qRT-PCR validation of the top six up-regulated tRFs in PREDICT stroke patients following size selection for small RNA. (A) RNA-seq counts normalized to the size of the library [using DESeq2 (23)] of the top six up-regulated tRFs (from left to right). Asterisks indicate adjusted P values of Wald test via DESeq2, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001; shown are box-plots with whiskers minimum to maximum. (B) Size-selection workflow for validations in a separate subgroup of PREDICT stroke patients (n = 32) using the same control group (n = 10). (C) qRT-PCR validations using normalized expression (hsa-miR-30d-5p, hsa-let7d-5p, hsa-miR-106b-3p, and hsa-miR-3615 served as housekeeping transcripts) (SI Appendix, Expanded Methods), relative to the control group (line at mean normalized expression for the control group = 1) confirmed up-regulation of top six DE tRFs identified in RNA-seq, one-way ANOVA, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, box-plots with whiskers minimum to maximum.