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403 real negative results, null findings, and replication failures · Replication Failure. 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.

Replication FailureOpen accessNeuroscience

Inconsistent Effects of Parietal α-tACS on Pseudoneglect across Two Experiments: A Failed Internal Replication

Domenica Veniero, Christopher Benwell, Merle M. Ahrens et al. · 2017 · Frontiers in Psychology

Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) is being investigated as an experimental and clinical interventional technique in human participants. While promising, important limitations have been identified, including weak effect sizes and high inter- and intra-individual variability of outcomes. Here, we compared two "inhibitory" tES-techniques with supposedly different mechanisms of action as to their effects on performance in a visuospatial attention task, and report on a direct replication attempt. In two experiments, 2 × 20 healthy participants underwent tES in three separate sessions testin

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Replication FailureOpen accessPsychology

A two-lab direct replication attempt of Southgate, Senju and Csibra (2007)

Dóra Kampis, Petra Karman, Gergely Csibra et al. · 2021 · Royal Society Open Science

, 587-592. (doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01944.x)) has been widely cited as evidence for false-belief attribution in young children. Recent replication attempts of this paradigm have yielded mixed results: several studies did not replicate the original findings, raising doubts about the suitability of the paradigm to assess non-verbal action prediction and Theory of Mind. In a preregistered collaborative study including two of the original authors, we tested one hundred and sixty 24- to 26-month-olds across two locations using the original stimuli, procedure and analyses as closely as possible

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Replication FailureOpen accessMedicine

A randomized, controlled study to investigate the efficacy and safety of a topical gentamicin-collagen sponge in combination with systemic antibiotic therapy in diabetic patients with a moderate or severe foot ulcer infection

Ilker Uçkay, Benjamin Kressmann, Sarah Malacarne et al. · 2018 · BMC Infectious Diseases

BACKGROUND: An adjunctive topical therapy with gentamicin-sponges to systemic antibiotic therapy might improve the healing of infected diabetic foot ulcers (DFUI). METHODS: Single-center, investigator-blinded pilot study, randomizing (1:1) the gentamicin-sponge with systemic antibiotic versus systemic antibiotics alone for patients with DFUI. RESULTS: We included 88 DFUI episodes with 43 patients in the gentamicin-sponge arm and 45 in the control arm. Overall, 64 (64/88; 73%) witnessed total clinical cure, 13 (15%) significant improvement, and 46 (52%) showed total eradication of all pathogens

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Replication FailurePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics

Solvent‐Free Ball‐Milling Biginelli Reaction by Subcomponent Synthesis

Prasit Kumar Sahoo, Anima Bose, Prasenjit Mal · 2015 · European Journal of Organic Chemistry

Abstract We report here an understanding of systems chemistry on small molecules through covalent mechanochemistry. As a proof‐of‐concept, the multicomponent Biginelli reaction by subcomponent synthesis was considered as a model system.…

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Replication FailureOpen accessComputer Science

The reliability of acceptability judgments across languages

Tal Linzen, Yohei Oseki · 2018 · Glossa a journal of general linguistics

The reliability of acceptability judgments made by individual linguists has often been called into question. Recent large-scale replication studies conducted in response to this criticism have shown that the majority of published English acceptability judgments are robust. We make two observations about these replication studies. First, we raise the concern that English acceptability judgments may be more reliable than judgments in other languages. Second, we argue that it is unnecessary to replicate judgments that illustrate uncontroversial descriptive facts; rather, candidates for replicatio

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Replication FailureBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Analysis of 60 Reported Glioma Risk SNPs Replicates Published GWAS Findings but Fails to Replicate Associations From Published Candidate‐Gene Studies

Kyle M. Walsh, Erik L. Anderson, Helen M. Hansen et al. · 2012 · Genetic Epidemiology

Genomewide association studies (GWAS) and candidate-gene studies have implicated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in at least 45 different genes as putative glioma risk factors. Attempts to validate these associations have yielded…

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Replication FailureOpen accessNeuroscience

Lexical prediction in language comprehension: a replication study of grammatical gender effects in Dutch

Arnold Kochari, Monique Flecken · 2018 · Language Cognition and Neuroscience

An important question in predictive language processing is the extent to which prediction effects can reliably be measured on pre-nominal material (e.g. articles before nouns). Here, we present a large sample (N = 58) close replication of a study by Otten and van Berkum (2009). They report ERP modulations in relation to the predictability of nouns in sentences, measured on gender-marked Dutch articles. We used nearly identical materials, procedures, and data analysis steps. We fail to replicate the original effect, but do observe a pattern consistent with the original data. Methodological diff

