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Negative Results

"Publication bias against null results is a known major problem that limits the self-correction function of science – anything that addresses this should help science progress more rapidly." (Marcus Munafò, Professor of Biological Psychology at the University of Bristol)

In this article collection, we are highlighting some of the negative results studies that have been published by BMC Research Notes recently and we are aiming to include more articles as they become available. We welcome submissions reporting scientifically valid negative results.


  1. Bacteriophages (or phages) are viruses which infect and lyse bacteria. The therapeutic use of phages (phage therapy) has regained attention in the last decades as an alternative strategy to treat infections ca...

    Authors: Luca G. Valente, Lea Federer, Manuela Iten, Denis Grandgirard, Stephen L. Leib, Stephan M. Jakob, Matthias Haenggi, David R. Cameron, Yok-Ai Que and Josef Prazak
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2021 14:381
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  2. Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is commonly known to cause morbidity in patients on hemodialysis, making them prone to chronic mental health illnesses such as depression and anxiety, and also adversely impact qua...

    Authors: Mahjabeen Yaseen, Furqan Ahmad Jarullah, Sadia Yaqoob, Hassan Abdullah Shakeel, Hamza Maqsood and Sadiq Naveed
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2021 14:284
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  3. The purpose of this study is to compare the prevalence of latent TB infection (LTBI) among patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) to healthy controls without T2DM. To achieve this objective, we conducte...

    Authors: Argita D. Salindri, J. Sonya Haw, Genet A. Amere, Joyce T. Alese, Guillermo E. Umpierrez and Matthew J. Magee
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2021 14:252
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  4. Previously we observed that maternal multiple micronutrient supplementation in pregnancy was associated with increased offspring size at birth and adiposity, as well as with maternal gestational diabetes risk,...

    Authors: Clive J. Petry, Ken K. Ong, Ieuan A. Hughes and David B. Dunger
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2021 14:160
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  5. Sperm ageing has major evolutionary implications but has received comparatively little attention. Ageing in sperm and other cells is driven largely by oxidative damage from reactive oxygen species (ROS) genera...

    Authors: Biz R. Turnell, Luisa Kumpitsch, Anne-Cécile Ribou and Klaus Reinhardt
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2021 14:131
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  6. Intellectual Disability (ID) represents a neuropsychiatric disorder, which its etiopathogenesis remains insufficiently understood. Mutations in the Aristaless Related Homeobox gene (ARX) have been identified to c...

    Authors: Yousra Benmakhlouf, Renaud Touraine, Ines Harzallah, Zeineb Zian, Kaoutar Ben Makhlouf, Amina Barakat, Naima Ghailani Nourouti and Mohcine Bennani Mechita
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2021 14:110
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  7. In 2018, we conducted a retrospective survey using the medical records of 484 patients with type 2 diabetes. The observed value of coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence after 5 years and the predicted value b...

    Authors: Yasunari Yamashita, Rina Kitajima, Kiyoshi Matsubara, Gaku Inoue and Hajime Matsubara
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2021 14:92
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  8. The use of agarose in nucleic acid electrophoresis is the gold standard. However, agarose is very expensive and not readily available in resource limited developing countries like Ghana. Hence, finding a more ...

    Authors: Francis Tanam Djankpa, Gideon Akuamoah Wiafe, Bernard Ntim Boateng, Korantema Mawuena Tsegah, Samuel Essien-Baidoo, Mark Bilinyi Ulanja, Kwame Ofori Affram, Abdala Mumuni Ussif, Desmond Owusu Agyeman and Gabriel Asante
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2021 14:73
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  9. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are important regulators of vascular and uterine remodeling. They exhibit proteolytic activity implicating the efficiency of trophoblast invasion to the uterine wall involving ...

    Authors: Ritva Nissi, Markku Santala and Anne Talvensaari-Mattila
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2021 14:31
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  10. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as novel biomarkers for a variety of chronic conditions including autoimmune disease. PAXgene Blood RNA tubes are routinely used in clinical research and molecular d...

    Authors: Lukasz S. Wylezinski, Guzel I. Shaginurova and Charles F. Spurlock III
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:531
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  11. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, large numbers of people will receive one of the several medications proposed to treat COVID-19, including patients of reproductive age. Given that some medications have show...

    Authors: Silvia Rizzi, Maarten J. Wensink, Rune Lindahl-Jacobsen, Lu Tian, Ying Lu and Michael L. Eisenberg
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:509
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  12. The purpose of this study was to explore whether plant programmed cell death (PCD) cascade can sense the presence of the animal-only BH3 protein Bid, a BCL-2 family protein known to play a regulatory role in t...

