In our view, the conclusions of this official investigation pinpoint so many irregularities in the conduct of their work that, taken together, the paper should be retracted from the published record," they conclude. The rector of the Medical University of Innsbruck, where the trial took place, first raised concerns about...

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