{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T18:50:00Z","timestamp":1792176600390,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Bioscientifica","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1792108800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":1,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.bioscientifica.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>This cross-sectional case-control study aimed to characterize microbial communities across multiple anatomical sites in women with unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss compared with healthy controls. Forty women aged 18\u201340 years, including 20 with unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss and 20 healthy controls, were enrolled at Samson Assuta University Hospital in Ashdod, Israel. Swab samples from the cervix, posterior fornix, lower vagina, and feces were analyzed using 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid amplicon sequencing. Microbial community composition, diversity, differences in taxon abundance, and concordance between anatomical sites were assessed. Microbial communities were dominated by Lactobacillus across all reproductive-tract sites in both groups. Faith\u2019s phylogenetic diversity was significantly higher in women with recurrent pregnancy loss in the cervix (P=0.0139) and posterior fornix (P=0.0492), whereas Shannon diversity did not differ between groups. Beta-diversity analysis revealed significant compositional separation at the posterior fornix (R2=0.104, P=0.029). The Lactobacillus to Bifidobacterium log-ratio was significantly lower in women with recurrent pregnancy loss in the posterior fornix (P=0.037), with similar trends at other reproductive-tract sites. No individual taxa reached significance after multiple-testing correction. Microbial communities showed strong concordance among reproductive-tract sites and modestly greater gut\u2013genital concordance in women with recurrent pregnancy loss. These findings suggest that unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss is associated with subtle, site-specific microbial differences, with the posterior fornix showing the clearest differences between groups.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1530\/raf-26-0095","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T18:14:08Z","timestamp":1792174448000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1530\/crossmarkpolicy-13","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Multi-site characterization of reproductive tract and gut microbiota in unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss: a case control study"],"prefix":"10.1530","author":[{"given":"Oshri","family":"Barel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Assuta Ashdod University Hospital, Ashdod, Israel and the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev 1 , ,","place":["Beer Sheba, Israel"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-4074-1922","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Becky","family":"Arbiv","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences 2 , ,","place":["Beer Sheva, Israel"]},{"name":"Sagol Medical School for International Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev 3 , ,","place":["Beer Sheva, Israel"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria","family":"Maslenko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Gynecology, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center 4 , ,","place":["Jerusalem, Israel"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Moran","family":"Bitton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Assuta Ashdod University Hospital, Ashdod, Israel and the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev 1 , ,","place":["Beer Sheba, Israel"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yair","family":"Motro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences 2 , ,","place":["Beer Sheva, Israel"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jacob","family":"Moran-Gilad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences 2 , ,","place":["Beer Sheva, Israel"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"416","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]]},"container-title":["Reproduction and Fertility"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.bioscientifica.com\/raf\/article-pdf\/doi\/10.1530\/RAF-26-0095\/526592\/raf-26-0095.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.bioscientifica.com\/raf\/article-pdf\/doi\/10.1530\/RAF-26-0095\/526592\/raf-26-0095.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T18:14:09Z","timestamp":1792174449000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.bioscientifica.com\/raf\/article\/doi\/10.1530\/RAF-26-0095\/78390\/Multi-site-characterization-of-reproductive-tract"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]]},"references-count":0,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1530\/raf-26-0095","relation":{},"ISSN":["2633-8386"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2633-8386","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]]},"article-number":"RAF-26-0095"}}