Objective:To characterize the vaginal flora of pregnant women during the second trimester using full-length 16S rRNA sequencing.Methods:A total of 142 pregnant women were systematically sampled from a pregnancy cohort. Vaginal swabs were collected for full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing，and bioinformatics analysis was performed to characterize the vaginal microbiota and identify associated influencing factors.Results:Among the 142 pregnant women，the most frequently detected species were Lactobacillus iners（83.10%，118/142）and Lactobacillus crispatus（49.30%，70/142）. The majority of samples（90.85%，129/142）were classified as Lactobacillus-dominant vagitypes，with the Lactobacillus iners vagitype accounting for 48.59%（69/142）and the Lactobacillus crispatus vagitype accounting for 38.73%（55/142）. The vaginal microbiota was clustered into five community state types（CSTs）：Ⅰa，Ⅰb，Ⅲa，Ⅲb，and Ⅳ. The most prevalent CSTs were Lactobacillus iners-dominated CST-Ⅲ（51.41%，73/142）and Lactobacillus crispatus-dominated CST-Ⅰ（24.65%，35/142）. No samples were classified as CST-Ⅱ or CST-Ⅴ. A significant negative correlation was observed between Lactobacill and vaginosis-associated bacteria. Age，alcohol consumption，smoking，and vaginal treatments showed significant associations or trends toward significance with various Alpha diversity indices. Vaginal douching was associated with CST clustering，while obstetric history（primiparity，previous miscarriage history）was associated with vagitype classification. However，no significant associations were identified between maternal baseline characteristics and Beta diversity indices. Conclusions:Full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing reveals that the vaginal microbiota of pregnant women is dominated by Lactobacillus iners and Lactobacillus crispatus. Maternal age，lifestyle factors such as smoking and alcohol consumption，and obstetric history are significantly associated with variations in vaginal microbiota composition.

Objective To explore the correlation between the proximal angle of carotid atherosclerotic plaques and neovascularization scores,and their clinical application value in predicting recurrent cerebral infarction.Methods A total of 88 patients who underwent carotid plaque ultrasound examination in our hospital were selected.According to CT/MRI results,patients were divided into the non-cerebral infarction group(45 cases)and the cerebral infarction group(43 cases).Conventional ultrasound examination was performed followed by contrast-enhanced ultrasound.Plaque length,thickness and proximal angle were measured,and the neovascularization score of the proximal end was evaluated using contrast-enhanced ultrasound,and the results were compared and analyzed.Results In the cerebral infarction group,plaque thickness,proximal angle,and neovascularization score were significantly higher than those in the non-cerebral infarction group(P＜0.05),while there was no significant difference in plaque length.The proportion of plaques with a proximal neovascularization score of 2 or 3 was higher in the cerebral infarction group than those of the non-cerebral infarction group(79.1%vs.24.4%,P＜0.01).A positive correlation was found between the proximal angle and neovascularization score in all patients(rs=0.374,P＜0.01).There was no significant difference between the area under the ROC curve for neovascularization score in predicting recurrent cerebral infarction and the proximal angle(P＞0.05).The optimal cutoff value of the proximal angle was 18.8,and the sensitivity and the specificity for predicting recurrent cerebral infarction were 93.0%and 62.2%.In the cerebral infarction group,seven patients(16.3%)had recurrent infarction within one year,and these patients had higher proximal neovascularization scores,with angles greater than 18.8°.Conclusion There is a strong correlation between proximal angle of carotid plaques and neovascularization score,which has a positive predictive role in the recurrence of cerebral infarction,providing a reliable auxiliary diagnostic basis for clinical practice.

Objective To explore the correlation between the proximal angle of carotid atherosclerotic plaques and neovascularization scores,and their clinical application value in predicting recurrent cerebral infarction.Methods A total of 88 patients who underwent carotid plaque ultrasound examination in our hospital were selected.According to CT/MRI results,patients were divided into the non-cerebral infarction group(45 cases)and the cerebral infarction group(43 cases).Conventional ultrasound examination was performed followed by contrast-enhanced ultrasound.Plaque length,thickness and proximal angle were measured,and the neovascularization score of the proximal end was evaluated using contrast-enhanced ultrasound,and the results were compared and analyzed.Results In the cerebral infarction group,plaque thickness,proximal angle,and neovascularization score were significantly higher than those in the non-cerebral infarction group(P＜0.05),while there was no significant difference in plaque length.The proportion of plaques with a proximal neovascularization score of 2 or 3 was higher in the cerebral infarction group than those of the non-cerebral infarction group(79.1%vs.24.4%,P＜0.01).A positive correlation was found between the proximal angle and neovascularization score in all patients(rs=0.374,P＜0.01).There was no significant difference between the area under the ROC curve for neovascularization score in predicting recurrent cerebral infarction and the proximal angle(P＞0.05).The optimal cutoff value of the proximal angle was 18.8,and the sensitivity and the specificity for predicting recurrent cerebral infarction were 93.0%and 62.2%.In the cerebral infarction group,seven patients(16.3%)had recurrent infarction within one year,and these patients had higher proximal neovascularization scores,with angles greater than 18.8°.Conclusion There is a strong correlation between proximal angle of carotid plaques and neovascularization score,which has a positive predictive role in the recurrence of cerebral infarction,providing a reliable auxiliary diagnostic basis for clinical practice.

