highly significantp < 0.001
At protein level, serum S100A12 protein concentration was highest in the SIMD group (19.60 ± 3.36 ng/ml), followed by the non-SIMD group (14.79 ± 2.92 ng/ml), and lowest in the control group (10.33 ± 1.97 ng/ml), with highly significant differences between groups (all p < 0.001) ( Figure 2B ).