Prior to enrollment, approval was obtained from the Afghan Ministry of Public Health and University of California, San Diego (Protocol #060083) institutional review boards.
All of the patients provided informed consent prior to enrollment, ethical clearance was obtained from the institutional review board, and the study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki as revised in 2000.
Prior to enrollment, informed consent was obtained from all participants.
Before enrollment, peripheral blood was obtained from every individual.
At the time of enrollment, heparinized plasma was obtained from each patient for measurements of biomarkers.
Eligible subjects were voluntarily enrolled, and informed consent was obtained before the enrollment.
Before enrollment, written informed consent was obtained by the family for each patient (Clinical trials NCT02036801).
Before enrollment, written informed consent was obtained from all subjects.
Written informed consent for enrollment in the cohort was obtained from all patients.
