Retraction: Self-association of L-periaxin occurs via its acidic domain and NLS2/NLS3, and affects its trafficking in RSC96 cells

Retraction of ‘Self-association of L-periaxin occurs via its acidic domain and NLS2/NLS3, and affects its trafficking in RSC96 cells’ by Yenan Yang et al., RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 44112–44123, DOI: 10.1039/C7RA06853K

The Royal Society of Chemistry, with the agreement of the authors, hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data in the published article. The authors confirmed that the western blot images in Fig. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 had been inappropriately manipulated. Given the significance of the concerns about the validity of the data, the findings presented in this paper are no longer reliable.Signed: Yenan Yang, Min Liang and Yawei ShiDate: 8^th April 2021Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: Gemcitabine aggravates miR-199a-5p-mediated breast cancer cell apoptosis by promoting VEGFA downregulation via inactivating the AKT signaling pathway

Retraction of ‘Gemcitabine aggravates miR-199a-5p-mediated breast cancer cell apoptosis by promoting VEGFA downregulation via inactivating the AKT signaling pathway’ by Dingmei Deng et al., RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 20385–20394, DOI: 10.1039/C9RA00016J.

The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data. The images in the article, and the raw data provided by the authors, were screened by an image integrity expert.All the western blots in the article contain very unusually regular-shaped bands. The raw data provided for the western blot images does not appear to be genuine. There are traces of cloning in the background of the raw data for multiple panels, including Fig. 3 (Bax-MCF-7 and Cle-caspase-3-MCF-7) and Fig. 4 (VEGFA-MCF-7), indicating that the raw data was manipulated. In addition, for a number of panels, the area immediately around the bands in the raw data does not exactly match the published images. The bands in the figure panels also appear closer to each other than in the raw data. The raw data provided by the authors, therefore, cannot be used to validate the published data.Given the significance of the concerns about the validity of both the data in the article and the raw data provided by the authors, the findings in this paper are not reliable.The authors agree to the retraction.Signed: Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC AdvancesDate: 9^th April 2021     

Retraction: Ligustrazine attenuates renal damage by inhibiting endoplasmic reticulum stress in diabetic nephropathy by inactivating MAPK pathways

Retraction of ‘Ligustrazine attenuates renal damage by inhibiting endoplasmic reticulum stress in diabetic nephropathy by inactivating MAPK pathways’ by Hongling Yang et al., RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 21816–21822, DOI: 10.1039/C8RA01674G.

The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data.The images in the article were screened by an image integrity expert who confirmed that some of the western blot images in this paper had been duplicated in other articles. There are no common authors between the papers.The control bands (GAPDH) in Fig. 3A of this paper are identical to the western blot control bands (GAPDH) presented in Fig. 1E of ref. 1.The control bands (GAPDH) in Fig. 4A of this paper are identical to the western blot control bands (GAPDH) presented in Fig. 2C and Fig. 4G of ref. 2.One of the blots in the control band (GAPDH) in Fig. 4A has also been reused as a blot in Fig. 3D of ref. 3.The authors were asked to provide the raw data for this article but did not respond. Given the significance of the concerns about the validity of the data, and the lack of raw data, the findings presented in this paper are not reliable.The authors have been informed but have not responded to any correspondence regarding the retraction.Signed: Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances.Date: 7^th January 2021.     

Retraction: LncRNA NEXN-AS1 attenuates proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells through sponging miR-33a/b

Retraction of ‘LncRNA NEXN-AS1 attenuates proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells through sponging miR-33a/b’ by Leiming Wu et al., RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 27856–27864, https://doi.org/10.1039/C9RA06282C.

The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data. The authors were asked to provide the raw data for the article, but stated they were unable to locate the raw data and asked to retract the article.The western blots in Fig. 4F and 6D have been over-contrasted to the point where the background has almost been erased. In addition, there appear to be splice marks in the MMP-2 and β-actin panels in Fig. 7D, indicating that the images may have been manipulated. The authors are unable to provide verifiable raw data that could be used to validate the published images.Given the significance of the concerns about the validity of the data, and the lack of raw data, the findings presented in this paper are not reliable.The authors have not responded to any subsequent correspondence regarding the wording of the retraction notice.Signed: Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC AdvancesDate: 18th August 2022     

Retraction: Tuning the chemistry of graphene oxides by a sonochemical approach: application of adsorption properties

Retraction of ‘Tuning the chemistry of graphene oxides by a sonochemical approach: application of adsorption properties’ by Yubing Sun et al., RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 24886–24892, DOI: 10.1039/C5RA02021B.

The Royal Society of Chemistry, with the agreement of the named authors, hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data in the published article.The TEM image in Fig. 1B duplicates data published in another publication by Pan et al., but presented as different materials.¹The AFM images in Fig. 1C and D illustrate duplication of data, given that these experiments were reported under different reaction conditions.The EXAFS spectra in Fig. 4 duplicate data in another publication, but reported as different materials.²Given the number and significance of the concerns about the validity of the data, the findings presented in this paper are no longer reliable.Signed: Yubing Sun, Shubin Yang, Congcong Ding and Wencai ChengDate: 27^th March 2020Zhongxiu Jin was contacted but did not respond.Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: Salvianolic acid B inhibits inflammatory response and cell apoptosis via the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in IL-1β-induced osteoarthritis chondrocytes

Retraction of ‘Salvianolic acid B inhibits inflammatory response and cell apoptosis via the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway in IL-1β-induced osteoarthritis chondrocytes’ by Bin Zhu et al., RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 36422–36429, DOI: 10.1039/C8RA02418A.

The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data.The images in the article were screened by an image integrity expert who confirmed that some of the western blots images in this paper had been duplicated in other articles. There are no common authors between the papers.The Col II band in Fig. 3B of this paper has been duplicated as the p62 band in Fig. 4A of ref. 1.One of the blots in the control band (GAPDH) in Fig. 3D has also been reused as a blot in Fig. 2C of ref. 1 and in Fig. 4A of ref. 2.The authors were asked to provide the raw data for this article but did not respond. Given the significance of the concerns about the validity of the data, and the lack of raw data, the findings presented in this paper are not reliable.The authors have been informed but have not responded to any correspondence regarding the retraction.Signed: Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC AdvancesDate: 7^th January 2021     

Retraction: Enhanced adsorption of ionizable aromatic compounds on humic acid-coated carbonaceous adsorbents

Retraction of ‘Enhanced adsorption of ionizable aromatic compounds on humic acid-coated carbonaceous adsorbents’ by Yubing Sun et al., RSC Adv., 2012, 2, 10359–10364, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA21713A.

The Royal Society of Chemistry, with the agreement of the named authors, hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data in the published article.Repeating fragments can be observed in the XRD spectrum for GONs in Fig. 1C, which indicates that it has been manipulated. In addition, there are unexpected similarities in the baseline of the XRD data presented for MWCNTs and AC (Fig. 1C) in the 32.5–40° and 45–57.5° regions.Given the significance of the concern about the validity of the data, the findings presented in this paper are no longer reliable.Signed: Yubing Sun, Dadong Shao, Guixia Zhao, Shubin Yang and Xiangke WangDate: 27^th March 2020Changlun Chen, Jiaxing Li and Xiaoli Tan were contacted but did not respond.Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: Organometallic Ag nanostructures prepared using Hypericum perforatum extract are highly effective against multidrug-resistant bacteria

Retraction of ‘Organometallic Ag nanostructures prepared using Hypericum perforatum extract are highly effective against multidrug-resistant bacteria’ by Qaisar Maqbool et al., RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 30562–30572.

We, the named authors, wholly retract this RSC Advances article.The authors have repeated the FTIR and TGA analyses of the nanoparticles synthesised using H. perforatum, and also obtained the original data files from the facility that carried out the initial analyses. The authors have compared the new results and the original data files with the data in the published article. They found that the graphs presented in Fig. 7a and b in the article did not correspond to neither the original data nor the new analysis. They also found that the same TGA graph (Fig. 7b) was used in previous articles by the first author but representing a different material.^1,2The Institute of Plant Genetics of the Polish Academy of Sciences have confirmed to the Royal Society of Chemistry that graphs presented in Fig. 7 of this RSC Advances article were manipulated.The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to readers.Signed: Dariusz Kruszka, Piotr Kachlicki and Gregory FranklinDate: 5^th April 2019Qaisar Maqbool opposes this retraction.Retraction endorsed by Andrew Shore, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: Anti-cancer activity of hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolites synthesized from rice-based waste materials

Retraction of ‘Anti-cancer activity of hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolites synthesized from rice-based waste materials’ by S. K. Jesudoss et al., RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 481–490, https://doi.org/10.1039/C7RA11763A.

