Bad science sanctioned in Ukraine

A fake paper in MDPI. Research misconduct findings in Ukraine. One of the guilty parties is a National Academy of Science member, champion of academic ethics, and peddler of Angel Milk and anti-aging creams. My contribution to bringing Ukrainian science integrity onto above the EU level.

One day December 2021, Cheshire was busy with his hobby: trawling the literature for fake Alzheimer’s research. Among one fake papers Cheshire (aka Actinopolyspora biskrensis) found and flagged on PubPeer, was this clinical study in MDPI, its main authors from Kyiv, Ukraine. 23 participants, 16 of them suffering from mild memory loss were subjected to “intermittent hypoxic-hyperoxic training”, i.e. inhaling air with different oxygen levels, which the authors decided improved cognitive scores and reduced Alzheimer’s biomarker’s in participants’ blood.

Basically, a bit similar (if less high-tech) than the Hyperbaric Oxygen nonsense which cures Alzheimer’s, old age, COVID-19 and everything else.

Now here is the MDPI paper, its main authors are affiliated with the Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology in Kyiv, some are with the Chebotarev Institute of Gerontology, also in Kyiv, one corresponding author is not Ukrainian though: the hypoxia expert Lei Xi from the Division of Cardiology at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, USA. It seems Xi doesn’t work there anymore, his institutional profile page was recently deleted.

Zoya O. Serebrovska, Tetiana V. Serebrovska, Viktor A. Kholin, Lesya V. Tumanovska, Angela M. Shysh, Denis A. Pashevin, Sergii V. Goncharov, Dmytro Stroy , Oksana N. Grib, Valeriy B. Shatylo, Natalia Yu. Bachinskaya, Egor Egorov, Lei Xi, Victor E. Dosenko Intermittent Hypoxia-Hyperoxia Training Improves Cognitive Function and Decreases Circulating Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Study International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2019) doi: 10.3390/ijms20215405

A fake blot with copy-pasted bands. Which should have failed peer review even without the duplication, because instead of continuous gels we are presented with a Franken-blot, every single gel band sourced separately from sources unknown. But it was published via the toxic system of special issues, and the incompetents who waved it through were the guest editors Michele Samaja professor at the University of Milan, Italy, and Giuseppina Milano, postdoc at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne, Switzerland.

A Ukrainian reader of For Better Science saw the PubPeer post and in June 2022, he informed the Bogomoletz Institute. The institute issued its report on 8 September 2022, here is the Ukrainian original:

Translation of key part (via DeepL):

“As of 06.09.2022, the commission received two written responses from representatives of the authors’ team, Z.O. Serebrovska and A.M. Shysh, which reflect the consolidated position of all authors.
Without going into technical details, this position can be summarized as follows
points.
1) The authors acknowledge that the illustrative material of the representative Western blots contains inconsistencies indicated in the letter of [the whistleblower].
2) These inconsistencies are technical and not intentional.
3) They arose as a result of inattention during the multistage processing of visualized protein bands (developing and scanning films, copying images), selection of representative images, and the involvement of many employees in this process.
4) A significant part of the strips shown in the figures has been lost over time and cannot be reproduced [the clinical trial received its ethics approval on 11 June 2017, -LS].
5) The conclusions of the article are based on the statistical processing of densitometry data of a large number of strips and therefore cannot be affected by inconsistencies in individual representative images.
6) The authors of the article are ready to apply to the journal (and have already made attempts to do so) to provide a correction to the article, in which the relevant representative images of western blot strips are replaced with new images for whichfilms and laboratory records have been preserved.

Based on the materials received, the commission considered it possible to accept the explanations of the authors and supported their desire to submit a correction to the journal. At the same time, the commission proposed to reprimand the authors for inattention and negligence in the preparation and design of the article and to warn them against a possible repetition of such actions in the future. In this context, the Commission emphasized that some of the members of the author’s team paid lip service to integrity in science, while at the same time consciously or unconsciously allowing deviations from the principles they promoted in their own activities. The Commission noted that in addition to the shortcomings noted by [the whistleblower], the article contained a number of other “gaffes” that passed the attention of the reviewers during the review of the journal article and which indicate inattention, irresponsibility of the authors, lack of verification of their own work during the preparation for publication. However, since the article has passed peer review, the commission did not consider it necessary to emphasize those.

Based on this, the commission laid the responsibility on the Institute’s Academic Council of the Institute for punishing the authors for submitting unverified illustrative material for publication and the reputational damage incurred by the Institute . As a punishment, the commission proposes to consider the possibility of depriving the authors of the article of the support from the Institute’s Academic Council for their applications for external financing of future research projects for a period of 1-3 years (at the choice of the Academic Council).

The Commission also recommended that the Academic Council instruct the heads of departments and all researchers of the Institute to keep laboratory journals (in digital or paper form), to properly record experimental work, and to preserve primary laboratory documentation for as long as possible (but not less than 5 years) after the publication of the relevant data.”

Funding ban over one fake blot, wow. Basically, this Ukrainian investigation was better than anything I saw in Germany even. Never mind Spain or France, where they would declare their scientists to be innocent victims of harassment, issue lawsuit threats to all and sundry, and charge the whistleblowers with fraud, treason and terrorism (I am not exaggerating here).

Yes, the Bogomoletz investigators don’t explicitly ask for a retraction, despite establishing research misconduct, arguing that the fraudulent paper passed peer review by Italian academics in a Swiss journal. You see, in Ukraine they still naively think that this is a quality sign. They seem to have no clue that MDPI is a garbage heap of papermill fraud where literally anything goes with zero consequences.

In fact, the whistleblower did contact the responsible MDPI editor for this section. On 22 February 2022, just before russia started its full-scale genocidal war on Ukraine, the whistleblower wrote to Irmgard Tegeder, pharmacology professor at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. No reply. He wrote again on 11 March 2022, pleading:

“Your silence means that the journal accepts fraud science and violation of research integrity. Am I right? I understand that the authors are from Ukraine, and at the moment, it might be impossible to provide original images for the blots. Still, in this case, one should expect at least publication of Expression of concern until the issue is solved,  of course, if the Journal takes care of its reputation and reliability and reproducibility in science.“

Nothing. I wrote to Tegeder on 18 March 2023 and received silence as well. To be fair, much more respectable publishers than MDPI do absolutely nothing about much worse fraud on PubPeer. Also to be fair, academic editors have no say in editorial policy with publishers like MDPI (or Frontiers, or Hindawi). The editors, recruited preferably from Europe and USA, merely allow these publishers to advertise with their credentials and to invite submissions on their behalf, in return they get rewarded with small sums of money and/or APC waivers.

On 22 March 2023 I wrote to Tegeder again. Finally, she reacted:

“Dear IJMS Team 

please take care of the emails below and the respective paper.

The Western Blots in the paper are inacceptable narrow single cutouts of bands. Full uncut/unprocessed membranes are not provided as supplement

It belongs to the Special Issue : “Adaptation to Hypoxia: A chimera?” Editors: Prof. Dr. Michele Samaja, Dr. Giuseppina Milano

I have not been involved in the decision. 

Regards Irmgard Tegeder“

I don’t think MDPI will do anything now. Why should they, trash science, even from papermills, is MDPI’s business. And it’s not like the editors will leave in protest or anything.

In any case, the Bogomoletz cheaters drew the correct lessons from the affair.

1. MDPI can be trusted with fraud
2. Best not to publish any western blots at all.

And that is how this new MDPI joke about the hypoxia-hyperoxia cure for Alzheimer’s came to be, “Revised: 11 March 2022“:

Zoya O. Serebrovska , Lei Xi , Lesya V. Tumanovska , Angela M. Shysh , Sergii V. Goncharov , Michael Khetsuriani , Taisia O. Kozak , Denis A. Pashevin , Victor E. Dosenko, Sergii V. Virko , Viktor A. Kholin , Oksana N. Grib , Natalie A. Utko , Egor Egorov , Anna O. Polischuk , Tetiana V. Serebrovska Response of Circulating Inflammatory Markers to Intermittent Hypoxia-Hyperoxia Training in Healthy Elderly People and Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment Life (2022) doi: 10.3390/life12030432 

It was supposed to prove the successful conclusion of the Ukrainian research grant with which the authors got in trouble with their earlier MDPI paper. It was a new clinical trial (“protocol #9, approval date: 13 May 2019”), with 27 participants. Quite possibly it was the hypoxia researcher Lei Xi from USA who decided to use Ukraine as a place to do his human research cheap and without much bureaucratic fuss. Unfortunately, Ukraine used to be a popular destination for ethics dumping in clinical research.

The whistleblower reported this publication to the Bogomoletz Institute leadership in June 2022 as well.

It was Zoya Serebrovska, who inherited the research project from her mother Tetiana Serebrovska (who died in April 2021 due to COVID-19), who replied on PubPeer in July 2022.

The whistleblower had a look at those original blots and noticed that the loading controls were useless at best. Some key samples were heavily under-loaded:

At least this time the authors bothered to store their raw data from their new clinical trial instead of destroying it right away.

Now, the last author of the first MDPI paper (and coauthor fo the second) is Victor Dosenko, Head of Department of General and Molecular Pathophysiology at the Bogomoletz Institute and member of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences. He is a very interesting character.

A few years ago, Dosenko postulated that cow milk can be both healthy and dangerous, depending on which allele of the casein gene the cattle breed carries, here is Dosenko explaining this on Ukrainian breakfast TV in 2022. The A2 type milk is good, A1 is evil, yet you largely don’t notice the effect because most milk is from hybrid cows bearing both A1 and A2 alleles. To be fair, this A1 toxicity theory was originally postulated not by Dosenko, it’s 30 years old and there’s even a Wikipedia page on this.

