Single-cell RNA-Seq reveals the earliest lineage specification and X chromosome dosage compensation in bovine preimplantation embryos.

Lineage specification and X chromosome dosage compensation are two crucial biological processes that occur during preimplantation embryonic development. Although extensively studied in mice, the timing and regulation of these processes remain elusive in other species, including humans. Previous studies have suggested conserved principles of human and bovine early development. This study aims to provide fundamental insights into these programs and the regulation using a bovine embryo model by employing single-cell transcriptomics and genome editing approaches. The study analyzes the transcriptomes of 286 individual cells and reveals that bovine trophectoderm/inner cell mass transcriptomes diverge at the early blastocyst stage, after cavitation but before blastocyst expansion. The study also identifies transcriptomic markers and provides the timing of lineage specification events in the bovine embryo. Importantly, we find that SOX2 is required for the first cell decision program in bovine embryos. Moreover, the study shows the occurrence of X chromosome dosage compensation from morula to late blastocyst and reveals that this compensation results from downregulation of X-linked genes in female embryonic cells. The transcriptional atlas generated by this study is expected to be widely useful in improving our understanding of mammalian early embryo development.

Goldenhar syndrome with limbal neoformation, microtia and skeletal deformities: a case report and literature review.

BACKGROUND: To report a case of a 4-year-old patient with Goldenhar syndrome. CASE PRESENTATION: The author presents a rare case report involving a 4-year-old boy with multiple malformations. A comprehensive examination showed that the patient primarily had a limbal dermoid. He also has bilateral microtia and ear canal deformities. The skull CT scan and spine X-ray showed Maxillofacial Abnormalities and scoliosis. Whole Exome Sequencing revealed potential gene variations related to microtia. Although certain circumstances prevented us from initiating follow-up treatment for the patient, we have provided a detailed account of the diagnostic methodologies used for this condition. CONCLUSIONS: Goldenhar syndrome is a congenital condition, predominantly presenting as sporadic cases. Its diagnosis and management typically necessitate the involvement of multiple disciplines, including otolaryngology and craniofacial surgery. The syndrome encompasses a variety of craniofacial features, which can facilitate early diagnosis and guide subsequent therapeutic interventions.

Structured light 3-D sensing for scenes with discontinuous reflectivity: error removal based on scene reconstruction and normalization.

Structured light-based 3-D sensing technique reconstructs the 3-D shape from the disparity given by pixel correspondence of two sensors. However, for scene surface containing discontinuous reflectivity (DR), the captured intensity deviates from its actual value caused by the non-ideal camera point spread function (PSF), thus generating 3-D measurement error. First, we construct the error model of fringe projection profilometry (FPP). From which, we conclude that the DR error of FPP is related to both the camera PSF and the scene reflectivity. The DR error of FPP is hard to be alleviated because of unknown scene reflectivity. Second, we introduce single-pixel imaging (SI) to reconstruct the scene reflectivity and normalize the scene with scene reflectivity "captured" by the projector. From the normalized scene reflectivity, pixel correspondence with error opposite to the original reflectivity is calculated for the DR error removal. Third, we propose an accurate 3-D reconstruction method under discontinuous reflectivity. In this method, pixel correspondence is first established by using FPP, and then refined by using SI with reflectivity normalization. Both the analysis and the measurement accuracy are verified under scenes with different reflectivity distributions in the experiments. As a result, the DR error is effectively alleviated while taking an acceptable measurement time.

Single image relighting based on illumination field reconstruction.

Relighting a single low-light image is a crucial and challenging task. Previous works primarily focused on brightness enhancement but neglected the differences in light and shadow variations, which leads to unsatisfactory results. Herein, an illumination field reconstruction (IFR) algorithm is proposed to address this issue by leveraging physical mechanism guidance, physical-based supervision, and data-based modeling. Firstly, we derived the Illumination field modulation equation as a physical prior to guide the network design. Next, we constructed a physical-based dataset consisting of image sequences with diverse illumination levels as supervision. Finally, we proposed the IFR neural network (IFRNet) to model the relighting progress and reconstruct photorealistic images. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our method on both simulated and real-world datasets, showing its generalization ability in real-world scenarios, even training solely from simulation.

