About the Authors

Chun-Jung Lin

Contributed equally to this work with: Chun-Jung Lin, Wei-Chih Liao, Hwai-Jeng Lin

Affiliations Department of Urology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America, Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

Wei-Chih Liao

Contributed equally to this work with: Chun-Jung Lin, Wei-Chih Liao, Hwai-Jeng Lin

Affiliations Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

Hwai-Jeng Lin

Contributed equally to this work with: Chun-Jung Lin, Wei-Chih Liao, Hwai-Jeng Lin

Affiliation Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Shuang-Ho Hospital, New Taipei, Taiwan

Yuan-Man Hsu

Affiliation Department of Biological Science and Technology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

Cheng-Li Lin

Affiliation Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

Yu-An Chen

Affiliation Graduate Institute of Basic Medical Science, School of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

Chun-Lung Feng

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

Chih-Jung Chen

Affiliation Division of Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Paediatrics, Chang Gung Children's Hospital and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan

Min-Chuan Kao

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan

Chih-Ho Lai

d10040@mail.cmuh.org.tw (C-HK); chlai@mail.cgu.edu.tw; chl@mail.cmu.edu.tw (C-HL)

Affiliations Graduate Institute of Basic Medical Science, School of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, Department of Nursing, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan

Chia-Hung Kao

d10040@mail.cmuh.org.tw (C-HK); chlai@mail.cgu.edu.tw; chl@mail.cmu.edu.tw (C-HL)

Affiliations Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, Department of Nuclear Medicine, PET Center, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: CHL CHK. Performed the experiments: CJL WCL HJL. Analyzed the data: YMH CLL CLF MCK YAC. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: CJC MCK. Wrote the paper: CHL CHK.