Figure 5

PCA-LDA scores plot of ATR-FTIR spectra with regards to LD1: Healthy Cervix vs. Percentage Excision (a) together with absorbance per wavenumber (b). Mean/SD (a) for each group was: 0.30/0.07 for healthy cervix; 0.16/0.12 for 11–20%; 0.24/0.06 for 21–30%; 0.22/0.09 for 31–40%; 0.21/0.07 for >40%. A significant difference along LD1 was detected for healthy cervix vs. 11–20% (p = 0.002; mean rank difference: 31.11); for healthy cervix vs. 21–30% (p = 0.03; mean rank difference: 17.85); for healthy cervix vs. 31–40% (p = 0.007; mean rank difference 23.33; and for healthy cervix vs. >40% (p = 0.023; mean rank difference: 27.24). Absorbance associated with lipids and Amide II was shown to have a significant positive rate of change for 11–20% compared with healthy cervix, indicating higher bioavailability (b). No other significant differences were detected for healthy cervix vs. all other groups. ATR-FTIR: Attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform Infrared; CI: Confidence interval; LD1: Linear Discriminant 1; PCA-LDA: Principal Component Analysis coupled to Linear Discriminant Analysis; SD: Standard deviation.