At each follow-up, a comparison was made between the groups using the student's t test for independent samples.
Continuous variables were compared between the groups using the t test or Mann-Whitney U test for continuous variables, as appropriate.
The occurrence of the primary outcome was compared between the groups using the chi-square test for the difference in proportions.
We also measured the intensity of variation between T0 and T1 and compare the results of all microcirculatory variables between the groups using Mann Whitney test or t test, as appropriate.
Each of the variables was performed descriptive analysis; to assess differences between the groups using Chi-square qualitative variables; in continuous variables, t of Student´s have normal distribution; otherwise the Mann Whitney U test.
Pairwise distances were calculated using MEGA 4 [36] as uncorrected p-distances between the groups using complete deletion for gaps.
We also assessed differences between the groups using the combined P value for the entire data set (Tables S6, S7).
There was also no significant difference in the Symbiodinium ITS2 sequence composition between the groups using AMOVA (Φ = −0.07, P = 0.487).
Non-parametric Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the differences between the groups using the SPSS statistical software release 14.0.
The protocol estimates biological and technical variance between the groups using a mixed effects linear model involving a fixed term for the difference between groups and random deviations representing differences between samples and gels.
eGFR values were compared between the groups using mean differences.
