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Give Us All Your Conflicts

Fifty-three percent of the life science faculty at top schools have reported financial ties to industry, reports the Wall Street Journal Health Blog. According to a survey in Health Affairs, about a third of the respondents had been consultants, a quarter paid speakers, and 20 percent received funding from industry. The researchers surveyed 3,080 academic life science researchers in 2007, and had a 70 percent response rate.

As a side note, two of the three health bills currently before the US Congress contain provisions to require drug, medical devices and medical supply companies to disclose their financial ties to doctors, reports the New York Times.

Also, Derek Lowe mentions an editorial in BioCentury that is against the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors' new disclosure policy. That policy includes non-financial disclosures and asks authors to "report any personal, professional, political, institutional, religious, or other associations that a reasonable reader would want to know about in relation to the submitted work." The editorial says: "Beyond the obvious and profound assault on privacy and liberty, the notion that personal beliefs, as signaled by political or religious affiliations, are relevant when assessing peer-reviewed research, is an assault on science itself."

The Scan

Positive Framing of Genetic Studies Can Spark Mistrust Among Underrepresented Groups

Researchers in Human Genetics and Genomics Advances report that how researchers describe genomic studies may alienate potential participants.

Small Study of Gene Editing to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

In a Novartis-sponsored study in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that a CRISPR-Cas9-based treatment targeting promoters of genes encoding fetal hemoglobin could reduce disease symptoms.

Gut Microbiome Changes Appear in Infants Before They Develop Eczema, Study Finds

Researchers report in mSystems that infants experienced an enrichment in Clostridium sensu stricto 1 and Finegoldia and a depletion of Bacteroides before developing eczema.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Specificity Enhanced With Stem Cell Editing

A study in Nature suggests epitope editing in donor stem cells prior to bone marrow transplants can stave off toxicity when targeting acute myeloid leukemia with immunotherapy.