Journal of Endocrinology hereby retracts the above article, published in 2008, vol 196, on pages 565–572, as it contains sections of text and data very similar or identical to a paper the authors had previously published in Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition (Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition 2007 41 58–67).
Dr Zhenhua Li has claimed full responsibility for this infringement, as the other authors were unaware of the submission to Journal of Endocrinology.
We apologise to the editors of Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition and to our readers.