EXPRESSION OF CONCERN: Diabetic human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells fail to differentiate in functional adipocytes

The Journal Editors and SAGE Publishing hereby issue an expression of concern for the following article:

Barbagallo I, Li Volti G, Galvano F, et al. Diabetic human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells fail to differentiate in functional adipocytes. Experimental Biology and Medicine. 2017;242(10):1079-1085. doi:10.1177/1535370216681552

Duplicate image concerns were raised on PubPeer, highlighting that Figure 1c and 1d overlap with Figure 5 in another publication by the same corresponding author (1). The corresponding author contacted SAGE, providing replacement images without supporting information or context of what each replacement image represents. Due to lack of information on what the replacement images represent, SAGE cannot verify the veracity of the images or the original experiments underlying Figure 1. After multiple attempts of requesting labelled, unedited original images underlying the figures in question, the Journal Editors and SAGE have decided to publish an expression of concern. We enclose herewith the replacement images provided by the corresponding author as Supplementary information.

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