The Royal Society of Chemistry, with the agreement of the authors, hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data.In Fig. 2 the data for (a), (b) and (c) contains sections of identical noise.In Fig. 7 there are several instances of overlapping images. Fig. 7a and e are identical, Fig. 7b and f have partial overlap, and Fig. 7c and d have partial overlap.Given the significance of these concerns, the findings presented in this paper are no longer reliable.Signed: S. K. Jesudoss, J. Judith Vijaya, K. Kaviyarasu, L. John Kennedy, R. Jothi Ramalingam, Hamad A. Al-LohedanDate: 18^th August 2022.Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances.     

Retraction: Radio frequency triggered curcumin delivery from thermo and pH responsive nanoparticles containing gold nanoparticles and its in vivo localization studies in an orthotopic breast tumor model

Retraction of ‘Radio frequency triggered curcumin delivery from thermo and pH responsive nanoparticles containing gold nanoparticles and its in vivo localization studies in an orthotopic breast tumor model’ by N. Sanoj Rejinold et al., RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 39408–39427, DOI: 10.1039/C4RA05727A.

We, the named authors, hereby wholly retract this RSC Advances article due to duplication of images in Fig. 9–12, 15, 18 and 19, which affect the reliability of the data and the overall conclusions presented in the published article.Signed: N. Sanoj Rejinold, Reju George Thomas, Muthunarayanan Muthiah, K. P. Chennazhi, In-Kyu Park, K. Manzoor and R. Jayakumar, 24th July 2020.Yong Yeon Jeong was contacted but did not respond.Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances.     

Retraction: Functional disruption of staphylococcal accessory regulator A from Staphylococcus aureus by silver ions

Retraction of ‘Functional disruption of staphylococcal accessory regulator A from Staphylococcus aureus by silver ions’ by Xiangwen Liao et al., RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 33221–33226. DOI: 10.1039/D0RA06357F.

We, the named authors, hereby wholly retract this RSC Advances article as there is an error in the data and the conclusions of the paper are not supported.Fig. 3B does not show the titration data of SarA, it is the titration data of a different protein, and therefore we cannot unequivocally conclude that SarA binds Ag⁺via its conserved cysteine residues.The corresponding authors regret this oversight and apologise for any inconvenience to readers.Signed: Xiangwen Liao, Guijuan Jiang, Jing Wang and Jintao WangDate: 17^th February 2021Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: Simultaneous sorption and reduction of U(vi) on magnetite–reduced graphene oxide composites investigated by macroscopic,spectroscopic and modeling techniques

Retraction of ‘Simultaneous sorption and reduction of U(vi) on magnetite–reduced graphene oxide composites investigated by macroscopic, spectroscopic and modeling techniques’ by Wencai Cheng et al., RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 59677–59685, DOI: 10.1039/C5RA10451C.

The Royal Society of Chemistry, with the agreement of the authors, hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data in the published article.The SEM image in Fig. 1C duplicates data published in another publication, but reported as different materials.¹There are unexpected similarities in the XPS spectra presented for M1–rGO and M5–rGO in Fig. 2A.Repeating fragments can be observed in the baseline of the XRD spectrum for GO presented in Fig. 2B, which indicate that it has been manipulated. In addition, the XRD spectrum for M5–rGO in Fig. 2B duplicates data published in ref. 1 and 2, but they have been reported as different materials.Given the number and significance of the concerns about the validity of the data, the findings presented in this paper are no longer reliable.Signed: Wencai Cheng, Zhongxiu Jin, Congcong Ding and Maolin WangDate: 27^th March 2020Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: LncRNA SNHG5 regulates the cell viability and apoptosis of glioma cells by the miR-1297/KPNA2 axis