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Replication FailureOpen accessMedicine

Simulation fails to replicate stress in trainees performing a technical procedure in the clinical environment

Benjamin Baker, Ashish Bhalla, Brett Doleman et al. · 2016 · Medical Teacher

INTRODUCTION: Simulation-based training (SBT) has become an increasingly important method by which doctors learn. Stress has an impact upon learning, performance, technical, and non-technical skills. However, there are currently no studies that compare stress in the clinical and simulated environment. We aimed to compare objective (heart rate variability, HRV) and subjective (state trait anxiety inventory, STAI) measures of stress theatre with a simulated environment. METHODS: HRV recordings were obtained from eight anesthetic trainees performing an uncomplicated rapid sequence induction at pr

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Replication FailureDecision Sciences

The Power of Replicated Measures to Increase Statistical Power

Marc-André Goulet, Denis Cousineau · 2019 · Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science

When running statistical tests, researchers can commit a Type II error, that is, fail to reject the null hypothesis when it is false. To diminish the probability of committing a Type II error (β), statistical power must be augmented.…

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Replication FailureOpen accessNeuroscience

Short-term transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation increases pupil size but does not affect EEG alpha power: A replication of Sharon et al. (2021, Journal of Neuroscience)

Beth Lloyd, Franz Wurm, Roy de Kleijn et al. · 2023 · Brain stimulation

BackgroundTranscutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has been tested as a potential treatment for pharmaco-resistant epilepsy and depression. Its clinical efficacy is thought to depend on taVNS-induced activation of the locus coeruleus and other neuromodulator systems. However, unlike for invasive VNS in rodents, there is little evidence for an effect of taVNS on noradrenergic activity.ObjectiveWe attempted to replicate recently published findings by Sharon et al. (2021), showing that short bursts of taVNS transiently increased pupil size and decreased EEG alpha power, two correl

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Replication FailureOpen accessMedicine

Predisposition to Childhood Otitis Media and Genetic Polymorphisms within the Toll-Like Receptor 4 (TLR4) Locus

Lena Hafrén, Elísabet Einarsdóttir, Erna Kentala et al. · 2015 · PLoS ONE

BACKGROUND: Predisposition to childhood otitis media (OM) has a strong genetic component, with polymorphisms in innate immunity genes suspected to contribute to risk. Studies on several genes have been conducted, but most associations have failed to replicate in independent cohorts. METHODS: We investigated 53 gene polymorphisms in a Finnish cohort of 624 cases and 778 controls. A positive association signal was followed up in a tagging approach and tested in an independent Finnish cohort of 205 cases, in a British cohort of 1269 trios, as well as in two cohorts from the United States (US); on

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Replication FailureOpen accessDecision Sciences

Questionable research practices may have little effect on replicability

Rolf Ulrich, Jeff Miller · 2020 · eLife

This article examines why many studies fail to replicate statistically significant published results. We address this issue within a general statistical framework that also allows us to include various questionable research practices (QRPs) that are thought to reduce replicability. The analyses indicate that the base rate of true effects is the major factor that determines the replication rate of scientific results. Specifically, for purely statistical reasons, replicability is low in research domains where true effects are rare (e.g., search for effective drugs in pharmacology). This point is

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Replication FailureMedicine

Abstract S4-2: First Efficacy Results of a Randomized, Open-Label, Phase III Study of Adjuvant Doxorubicin Plus Cyclophosphamide, Followed by Docetaxel with or without Capecitabine, in High-Risk Early Breast Cancer

Joyce O’Shaughnessy, D Paul, Christopher Stokoe et al. · 2010 · Cancer Research

Abstract Background: Combination regimens incorporating anthracyclines and taxanes are among the most effective for EBC and are particularly suitable for pts with high-risk disease. Significant efficacy benefit has been shown in phase III…

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Replication FailureOpen accessMedicine

High-Dose Versus Standard-Dose Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy With Concurrent Paclitaxel Plus Carboplatin for Patients With Thoracic Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Randomized, Multicenter, Open-Label, Phase 3 Superiority Trial

Jing You, Shuchai Zhu, Jiancheng Li et al. · 2022 · International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics

PurposeThe standard dose (SD) of definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy (dCRT) remains 50.4 Gy in patients with esophageal cancer; a higher dose, when applied with conventional radiation therapy techniques, increases toxicities without…

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Replication FailureOpen accessMedicine

Azithromycin therapy for prevention of chronic lung disease of prematurity (AZTEC): a multicentre, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial

John Lowe, David Gillespie, Ali F. Aboklaish et al. · 2024 · The Lancet Respiratory Medicine

