Forest plots to illustrate the standardised mean difference between labouring and non-labouring groups in Sharp, Weiner and Bukowski.

<p>Summary statistics, indicated by the blue diamond, were calculated via inverse variance weighted meta-analysis. The array platform used by Bukowski did not cover all selected genes, so Bukowski could not be included in all meta-analyses.</p

Fold changes for genes agreed to be significantly differentially expressed in the same direction by each meta-analysed study.

<p>Fold changes for genes agreed to be significantly differentially expressed in the same direction by each meta-analysed study.</p

Summary of characteristics of women in the labouring and non-labouring groups.

<p>Summary of characteristics of women in the labouring and non-labouring groups.</p

A heatmap to show how genes and samples cluster based on similar expression levels.

<p>The bar at the top indicates the sample group (pink = labouring, blue = non-labouring). Normalised standardised expression values are indicated on a colour scale with purple indicating high expression and cyan indicating low expression. The heatmap was created using genes with a non-labour to labour fold change of >2 or <-2 and an RP-PFP ≤0.0001.</p

Probe-probe network graph, in which each node represents a different probe.

<p>Nodes are coloured according to membership of different MCL clusters. The graphs show the mean expression profiles of clusters 1,2,3,4 and 15. Samples are plotted on the x-axes: non-labouring samples are represented by the pink bar and labouring samples are represented by the blue bar. Error bars indicate standard errors.</p

Decreased expression of genes in whole cervix from prepartum D21 postbreeding versus nonpregnant rats (p<0.01; n = 3/group).

<p>Decreased expression of genes in whole cervix from prepartum D21 postbreeding versus nonpregnant rats (p<0.01; n = 3/group).</p

Proposed network of pathways that reflect expression of Mφ genes in the prepartum cervix based upon Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA).

<p>Network includes Mφ genes exclusively regulated in the cervix from D21 rats and those regulated in both in D21 prepartum and NP groups, as well as known key molecules. Red signifies up-regulated genes and green indicates down-regulated expression. IPA drawn lines predicted activation (orange) or inhibition (blue) of gene expression between key molecules. Other lines indicate no known relationship (black) or uncertainty about relationship (yellow). Color intensity indicates relative expression based upon p-value or prediction intensity. Groups of genes are clustered into Inflammation, Extracellular matrix, or Signaling based on annotations provided by IPA.</p

Increased expression of Mφ genes exclusively in prepartum D21 rat cervix (p<0.01; n = 3/group).

<p>Function designations in rat derived from DAVID (<a href="http://david.abcc.ncifcrf.gov" target="_blank">http://david.abcc.ncifcrf.gov</a>), Biolayout <i>Express</i>^3D cluster analyses, and IPA (ECM = extracellular matrix, INFL = inflammation, SIG = Signaling).</p><p>Increased expression of Mφ genes exclusively in prepartum D21 rat cervix (p<0.01; n = 3/group).</p

Subtractive approach in which macrophages were depleted from dispersed cervix from prepartum and nonpregnant mice to identify differential gene expression by macrophages.

<p><b>A</b>. Cervix from perfused adult female Sprague-Dawley rats, on prepartum day 21 post-breeding (D21) or non-pregnant (NP) was carefully trimmed and dispersed (n = 6 each). Mφs were removed by magnetic bead separation from 3 rats in each group as described in detail in Methods. <b>B</b>. Venn diagram of differentially expressed Mφ genes in the cervix from prepartum (D21) or nonpregnant (NP) rats. Genes were exclusively increased or decreased in cervices from D21 or NP rats, except in the overlap region which indicates genes that were increased or decreased in cervices from both D21 and NP rats. No gene whose expression increased or decreased in the cervix from D21 or NP groups then decreased or increased in the cervix from NP or D21 groups, respectively. Number is the average of differentially expressed Mφ genes in whole divided by Mφ -depleted cervix/group (p<0.01, fold >2 or <-2; n = 3 rats). <b>C</b>. Pearson correlation of clustering patterns of gene expression in cervix of individual rats in NP and D21 groups with or without macrophages (Mφ-). Lines connecting microarray analysis for each individual indicates R>0.9 (group specific colors), R = 0.851–0.89 (grey), or R = 0.8–0.85 (thin grey).</p

Functional annotations from Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) of increased expression of genes in the whole cervix from prepartum (D21) versus nonpregnant (NP) rats (A) and Mφ genes exclusively up-regulated in the cervix (whole vs Mφ-depleted) from prepartum rats (B).

<p>Categories of Function (Headings) and Annotations (histogram labels) consist of IPA designations based upon Z-score rank (threshold>2 estimates proportion of genes that were increased within each annotation; p < 0.01). Categories were broadened (Subheadings combined) to eliminate redundancy in IPA assignment of genes. p value is indicated by triangles. Mφ data analysis included expression of genes that were most divergently regulated, exclusively and in common, in cervices from D21 prepartum and NP groups (ratio of fold > 2 or < 2, D21 vs NP groups).</p