About the Authors

Francesco Patti

Affiliation Department DANA GF Ingrassia, Section of Neurosciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Alessandra Nicoletti

Affiliation Department DANA GF Ingrassia, Section of Neurosciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Carmela Leone

Affiliation Department DANA GF Ingrassia, Section of Neurosciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Silvia Messina

Affiliation Department DANA GF Ingrassia, Section of Neurosciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Emanuele D’Amico

Affiliation Department DANA GF Ingrassia, Section of Neurosciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Salvatore Lo Fermo

Affiliation Department DANA GF Ingrassia, Section of Neurosciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Vincenza Paradisi

Affiliation FIMG (Italian Federation of General Medicine), Catania Municipality Section, Catania, Italy

Elisa Bruno

Affiliation Department DANA GF Ingrassia, Section of Neurosciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Graziella Quattrocchi

Affiliation Department DANA GF Ingrassia, Section of Neurosciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Pierfrancesco Veroux

Affiliation Department of Vascular Surgery, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Luigi Di Pino

Affiliation Department of Cardiology, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Luca Costanzo

Affiliation Department of Cardiology, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Mario Zappia

mzappia@unict.it

Affiliation Department DANA GF Ingrassia, Section of Neurosciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal’s policy and have the following conflicts: Dr. F. Patti has received honoraria for speaking activities by Bayer Schering, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Novartis and Sanofi Aventis; he also served as advisory board member the following companies: Bayer Schering, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Novartis; he was also funded by Pfizer and FISM for epidemiological studies; finally he received grants for congress participation from Bayer Schering, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Novartis, Sanofi Aventis and TEVA. Prof. A. Nicoletti reports no competing interests. Dr. C. Leone received partial grants for congress participation from Bayer Schering and Biogen Idec. Dr. S. Messina received grants for congress participation from Bayer Schering and Merck Serono. Dr. E. D’Amico received grants for congress participation from Sanofi Aventis. Dr. S. Lo Fermo received honoraria for speaking activities from Biogen Idec, Merck Serono; he also received grants for congress participation from Bayer Schering, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono and Sanofi Aventis. Dr. V. Paradisi reports no competing interests. Dr. E. Bruno reports no competing interests. Dr. G. Quattrocchi reports no competing interests. Prof. P. F. Veroux reports no competing interests. Prof. L. Di Pino reports no competing interests. Dr. L. Costanzo reports no competing interests. Prof. M. Zappia received speaking honoraria from Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Lilly, Sanofi Aventis; he also received grants for congress participation from the following companies: Bayer Schering, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Lilly, Novartis, and Sanofi Aventis; he was also funded by AIFA and MIUR. 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: FP AN MZ. Performed the experiments: PV LD LC. Analyzed the data: AN. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: CL SM ED SL VP EB GQ. Wrote the paper: FP AN CL MZ.