About the Authors

Takayuki Jujo

naikamo_resp19184@chiba-u.jp

Affiliations Department of Respirology (B2), Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1, Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan, Department of Advanced Medicine in Pulmonary Hypertension, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan

Nobuhiro Tanabe

Affiliations Department of Respirology (B2), Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1, Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan, Department of Advanced Medicine in Pulmonary Hypertension, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan

Seiichiro Sakao

Affiliation Department of Respirology (B2), Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1, Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan

Hatsue Ishibashi-Ueda

Affiliation Department of Pathology, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, 5-7-1, Fujishiro-Dai, Suita City, Osaka, 565–8565, Japan

Keiichi Ishida

Affiliation Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan

Akira Naito

Affiliation Department of Respirology (B2), Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1, Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan

Fumiaki Kato

Affiliation Department of Respirology (B2), Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1, Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan

Takao Takeuchi

Affiliation Department of Respirology (B2), Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1, Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan

Ayumi Sekine

Affiliations Department of Respirology (B2), Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1, Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan, Department of Advanced Medicine in Pulmonary Hypertension, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan

Rintaro Nishimura

Affiliations Department of Respirology (B2), Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1, Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan, Department of Advanced Medicine in Pulmonary Hypertension, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan

Toshihiko Sugiura

Affiliation Department of Respirology (B2), Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1, Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan

Ayako Shigeta

Affiliation Department of Respirology (B2), Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1, Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan

Masahisa Masuda

Affiliation Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Chiba Medical Center, National Hospital Organization, 4-1-2, Tsubakimori, Chuo-ku, Chiba City, 260–8606, Japan

Koichiro Tatsumi

Affiliation Department of Respirology (B2), Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1, Inohana, Chuo-Ku, Chiba City, 260–8670, Japan

Competing Interests

I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: T.J, N.T, A.S. and R.N. were members of an endowed department sponsored by Actelion Pharmaceuticals; N.T received lecture honoraria from Bayer Daiichi-Sankyo Actelion; K.T received lecture honoraria from GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. The other authors had no conflict of interest. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization: TJ NT SS. Formal analysis: TJ NT AN FK TT AS RN TS AS MM KT. Investigation: TJ AN. Methodology: TJ NT SS HI-U. Resources: HI-U KI TS MM. Writing – original draft: TJ NT. Writing – review & editing: TJ NT SS HI-U KI AN FK TT AS RN TS AS MM KT.