*2.12. Statistical Analyses*

All statistical analyses were performed with GraphPad Prism 7.0 software (San Diego, CA, USA). Correlation between variables was analyzed with the Pearson and Spearman test. Significant differences between groups were assessed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey or Bonferroni's post-tests (α = 0.05). Results are expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean.
