Characteristics of the gut microbiota of patients with symptomatic carotid atherosclerotic plaques positive for bacterial genetic material.

"Conflict of interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision."

"The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was funded by the Youth Research Fund Project of Liaocheng People’s Hospital (Grant No. LCPH201907), the 2021 Science and Technology Project of the Shandong Geriatrics Society (Grant No. LKJGG2021Z010), and the Liaocheng City Science and Technology Bureau (Grant No. 2022YDSF18)."