About the Authors

David P. Kao

David.Kao@ucdenver.edu

Affiliation Division of Cardiology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO

Brandie D. Wagner

Affiliation Biostatistics and Informatics, Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO

Alastair D. Robertson

Affiliation Division of Cardiology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO

Michael R. Bristow

Affiliation Division of Cardiology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO

Brian D. Lowes

Affiliation Division of Cardiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE

Competing Interests

Drs. Kao, Wagner, and Lowes have no competing interests relationships. Dr. Bristow and Robertson have the following conflicts. Dr. Bristow is an employee, shareholder, and member of the board of directors of ARCA Biopharma, developer of Gencaro (bucindolol hydrochloride) totaling > $10,000/year. Dr. Robertson serves as a consultant for ARCA biopharma, Inc. with reimbursement totaling < $10,000/year. The original BEST Study was partially funded by the Intercardia Pharmaceutical Company and Arca Biopharma, Inc. 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: DPK MRB BDL. Performed the experiments: DPK MRB. Analyzed the data: DPK BDW ADR. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: DPK BDL. Wrote the paper: DPK BDL BDW. Primary investigator for BEST Trial: MRB. Data collation of primary trial data: ADR. Conception of retrospective analysis: DPK BDL. Development of software tools to perform analysis: DPK. Execution of primary phenotyping analysis: DPK. Statistical analysis: DPK BDW ADR. Authoring of manuscript: DPK BDL BDW. Revision of manuscript: DPK BDL MRB BDW ADR. Approval of final submitted version: DPK BDL MRB BDW ADR.