From: Richard Feinman <[log in to unmask]> Date: Mon, Sep 26, 2016 at 10:55 AM The major problem in the literature... ...is that in many cases there is effectively no peer-review. Editors are supposed to be the gate-keepers and must recognize when a paper is controversial and solicit reviewers from both sides of the controversy. Frequenly this is not done. Most often, reviewers are chosen to favor the author if they follow the party line. Challenging authority rarely gets balanced review. PubPeer is a step in the kind of thing that is needed. A case that I am pursuing is the study of low-carbohydrate diets by Lamont, et al., http://www.nature.com/nutd/journal/v6/n2/full/nutd20162a.html The paper studied nine mice bred for obesity (NZO) and put them on low-carbohydrate diets. From the abstract: "The objective of the study was to assess whether a low-carbohydrate and therefore high-fat diet (LCHFD) is beneficial for improving the endogenous insulin secretory response to glucose in prediabetic New Zealand Obese (NZO) mice... Results: In NZO mice, an LCHFD reduced plasma triglycerides (P=0.001) but increased weight gain (P<0.0001), adipose tissue mass (P=0.0015), high-density... Conclusions: An LCHFD is unlikely to be of benefit for preventing the decline in β-cell function associated with the progression of hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes." In fact, this is exactly the opposite of what happens in humans and I sent the editor a list of 100 studies. Moreover, my own review (attached) with 26 authors many of whom are clinicians with extensive experience provided evidence supporting "Dietary carbohydrate restriction as the first approach in diabetes management..." (http://www.nutritionjrnl.com/article/S0899-9007(14)00332-3/pdf) There are problems in methodology but frequently they are a consequence of the bias of the authors (A comparison gives the "wrong" answer and confounders are added until it comes out right." It is interpretation that is the problem and editors and reviewers are supposed to prevent biased interpretation. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Richard David Feinman Professor of Cell Biology SUNY Downstate Medical Center (718) 270-2252 cell: (917) 554-7794 FAX: (718) 270-3316 blog: http://rdfeinman.wordpress.com Vocem meam audiet qui me tangit NOTE: This mailer sometimes creates .DTF files. Please ignore. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =