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Browse the failure-mode index

12,231 real negative results, null findings, and replication failures in Medicine. Search the index →

WASTE indexes published research — it does not host or republish full papers. Each entry is a metadata record compiled from open scholarly databases; the abstract is shown in full only where the paper is openly licensed, otherwise a short excerpt under fair use. Classifications are automated and approximate.

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Metabolic crossroads in insulin resistance: exploring lipid dysregulation and inflammation

Saeede Saadati, Rasoul Godini, Anjana Reddy et al. · 2025 · Frontiers in Immunology

Insulin resistance is a central pathological feature of several chronic metabolic disorders, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, and cardiovascular disease. While its pathogenesis is multifactorial, lipid dysregulation and chronic low-grade inflammation are recognised as two major, interconnected processes that impair insulin action across multiple tissues. This review summarises core mechanistic themes linking these processes, with a focus on three key signalling pathways that are particularly relevant to metabolic regulation and to the interplay between lipid metab

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Outcomes of Induction Chemotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer Patients

Jinhua Chen, Yu‐Chun Yen, Shing‐Hwa Liu et al. · 2016 · Medicine

The use of induction chemotherapy (CT) is controversial. We compared the survival of head and neck cancer patients receiving docetaxel- or platinum-based induction CT before concomitant chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) with the survival of those receiving upfront CCRT alone. Data from the National Health Insurance and cancer registry databases in Taiwan were linked and analyzed. We enrolled patients who had head and neck cancer between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2011. Follow-up was from the index date to December 31, 2013. We included head and neck patients diagnosed according to the Internation

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Detecting Corticospinal Tract Impairment in Tumor Patients With Fiber Density and Tensor-Based Metrics

Lucius S. Fekonja, Ziqian Wang, Dogu Baran Aydogan et al. · 2021 · Frontiers in Oncology

Tumors infiltrating the motor system lead to significant disability, often caused by corticospinal tract injury. The delineation of the healthy-pathological white matter (WM) interface area, for which diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) has shown promising potential, may improve treatment outcome. However, up to 90% of white matter (WM) voxels include multiple fiber populations, which cannot be correctly described with traditional metrics such as fractional anisotropy (FA) or apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). Here, we used a novel fixel-based along-tract analysis consisting of cons

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Negative / Null Result ReportMedicine

Validation of a proteomic biomarker panel to diagnose minor-stroke and transient ischaemic attack: phase 2 of SpecTRA, a large scale translational study

Andrew M. Penn, Maximilian B. Bibok, Viera Saly et al. · 2018 · Biomarkers

OBJECTIVE: To validate our previously developed 16 plasma-protein biomarker panel to differentiate between transient ischaemic attack (TIA) and non-cerebrovascular emergency department (ED) patients.METHOD: Two consecutive cohorts of ED…

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Negative / Null Result ReportMedicine

No significant effect of cannabis use on the count and percentage of circulating CD4 T‐cells in HIV‐HCV co‐infected patients (ANRS CO13‐HEPAVIH French cohort)

Fabienne Marcellin, C. Lions, Éric Rosenthal et al. · 2016 · Drug and Alcohol Review

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Despite cannabis use being very common in patients co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV), its effect on these patients' immune systems remains undocumented. Documenting the potential effect of cannabis use…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Could Ovarian Cancer Prediction Models Improve the Triage of Symptomatic Women in Primary Care? A Modelling Study Using Routinely Collected Data

Garth Funston, Gary Abel, Emma J. Crosbie et al. · 2021 · Cancers

CA125 is widely used as an initial investigation in women presenting with symptoms of possible ovarian cancer. We sought to develop CA125-based diagnostic prediction models and to explore potential implications of implementing model-based thresholds for further investigation in primary care. This retrospective cohort study used routinely collected primary care and cancer registry data from symptomatic, CA125-tested women in England (2011-2014). A total of 29,962 women were included, of whom 279 were diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Logistic regression was used to develop two models to estimate o

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Randomized Phase IIb Study of Brimonidine Drug Delivery System Generation 2 for Geographic Atrophy in Age-Related Macular Degeneration

William R. Freeman, Francesco Bandello, Eric H. Souied et al. · 2023 · Ophthalmology Retina

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of repeat injections of Brimonidine Drug Delivery System (Brimo DDS) Generation 2 (Gen 2) containing 400-μg brimonidine in patients with geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Voxel-based 18F-FET PET segmentation and automatic clustering of tumor voxels: A significant association with IDH1 mutation status and survival in patients with gliomas

Paul Blanc‐Durand, Axel Van Der Gucht, Antoine Verger et al. · 2018 · PLoS ONE

INTRODUCTION: Aim was to develop a full automatic clustering approach of the time-activity curves (TAC) from dynamic 18F-FET PET and evaluate its association with IDH1 mutation status and survival in patients with gliomas. METHODS: Thirty-seven patients (mean age: 45±13 y) with newly diagnosed gliomas and dynamic 18F-FET PET before any histopathologic investigation or treatment were retrospectively included. Each dynamic 18F-FET PET was realigned to the first image and spatially normalized in the Montreal Neurological Institute template. A tumor mask was semi-automatically generated from Z-sco