In 2009, the EU authority EFSA concluded that A1 milk is safe:

“Based on the present review of available scientific literature, a cause-effect relationship between the oral intake of BCM7 [bovine β-casomorphin 7, alleged A1 analogue] or related peptides and aetiology or course of any suggested non-communicable diseases cannot be established. Consequently, a formal EFSA risk assessment of food-derived peptides is not recommended.”

So what. Still no reason not to promote A2 milk as miracle health food! Dosenko eagerly advertises for the company “Angel Milk” and its products, e.g here and here:

“This milk is mild. Especially in old age, even for people, who are sensitive to lactose, because this milk is evolutionary. All animals – yaks, buffaloes, goats, camels – have A2 milk. We must return to this kind of milk not to have health problems. ”

A2 is the “Angel Milk”, and the A1 milk is of the devil, causing “sudden infant death syndrome, diabetes, childhood obesity, and heart disease” – this is what the Angel Milk website tells us. Of course Dosenko rarely mentions that he actually co-founded this company Angel Milk Genetical Lab which he keeps advertising for (like he does here and here).

That’s not all Dosenko can do for your health. He derives his inspiration from the man after whom his institute is named: Alexander Bogomolets, who worked on life extension on specific orders from Stalin. Bogomolets even invented a life-extension drug initially called antireticular cytotoxic serum, later named after the inventor. It was basically an antibody cocktail targetting connective tissues. We are informed:

““The creation of this drug was an event at the level of the first flight into space,” says Viktor Dosenko.

In small doses, serum causes slight damage to the connective tissue and thus stimulates its work. The drug began to treat various complex diseases, including cardiovascular, oncological and various immunodeficiency states. Numerous then studies of the drug on laboratory animals, which were carried out at the Institute of Physiology, showed that it increases their lifespan.

“There are publications and scientific reports signed by prominent physicians of the time, indicating that the serum worked,” says Viktor Dosenko. But by modern standards, the effectiveness of the drug has not been investigated.”

Dosenko’s solution is senolytics. This is why he invented a “senolytic cream” to keep your skin eternally young. Translated:

“Senolytic cream Kaetana is the result of the collaboration of Ukrainian scientists and dermatologists. The idea of ​​​​creating a cream based on the senolytic complex was suggested to representatives of the Kaetana brand by Viktor Dosenko, a pathologist and geneticist, head of the Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology, doctor of medical sciences. The knowledge of scientific specialists in the research area of senolytics plus the great knowledge of dermatologists in Kaetan – this is how the cream appeared, which has no analogues today.”

Dosenko was even supposed to give a promo seminar for Kaetana, just when the full-scale war began. As the company’s owner Ihor Kirikevich announced on Facebook for 3 March 2022, e.g here, or here:

Just very recently, Dosenko started to advertise for Traditional Chinese Medicine. Here, for an anti-stress concoction named Victorin, made of Rhodiola rosea and ginseng. He cites in support an MDPI review by a commercial supplier of botanical extracts (!), two papers in Journal of Ginseng Research (!), and even his own authority (translated):

“In addition, we found a significant time group effect in the visually controlled continuous performance test, suggesting a positive effect of Korean Red Ginseng on cognitive function.”

Those sceptical of his “scientific” claims Dosenko literally smears as “creationists”. I guess this TCM concoction against aerial bombardment stress is Dosenko’s personal contribution to the war effort? It is quite likely he earns money with Victorin advertisement as well.

You may recall this from the institutional report:

“some of the members of the author’s team paid lip service to integrity in science, while at the same time consciously or unconsciously allowing deviations from the principles they promoted in their own activities”

Well, it probably referred to Dosenko who presents himself as a hero of academic ethics. For example, he used to be a big critic of the former Ukrainian minister for research and education, Serhiy Shkarlet, who was accused in 2020 of plagiarising his dissertation and dismissed a few days ago. But Dosenko is also a big critic of the newly appointed minister Oksen Lisovyi, whom Dosenko also mistrusts despite the fact that Lisovyi himself pre-emptively asked several independent experts to scrutinise his dissertation. Here is an open letter co-signed by Dosenko, where he suspects Lisovyi of plagiarism.

But Dosenko’s stance on real or perceived plagiarism lacks on consequence. Here a recent paper of his:

Olexandr Volosovets , Sergii Kryvopustov , Olena Mozyrska , Sergii Goncharov , Anna Kupkina , Oksana Iemets , Victor Dosenko Single Nucleotide Polymorphism of Dectin-1 Gene Associates with Atopic Dermatitis in Children Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences (2022) doi: 10.3889/oamjms.2022.10513

The first author Olexandr Volosovets, professor of paediatrics at the Bogomolets National Medical University, is a plagiarist, see this Ukrainian-language analysis from 2016 of two of his papers, jointly authored plagiarised with a certain S Vrublevska who retorted by threatening their critics and whistleblowers with civil and criminal lawsuits.

The anti-plagiarist Dosenko had no qualms whatsoever to join forces with the known plagiarist Volosovets. That’s what drinking the wrong milk does to you.

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