Retraction of ‘LncRNA SNHG5 regulates the cell viability and apoptosis of glioma cells by the miR-1297/KPNA2 axis’ by Xueyuan Li et al., RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 1498–1506, DOI: 10.1039/C9RA08693E

The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data. The images in the article, and the raw data provided by the authors, were screened by an image integrity expert. The backgrounds to the individual panels of the raw data were sometimes almost blank, and had very large pixels, whereas the bands themselves had good resolution. It is therefore possible that the rows of bands were placed onto false backgrounds. Therefore, the raw data provided by the authors cannot be used as verifiable raw data to validate the published data.Given the significance of the concerns about the validity of both the data in the article and the raw data provided by the authors, the findings presented in this paper are not reliable.The authors have been informed but have not responded to any correspondence regarding the retraction.Signed: Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC AdvancesDate: 19^th January 2021     

Retraction: Honeycomb-like Co–B amorphous alloy catalysts assembled by a solution plasma process show enhanced catalytic hydrolysis activity for hydrogen generation

Retraction of ‘Honeycomb-like Co–B amorphous alloy catalysts assembled by a solution plasma process show enhanced catalytic hydrolysis activity for hydrogen generation’ by Dong Ge Tong et al., RSC Adv., 2012, 2, 2369–2376.

We, the authors, hereby wholly retract this article due to inaccuracies in the scale bars of Fig. 1b, 4h and 5h and the wrong images being presented in Fig. 5d and e.We, the authors, repeated the experiments and believe that the scientific content and conclusions of the related studies presented in the published paper can be reproduced. However, due to the large number of images, it is not possible to replace the published images with the new figures. Therefore, to protect the rigor of the scientific record, we decided to retract this article on our own initiative.Signed: Dong Ge Tong (on behalf of the authors).Date: 6^th March 2020.Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances.     

Retraction: LncRNA ZEB2-AS1 regulates the drug resistance of acute myeloid leukemia via the miR-142-3p/INPP4B axis

Retraction of ‘LncRNA ZEB2-AS1 regulates the drug resistance of acute myeloid leukemia via the miR-142-3p/INPP4B axis’ by Kai Wang et al., RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 39495–39504, DOI: 10.1039/C9RA07854A.

The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data. The images in the article, and raw data provided by the authors, were screened by an image integrity expert. The raw data provided by the authors was found to closely resemble raw data for a number of other articles, which is unexpected given that there are completely different author lists for these articles.In addition, the paper was analysed by experts who fact-checked the identities of the described nucleotide sequence reagents,¹ and found errors with the following nucleotide sequence reagents reported in the article: ZEB2-AS1 forward and reverse primers and miR-142-3p reverse primer. The claimed identities of the nucleotide sequences for the reported primers are incorrect and, therefore, the results shown in Fig. 1–6 are unreliable.Given the significance of the concerns about the validity of both the data in the article and the raw data provided by the authors, the findings presented in this paper are not reliable.Kai Wang opposes the retraction. The other authors have been informed but have not responded to any correspondence regarding the retraction.Signed: Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC AdvancesDate: 19^th January 2021     

Retraction: Graphene oxide/DNA-decorated electrode for the fabrication of microRNA biosensor

Retraction of ‘Graphene oxide/DNA-decorated electrode for the fabrication of microRNA biosensor’ by Erlin Sun et al., RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 69334–69338, DOI: 10.1039/C5RA12373A.

We, the named authors, hereby wholly retract this RSC Advances article due to a lack of reproducibility in the results of the paper. We have been unable to replicate the results of miRNA detection, shown in Fig. 8, and as a result, the conclusions of this paper are not supported.Signed: Erlin Sun, Lining Wang, Xiaodong Zhou, Chengquan Ma, Yan Sun, Mingde Lei, Bingxin Lu and Ruifa HanDate: 14^th July 2020Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: Olefin epoxidation with chiral salen Mn(iii) immobilized on ZnPS-PVPA upon alkyldiamine

Retraction of ‘Olefin epoxidation with chiral salen Mn(iii) immobilized on ZnPS-PVPA upon alkyldiamine’ by J. Huang et al., RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 19507–19514, DOI: 10.1039/C6RA00002A.

