About the Authors

Joseph C. Maroon

Affiliation Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Robert Winkelman

Affiliation Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Jeffrey Bost

bostj@upmc.edu

Affiliation Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Austin Amos

Affiliation Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Christina Mathyssek

Affiliation Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Vincent Miele

Affiliation Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Competing Interests

Dr. Joseph Maroon is an unpaid consultant for the Pittsburgh Steelers football club. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JCM RW JB AA CM VM. Wrote the paper: JCM RW JB AA CM VM.