About the Authors

Thomas Karlas

Affiliations IFB AdiposityDiseases, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, Department of Medicine, Neurology and Dermatology, Division of Gastroenterology and Rheumatology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Arne Dietrich

Affiliation Department of Visceral, Transplantation, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Veronica Peter

Affiliation IFB AdiposityDiseases, Research Area Bariatric Surgery, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Christian Wittekind

Affiliation Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Ralf Lichtinghagen

Affiliation Institute of Clinical Chemistry, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Nikita Garnov

Affiliations IFB AdiposityDiseases, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Nicolas Linder

Affiliation Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Alexander Schaudinn

Affiliation Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Harald Busse

Affiliation Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Christiane Prettin

Affiliation Coordination Center for Clinical Trials, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Volker Keim

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Neurology and Dermatology, Division of Gastroenterology and Rheumatology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Michael Tröltzsch

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Neurology and Dermatology, Division of Gastroenterology and Rheumatology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Tatjana Schütz

Affiliation IFB AdiposityDiseases, Research Area Bariatric Surgery, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Johannes Wiegand

johannes.wiegand@medizin.uni-leipzig.de

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Neurology and Dermatology, Division of Gastroenterology and Rheumatology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Competing Interests

TK received a travelling grant from Echosens, Paris; JW received lecturer fees from Siemens Health Care (Germany), not related to the study. The authors confirm that this does not alter their adherence to all PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: TK AD NG HB CP TS JW. Performed the experiments: TK AD VP CW RL NG NL AS HB CP VK MT TS JW. Analyzed the data: TK AD VP CW NG HB VK TS JW. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: TK AD CW RL NG NL AS HB VK MT TS JW. Wrote the paper: TK NG VK JW. Research grant application: AD HB CP TS JW. Revision of the manuscript: AD VP CW NL AS HB CP MT. Provided platform for ELF-test: RL.