BACKGROUND: Systematic reviews have reported conflicting evidence on whether macrolide antibiotics reduce rates of chronic lung disease of prematurity (CLD) in at-risk preterm infants born at less than 30 weeks' gestation, including in those colonised with pulmonary Ureaplasma spp. Since an adequately powered trial has been lacking, we aimed to assess if the macrolide azithromycin improved survival without the development of physiologically defined moderate or severe CLD in preterm infants. METHODS: AZTEC was a multicentre, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial conducted in 28 ter

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Replication FailureOpen accessMedicine

ALBAN (GETUG-AFU 37): a phase III, randomized, open-label international trial of intravenous atezolizumab and intravesical Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) versus BCG alone in BCG-naive high-risk, non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC)

M. Roupret, Aurélie Bertaut, G. Pignot et al. · 2025 · Annals of Oncology

BACKGROUND: Standard treatment of high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) after transurethral resection of bladder tumor is intravesical instillation with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) (induction and maintenance regimens);…

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Replication FailureOpen accessNeuroscience

Replicating five pupillometry studies of Eckhard Hess

Joost de Winter, Sebastiaan M. Petermeijer, Lars Kooijman et al. · 2021 · International Journal of Psychophysiology

Several papers by Eckhard Hess from the 1960s and 1970s report that the pupils dilate or constrict according to the interest value, arousing content, or mental demands of visual stimuli. However, Hess mostly used small sample sizes and undocumented luminance control. In a first experiment (N = 182) and a second preregistered experiment (N = 147), we replicated five studies of Hess using modern equipment. Our experiments (1) did not support the hypothesis of gender differences in pupil diameter change with respect to baseline (PC) when viewing stimuli of different interest value, (2) showed tha

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Replication FailureOpen accessPsychology

Genome-Wide Association Study of Receptive Language Ability of 12-Year-Olds

Nicole Harlaar, Emma L. Meaburn, Marianna E. Hayiou‐Thomas et al. · 2014 · Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research

PURPOSE: Researchers have previously shown that individual differences in measures of receptive language ability at age 12 are highly heritable. In the current study, the authors attempted to identify some of the genes responsible for the…

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Replication FailureOpen accessSocial Sciences

Findings on Summer Learning Loss Often Fail to Replicate, Even in Recent Data

Joseph Workman, Paul von Hippel, Joseph J. Merry · 2023 · Sociological Science

It is widely believed that (1) children lose months of reading and math skills over summer vacation and that (2) inequality in skills grows much faster during summer than during school. Concerns have been raised about the replicability of evidence for these claims, but an impression may exist that nonreplicable findings are limited to older studies. After reviewing the 100-year history of nonreplicable results on summer learning, we compared three recent data sources (ECLS- K:2011, NWEA, and Renaissance) that tracked U.S. elementary students' skills through school years and summers in the 2010

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Replication FailureOpen accessBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Fecal microbiota transplantation plus pembrolizumab and axitinib in metastatic renal cell carcinoma: the randomized phase 2 TACITO trial

Serena Porcari, Chiara CICCARESE, Vitor Heidrich et al. · 2026 · Nature Medicine

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a common malignancy with limited durable responses to first-line immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-based therapies. Emerging evidence implicates the gut microbiome in modulating ICI efficacy. In the…

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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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Replication FailureMedicine

A multicenter randomized controlled trial (RCT) of adjuvant chemotherapy (CT) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) with residual plasma EBV DNA (EBV DNA) following primary radiotherapy (RT) or chemoradiation (CRT).

Anthony T.�C. Chan, Edwin P. Hui, Roger K.C. Ngan et al. · 2017 · Journal of Clinical Oncology

6002 Background: The benefit of adjuvant CT in NPC is unclear. Post-RT EBV DNA predicts poor survival and may be a biomarker of subclinical residual disease. We conducted a biomarker driven RCT using post-RT EBV DNA to select high risk NPC…

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Replication FailureOpen accessPsychology

Mortality salience effects fail to replicate in traditional and novel measures

Bjørn Sætrevik, Hallgeir Sjåstad · 2022 · Meta-Psychology

Mortality salience (MS) effects, where death reminders lead to ingroup-bias and defensive protection of one’s world-view, have been claimed to be a fundamental human motivator. MS phenomena have ostensibly been identified in several hundred studies within the “terror management theory” framework, but transparent and high-powered replications are lacking. Experiment 1 (N = 101 Norwegian lab participants) aimed to replicate the traditional MSeffect on national patriotism, with additional novel measures of democratic values and pro-sociality. Experiment2 (N = 784 US online participants) aimed to

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