    Authors: Anna Manara, Zahra Imanifard, Linda Fracasso, Diana Bellin and Massimo Crimi
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:450
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  13. GLUT2 is a major facilitative glucose transporter, expressed from the SLC2A2 gene, with essential roles in the liver. Recent work in mice has shown that preventing Glut2 production in specific neuronal population...

    Authors: Nicola Morrice, Lidy van Aalten, Alison McNeilly, Rory J. McCrimmon, Ewan R. Pearson, Rosamund Langston and Calum Sutherland
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:438
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  14. Critical illness polyneuropathy (CIP) is a common complication of severe systemic illness treated in intensive care medicine. Ischemic stroke leads to an acute critical injury of the brain with hemiparesis, im...

    Authors: Petra Huehnchen, Klaus Viktor Toyka, Karen Gertz, Matthias Endres and Wolfgang Boehmerle
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:425
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  15. Naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber) has recently attracted interest in biomedical research due to its exceptional longevity, cancer resistance and tolerance to potentially harmful conditions or stimuli. Given ...

    Authors: Mosiany Letura Kisipan, Rodi Omondi Ojoo, Titus I. Kanui and Klas S. P. Abelson
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:416
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  16. Selective kappa opioid receptor (KOR) agonists were shown to produce a dose-dependent depression of brain-stimulation reward (BSR) in the rat intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) tests. However, limited studie...

    Authors: Peng Huang, Taylor A. Gentile, John W. Muschamp and Lee-Yuan Liu-Chen
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:384
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  17. Residents living with dementia (RLWD) often experience changes in their visual perception, which could reduce food intake. Inadequate food intake is known to cause malnutrition, which increases the risk of hos...

    Authors: Rachael Donnelly, Cindy Wei, Jill Morrison-Koechl and Heather Keller
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:353
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  18. Target specific small molecule inhibitors has driven signaling pathway discovery and are used as common positive controls in drug discovery screens. During a biophysical screen, using surface plasmon resonance...

    Authors: Siphokazi Sinethemba Mtwebana and Earl Prinsloo
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:345
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  19. Mouse models have delivered variable recapitulation of Kyasanur Forest disease (KFD) pathology and consistently demonstrated neurological involvement which may be a limited feature of human disease. With the p...

    Authors: A. M. Nikiforuk, K. Tierny, T. A. Cutts, D. K. Kobasa, S. S. Theriault and B. W. M. Cook
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:291
    Content type: Data note Published on:

  21. Transcriptome analysis of human whole blood is used to discover biomarkers of diseases and to assess phenotypic traits. Here we have collected small volumes of blood in Tempus solution and tested whether diffe...

    Authors: Rebecca Mathew, Mohammed Toufiq, Valentina Mattei, Muna Al Hashmi, Harshitha Shobha Manjunath, Basirudeen Syed Ahamed Kabeer, Rita Calzone, Chiara Cugno, Damien Chaussabel, Sara Deola and Sara Tomei
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:150
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  22. Dopamine-replacement utilizing L-DOPA is still the mainstay treatment for Parkinson’s disease (PD), but often leads to development of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID), which can be as debilitating as the motor ...

    Authors: Mitchell J. Bartlett, Lisa Y. So, Lajos Szabò, David P. Skinner, Kate L. Parent, Michael L. Heien, Todd W. Vanderah, Robin Polt, Scott J. Sherman and Torsten Falk
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:149
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  23. Although controversial, there is increasing concern that Crohn’s disease may be a zoonotic infectious disease consequent to a mycobacterial infection. The most plausible candidate is M. avium subspecies paratuber...

    Authors: Robert J. Greenstein, Liya Su, Peter S. Fam, Brooke Gurland, Paul Endres and Sheldon T. Brown
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:96
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  25. The golden color of Staphylococcus aureus is due to the synthesis of carotenoid pigments. In Gram-negative bacteria, Hfq is a global posttranscriptional regulator, but its function in S. aureus remains obscure. T...

    Authors: Wenfeng Liu, Pierre Boudry, Chantal Bohn and Philippe Bouloc
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:63
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  26. This study examined whether exposure to smoking and vaping cues the urge to smoke or vape. It extends previous studies on first-generation cigalikes (visually similar to cigarettes) and second-generation devic...

