About the Authors

Gaurav Arora

Affiliation Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Ajitha Mannalithara

Affiliation Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, United States of America

Alka Mithal

Affiliation Division of Epidemiology, Institute of Clinical Outcomes Research and Education, Palo Alto, California, United States of America

George Triadafilopoulos

Affiliation Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, United States of America

Gurkirpal Singh

gsingh@stanford.edu

Affiliations Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, United States of America, Division of Epidemiology, Institute of Clinical Outcomes Research and Education, Palo Alto, California, United States of America

Competing Interests

This research was supported in part by a research grant from Takeda Pharmaceuticals America, Deerfield, Illinois. The authors have delared no other competing interests exist. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: GA A. Mannalithara A. Mithal GT GS. Performed the experiments: GA A. Mannalithara A. Mithal GT GS. Analyzed the data: GA A. Mannalithara GT GS. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: GA A. Mannalithara A. Mithal GT GS. Wrote the paper: GA A. Mannalithara A. Mithal GT GS.