The Royal Society of Chemistry, with the agreement of the authors, hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to extensive overlap with other published articles by these authors, including the text, data and figures published in ref. 1, which was not cited in this article. Although there are sections of original work, there are significant portions of text overlap, particularly in the Results and discussion section. Fig. 1, 3, 4 and 5, Tables 1 and 2 and Schemes 1 and 2 in the RSC Advances article have also been reproduced from ref. 1.Signed: J. Huang, D. W. Qi, J. L. Cai and X. H. ChenDate: 19^th November 2020Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: The influence of gradient and porous configurations on the microwave absorbing performance of multilayered graphene/thermoplastic polyurethane composite foams

Retraction of ‘The influence of gradient and porous configurations on the microwave absorbing performance of multilayered graphene/thermoplastic polyurethane composite foams’ by Chaozhi Wang et al., RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 21859–21872, DOI: 10.1039/C9RA04735B.

We, the named authors, hereby wholly retract this RSC Advances article due to concerns affecting the reliability of the data.Fig. 3d is exactly the same as Fig 3d in our related paper “A versatile strategy for alternately arranging the foam ratio layers of multilayer graphene/thermoplastic polyurethane composite foams towards lightweight and broadband electromagnetic wave absorption” (Chaozhi Wang et al., RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 23843–23855), however, the experimental procedures of these two papers are different, with different foam ratio and graphene content, so the same picture cannot be used to illustrate different samples.In Fig 8, (a)–(d) represent 2–5 layers of TPU/graphene multilayer samples, respectively. However, all the images are taken from a picture of the same electron microscope image under different magnification rates, which cannot prove the microscopic morphology of the samples with different layers. At the same time, the size labeling is incorrect. The magnification ratios of (a)–(d) are different, so the size labeling cannot be all 3 mm.On page 21864 of the article, it states “The graphene, selectively dispersed over the cellular walls by foaming, formed a three-dimensional conductive network structure, as shown in the Fig. 6b”. However, in Fig. 6b, the three-dimensional conductive network structure and graphene’s selective dispersion and alignment in the pore structures cannot be seen very clearly, because it is only a cell structure diagram, and therefore does not prove the existence of a three-dimensional conductive path.As the above data errors and misuse of pictures have greatly influenced the reliability of the conclusions, we are retracting this article to protect the integrity and accuracy of the scientific record.Signed: Chaozhi Wang, Jiang Li and Shaoyun GuoDate: 5^th April 2021Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: A study on the luminescence properties of gamma-ray-irradiated white light emitting Ca2Al2SiO7:Dy3+ phosphors fabricated using a combustion-assisted method

Retraction of ‘A study on the luminescence properties of gamma-ray-irradiated white light emitting Ca₂Al₂SiO₇:Dy³⁺ phosphors fabricated using a combustion-assisted method’ by Geetanjali Tiwari et al., RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 49317–49327, https://doi.org/10.1039/C6RA04913C.

The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data.Following the previous publication of a correction, which was published after an institutional investigation, to correct errors in Fig. 10(a, b), 11(a, b), 12(a, b), 15, 18 and 19, further instances of data concerns have been identified within the corrected Fig. 10a, 11a and 12a. The corrected Fig. 10a, 11a, and 12a contain sections of identical noise and these concerns undermine the integrity of this article.Given the significance of these concerns, the findings presented in this paper are no longer reliable.This retraction supersedes the information provided in the correction related to this article and the correction is no longer valid.The authors were informed about the retraction of the article. Nameeta Brahme has not agreed with the decision, the other authors have not responded.Signed: Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC AdvancesDate: 13/10/2022     

Retraction: Trop2 promotes proliferation,invasion and EMT of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells through the NF-κB pathway

Retraction of ‘Trop2 promotes proliferation, invasion and EMT of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells through the NF-κB pathway’ by Nan Cheng et al., RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 53087–53096, DOI: 10.1039/c7ra09915k.

The authors hereby wholly retract this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data. The authors have attempted to replicate the experiments described in the article but were unable to achieve the same results.Given the lack of reliable raw data, the authors can no longer guarantee that the findings presented in this paper are accurate.Signed: Junpeng LuoDate: 24^th February 2022Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances