Statview software

Baseline demographics and digital background were summarised with descriptive statistics. Survival probabilities were estimated by the Kaplan–Meier method. Progression-free survival (PFS) was defined as the time from inclusion to progression; and overall survival (OS) was defined as the time from inclusion to all-cause death. All statistical analyses were carried out with Statview software (SAS Institute, Cary, NC). All tests were two-tailed, and p values lower than 0.05 were considered significant (Supplementary Material).

Descriptive statistics were computed for selected demographic variables across diagnostic groups. Contingency tables were used to perform the frequency analysis. Since the molecule’s values were not normally distributed, we used log-transformed values with parametric statistic tests and non-parametric tests to compare GI vs. No-GI subjects (Mann-Whitney test) and to compare EO ASD vs. Reg-DD vs. Reg + DD (Kruskall-Wallis test) for all the selected molecules.
Correlation and regression analysis were computed to study the relationship between the molecules and the identified clinical parameters. Findings with p value <0.05 were considered significant. StatView software (version 5.0.1; SAS Institute, Abacus Concept Inc., Berkeley, CA, USA) was used for data analyses. To discriminate different subgroups of ASD children based on biomarker levels, we performed Principal Component Analysis (PCA) using as correlated variables: sex, BMI, age, and cytokine levels (TNFa, IL6, CCL2, leptin, resistin and PAI 1). After log transformation and auto scaling (e.g., mean-centered and divided by standard deviation of each variable) PCA was performed using MetaboAnalystR 1.0.3 (Xia Lab, McGill University, Montreal, Canada). We checked quality control of samples using PCA that allowed us to label the 85 samples as outlier so it was excluded from downstream analysis.

Experimental data were analyzed using one-way or two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Fisher-PLSD post hoc tests were also performed after significant main effects for drug, time or luminescence intensity were observed. The criterion for statistical significance was p < 0.05. Statistical analyses were performed using Stat View software (version 5.0; SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA).

Densitometric quantification of western blots was performed with the AIDA software (Raytest, Staubenhardt, Germany). Data were analysed by Kruskall-Wallis and Mann–Whitney tests with the StatView software (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA).