About the Authors

Tomas Kalincik

tomas.kalincik@unimelb.edu.au

Affiliation Departments of Medicine and Neurology, University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia

Timothy Spelman

Affiliation Department of Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia

Maria Trojano

Affiliation Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari, Bari, Italy

Pierre Duquette

Affiliation Hôpital Notre Dame, Montreal, Canada

Guillermo Izquierdo

Affiliation Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Sevilla, Spain

Pierre Grammond

Affiliation Hotel-Dieu de Levis, Quebec, Canada

Alessandra Lugaresi

Affiliation MS Center, Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, University ‘G. d’Annunzio’, Chieti, Italy

Raymond Hupperts

Affiliation Maaslandziekenhuis, Sittard, The Netherlands

Edgardo Cristiano

Affiliation Hospital Italiano, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Vincent Van Pesch

Affiliation Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium

Francois Grand’Maison

Affiliation Neuro Rive-Sud, Hôpital Charles LeMoyne, Quebec, Canada

Daniele La Spitaleri

Affiliation AORN San Giuseppe Moscati, Avellino, Italy

Maria Edite Rio

Affiliation Hospital S. Joao, Porto, Portugal

Sholmo Flechter

Affiliation Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Beer-Yaakov, Israel

Celia Oreja-Guevara

Affiliation University Hospital San Carlos, IdISSC, Madrid, Spain

Giorgio Giuliani

Affiliation Ospedale di Macerata, Macerata, Italy

Aldo Savino

Affiliation Consultorio Privado, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Maria Pia Amato

Affiliation Department NEUROFARBA, Section of Neurology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

Thor Petersen

Affiliation Kommunehospitalet, Aarhus C, Denmark

Ricardo Fernandez-Bolanos

Affiliation Hospital Universitario Virgen de Valme, Seville, Spain

Roberto Bergamaschi

Affiliation Neurological Institute IRCCS Mondino, Pavia, Italy

Gerardo Iuliano

Affiliation Ospedali Riuniti di Salerno, Salerno, Italy

Cavit Boz

Affiliation Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey

Jeannette Lechner-Scott

Affiliation John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, Australia

Norma Deri

Affiliation Hospital Fernandez, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Orla Gray

Affiliation Craigavon Area Hospital, Portadown, United Kingdom

Freek Verheul

Affiliation Groen Hart Ziekenhuis, Gouda, The Netherlands

Marcela Fiol

Affiliation FLENI, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Michael Barnett

Affiliation Brain and Mind Research Institute, Sydney, Australia

Erik van Munster

Affiliation Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands

Vetere Santiago

Affiliation HIGA Gral, San Martin La Plata, Argentina

Fraser Moore

Affiliation Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Mark Slee

Affiliation Flinders University and Medical Centre, Adelaide, Australia

Maria Laura Saladino

Affiliation INEBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Raed Alroughani

Affiliation Amiri Hospital, Kuwait City, Kuwait

Cameron Shaw

Affiliation Geelong Hospital, Geelong, Australia

Krisztian Kasa

Affiliation Jahn Ferenc Teaching Hospital, Budapest, Hungary

Tatjana Petkovska-Boskova

Affiliation Clinic of Neurology Clinical Center, Skopje, Macedonia

Leontien den Braber-Moerland

Affiliation Francicus Ziekenhuis, Roosendaal, The Netherlands

Joab Chapman

Affiliation Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel

Eli Skromne

Affiliation Hospital Angeles Mexico City, Lomas, Mexico

Joseph Herbert

Affiliation New York University Hospital for Joint Diseases, New York, New York, United States of America

Dieter Poehlau

Affiliation Multiple Sclerosis Centre Kamillus-Klinik, Asbach, Germany

Merrilee Needham

Affiliation Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia

Elizabeth Alejandra Bacile Bacile

Affiliation Instituto de Neurociencias Cordoba, Cordoba, Argentina

Walter Oleschko Arruda

Affiliation Hospital Ecoville, Curitiba, Brazil

Mark Paine

Affiliation St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia

Bhim Singhal

Affiliation Bombay Hospital Institute of Medical Sciences, Mumbai, India

Steve Vucic

Affiliation Westmead Hospital, Sydney, Australia

Jose Antonio Cabrera-Gomez

Affiliation Centro Internacional de Restauracion Neurologica, Havana, Cuba

Helmut Butzkueven

Affiliations Departments of Medicine and Neurology, University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, Department of Neurology, Box Hill Hospital and Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

on behalf of the MSBase Study Group¶

Members of the MSBase Study Group are listed in the Acknowledgments.