Scene-adaptive pattern coding-based fringe projection profilometry: diffuse surfaces identification and 3-D reconstruction in cluttered scenes.

Fringe projection profilometry (FPP) is one of the most widely used optical three-dimensional (3-D) perceiving techniques. However, when applied to cluttered scenes, acquiring accurate 3-D shapes is difficult because of the influences of indirect light caused by non-diffuse surfaces. In this paper, we first theoretically analyze and model the influences of indirect light in FPP, and then propose a scene-adaptive pattern coding-based method, which can design projection patterns based on the reflective properties of the scene's surfaces, to achieve accurate 3-D perceiving in cluttered scenes. Specifically, the scene confidence analysis method is first proposed to identify the reflective properties of various surfaces and localize the camera pixels of the diffuse surface. The illumination status (i.e., "0" or "1") of each projector pixel can be determined according to the camera-projection coordinate mapping and spatial pattern coding, where only diffuse surfaces can be illuminated, thus fundamentally preventing the influences of indirect light from the point of view of the light source. The 3-D shapes of diffuse surfaces can be accurately reconstructed in cluttered scenes. Different from traditional reflective properties change or light separation solutions, the proposed method can achieve accurate 3-D perceiving of cluttered scenes without additional hardware or expensive calculation. Extensive experiments verify that the proposed method outperforms the traditional methods in terms of accuracy and robustness.

FPP-SLAM: indoor simultaneous localization and mapping based on fringe projection profilometry.

Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) plays an important role in autonomous driving, indoor robotics and AR/VR. Outdoor SLAM has been widely used with the assistance of LiDAR and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). However, for indoor applications, the commonly used LiDAR sensor does not satisfy the accuracy requirement and the GNSS signals are blocked. Thus, an accurate and reliable 3D sensor and suited SLAM algorithms are required for indoor SLAM. One of the most promising 3D perceiving techniques, fringe projection profilometry (FPP), shows great potential but does not prevail in indoor SLAM. In this paper, we first introduce FPP to indoor SLAM, and accordingly propose suited SLAM algorithms, thus enabling a new FPP-SLAM. The proposed FPP-SLAM can achieve millimeter-level and real-time mapping and localization without any expensive equipment assistance. The performance is evaluated in both simulated controlled and real room-sized scenes. The experimental results demonstrate that our method outperforms other state-of-the-art methods in terms of efficiency and accuracy. We believe this method paves the way for FPP in indoor SLAM applications.

Anti-HIV Tigliane-Type Diterpenoids from the Aerial Parts of Wikstroemia lichiangensis.

Tigliane-type diterpenoids have attracted much attention in drug discovery since they have been reported to exhibit remarkable biological effects, such as tumor-promoting, antineoplastic, and anti-HIV activities. In continuing our efforts to discover novel biologically important diterpenoids from Wikstroemia species, Wikstroemia lichiangensis was investigated phytochemically for the first time. As a result, four new (1-4) and one known (5) tigliane-type diterpenoid were isolated, and their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic data analysis. Tiglianes (1-5) showed potent anti-HIV activity against HIV-1 infection of MT4 lymphocytes with IC50 values of 1.1-65.4 nM.

Vitamin D and the risk of latent tuberculosis infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) may be a risk of developing tuberculosis (TB) and thus a health hazard. The aim of this meta-analysis is to explore the association between vitamin D and LTBI. METHODS: Databases including PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and ProQuest were electronically searched to identify observational or interventional studies that reported the association between vitamin D and LTBI. The retrieval time is limited from inception to 30 September 2021. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed risk bias of included studies. Meta-analysis was performed by using STATA 12.0 software. RESULTS: A total of 5 studies involving 2 case-control studies and 3 cohort studies were included. The meta-analysis result showed that the risk of LTBI among individuals was not associated with high vitamin D level (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.05-5.65, P = 0.58). The result from cohort studies also suggested that relatively high vitamin D level was not a protective factor for LTBI (RR = 0.56, 95%CI 0.19-1.67, P = 0.300). CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis suggested that serum vitamin D levels were not associated with incidence of LTBI, and relatively high serum vitamin D level was not a protective factor for LTBI. Further RCTs are needed to verify whether sufficient vitamin D levels and vitamin D supplementation reduces the risk of LTBI.