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

No Significant Association Between the Fecal Microbiome and the Presence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome-type Symptoms in Patients with Quiescent Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Oliver Shutkever, David J. Gracie, Caroline Young et al. · 2018 · Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Background: The microbiome is implicated in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Whether a distinct microbiome profile is associated with the reporting of IBS-type symptoms in IBD…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Effect of calcium vs. placebo on long-term outcomes in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

Mikael Fink Vallentin, Asger Granfeldt, Carsten Meilandt et al. · 2022 · Resuscitation

OBJECTIVE: The Calcium for Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest (COCA) trial was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial of calcium for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The primary and secondary outcomes have been reported previously. This article describes the long-term outcomes of the trial. METHODS: Patients aged ≥18 years were included if they had a non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during which they received adrenaline. The trial drug consisted of calcium chloride (5 mmol) or saline placebo given after the first dose of adrenaline and again after the second dose of adrena

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Significant differences in the cell‐wall mannans from three Candida glabrata strains correlate with antifungal drug sensitivity

S. Takahashi, Atsushi Kudoh, Yoshio Okawa et al. · 2012 · FEBS Journal

Candida glabrata is often the second or third most common cause of candidiasis after Candida albicans. C. glabrata infections are difficult to treat, often resistant to many azole antifungal agents and are associated with a high mortality…

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Negative / Null Result ReportMedicine

Replication of not-known-vector flaviviruses in mosquito cells is restricted by intracellular host factors rather than by the viral envelope proteins

Nathalie Charlier, Andrew D. Davidson, Kai Dallmeier et al. · 2010 · Journal of General Virology

Chimeric yellow fever virus 17D (YFV-17D) and dengue virus type 2 (DENV2) carrying the surface proteins of Modoc virus (MODV), a not-known-vector (NKV) flavivirus, replicated efficiently in mammalian (Vero-B) and mosquito (C6/36) cells,…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns in Women with Positive Urine Culture: Does Menopausal Status Make a Significant Difference?

Paweł Miotła, Katarzyna Romanek-Piva, Michał Bogusiewicz et al. · 2017 · BioMed Research International

Aim . Urinary tract infection (UTI) is considered one of the most common bacterial infections in women. The aim of this study was to investigate the types of uropathogens present, as well as the degree of antimicrobial drug resistance seen among premenopausal (n=2748) and postmenopausal (n=1705) women with uncomplicated UTI. Methods . Urinary samples (n=4453) collected from women with UTI were analyzed in terms of uropathogens present. These were considered as positive if bacterial growth was ≥10 5 colony forming units (CFUs)/mL. Susceptibility and resistance testing for commonly used antibiot

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Failed Experiment ReportOpen accessMedicine

Biologic Therapy in Head and Neck Cancer: A Road with Hurdles

Pol Specenier, Jan B. Vermorken · 2012 · ISRN Oncology

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is overexpressed in the vast majority of cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). A high EGFR expression is associated with an unfavorable prognosis. Cetuximab is a chimeric human/murine IgG1 antibody which binds with high affinity to the EGFR. It is the only targeted agent which got approval for the treatment of SCCHN from the regulatory agencies of Europe and the United States, both in locoregionally advanced disease, in association with radiation, and in recurrent/metastatic disease. The outcome of trials involving other EGFR

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Multiple system atrophy: an update and emerging directions of biomarkers and clinical trials

Min Liu, Zhiyao Wang, Huifang Shang · 2024 · Journal of Neurology

Multiple system atrophy is a rare, debilitating, adult-onset neurodegenerative disorder that manifests clinically as a diverse combination of parkinsonism, cerebellar ataxia, and autonomic dysfunction. It is pathologically characterized by oligodendroglial cytoplasmic inclusions containing abnormally aggregated α-synuclein. According to the updated Movement Disorder Society diagnostic criteria for multiple system atrophy, the diagnosis of clinically established multiple system atrophy requires the manifestation of autonomic dysfunction in combination with poorly levo-dopa responsive parkinsoni

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Depression Versus Relaxation Training for Alcohol-Dependent Individuals With Elevated Depressive Symptoms

Richard A. Brown, Susan E. Ramsey, Christopher W. Kahler et al. · 2011 · Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs

OBJECTIVE: A previous pilot study found positive outcomes among alcohol-dependent individuals with elevated depressive symptoms who received cognitive-behavioral treatment for depression (CBT-D; n = 19) compared with a relaxation training…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Preoperative palsy score has no significant association with survival in non-small-cell lung cancer patients with spinal metastases who undergo spinal surgery

Yen‐Jen Chen, Hsien‐Te Chen, Horng‐Chaung Hsu · 2015 · Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research

BACKGROUND: Survival is a key factor physicians consider when selecting a treatment modality for the treatment of spinal metastases. Various assessment systems can predict length of survival and facilitate selection of the most appropriate treatment. Spinal palsy is a prognostic parameter in the Tokuhashi scoring system but not in the Tomita scoring system. A limitation of these scoring systems is that studies of them have included different tumor types. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of preoperative neurological status as a prognostic factor in non-small-cell lung cancer

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Evolution of Omicron lineage towards increased fitness in the upper respiratory tract in the absence of severe lung pathology

Arthur Wickenhagen, Meaghan Flagg, Julia R. Port et al. · 2025 · Nature Communications

The emergence of the Omicron lineage represented a major genetic drift in SARS-CoV-2 evolution. This was associated with phenotypic changes including evasion of pre-existing immunity and decreased disease severity. Continuous evolution within the Omicron lineage raised concerns of potential increased transmissibility and/or disease severity. To address this, we evaluate the fitness and pathogenesis of contemporary Omicron variants XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, EG.5.1, and JN.1 in the upper (URT) and lower respiratory tract (LRT). We compare in vivo infection in Syrian hamsters with infection in primary h

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Genome-Wide Association Study of Irritable vs. Elated Mania Suggests Genetic Differences between Clinical Subtypes of Bipolar Disorder

Tiffany A. Greenwood, John R. Kelsoe · 2013 · PLoS ONE

The use of clinical features to define subtypes of a disorder may aid in gene identification for complex diseases. In particular, clinical subtypes of mania may distinguish phenotypic subgroups of bipolar subjects that may also differ genetically. To assess this possibility, we performed a genome-wide association study using genotype data from the Bipolar Genome Study (BiGS) and subjects that were categorized as having either irritable or elated mania during their most severe episode. A bipolar case-only analysis in the GAIN bipolar sample identified several genomic regions that differed betwe

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

A randomized controlled trial of liposomal cyclosporine A for inhalation in the prevention of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome following lung transplantation

Claus Neurohr, Nikolaus Kneidinger, Alessandro Ghiani et al. · 2021 · American Journal of Transplantation

Long-term survival after lung transplantation is limited by chronic allograft dysfunction. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of locally augmented immunosuppression with liposomal cyclosporine A for inhalation (L-CsA-i)…

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Negative / Null Result ReportMedicine

One year in review 2016: Behçet's syndrome.

Gülen Hatemi, Emire Seyahi, İzzet Fresko et al. · 2017 · PubMed

Several articles highlighting the epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical features, treatment modalities and disease assessment of Behçet's syndrome (BS) have been published during the last year. Clinical and radiological features of lower…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Diagnostic Potential of Cytokine Biomarkers in Endometriosis: Challenges and Insights

Laura Krygere, Povilas Jukna, Kristina Jarienė et al. · 2024 · Biomedicines

Endometriosis is a common gynecological condition affecting approximately 10% of women of reproductive age, characterized by the abnormal presence of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterus. Although endometriosis was first described over 300 years ago, its underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood, and accurate, prompt diagnosis continues to be challenging. Currently, there is a lack of effective, non-invasive diagnostic methods, and available treatments often come with significant side effects and high recurrence rates. This has spurred interest in investigating the role of pro- and

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

fNIRS reproducibility varies with data quality, analysis pipelines, and researcher experience

Meryem A. Yücel, Robert Luke, Rickson C. Mesquita et al. · 2025 · Communications Biology

As data analysis pipelines grow more complex in brain imaging research, understanding how methodological choices affect results is essential for ensuring reproducibility and transparency. This is especially relevant for functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), a rapidly growing technique for assessing brain function in naturalistic settings and across the lifespan, yet one that still lacks standardized analysis approaches. In the fNIRS Reproducibility Study Hub (FRESH) initiative, we asked 38 research teams worldwide to independently analyze the same two fNIRS datasets. Despite using dif

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

ChatGPT Health performance in a structured test of triage recommendations

Ashwin Ramaswamy, Alvira Tyagi, Hannah Hugo et al. · 2026 · Nature Medicine

ChatGPT Health was launched in January 2026 as OpenAI's consumer health tool and has reached millions of users. Here we conducted a structured stress test of triage recommendations using 60 clinician-authored vignettes across 21 clinical domains under 16 factorial conditions, yielding 960 total responses. Performance followed an inverted U-shaped pattern, with the most dangerous failures concentrated at clinical extremes-nonurgent presentations (35%) and emergency conditions (48%). Among gold-standard emergencies, the system undertriaged 52% of cases, directing patients with diabetic ketoacido

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Volatile versus Propofol General Anesthesia and Long-term Survival after Breast Cancer Surgery: A National Registry Retrospective Cohort Study

Mats Enlund, Anders Berglund, Anna Enlund et al. · 2022 · Anesthesiology

BACKGROUND: Several retrospective studies using administrative or single-center data have failed to show any difference between general anesthesia using propofol versus inhaled volatiles on long-term survival after breast cancer surgery.…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

EULAR recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis with synthetic and biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs: 2025 update

Josef S. Smolen, Christopher J. Edwards, Victoria Konzett et al. · 2026 · Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to provide an update of the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) rheumatoid arthritis (RA) management recommendations addressing the most recent insights. METHODS: An International Task…

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