About the Authors

Kurt-Wolfram Sühs

Affiliations Department of Neurology, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany, Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Katharina Hein

Affiliation Department of Neurology, Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany

Jens R. Pehlke

Affiliations Department of Neurology, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany, Department of Addiction Disorders, LWL Clinic Münster, Münster, Germany

Barbara Käsmann-Kellner

Affiliation Department of Ophthalmology, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany

Ricarda Diem

ricarda.diem@med.uni-heidelberg.de

Affiliations Department of Neurology, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany, Department of Neuro-oncology, University Clinic Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

Competing Interests

RD has received travel expenses from Biogen Idec, and consultancy fees from Synthon BV, KWS and KH have received travel expenses from Biogen Idec, Bayer Healthcare, and TEVA. JRP and BKK have nothing to declare. This study was supported by research grants from Bayer Healthcare, Leverkusen, Germany, and Merck Serono GmbH, Darmstadt. Betaferon is marketed by Bayer, and Rebif is marketed by Merck Serono. There are no further patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. 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: KWS RD. Performed the experiments: KWS JRP BKK RD. Analyzed the data: KWS KH JRP BKK RD. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: KH. Wrote the paper: RD.