Visual tracking for mobile optical wireless communications.

Acquisition, tracking, and pointing (ATP) mechanisms are generally adopted for optical wireless communications (OWCs) to maintain a strict alignment state for reliable communication. ATP mechanisms conventionally employ beacon lights to determine the orientation of the remote optical terminal. They typically cannot maintain a steady alignment under mobile conditions. A novel visual tracking approach is proposed to address this issue by establishing a shape beacon at the OWC terminals. The shape beacon can be sensed from virtually all directions with a camera; hence, visual tracking is an acceptable ATP solution for mobile OWCs. Results of numeric analysis indicate that visual tracking is suitable for mobile OWCs as well as conventional OWCs with acceptable accuracy. Experiments were performed to demonstrate the visual tracking procedures using the vehicle itself as the shape beacon.

Deep learning-based fringe modulation-enhancing method for accurate fringe projection profilometry.

Fringe projection profilometry (i.e., FPP) has been one of the most popular 3-D measurement techniques. The phase error due to system random noise becomes non-ignorable when fringes captured by a camera have a low fringe modulation, which are inevitable for objects' surface with un-uniform reflectivity. The phase calculated from these low-modulation fringes may have a non-ignorable phase error and generate 3-D measurement error. Traditional methods reduce the phase error with losing details of 3-D shapes or sacrificing the measurement speed. In this paper, a deep learning-based fringe modulation-enhancing method (i.e., FMEM) is proposed, that transforms two low-modulation fringes with different phase shifts into a set of three phase-shifted high-modulation fringes. FMEM enables to calculate the desired phase from the transformed set of high-modulation fringes, and result in accurate 3-D FPP without sacrificing the speed. Experimental analysis verifies its effectiveness and accurateness.

Dynamic 3-D measurement based on fringe-to-fringe transformation using deep learning.

Fringe projection profilometry (FPP) has become increasingly important in dynamic 3-D shape measurement. In FPP, it is necessary to retrieve the phase of the measured object before shape profiling. However, traditional phase retrieval techniques often require a large number of fringes, which may generate motion-induced error for dynamic objects. In this paper, a novel phase retrieval technique based on deep learning is proposed, which uses an end-to-end deep convolution neural network to transform a single or two fringes into the phase retrieval required fringes. When the object's surface is located in a restricted depth, the presented network only requires a single fringe as the input, which otherwise requires two fringes in an unrestricted depth. The proposed phase retrieval technique is first theoretically analyzed, and then numerically and experimentally verified on its applicability for dynamic 3-D measurement.

Partial splenic embolization is superior to intravenous somatostatin for decreasing portal pressure in cirrhotic patients: a dynamic self-controlled cohort study.

AIMS: The efficacy of somatostatin in altering splanchnic hemodynamics in cirrhotic portal hypertension is still controversial. We aimed to establish the dynamic effect of somatostatin on portal pressure in cirrhotic patients and compared its effect with Partial Splenic Embolization (PSE). METHODS: Eighteen patients with cirrhotic portal hypertension were prospectively recruited. The wedged hepatic venous pressure (WHVP) and free hepatic venous pressure (FHVP) were repeatedly measured at baseline, 1-, 5-, 10- and 20-min after initiating somatostatin infusion. After somatostatin infusion cessation and washout, WHVP and FHVP were measured before and after PSE. The change in all the variables between time points was analyzed. RESULTS: Decreased hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) 5-min after initiation of infusion was identified compared with baseline level (19.6%; p-value: .042), which was achieved through elevated FHVP (37.5%; p-value: 9.26e - 04). There was no significant decrease in WHVP at any time point during somatostatin infusion. The HVPG (17.4%; p-value: 1.27e - 04) and WHVP (10.4%; p-value: 3.00e - 03) post-PSE significantly decreased compared to the washout level. No significant distribution differences in the number of patients with HVPG decrease by a percentage relative to the baseline level were identified between the 5-min time point and post-PSE. CONCLUSION: Our study indicates that somatostatin administration does not decrease WHVP within 20 min at clinically recommended doses. While somatostatin did decrease HVPG, this effect was achieved through increased FHVP, providing a possible explanation for its unclear efficacy. In contrast, PSE decreases both the WHVP and the HVPG.

Seasonal dynamics of the bacterioplankton community in a large, shallow, highly dynamic freshwater lake.

The spatiotemporal shifts of the bacterioplankton community can mirror their transition of functional traits in an aquatic ecosystem. However, the spatiotemporal variation of the bacterioplankton community composition structure (BCCS) within a large, shallow, highly dynamic freshwater lake is still poorly understood. Here, we examined the seasonal and spatial variability of the BCCs within Poyang Lake by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene amplicon to explore how hydrological changes affect the BCCs. Principal coordinate analysis showed that the BCCs varied significantly among four sampling seasons, but not spatially. The seasonal changes of the BCCs were mainly attributed to the differences between autumn and spring-winter. Higher α diversity indices were observed in autumn. Redundancy analysis indicated that the BCCs co-variated with water level, pH, temperature, total phosphorus, ammoniacal nitrogen, electrical conductivity, total nitrogen, and turbidity. Among them, water level was the key determinant separating autumn BCCs from the BCCs in other seasons. A significantly lower relative abundance of Burkholderiales (betI and betVII) and a higher relative abundance of Actinomycetales (acI, acTH1, and acTH2) were found in autumn than in other seasons. Overall, our results suggest that water level changes associated with pH, temperature, and nutrient status shaped the seasonal patterns of the BCCs within Poyang Lake.

Enhanced deep leaning model for detection and grading of lumbar disc herniation from MRI.

Lumbar disc herniation is one of the most prevalent orthopedic issues in clinical practice. The lumbar spine is a crucial joint for movement and weight-bearing, so back pain can significantly impact the everyday lives of patients and is prone to recurring. The pathogenesis of lumbar disc herniation is complex and diverse, making it difficult to identify and assess after it has occurred. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the most effective method for detecting injuries, requiring continuous examination by medical experts to determine the extent of the injury. However, the continuous examination process is time-consuming and susceptible to errors. This study proposes an enhanced model, BE-YOLOv5, for hierarchical detection of lumbar disc herniation from MRI images. To tailor the training of the model to the job requirements, a specialized dataset was created. The data was cleaned and improved before the final calibration. A final training set of 2083 data points and a test set of 100 data points were obtained. The YOLOv5 model was enhanced by integrating the attention mechanism module, ECAnet, with a 3 × 3 convolutional kernel size, substituting its feature extraction network with a BiFPN, and implementing structural system pruning. The model achieved an 89.7% mean average precision (mAP) and 48.7 frames per second (FPS) on the test set. In comparison to Faster R-CNN, original YOLOv5, and the latest YOLOv8, this model performs better in terms of both accuracy and speed for the detection and grading of lumbar disc herniation from MRI, validating the effectiveness of multiple enhancement methods. The proposed model is expected to be used for diagnosing lumbar disc herniation from MRI images and to demonstrate efficient and high-precision performance.

Acupuncture activates IRE1/XBP1 endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway in Parkinson's disease model rats.

Acupuncture has demonstrated its efficacy as a treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD). Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the potential mechanisms underlying acupuncture's effects on PD treatment. Our approach involved several steps. Firstly, we assessed the behavioral changes in PD rats, the modulation of dopamine (DA) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) levels in the striatum, as well as the alteration in α-synuclein (α-syn) levels in the midbrain, aiming to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture in PD treatment. Secondly, we selected endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress inhibitors and activators to assess the impact of ER stress on PD rats. Lastly, we utilized an IRE1 inhibitor to observe the influence of acupuncture on the IRE1/XBP1 pathway in PD rats. The findings of this study revealed that acupuncture improved the autonomous motor function, balance ability, coordination, and sensory motor integration function in the PD model rats. Additionally, it increased the levels of DA and 5-HT in the striatum while decreasing the levels of α-syn in the midbrain. Acupuncture also activated the expression of ER stress in the midbrain and upregulated the expression of IRE1/XBP1 in the striatum of PD model rats. Based on these results, we concluded that acupuncture may enhance the behavior of PD rats by activating the IRE1/XBP1 ER stress pathway, associated with the reduction of midbrain α-syn expression and the increase in striatal DA and 5-HT levels in unilateral 6-OHDA lesioned rats.

Synthesis and Modification of Polycarboxylate Superplasticizers-A Review.

