Following publication of [ 1 ], the corresponding author ZW contacted PLOS requesting retraction of their article due to errors in the methodology and difficulty reproducing the data. During editorial follow-up, it was also determined that this article contains a substantial degree of overlap with a previously published article [ 2 ] with regard to the reported abstract, Figs 1-2, and Tables 1-6. An editorial assessment by PLOS has established that the extent of the overlap is such that this article [ 1 ] constitutes redundant publication.
The PLOS One Editors retract this article [ 1 ] because, per our editorial assessment, it does not meet PLOS One’s publication criterium (#2) [ 3 ], and because of the above concerns that remain unresolved and question this study’s compliance with the PLOS Ethical Publishing Practice policy [ 4 ]. In light of the duplicate publication concerns, PLOS did not investigate the merit of the data reproducibility and methodology concerns further. All authors agreed with the retraction.