1Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical, Sciences, Tehran, Iran

2Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen, Munchen, Germany

3Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

4Division of Clinical Research and Training, St. John's Research Institute, Bengaluru, India

5Golestan Research Center of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Sayyad Shirazi Hospital, Gorgan, Iran

Correspondence: Prof. Reza Malekzadeh, Digestive Disease Research Institute, Shariati Hospital, North Kargar Avenue, Tehran 14117-13135, Iran. Email: [email protected]

S.G.S., J.F.E.M., and P.J. contributed equally to this work.