Objective:To characterize the vaginal flora of pregnant women during the second trimester using full-length 16S rRNA sequencing.Methods:A total of 142 pregnant women were systematically sampled from a pregnancy cohort. Vaginal swabs were collected for full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing，and bioinformatics analysis was performed to characterize the vaginal microbiota and identify associated influencing factors.Results:Among the 142 pregnant women，the most frequently detected species were Lactobacillus iners（83.10%，118/142）and Lactobacillus crispatus（49.30%，70/142）. The majority of samples（90.85%，129/142）were classified as Lactobacillus-dominant vagitypes，with the Lactobacillus iners vagitype accounting for 48.59%（69/142）and the Lactobacillus crispatus vagitype accounting for 38.73%（55/142）. The vaginal microbiota was clustered into five community state types（CSTs）：Ⅰa，Ⅰb，Ⅲa，Ⅲb，and Ⅳ. The most prevalent CSTs were Lactobacillus iners-dominated CST-Ⅲ（51.41%，73/142）and Lactobacillus crispatus-dominated CST-Ⅰ（24.65%，35/142）. No samples were classified as CST-Ⅱ or CST-Ⅴ. A significant negative correlation was observed between Lactobacill and vaginosis-associated bacteria. Age，alcohol consumption，smoking，and vaginal treatments showed significant associations or trends toward significance with various Alpha diversity indices. Vaginal douching was associated with CST clustering，while obstetric history（primiparity，previous miscarriage history）was associated with vagitype classification. However，no significant associations were identified between maternal baseline characteristics and Beta diversity indices. Conclusions:Full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing reveals that the vaginal microbiota of pregnant women is dominated by Lactobacillus iners and Lactobacillus crispatus. Maternal age，lifestyle factors such as smoking and alcohol consumption，and obstetric history are significantly associated with variations in vaginal microbiota composition.

Objective:To study the characteristics of vaginal microbiota in pregnant women with premature rupture of membranes (PROM) and to establish prediction models for PROM.Methods:This study involved 35 women with preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM), 180 with term premature rupture of membranes (TPROM) and 255 term birth cases without premature rupture of membranes (TBWPROM, control group). The V3-V4 hypervariable region sequences in the vaginal samples collected at 16-28 weeks of gestation were detected by 16S rRNA gene next-generation sequencing. The differences in Alpha and Beta diversity, and the attributes and metabolic function prediction of each recognized species among the three groups were analyzed. Subsequently, a random forest model was used to establish the prediction models for PROM using vaginal microbiota species and environmental risk factors.Results:Compared with the control group, the Alpha diversity of the PPROM group was higher (Observed features, P=0.022; Faith_pd index, P=0.024) and Beta diversity was also significantly different (Unweighted UniFrac, P=0.010; Jaccard index, P=0.008). In PPROM cases, Megasphaera genomosp. typeⅠ was significantly increased ( P=0.017) and Lactobacillus mulieris was significantly decreased ( P=0.003). In the patients with TPROM, Megasphaera was significantly increased ( P=0.009) and Lactobacillus mulieris was significantly decreased ( P=0.002). In terms of functional pathways, sulfur oxidation ( P=0.021), methanogenesis from acetate ( P=0.036), L-histidine biosynthesis ( P=0.009), adenosylcobalamin biosynthesis ( P=0.041) and fucose degradation ( P=0.001) were significantly increased in patients with PPROM; L-histidine biosynthesis ( P<0.001) and fucose degradation ( P=0.030) were significantly increased in patients with TPROM. The prediction models were established using the random forest model with vaginal microbiota species and environmental risk factors and the prediction model for PPROM performed well [AUC: 0.739 (95%CI: 0.609-0.869), sensitivity: 0.928, specificity: 0.659, positive predictive value: 0.750, negative predictive value: 0.906], which had a certain reference value. Conclusions:Vaginal microbiota might be related to the development and progression of PROM. Studying the differences in vaginal microbiota might provide a new idea for the prevention and treatment of PROM. Functional prediction provided a direction for further research on the mechanism of PROM. The established prediction model could prevent the occurrence of PPROM and promote maternal and infant health.

Objective:To study the characteristics and influencing factors of vaginal microbiota in normal pregnant women.Methods:This study was based on a cohort of pregnant women established in Anqing Municipal Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University from February 2018 to February 2020. Vaginal samples of normal pregnant women who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were ordered by the gestational weeks at sampling. Five samples were randomly selected from each gestational week group and if the samples were less than five, all samples were included. Sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was performed. Dominant species were analyzed by MicrobiomeAnalyst. Alpha diversity was measured with Chao1, Observed Features, Shannon diversity, Simpson diversity, Faith_pd and Pielou′s Evenness. The dominant status of Lactobacillus was also described and compared. Multiple linear regression and logistic regression were used to analyze the factors influencing vaginal microbiota. Analysis of variance and Kruskal Wallis test were used for statistical analysis of continuous variables, and Chi-square test and Fisher′s exact test were used for categorical data. The differences were considered statistically significant when the P value was less than 0.05. Results:This study enrolled 91 pregnant women (91 vaginal samples) with an average age of (27.37±3.60) years. There were 18, 56 and 17 vaginal samples collected at the median gestational age of 11.93 weeks (the first trimester), 19.43 weeks (the second trimester) and 38.29 weeks (the third trimester), respectively. The relative abundance of Firmicutes and Lactobacillus was 91.30% and 87.67%, respectively. Lactobacillus iners and Lactobacillus crispatus had a relative abundance of 43.95% and 36.33%, respectively. Moreover, Lactobacillus iners-dominated vaginal microbiota was detected in all trimesters. The number of samples with high relative abundance of Lactobacillus iners gradually decreased with gestational age. Lactobacillus crispatus-dominated vaginal microbiota was found in the second and third trimesters and the number of samples with high relative abundance gradually increased during pregnancy. The Alpha diversity of vaginal microbiota had a decreasing trend during the gestation. There were significant differences in Pielou′s Evenness diversity index of vaginal microbiota between different smoking groups ( P<0.05) and in Shannon diversity index between different drinking groups ( P<0.05). There were significant differences in Chao1, Observed Features and Faith_pd diversity index of vaginal microbiota between pregnant women with different education ( P<0.05) and in Shannon and Simpson diversity index between different income groups ( P<0.05). Conclusions:Vaginal microbiota was dominated by Lactobacillus in normal pregnant women. The dominance of Lactobacillus iners gradually decreased, while that of Lactobacillus crispatus increased during gestation. In normal pregnant women, the Alpha diversity of vaginal microbiota was correlated with smoking, drinking, education and family annual income. Smoking cessation and drinking before pregnancy were related to lower Alpha diversity of vaginal microbiota in pregnant women, while lower education and higher family income were associated with higher Alpha diversity.

Objective To investigate clinical value of right ventricular morphology in children with congenital heart disease associated pulmonary hypertension. Methods From October 2014 to October 2017, 37 children with congenital heart disease without associated pulmonary hypertension ( resting pulmonary systolic pressure ≤30 mmHg,1 mmHg＝0. 133 kPa) were selected as group A. Thirty-seven children with congenital heart disease and associated pulmonary hypertension (resting pulmonary systolic pressure＞30 m) . were in group B,and 37 healthy children were in control group. Echocardiography was performed to compare the results of right ventricular morphology and systolic function in three groups. Results ( 1 ) Right ventricular morphology indexes:right atrium upper and lower diameter((56. 8±4. 0) mm),right atrium left and right diameter((49. 2± 3. 3) mm),right ventricle basal segment inner diameter(( 43. 7± 2. 5) mm), right ventricle medial diameter((41. 7±3. 9) mm),right ventricle long axis distance((73. 4±6. 2) mm), sternum sidelines right ventricular outflow tract proximal end diameter((37. 8± 2. 4) mm),short axis view right ventricular outflow tract distal internal diameter (( 33. 6 ± 2. 1) mm),main pulmonary artery internal diameter((30. 5± 2. 5) mm), right ventricle end diastolic area (( 31. 6 ± 1. 8) cm2 ), right ventricle end systolic area((19. 0± 2. 7) cm2 ) in group B were higher than those in group A((46. 2± 3. 1) mm,( 40. 4 ±2. 8) mm,(34. 6±2. 2) mm,(32. 5±2. 6) mm,(65. 1±4. 7) mm,(30. 2±2. 0) mm,( 29. 4±1. 8) mm, (23. 0±1. 6) mm,(22. 5±1. 1) cm2,(11. 6±1. 2) cm2)and control group((45. 3±2. 6) mm,(39. 5±1. 7) mm,(34. 0±1. 9) mm,(31. 8± 2. 0) mm,(63. 2± 3. 8) mm,( 29. 6± 1. 7) mm,(28. 9± 1. 5) mm,(22. 4 ±1. 4) mm,(22. 1±1. 0) cm2,(11. 3±0. 9) cm2),( F＝140. 26,147. 47,223. 08,130. 46,43. 56,183. 33, 74. 71,209. 94,587. 99,221. 34, all P＜0. 01 ) . ( 2) Right ventricle contractile function indexes : right ventricular area change rate((40. 1±1. 6)%),three tricuspid ring systolic displacement((2. 2±0. 2) cm), tricuspid valve peak systolic flow velocity((13. 8±0. 9) cm／s)in group B were lower than those in group A ((46. 3±1. 7)%,(2. 5±0. 3) cm,(16. 7±1. 2) cm／s)and control group((46. 8±1. 5)%,(2. 6±0. 3) cm, (17. 2±1. 4) cm／s),the difference was statistically significant(F＝200. 81,21. 86,88. 85,all P＜0. 01 ) . Conclusion Children with congenital heart disease associated pulmonary hypertension have right ventricle morphological changes and right ventricular systolic function decreasing. Right ventricular morphological examination has important clinical value.

Objective To observe the ultrasonographic findings of patients with basal ganglia hemorrhage by transcranial color-code sonography ( TCCS) and contrast-enhanced transcranial color-code sonography (CE-TCCS) ,and to evaluate the clinical value of TCCS and CE-TCCS in assessing the cerebral perfusion with basal ganglia hemorrhage . Methods Eighty-two patients with basal ganglia hemorrhage were selected ,and hematoma was seen in 58 patients (70 .7％ ) . Forty-six cases of bilateral TCCS with clear display of basal ganglia through temporal window were selected . CE-TCCS was used to observe cerebral perfusion of edema zone ,edema zone edge and peripheral brain parenchyma . Results The bilateral rate displayed by TCCS was 79 .3％ . Among 58 cases ,30 cases had ventricular compression ,14 cases had hematoma rupture into ventricle ,8 cases had midline displacement ,and 10 cases had no complication change . The cerebral perfusion in edema areas around hematoma was reduced by CE-TCCS ,but the degree of reduction was different . There were reduced in a step-like manner in the cerebral perfusion from edema zone and edema zone edge to peripheral brain tissue . Conclusions CE-TCCS is a new method for clinical diagnosis and monitoring the progress of treatments of cerebral hematoma .

Objective To evaluae the meaning and value of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of cubital tunnel syndrome(CuTS).Methods Forty patients(unilateral) of cubital tunnel syndrome(contralateral control group)were used to measure the ulnar nerve entrapment and the most extensive cross-sectional area and circumference.All cases underwent cubital incision preoperative,intraoperative direct vision under surgical line wrapped around the ulnar nerve compression and the most rough after a lap cut,and then we measured with a ruler,the two measurement methods comparison.The diagnostic threshold and the sensitivity and specificity of the most extensive cross -sectional area of the ulnar nerve and perimeter was analysed by using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.Results The most extensive cross-sectional area and circumference of the ulnar nerve in the CuTS group were significantly higher than those in the control group,and the difference was statistically significant.Forthe ultrasound measurement and intraoperative measurement of CuTS group at the pressure and the most rough circumference,the difference was not statistically significant,indicating that ultrasound can accurately measure the ulnar nerve circumference.The optimal cut-off point of the most rough cross-sectional area of the ulnar nerve and the circumference of the CuTS group were respectively 14.2mm2 and 14.8mm,and sensitivity were respectively 92.5％ and 90％,the specificity were respectively 97.5％ and 87.5％.Conclusion Ultrasonography is a new and valuable method for the diagnosis of cubital tuunel syndrome by measuring cross-sectional area and circumference of elbow.The optimal cut-off point of the most rough cross-sectional area of the ulnar nerve and the circumference of the CuTS group were respectively 14.2mm2 and 14.8mm.

Objective: To explore the structural and functional changes of femoral and popliteal arteries in hypertension patients before and after drug therapy. Methods: A total of 201 hypertension patients treated in our hospital from 2010-03 to 2016-01 were studied. Based on blood pressure levels, the patients were divided into 3 groups: Grade-1 group,n=72, Grade-2 Group,n=68 and Grade-3 group,n=61. The patients were treated for 3 months and blood pressure was reduced below 140/90 mmHg. The intima-media thickness (IMT) of femoral and popliteal arteries was measured by two-dimensional ultrasound, blood vessel elasticity parameters of β, Ep, AC and PWV were determined by ET technology. The differences were compared between pre- and post-medication. Results: Compared with pre-medication, post-medication IMT in femoral artery was decreased in 3 groups, allP<0.05 and IMT in popliteal artery was similar,P>0.05; blood vessel elasticity parameters of β, Ep, PWV were decreased in 3 groups and AC was increased, allP<0.05. Conclusion: Drug therapy could effectively improve the elasticity of femoral and popliteal arteries in hypertension patients; two-dimensional ultrasound combining ET technology may dynamically monitor vascular elasticity of lower extremity which provides an objective basis for evaluating medication efifcacy in clinical practice.