Fig. 1

2D visualization of the relationships between blood platelet count, blood hemoglobin levels, serum C-reactive protein levels, serum albumin levels, and serum cytokine levels in a subset of 148 patients. The edges (connecting lines) depict the associations between the variables (only those with p < 0.001 shown). The edge length illustrates the significance of the association. The correlations between platelet count and other variables are represented by green (positive correlation) and red (negative correlation) edges, with the label indicating corresponding Pearson r for the correlation. The other associations are indicated by the grey edges. The 2D visualization was created with Cytoscape software platform [37], utilizing the Prefuse force directed algorithm weighted by the statistical significances of the correlations between individual variables. CCL: chemokine (C–C motif) ligand; CRP: C-reactive protein; CXCL: chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand; Hb: hemoglobin; IFN: interferon; IL: interleukin; PDGF: platelet-derived growth factor