The molecular-scale structural changes in polycarboxylic superplasticizer (PCE) can influence dispersion and water retention. Polycarboxylate superplasticizer, synthesized using different methods, may alter dispersion and water-reducing effects. The synthesis of PCE involves creating a novel macromolecular monomer with a controllable molecular mass, adjustable lipophilic, and hydrophilic moieties, as outlined in this study. This article reviews processes for synthesizing polycarboxylates and identifies the optimal method through orthogonal experiments to produce a modified polycarboxylate superplasticizer (PCE-P). The study investigated the effects of different PCE types and concentrations on the surface tension, fluidity, and ζ potential of cement paste. PCE-P, synthesized at room temperature, showed comparable performances in initial hydration and conversion rate in cement to PCE synthesized at high temperatures. PCE-P exhibited an increased slump but had a wider molecular weight distribution and longer main and side chains, leading to a 24.04% decrease in surface tension, indicating a good dispersibility.

The anti-HBV effect mediated by a novel recombinant eukaryotic expression vector for IFN-α.

BACKGROUND: Chronic hepatitis B is a primary cause of liver-related death. Interferon alpha (IFN-α) is able to inhibit the replication of hepadnavirus, and the sustained and stable expression of IFN-α at appropriate level may be beneficial to HBV clearance. With the development of molecular cloning technology, gene therapy plays a more and more important role in clinical practice. In light of the findings, an attempt to investigate the anti-HBV effects mediated by a eukaryotic expression plasmid (pSecTagB-IFN-α) in vitro was carried out. METHODS: HBV positive cell line HepG2.2.15 and its parental cell HepG2 were transfected with pSecTagB-IFN-α or empty plasmid by using Lipofectamine™ 2000 reagent. The expression levels of IFN-α were determined by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and ELISA methods. The effects of pSecTagB-IFN-α on HBV mRNA, DNA and antigens were analyzed by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) and ELISA assays. RT-PCR, qRT-PCR and western blot were employed to investigate the influence of pSecTagB-IFN-α on IFN-α-induced signal pathway. Furthermore, through qRT-PCR and ELISA assays, the suppressive effects of endogenously expressed IFN-α and the combination with lamivudine on HBV were also examined. RESULTS: pSecTagB-IFN-α could express efficiently in hepatoma cells, and then inhibited HBV replication, characterized by the decrease of HBV S gene (HBs) and HBV C gene (HBc) mRNA, the reduction of HBV DNA load, and the low contents of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg). Mechanism research showed that the activation of Janus kinase (JAK)-signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) signal pathway, the up-regulation of IFN-α-induced antiviral effectors and double-stranded (ds) RNA sensing receptors by delivering pSecTagB-IFN-α, could be responsible for these phenomena. Furthermore, pSecTagB-IFN-α vector revealed effectively anti-HBV effect than exogenously added IFN-α. Moreover, lamivudine combined with endogenously expressed IFN-α exhibited stronger anti-HBV effect than with exogenous IFN-α. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that endogenously expressed IFN-α can effectively and persistently inhibit HBV replication in HBV infected cells. These observations opened a promising way to design new antiviral genetic engineering drugs based on IFN-α.

A novel damage identification method for flue gas turbine blades based on tip timing.

Tip timing signal analysis has been applied to the online condition monitoring of high-speed blades. However, traditional tip timing analysis methods are not suitable for low-speed flue gas turbines. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel blade tip timing signal analysis method based on an investigation of the dynamic response characteristics of low-speed blades. First, the finite element modal theory is introduced to analyze the characteristics of blade damage. Second, an equivalent cantilever beam analysis model of flue gas turbine blades is established under complex environment and working conditions. In order to monitor the variation of local stiffness, a damage identification method based on the variation of the free end deflection of the equivalent cantilever beam is proposed. Finally, a rotating blade tip timing monitoring testing rig is established to verify the feasibility of the proposed method. The results show that the cracks originating at about 80% of the blade height have the greatest influence on blade stiffness, followed by blade root. The calculated blade damage parameters are 4.8464 mm and 3.7588 mm, and the crack influencing factors are 4.7476 and 3.6822, respectively, indicating that the change trend is consistent with the blade damage rules.

A study of the relationship between cytokine levels and the response to anti-VEGF therapy in polypoid choroidal vasculopathy with different choroidal thicknesses.

Purpose: Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) is an irreversible retinal choroidal disease. Individuals with PCV exhibit diverse baseline characteristics, including systemic characteristics, ocular traits, metabolic factor levels, and different responses to intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy. This study aims to investigate the pathogenesis of PCV by analyzing the systemic characteristics, ocular traits, and cytokine levels at baseline within a cohort of patients who exhibit different responses to anti-VEGF treatment. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis involving 80 eyes diagnosed with PCV. Patients were categorized into two groups based on responses to suboptimal intravitreal ranibizumab injection therapy: those with suboptimal responses and optimal responses. Aqueous humor samples were collected from the experimental eyes, and cytokine expression levels were assessed using cytometric bead array analysis. All subjects were further stratified into two groups according to the median choroidal thickness. Subsequently, logistic regression analysis and the ROC curve were employed to examine the relationship between cytokine expression levels, choroidal thickness, and anti-VEGF response. Results: The results revealed that compared to the group of optimal anti-VEGF response, the choroid in the suboptimal response group exhibited a significantly greater thickness. Additionally, compared to the suboptimal anti-VEGF response group, the expression levels of VEGF and VCAM-1 were markedly lower observed in the optimal anti-VEGF response group, while TNF-α showed the opposite trend. Logistic regression analysis indicated that VEGF, VCAM-1, and TNF-α in the aqueous humor were independent risk factors for a suboptimal anti-VEGF response. After adjusting other risk factors, the risk of suboptimal anti-VEGF response decreased to 0.998-fold, 0.997-fold, and 1.294-fold. The AUC values for VEGF, VCAM-1, and TNF-α were determined to be 0.805, 0.846, and 0.897, respectively. Furthermore, the risk of VEGF, VCAM-1, and TNF-α were significantly associated with an increased risk of suboptimal anti-VEGF response after correction for risk factors in the thick choroid group. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that PCV exhibits systemic and ocular characteristics variations based on different anti-VEGF responses. The levels of cytokines in aqueous humor were found to have a significant correlation with the anti-VEGF response in PCV. VEGF, VCAM-1, and TNF-α are potential targets for assessing treatment response in thick choroidal PCV.

Effect of COVID-19 on Menstruation and Lower Reproductive Tract Health.

Background: To evaluate the dynamically impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the female reproductive system. Methods: An online survey was shared to women of reproductive age who had been infected with COVID-19 and recovered in China between January and March 2023. Results: In total, 610 women of childbearing age completed the menstrual component of the survey and 82.6% (n=504) women self-purchased medications without hospitalization. 254 women were menstruating during COVID-19 infection. 66.9% of them reported changes in menstruation, including cycle length (64.7%), menstrual flow (72.4%), and duration (53%), compared to pre-COVID-19. COVID-19-related chest tightness (OR: 9.5; 95% CI: 1.9-46.3), COVID-19-related stress (OR: 18.4; 95% CI: 1.4-249.7), and COVID-19-related low mood (OR: 6.2; 95% CI: 1.4-28.2) were associated with these menstrual changes. However, over 73% of women who menstruated during and after COVID-19 regained their pre-infection menstrual cycle (73%), duration (79.6%), and flow (75.2%) during their first menstruation after COVID-19 recovery. Compared to pre-infection, 19.7% (n=124) women reported changes in lower reproductive tract during COVID-19, including volume and color of vaginal discharge, vulvar pruritus, and vaginitis. These changes were significantly increased in those with a history of pelvic inflammatory disease (OR: 12.1; 95% CI: 3.1-48.2), ovarian cysts (OR: 4.9; 95% CI: 1.2-19.4), and vaginitis (OR: 5.5; 95% CI: 2.1-14.4) prior to COVID-19. However, 52.4% reported that their lower reproductive tract health had returned to its pre-infection within the first month after recovery from COVID-19, while 73.5% reported a return to the pre-infection within 2 months. Conclusion: Changes in menstruation and lower reproductive tract associated with COVID-19 are transient. Menstruation and lower reproductive tract health will gradually return to pre-COVID-19 status within 2 months of recovery, which can help alleviate excessive concerns about the effects of COVID-19 on the reproductive system.