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Browse the failure-mode index

21,234 real negative results, null findings, and replication failures. 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

Overcoming resistance to PD-1 and CTLA-4 blockade mechanisms and therapeutic strategies

Xiaodong Wang, Jing He, Gouping Ding et al. · 2025 · Frontiers in Immunology

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting PD-1 and CTLA-4 have achieved groundbreaking clinical success in multiple cancers; however, a large proportion of patients experience primary or acquired resistance. This review synthesizes the complex mechanisms underlying resistance to PD-1/CTLA-4 blockade and surveys emerging strategies to overcome them. Resistance arises from multifaceted interactions among tumor-intrinsic alterations (e.g., epigenetic silencing of antigen presentation machinery via EZH2/PRC2, oncogenic pathway-driven upregulation of PD-L1, genetic loss of IFNγ pathway componen

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

The Effects of Board Diversity on Korean Companies’ ESG Performance

Ahmet Jeyhunov, Jong Dae Kim, Seong Mi Bae · 2025 · Sustainability

This paper explores the effect of board diversity on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance in Korean-listed firms using regression analysis. Our findings reveal that an increased board size significantly correlates with higher ESG scores when combined with other board diversity dimensions. The presence of female directors on boards was found to have a significant effect on environmental and social components of ESG performance. Age diversity exhibits a negative association with ESG scores, emphasizing potential disruptions from intergenerational differences. Foreign directors

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Evaluating clinical AI summaries with large language models as judges

Emma Croxford, Yanjun Gao, Elliot First et al. · 2025 · npj Digital Medicine

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) contain vast clinical data that are difficult for providers to synthesize. Generative AI with Large Language Models (LLMs) can summarize records to reduce cognitive burden, but ensuring accuracy requires…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessEngineering

Tailoring nanoscale interfaces for perovskite–perovskite–silicon triple-junction solar cells

Jianghui Zheng, Guoliang Wang, Leiping Duan et al. · 2025 · Nature Nanotechnology

Abstract Triple‐junction solar cells theoretically outperform their double-junction and single‐junction counterparts in power conversion efficiency, yet practical perovskite–perovskite–silicon devices have fallen short of both theoretical limits and commercial targets. To address surface defects in the top perovskite junction, we introduce a piperazine-1,4-diium chloride treatment, which replaces less stable lithium fluoride. For interfacing the top and middle perovskite junctions, we optimize the size of gold nanoparticles deposited on atomic layer-deposited tin oxide for best ohmic contactin

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Failed Experiment ReportOpen accessMedicine

Bone Health Outcomes from the International, Multicenter, Randomized, Phase 3, Placebo-Controlled D-CARE Study Assessing Adjuvant Denosumab in Early Breast Cancer

Robert E. Coleman, Ying Zhou, Danielle Jandial et al. · 2021 · Advances in Therapy

INTRODUCTION: D-CARE, an international, phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in women with early-stage breast cancer at high risk of disease recurrence, failed to meet its primary endpoint-improvement in bone…

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Negative / Null Result Report

Less risk of conversion to total knee arthroplasty without significant clinical and survivorship difference for opening‐wedge high tibial osteotomies in varus knee deformities at 10‐year minimum follow‐up compared to closing‐wedge high tibial osteotomies

A. Cazor, A. Schmidt, J. Shatrov et al. · 2022 · Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy

Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes and survivorship at minimum 10‐year follow‐up of patients undergoing primary valgisation high tibial osteotomy (HTO) for medial osteoarthritis (OA), treated…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessNeuroscience

V01.05 — Mirror Mathematics II: Minimal Observer Thresholds

Lloyd Christopher Smith · 2026 · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

This paper forms part of Mirror Programme, Volume I: Observerhood. Mirror Mathematics II develops the formal threshold layer of the Mirror Mathematics arc. Building on Mirror Mathematics I, it asks when a self-model becomes observer-relevant rather than merely predictive, self-referential or descriptive. The paper introduces a minimal Mirror observer predicate grounded in self-model reliability, action-guidance, cost-sensitive repair and positive viability coupling under perturbation. The central condition is expressed through a salience functional measuring whether the expected viability bene

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Replication FailureOpen accessMedicine

The Effect of Genetic Variation on the Placental Transcriptome in Humans

Triin Kikas, Kristiina Rull, Robin N. Beaumont et al. · 2019 · Frontiers in Genetics

= 6830) did not replicate these findings. In summary, the study emphasizes the role of genetic variation in driving the transcriptome profile of the human placenta and the importance to explore further its functional implications.

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Effect of Lactobacillus plantarum supplementation on trimethylamine-N-oxide levels in 30 patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: A double-blind randomized controlled trial

Natalia Spasova, Desislava Somleva, Bozhidar Krastev et al. · 2024 · Folia Medica

Introduction : Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) is a metabolite produced by intestinal microbiota. It is well recognized as an independent risk marker for cardiovascular and renal diseases and mortality. Aim : The aim of the present study was…

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Negative / Null Result Report

Low-phytate wholegrain bread instead of high-phytate wholegrain bread in a total diet context did not improve iron status of healthy Swedish females: a 12-week, randomized, parallel-design intervention study

Michael Hoppe, Alastair B. Ross, Cecilia Svelander et al. · 2018 · European Journal of Nutrition

Abstract Purpose To investigate the effects of eating wholegrain rye bread with high or low amounts of phytate on iron status in women under free-living conditions. Methods In this 12-week, randomized, parallel-design intervention study,…

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Negative / Null Result Report

Small Social Incentives Did Not Improve the Survey Response Rate of Patients Who Underwent Orthopaedic Surgery: A Randomized Trial

Hunter Warwick, Carolyn Hutyra, Cary Politzer et al. · 2019 · Clinical Orthopaedics & Related Research

Abstract Background The generalizability of data derived from patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) depends largely on the proportion of the relevant population that completes PROM surveys. However, PROM survey responses remain low,…

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Negative / Null Result Report

A weakened AMOC may prolong greenhouse gas–induced Mediterranean drying even with significant and rapid climate change mitigation

Thomas L. Delworth, William F. Cooke, Vaishali Naik et al. · 2022 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

The Mediterranean region has been identified as a climate hot spot, with models projecting a robust warming and rainfall decline in response to increasing greenhouse gases. The projected rainfall decline would have impacts on agriculture…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Barriers to Participation in a Community-Based Program to Control Transmission of Taenia solium in Peru

Michelle Beam, Angela G. Spencer, Lauralee Fernandez et al. · 2018 · American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

larvae (neurocysticercosis) is a leading cause of preventable epilepsy worldwide. Effective and sustainable strategies to control parasite transmission in rural endemic communities are needed to prevent the disease. Surveillance and…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Treatment with the copper compound CuATSM has no significant effect on motor neuronal pathology in patients with ALS

Yue Yang, Dominic B. Rowe, Heather McCann et al. · 2023 · Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology

AIMS: Although the orally available brain-penetrant copper compound CuATSM has demonstrated promising effects in SOD1-linked mouse models, the impact of CuATSM on disease pathology in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) remains unknown. METHODS: The present study set out to address this deficit by performing the first pilot comparative analysis of ALS pathology in patients that had been administered CuATSM and riluzole [N = 6 cases composed of ALS-TDP (n = 5) and ALS-SOD1 (n = 1)] versus riluzole only [N = 6 cases composed of ALS-TDP (n = 4) and ALS-SOD1 (n = 2)]. RESULTS: Our re

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Candidate gene studies and the quest for the entrepreneurial gene

Matthijs J. H. M. van der Loos, Philipp Koellinger, Patrick J. F. Groenen et al. · 2011 · Small Business Economics

Candidate gene studies of human behavior are gaining interest in economics and entrepreneurship research. Performing and interpreting these studies is not straightforward because the selection of candidates influences the interpretation of…

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Negative / Null Result ReportPsychology

Affect labelling increases the intensity of positive emotions

Valeriia V. Vlasenko, Emma G. Rogers, Christian E. Waugh · 2021 · Cognition & Emotion

Although affect labelling has been widely reported to decrease negative emotions, it is less clear whether affect labelling also decreases positive emotions. In four studies, we explored how affect labelling (choosing the emotion that best…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Guapiaçu virus, a new insect-specific flavivirus isolated from two species of Aedes mosquitoes from Brazil

Geovani de Oliveira Ribeiro, Antônio Charlys da Costa, Danielle Elise Gill et al. · 2021 · Scientific Reports

Classical insect-flaviviruses (cISFVs) and dual host-related insect-specific flavivirus (dISFV) are within the major group of insect-specific flavivirus. Remarkably dISFV are evolutionarily related to some of the pathogenic flavivirus, such as Zika and dengue viruses. The Evolutionary relatedness of dISFV to flavivirus allowed us to investigate the evolutionary principle of host adaptation. Additionally, dISFV can be used for the development of flavivirus vaccines and to explore underlying principles of mammalian pathogenicity. Here we describe the genetic characterization of a novel putative

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Association of maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and breastfeeding with NAFLD in young adults: a parental negative control study

Kushala Abeysekera, James Orr, Paul Madley‐Dowd et al. · 2021 · The Lancet Regional Health - Europe

BACKGROUND: The importance of the maternal-infant dyad in the genesis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is of increasing interest. The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) showed that at age 24, 1 in 5 had…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMaterials Science

Mycobacterium tuberculosis Rv3406 Is a Type II Alkyl Sulfatase Capable of Sulfate Scavenging

Kimberly M. Sogi, Zev J. Gartner, Mark A. Breidenbach et al. · 2013 · PLoS ONE

The genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) encodes nine putative sulfatases, none of which have a known function or substrate. Here, we characterize Mtb's single putative type II sulfatase, Rv3406, as a non-heme iron (II) and α-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase that catalyzes the oxidation and subsequent cleavage of alkyl sulfate esters. Rv3406 was identified based on its homology to the alkyl sulfatase AtsK from Pseudomonas putida. Using an in vitro biochemical assay, we confirmed that Rv3406 is a sulfatase with a preference for alkyl sulfate substrates similar to those processed by Ats

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessEconomics, Econometrics and Finance

Peculiarities of export structure in Lithuania: synthesis and analysis

Irina Travkina, Manuela Tvaronavičienė · 2015 · Journal of Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues

The research paper discusses the relationship between international trade, especially export, and the economic growth, presented by GDP, in Lithuania over the period of 2000-2015 years. The analysis is started by the historical review of possible types of relationships between exports and economic growth. Furthermore, the paper presents four theoretical propositions as export-led growth (1), growth-driven export (2), a feedback relationship (3) and simple contemporaneous relationship (4). This study examines the importance of the export-led growth hypothesis for Lithuania. The testing is based

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessImmunology and Microbiology

APOBEC3G and APOBEC3F Act in Concert To Extinguish HIV-1 Replication

John F. Krisko, Nurjahan Begum, Caroline E. Baker et al. · 2016 · Journal of Virology

UNLABELLED: The multifunctional HIV-1 accessory protein Vif counters the antiviral activities of APOBEC3G (A3G) and APOBEC3F (A3F), and some Vifs counter stable alleles of APOBEC3H (A3H). Studies in humanized mice have shown that HIV-1…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

No Dose-Response Effect of Carbohydrate Mouth Rinse Concentration on 5-km Running Performance in Recreational Athletes

Neil D. Clarke, James R. Thomas, Marion Kagka et al. · 2016 · The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research

Clarke, ND, Thomas, JR, Kagka, M, Ramsbottom, R, and Delextrat, A. No dose-response effect of carbohydrate mouth rinse concentration on 5-km running performance in recreational athletes. J Strength Cond Res 31(3): 715-720, 2017-Oral…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessAgricultural and Biological Sciences

Introducing the No-Significant-Effect Concentration

Rebecca Fisher, David R. Fox · 2023 · Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

The no-effect concentration (NEC) is the preferred threshold metric for single-species toxicity tests applied to derive safe concentration thresholds for contaminants in the environment for use in species sensitivity distributions.…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics and Astronomy

Finding Statistically Significant Communities in Networks with Weighted Label Propagation

Wei Hu · 2013 · Social Networking

Various networks exist in the world today including biological, social, information, and communication networks with the Internet as the largest network of all. One salient structural feature of these networks is the formation of groups or communities of vertices that tend to be more connected to each other within the same group than to those outside. Therefore, the detection of these communities is a topic of great interest and importance in many applications and different algorithms including label propagation have been developed for such purpose. Speaker-listener label propagation algorithm

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Analysis of Copy Number Variants on Chromosome 21 in Down Syndrome-Associated Congenital Heart Defects

Benjamin L. Rambo‐Martin, Jennifer G. Mulle, David J. Cutler et al. · 2017 · G3 Genes Genomes Genetics

One in five people with Down syndrome (DS) are born with an atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD), an incidence 2000 times higher than in the euploid population. The genetic loci that contribute to this risk are poorly understood. In this study, we tested two hypotheses: (1) individuals with DS carrying chromosome 21 copy number variants (CNVs) that interrupt exons may be protected from AVSD, because these CNVs return AVSD susceptibility loci back to disomy, and (2) individuals with DS carrying chromosome 21 genes spanned by microduplications are at greater risk for AVSD because these microdup

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