    Authors: Anna K. M. Blackwell, Katie De-loyde, Laura A. Brocklebank, Olivia M. Maynard, Theresa M. Marteau, Gareth J. Hollands, Paul C. Fletcher, Angela S. Attwood, Richard W. Morris and Marcus R. Munafò
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:32
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  27. To report on long-term effects of a cluster randomized controlled kindergarten-based intervention trial, which aimed to increase vegetable intake among Norwegian preschool children (3–5 years at baseline). The...

    Authors: Anne Lene Kristiansen, Anine Christine Medin, Mona Bjelland, Anne Himberg-Sundet, Nanna Lien, René Holst and Lene Frost Andersen
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2020 13:30
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  28. This pilot study aimed to compare the commercial Unyvero ITI multiplex PCR application (U-ITI, Curetis GmbH) with conventional culturing concerning (a) detection of pathogens, (b) time to detection of pathogen...

    Authors: Hege Vangstein Aamot, Bjørn Odd Johnsen and Inge Skråmm
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2019 12:725
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  29. Candida species is implicated in a wide array of clinical infections. Speciation of Candida strains is of prime importance in the epidemiological survey and laboratory diagnosis as there is an upswing of antifung...

    Authors: Sankar Leena Sankari, Krishnan Mahalakshmi and Venkatesan Naveen Kumar
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2019 12:681
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  30. This study sought to determine if there is an association between variants in the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) promoter regions and development of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in military subjects who have been...

    Authors: Richard R. Chapleau, CharLee A. Martin, Summer R. Hughes, James C. Baldwin, John Sladky, Paul M. Sherman and Michael Grinkemeyer
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2019 12:630
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  31. Although studies have shown inconsistent results in terms of prevalence of eating disorders, the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) was used to screen students for abnormal eating behaviors. The results of the sel...

    Authors: Norika Hayakawa, Satoshi Tanaka, Naoko Hirata, Sachiko Ogino and Norio Ozaki
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2019 12:613
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  32. Fetal macrosomia is a major risk factor for shoulder dystocia, which can lead to birth asphyxia, maternal and neonatal traumatic injuries, and perinatal death. If macrosomia is diagnosed in the antenatal perio...

    Authors: Tess Cruickshank, Tu’uhevaha J. Kaitu’u-Lino, Ping Cannon, Alesia Harper, Tuong-Vi Nguyen, Kirsten M. Dane, Anna L. Middleton, Valerie P. Kyritsis, Roxanne Hastie, Stephen Tong, Susan P. Walker and Teresa M. MacDonald
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2019 12:587
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  33. Glyphosate (N-phosphonomethyl glycine) and its commercial herbicide formulations have been shown to exert toxicity via various mechanisms. It has been asserted that glyphosate substitutes for glycine in polypepti...

    Authors: Michael N. Antoniou, Armel Nicolas, Robin Mesnage, Martina Biserni, Francesco V. Rao and Cristina Vazquez Martin
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2019 12:494
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  34. We conducted a trial embedded within the German National Cohort comparing the responses to study invitations sent in recycled envelopes of grey color vs. envelopes of white color. We analyzed paradata for reac...

    Authors: Malte Langeheine, Hermann Pohlabeln, Wolfgang Ahrens, Kathrin Günther and Stefan Rach
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2019 12:468
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  35. The genetic spectrum of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) in middle-eastern Saudi’s is still elusive. To this end, we investigated an association between rs693421, rs2499601 and their haplotypes at chromosome...

    Authors: Altaf A. Kondkar, Taif A. Azad, Tahira Sultan, Faisal A. Al-Mobarak, Hatem Kalantan and Saleh A. Al-Obeidan
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2019 12:453
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  36. Consumption of fish/seafood is clearly linked to higher mercury levels in human tissue samples. However, correlations between methylmercury (MeHg) intakes calculated from dietary surveys and mercury body burde...

    Authors: Guillaume Pelletier, Yong-Lai Feng, Karen Leingartner and Paleah Black
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2019 12:369
    Content type: Research note Published on:

  38. Circulating microRNAs are promising diagnostics and prognostics biomarkers in a wide variety of diseases. However, there is a critical reproducibility challenge, which in part may be due to preanalytical facto...

    Authors: Helle Glud Binderup, Jonna Skov Madsen, Claus Lohman Brasen, Kim Houlind and Rikke Fredslund Andersen
    Citation: BMC Research Notes 2019 12:261
    Content type: Research note Published on:
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