The Brain Sciences Editorial Office retracts the article, “Sex-Based Differences in Plasma Autoantibodies to Central Nervous System Proteins in Gulf War Veterans versus Healthy and Symptomatic Controls” [1], cited above.
Following its publication, concerns were brought to the attention of the Editorial Office by a representative from Duke University and the surviving co-authors regarding the validity of the findings of this publication [1], due to concerns related to the Western Blot images in a connected publication [2].
Adhering to our complaints procedure, an investigation was conducted by the Editorial Office and Editorial Board. Based on the review by Duke University of the article’s findings, the co-authors have requested a retraction due to concerns about their ability to rely on the Western Blot images and produce verified, reliable results. The Editorial Board evaluated the correspondence from the co-authors and the Institution and decided that the findings of this article were heavily reliant on [2], consequently deciding to retract this article [1] as per MDPI’s retraction policy (https://www.mdpi.com/ethics#_bookmark30, accessed on 28 May 2024) and in line with the Committee on Publication Ethics retraction guidelines (https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines, accessed on 28 May 2024).
This retraction was approved by the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Brain Sciences.
The authors have agreed to this retraction.
References
- Abou-Donia, M.B.; Krengel, M.H.; Lapadula, E.S.; Zundel, C.G.; LeClair, J.; Massaro, J.; Quinn, E.; Conboy, L.A.; Kokkotou, E.; Nguyen, D.D.; et al. RETRACTED: Sex-Based Differences in Plasma Autoantibodies to Central Nervous System Proteins in Gulf War Veterans versus Healthy and Symptomatic Controls. Brain Sci. 2021, 11, 148. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Abou-Donia, M.B.; Lapadula, E.S.; Krengel, M.H.; Quinn, E.; LeClair, J.; Massaro, J.; Conboy, L.A.; Kokkotou, E.; Abreu, M.; Klimas, N.G.; et al. Using Plasma Autoantibodies of Central Nervous System Proteins to Distinguish Veterans with Gulf War Illness from Healthy and Symptomatic Controls. Brain Sci. 2020, 10, 610. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
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