About the Authors

Takashi Uzu

takuzu@belle.shiga-med.ac.jp

Affiliations Division of Nephrology & Blood Purification, Nissay Hospital, Osaka, Japan, Department of Medicine, Sihiga Univ. of Medical Science, Otsu, Shiga, Japan

Shin-ichi Araki

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Sihiga Univ. of Medical Science, Otsu, Shiga, Japan

Atsunori Kashiwagi

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Kusatsu General Hospital, Kusatsu, Shiga, Japan

Masakazu Haneda

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical Univ., Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

Daisuke Koya

Affiliation Department of Diabetology and Endocrinology, Kanazawa Medical Univ., Kahoku-gun, Ishikawa, Japan

Hiroki Yokoyama

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Jiyugaoka Medical Clinic, Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan

Yasuo Kida

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Daini-Okamoto Hospital, Uji, Kyoto, Japan

Motoyoshi Ikebuchi

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Ikebuchi Clonic, Osaka, Japan

Takaaki Nakamura

Affiliation Department of Endicrinology and Metabolism, Omi Hachiman Community Medical Center, Omi Hachiman, Shiga, Japan

Masataka Nishimura

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Nagahama City Hospital, Nagahama, Shiga, Japan

Noriko Takahara

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Ako City Hospital, Ako, Hyogo, Japan

Toshiyuki Obata

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Ako City Hospital, Ako, Hyogo, Japan

Nobuyuki Omichi

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Omichi Clinic, Otsu, Shiga, Japan

Katsuhiko Sakamoto

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Sakamoto Clinic, Minoh, Osaka, Iapan

Ryosuke Shingu

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Kitahorie Hospital, Osaka, Japan

Hideki Taki

Affiliation Diabetes Center, National Hospital Organization National Osaka Hospital, Osaka, Japan

Yoshio Nagai

Affiliation Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology, St. Marianna Univ School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan

Hiroaki Tokuda

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Tokuda Clinic, Kitamatsu-ura-gun, Nagasaki, Japan

Munehiro Kitada

Affiliation Department of Diabetology and Endocrinology, Kanazawa Medical Univ., Kahoku-gun, Ishikawa, Japan

Miwa Misawa

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Nagahama Red Cross Hospital, Nagahama, Shiga, Japan

Akira Nishiyama

Affiliation Department of Pharmacology, Kagawa Univ. Kida-gun, Kagawa, Japan

Hiroyuki Kobori

Affiliations Department of Pharmacology, Kagawa Univ. Kida-gun, Kagawa, Japan, Graduate School of Health Science, Kokusai Iryo Fukushi Daigaku, Ohtawara, Tochigi, Japan

Hiroshi Maegawa

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Sihiga Univ. of Medical Science, Otsu, Shiga, Japan

The Shiga Committee for Preventing Diabetic Nephropathy

Membership of The Shiga Committee for Preventing Diabetic Nephropathy is provided in the Acknowledgments.

Competing Interests

TU has received lecture fee from Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd and research grants from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Astellas Pharma Inc., MSD K.K, Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd., Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd, Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited and Shionogi & Co., Ltd. HM has received lecture fees from Astellas Pharma Inc., MSD K.K., Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited, Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd., and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and research grants from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Astellas Pharma Inc., MSD K.K, Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd., Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd, Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited and Shionogi & Co., Ltd. MH has received lecture fees from Astellas Pharma Inc., MSD K.K., Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd., Taisho-Toyama Pharm. Co. Ltd, Ono Pharmaceutical, Co., Ltd., Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and research grants from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Astellas Pharma Inc., MSD K.K, Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd., Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd, Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited and Shionogi & Co., Ltd., and research grants from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Astellas Pharma Inc., MSD K.K, Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd., Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd, Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited and Shionogi & Co., Ltd. Taisho-Toyama Pharm. Co. Ltd, Ono Pharmaceutical, Co., Ltd., Bayer Yakuhin Ltd., Pfizer Japan Inc., Eli Lilly Japan K.K., Novo Nordisk Pharma Ltd. DK has received lecture fees from Astellas Pharma Inc., MSD K.K., Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd., Astellas Pharma Inc., and Eli Lilly Japan K.K, and research grants from Astellas Pharma Inc., Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited Ono Pharmaceutical, Co., Ltd., Novo Nordisk Pharma Ltd., Sanofi K.K., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Shionogi & Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Morinaga & Co., Ltd. AN has received lecture fees from Mochida Pharm. Co. Ltd., Daiichi-Sankyo Co. Ltd., Taisho-Toyama Pharm. Co. Ltd., Boehringer-Ingelheim Co., Ltd. and a research grants from Daiichi-Sankyo Co. Ltd., Novartis Co. Ltd., Taisho-Toyama Pharm. Co. Ltd., Chu-gai Pharm. Co., Ltd., Ajinomoto Pharm. Co., Ltd., Mochida Pharma Co., Ltd.. Our competing interest does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data ad materials.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization: HM AK MH DK SA TU. Data curation: HM AK MH DK SA TU. Formal analysis: TU SA. Funding acquisition: HM AK. Investigation: MI YK HY MK MM TN MN NT TO NO KS RS H. Taki H. Tokuda YN AN HK. Methodology: HM AK MH DK SA TU AN HK. Writing – original draft: TU. Writing – review & editing: HM SA TU.