About the Authors

Yu-Feng Hu

Contributed equally to this work with: Yu-Feng Hu, Kun-Tai Lee

Affiliations Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Institute of Clinical Medicine and Cardiovascular Research Institute, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

Kun-Tai Lee

Contributed equally to this work with: Yu-Feng Hu, Kun-Tai Lee

Affiliation Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Hsueh-Hsiao Wang

Affiliation Departments of Internal Medicine and Medical Research, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Mackay Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan

Kwo-Chang Ueng

Affiliation Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

Hung-I Yeh

Affiliation Departments of Internal Medicine and Medical Research, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Mackay Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan

Tze-Fan Chao

Affiliations Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Institute of Clinical Medicine and Cardiovascular Research Institute, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

Jo-Nan Liao

Affiliation Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

Yenn-Jiang Lin

Affiliations Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Institute of Clinical Medicine and Cardiovascular Research Institute, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

Shih-Lin Chang

Affiliations Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Institute of Clinical Medicine and Cardiovascular Research Institute, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

Li-Wei Lo

Affiliations Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Institute of Clinical Medicine and Cardiovascular Research Institute, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

Ta-Chuan Tuan

Affiliations Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Institute of Clinical Medicine and Cardiovascular Research Institute, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

Cheng-Hung Li

Affiliations Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Institute of Clinical Medicine and Cardiovascular Research Institute, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

Fa-Po Chung

Affiliations Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Institute of Clinical Medicine and Cardiovascular Research Institute, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

Chiao-Po Hsu

Affiliation Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, and National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan

Hsiao-Huang Chang

Affiliation Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, and National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan

Cheng-Hsiung Huang

Affiliation Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, and National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan

Shih-Ann Chen

epsachen@ms41.hinet.net

Affiliations Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Institute of Clinical Medicine and Cardiovascular Research Institute, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: YFH KCU HIY SAC. Performed the experiments: KTL HHW. Analyzed the data: TFC JNL. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: YJL SLC LWL TCT CHL FPC CPH HHC CHH. Wrote the paper: YFH KCU HIY SAC.