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Fig. 1 | Biology of Sex Differences

Fig. 1

From: Association between fetal sex and maternal plasma microRNA responses to prenatal alcohol exposure: evidence from a birth outcome-stratified cohort

Fig. 1

Bootstrap resampling with ANOVA statistical testing identifies sex-specific miRNAs. a The schematic workflow for iterative bootstrap resampling with replacement, with the ANOVA as a sample parametric test. (1) Aggregated data in each group were resampled with replacement to generate a new sample with n number of observations, identical to the sample size of the original group. (2) A one-way ANOVA was conducted on the three resampled groups. (3) A p value from that iteration was recorded. (4) The resampling process was then repeated for 2000 iterations. (5) Steps 1–4 were then repeated for the male and female groups separately. (6) For each miRNA, we report the proportion of iterations in which the ANOVA p < 0.05. (7) Steps 1–6 are repeated for each of the miRNAs. b The proportion of bootstrap iterations in which a one-way ANOVA was significant (p < 0.05) for each miRNA during the second trimester and third trimester. Based on the analyses of the aggregated data (males and females combined, black dots), the miRNAs were ranked from those most likely to be significant in bootstrap reanalysis to those least likely to be significantly altered. Separate resampling was performed for pregnancies with male fetuses (blue dots) and female fetuses (red dots). The gray line indicates the chance probability of reaching statistical significance. c Number of “likely alcohol-sensitive, fetal sex-specific” miRNAs in each group

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