About the Authors

Makiko Oboshi

Affiliation Cardiovascular Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan

Yoshiro Naito

ynaito@hyo-med.ac.jp

Affiliation Cardiovascular Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan

Hisashi Sawada

Affiliation Cardiovascular Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan

Shinichi Hirotani

Affiliation Cardiovascular Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan

Toshihiro Iwasaku

Affiliation Cardiovascular Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan

Yoshitaka Okuhara

Affiliation Cardiovascular Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan

Daisuke Morisawa

Affiliation Cardiovascular Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan

Akiyo Eguchi

Affiliation Cardiovascular Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan

Koichi Nishimura

Affiliation Cardiovascular Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan

Kenichi Fujii

Affiliation Cardiovascular Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan

Toshiaki Mano

Affiliation Cardiovascular Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan

Masaharu Ishihara

Affiliation Division of Coronary Heart Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan

Tohru Masuyama

Affiliation Cardiovascular Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: MO YN T. Masuyama. Performed the experiments: MO YN T. Masuyama HS SH TI YO DM AE KN KF T. Mano MI. Analyzed the data: MO YN HS T. Masuyama. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: YN T. Masuyama. Wrote the paper: MO YN T. Masuyama.