Panel a: Cohort overview detailing the timeline of sample collection and the specific longitudinal analyses performed. Panel b: Longitudinal analysis of DNA samples, plotted as log 10 TREC levels against age. The trend highlights a significant surge in thymic output occurring approximately three months post-birth. Panel c: Comparative box plot of thymic output between preterm and term infants during the first week of life; preterm neonates exhibited significantly lower levels (p equals 0.0076). Panel d: Box plot evaluating thymic output at 0–3 days of life stratified by genotype (AA, GA, GG), showing no statistically significant differences. Panel e: Analysis of thymic output at 88–100 days of life by genotype, revealing significant associations (p equals 0.006 and p equals 0.027). Panel f: Box plot of intra-individual delta values (change in thymic output) between the 0–3 day and 88–100 day time points, indicating no significant genotype-dependent differences in growth. Panel g: Scatter plot with linear regression modeling postnatal thymic output trajectories, disaggregated by rs2204985 genotype. Panel h: Coefficient plot from a generalized linear model (GLM) identifying predictors of thymic output, with labeled p-values denoting the significance of each variable.
Thymic output in newborn children. (a) Cohort overview and samples collected and analyses performed. (b) Longitudinal changes of DNA samples showing a surge of thymic output 3 mo after birth in healthy human newborns. (c) Thymic output levels of preterm and born at term children in the first week of life. P values are from Wilcoxon test. (d) Thymic output of children at 0–3 days of life. (e) Thymic output of children at 88–100 days of life. (f) The delta values of thymic output for each child between 88–100 days and 0–3 days of life. P values are from Wilcoxon test and adjusted with Benjamini–Hochberg method. P values >0.05 are shown as n.s. (g) Postnatal monitoring of thymic output levels separated by rs2204985. All samples across time points of each genotype are used in the regression line. (h) Coefficient estimates from generalized linear model predicting thymic output using the listed variables. Grey lines represent 95% confidence intervals from 500 bootstrap iterations. P values are from ANOVA test of the model.