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Comment by PLOS ONE

Posted by PLOS_ONE_Group on 17 Dec 2012 at 09:57 GMT

Following the publication of this article, it has been brought to our attention that the Academic Editor Dr Meuth had collaborated with several of the authors on different projects and publications.

In line with the PLOS ONE competing interests policy, we consider this as a potential conflict of interest. Dr Meuth was invited by PLOS ONE to act as Academic Editor for this manuscript and we acknowledge that the journal should not have approached him to handle this manuscript.

We have therefore asked the Academic Editor Cesario Borlongan to carefully evaluate the peer review process of this article. Dr Borlongan has confirmed that he is satisfied that the peer review process and the decision for publication are adequate.

Competing interests declared: PLOS ONE Staff