Baraliakos et al. reported a progression of 0.6 (3.3) out of a total RASSS progression of 1.6 (2.8), indicating a higher contribution from the thoracic VCs to the total RASSS.
In our study, a 2-year progression in the thoracic vertebrae of 0.4 (1.4) out of a total RASSS progression of 2.2 (5.0)) was found.
On the other hand, Lee et al. described a possible association between HPV-DNA presence, sperm motility reduction, and total progression after 24 hours of incubation [ 22].
A total of 6.5% of patients had progression-free survival ⩾6 months.
This state is linked to a total halt of progression of joint damage [ 6, 7] as well as to a maximally possible reversal of chronic disability [ 8].
A total of 55 progression events, including death or recurrence, were observed, with a median progression-free time of 22 months.
During the follow-up of a median of 8.0 years, a total of 73 progressions to macroalbuminuria were observed.
A total of 234 progression-free survival events were required for a one-sided stratified log-rank test with a significance level of 0.05 and power of 80% to detect a statistically significant difference between treatment arms.
To assess the potential additional value of including the thoracic segment in the score, the relative contribution (in %) to the 2-year total RASSS progression of each spinal segment (cervical, thoracic and lumbar) was determined, and compared to the expected contribution, under the assumption that a balanced segmental progression would occur, proportional to the number of sites per segment.
Therefore, we assessed the potential additional value of including the thoracic vertebrae in the RASSS, by determining the relative contribution (in %) to the 2-year total RASSS progression of each spinal segment (cervical, thoracic and lumbar) in comparison to the expected contribution.
Following the stated progression, a total of 10,521 non-redundant G. barbadense SNPs were identified, 2,647 were Class I, 5,660 were Class II (Additional file 1), and 1,189 were Class III (Additional file 2).
