Global strategy of the analysis illustrating the times of sample collection, the parameters collected and the three main objectives of the study.

<p>Global strategy of the analysis illustrating the times of sample collection, the parameters collected and the three main objectives of the study.</p

Characteristics of patients at baseline (one month after the randomisation visit).

<p>Data from the entire cohort [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0198116#pone.0198116.ref006" target="_blank">6</a>] are provided to confirm the representativeness of the population selected for the present study. Probability values correspond to the comparisons between Group O and Group P in this present study.</p

Venn diagram showing the 15 most discriminating metabolites in PLS-DA models which are associated with disease evolution (variation of ALSFRS-r, BMI, MMT, SVC over 1 year) in patients in Group O.

<p>Venn diagram showing the 15 most discriminating metabolites in PLS-DA models which are associated with disease evolution (variation of ALSFRS-r, BMI, MMT, SVC over 1 year) in patients in Group O.</p

Principal Component Analysis score plot for ALS (n = 50) and non ALS patients (n = 44).

<p>Principal Component Analysis score plot for ALS (n = 50) and non ALS patients (n = 44).</p

CSF metabolite profiles in ALS and control subjects measured by ¹H NMR spectroscopy.

<p>Data are expressed in median and range. P value inferior to threshold after correction for multiple test (p = 0.003) are shown in bold.</p><p>AHBT: Alphahydroxybutyrate.</p><p>BHBT: Betahydroxybutyrate.</p

Blood cell 16:1/16:0 ratio correlates with disease progression and affects survival of ALS patients.

<p>Correlation between 16:1/16:0 and 18:0/18:1 ratios and disease duration (A, E) at blood collection or ALSFRS-R slope (B, F), determined as the decline of the score over a period of six months starting at the point of blood collection. Correlation coefficients (r) and <i>p</i>-values are indicated. n.s., non-significant <i>p</i>-value (Spearman test, n = 111). Based on the median ratio of the population, ALSFRS-R decline is shown in patients with low or high 16:1/16:0 ratio (C), and in patients with low or high 18:1/18:0 ratio (G). *<i>p</i><0.05 (Mann-Withney test). (D, H) Kaplan-Meier curves of survival in the subgroups of patients as above. Survival was the interval between the point of blood collection and death. <i>P</i>-values are indicated (Gehan-Breslow-Wilcoxon test, n = 117).</p

Clinical and biochemical characteristics of ALS patients and control subjects.

<p>*<i>p</i><0.05 (Mann-Withney test).</p><p>ALSFRS-R, ALS functional rating scale-revised; BMI, body mass index.</p