*2.3. Statistics*

When any of the analyzed metals could not be detected, a concentration equivalent to one-half of their respective detection limit was assumed (ND = 1/2 LOD). Statistical significance of the results was first assessed by applying the Levene test to verify the homoscedasticity of the data. Depending on whether the variance followed a normal distribution or not, a variance analysis (ANOVA) or the Mann-Whitney U-test was subsequently performed. A probability lower than 0.05 (*p* <0.05) was considered significant. Pearson correlations in the concentrations among the five evaluated tissues, as well as with those of human hair and blood [18,19], were also carried out.
