highly significantp = 0.00145
The cervix, characterized by extremely low richness and evenness, differed markedly from neonatal placental samples, which exhibited higher but heterogeneous alpha-diversity; all indices were highly significant in both cohorts (Chao1 p = 0.00145 in LP; p = 0.000923 in TP; Shannon p = 0.00031 in LP and p = 0.000931 in TP) ( Figures 4 , 5 ).