Competing Interests

The authors have the following conflicts: TK received travel grants and honoraria from Novartis, Biogen Idec, Sanofi Aventis, Teva and Merck Serono. TS received travel grant from Biogen Idec. MT received honoraria from Biogen-Idec, Bayer-Schering, Sanofi Aventis, Merck-Serono, Teva and Novartis; and research grants from Biogen-Idec, Merck-Serono, and Novartis. GI received honoraria from Biogen-Idec, Novartis, Sanofi, Serono and Teva. AL is a Bayer Schering, Biogen Idec, Genzyme, Merck Serono Advisory Board Member. She received travel and research grants and honoraria from Bayer Schering, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Novartis, Sanofi Aventis and Teva, travel and research grants from the Associazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla and is consultant of Fondazione Cesare Serono. EC received honoraria as scientific advisory board consultant from Biogen-Idec, Bayer-Schering, Merck-Serono, Genzyme and Novartis; has participated in research projects by Merck-Serono, Roche and Novartis. VvP has served on advisory boards for Biogen Idec and Genzyme; received travel grants from Biogen Idec, Bayer Schering, Sanofi Aventis, Merck Serono and Novartis Pharma and honoraria from Biogen Idec, Teva and Novartis Pharma. FGM received honoraria from Biogen Idec, Genzyme, Novartis and Roche. COG received honoraria as scientific advisory board consultant from Biogen-Idec, Bayer-Schering, Merck-Serono, Teva and Novartis; has participated in research projects by Biogen-Idec, GSK, Teva and Novartis. MPA received honoraria as consultant on scientific advisory boards by Biogen-Idec, Bayer-Schering, Merck-Serono, Teva and Sanofi-Aventis; has received research grants by Biogen-Idec, Bayer-Schering, Merck-Serono, Teva and Novartis. TP has recieved funding or speaker honoraria from Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Novartis, Bayer Schering, Sanofi-Aventis, Roche, and Genzyme. RB received honoraria from Bayer Schering, Biogen, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, Teva; research grants from Bayer Schering, Biogen, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, Teva; congress and travel expense compensations from Bayer Schering, Biogen, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, Teva. GI had travel/accommodations/meeting expenses funded by Bayer Schering, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Novartis, Sanofi Aventis, and Teva. JLS’s institution receives support from Biogen Idec, Genzyme Sanofi, Merck Serono and Novartis. FM has participated in clinical trials sponsored by EMD Serono and Novartis. RA received honororia from Biologix, Bayer, Merck Sorono, GSK and Novartis, and served on advisory board for Biologix, Novartis and Merck Sorono. HB has served on scientific advisory boards for Biogen Idec, Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis, has received travel support from Novartis, Biogen Idec and Sanofi Aventis, serves on steering committees for trials conducted by Biogen Idec and Novartis, and has received research support from Merck Serono, Novartis and Biogen Idec. PD, PG, RH, DLS, MER, SF, GG, AS, RFB, CB, ND, OG, FV, MF, MB, VS, MS, MLS, CS, KK, TPB, LdBM, JC, ES, JH, DP, MN, EABB, WOA, MP, SV and JACG did not declare any competing interests. 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: TK HB. Performed the experiments: TS BS EvM TK MT AL EC VVP FGM CO-G MPA RB G. Izquierdo FM RA HB PD G. Iuliano PG RH DLS MER SF GG AS TP RF-B CB JL-S ND OG FV MF MB VS MS MLS CS KK TP-B LdB-M JC ES JH DP MN EABB WOA MP SV JACG. Analyzed the data: TK. Wrote the paper: TK.