About the Authors

Dan Yu

Affiliations Department of Surgery, Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

George Makkar

Affiliation Department of Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Tuo Dong

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Dudley K. Strickland

Affiliations Department of Surgery, Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Department of Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Department of Physiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Rajabrata Sarkar

Affiliations Department of Surgery, Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Department of Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Department of Physiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Thomas Stacey Monahan

tmonahan@smail.umaryland.edu

Affiliations Department of Surgery, Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Department of Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: DY GM DKS RS TSM. Performed the experiments: DY GM TD TSM. Analyzed the data: DY GM TD DKS RS TSM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: DY GM TD TSM. Wrote the paper: DY GM TD DKS RS TSM.