Behavioral Endocrinology

Background: A substantial subset of patients with difficult-to-control Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) exhibits biochemical evidence of hypercortisolism. Here we propose a unifying, testable modelthe Endocrine Cortico-Metabolic Amplifier (ECMA)-that explains why functional hypercortisolism emerges, how it worsens insulin resistance and hyperglycemia and why glucocorticoid receptor antagonism improves glycemic control in this phenotype. Hypothesis: Chronic hyperinsulinemia upregulates Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis drive, creating a state of functional hypercortisolism. Intracrine regeneration of cortisol in adipose tissue via 11β-HSD1 and in subgroups, Mild Autonomous Cortisol Secretion (MACS) from adrenal incidentalomas add to systemic glucocorticoid action. Cortisol then promotes hepatic gluconeogenesis and skeletal muscle insulin resistance, amplifying visceral adiposity and hyperinsulinemia-closing a self reinforcing loop. Evidence: The prevalence and treatment phases of the CATALYST program identified ~1 in 4 uncontrolled T2D patients with hypercortisolism under standardized screening and showed clinically meaningful A1c reductions with glucocorticoid receptor antagonism. Convergent evidence links OSA/sleep disruption and stress-related disorders to increased HPA activation, while clinical and translational data support 11β-HSD1 as an adipose amplifier of glucocorticoid action. Implications: ECMA reframes functional hypercortisolism as both marker and amplifier-causal enough to be therapeutically tractable. We propose a pragmatic screening-to-treat algorithm and a research agenda to refine patient selection and endpoints.

Social play is a critical component of mammalian development, with disruptions linked to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and schizophrenia. Arginine vasopressin (AVP), produced by magnocellular neurons of the hypothalamus, has been implicated in the regulation of social play, though its role appears context- and sex-dependent. This study investigated whether stimulation of AVP release through osmotic challenge influences juvenile social behavior. Male and female Long-Evans rats were administered intraperitoneal injections of hypertonic saline (1M or 3.5M), isotonic saline, or no injection prior to behavioral testing. Social play, huddling, aggression, and social approach were quantified in same-sex dyads. Results revealed that administration of 3.5M hypertonic saline significantly reduced play behavior and increased huddling, with no notable effects on aggression or social approach. Contrary to the initial hypothesis that AVP release would enhance play behavior, findings suggest that magnocellular AVP activity may exert inhibitory effects on play under osmotic stress. However, the observed increase in huddling and signs of sickness behavior raise the possibility that the effects reflect general malaise rather than AVP-specific mechanisms. These results highlight the complexity of AVP’s role in regulating juvenile social behaviors and underscore the need for refined experimental approaches that dissociate AVP’s behavioral effects from non-specific consequences of hyperosmolar challenge.

IntroductionNarcissistic personality manifests itself in at least two different forms: grandiose and vulnerable. In the present study, we compared cortisol and emotional responses to psychosocial stress between subjects high in vulnerable and grandiose narcissism scores, and examined possible associations between narcissism, other personality traits, and stress responses. We hypothesized that subjects with higher scores of vulnerable narcissism would show stronger emotional and physiological reactivity than those with high scores of grandiose narcissism.MethodsA final sample of forty-seven participants underwent a Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), provided saliva samples to assess cortisol levels, and completed several personality questionnaires.ResultsConsistent with our hypothesis, subjects with higher scores of vulnerable narcissism had a stronger cortisol and emotional response than those with high scores of grandiose narcissism. Vulnerable narcissism was positively correlated wi...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has always been described as an endocrine-metabolic condition; new research compels us to take into account its psychosexual aspects. In addition to genetic susceptibility and insulin resistance, trauma, especially emotional maltreatment throughout childhood, has been closely linked to the onset of PCOS. Depression, anxiety and negative childhood experiences, such as physical and sexual abuse, are considerably more common among women with PCOS. This connection might be mediated by hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation, which is frequently seen in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The co-occurrence of PCOS and trauma-related psychopathology points to a bidirectional interaction in which psychological distress and endocrine imbalance worsen one another. Therefore, regular mental health screening and trauma-informed care have to be incorporated into PCOS treatment. In addition to improving long-term reproductive and mental health outcomes, acknowledging the psychosocial aspects of PCOS may open up new channel for holistic management.

Because ancestral women could have obtained genetic benefits through extra-pair sex only near ovulation, but paid costs of extra-pair sex throughout the cycle, one might expect selection to have shaped female interest in partners, other than primary partners, to be greater near ovulation than during the luteal phase. Because men would have paid heavier costs if their partners had extra-pair sex near ovulation, one might also expect selection to have shaped males' efforts to track their primary partners' whereabouts to be increased near ovulation, relative to the luteal phase. Women filled out questionnaires about their sexual interests and their partners' mate-retention tactics twice: once within 5 days before a lutenizing hormone surge and once during the luteal phase. Results showed that: (i) women reported greater sexual interest in, and fantasy about, non-primary partners near ovulation than during the luteal phase; (ii) women did not report significantly greater sexual interest in, and fantasy about, primary partners near ovulation; (iii) women reported that their primary partners were both more attentive and more proprietary near ovulation.

1. Experiment 1 employed a repeated measures design to examine the effects of captivity on sex differences in the electric organ discharge (EOD) of Gnathonemus petersii, newly imported from Africa, and maintained individually or in groups. 2. On the day of import, males exhibited longer durations of phases 2 and 3 of the EOD and lower peak power spectral frequencies (PPSFs) than females. 3. After 14 days in captivity in the laboratory, the sex differences were eliminated. After 37 days of captivity, all sex differences were still abolished, or even reversed depending on housing conditions. Males exhibited the most dramatic changes in EODs and females appeared to have higher testosterone (T) levels than males. 4. Experiment 2 was designed to investigate the effects of captivity on both behavior and endocrine status in 58 newly imported males. In this independent group design, EOD data and blood were collected from subjects over 15 days. 5. Decreases in phase 3 of the EOD and increases in PPSFs progressed over the 15 day experimental period, becoming statistically significant by days 10 and 15, respectively. Regardless of housing conditions, both T and 11-keto T dramatically decreased to near non-detectable levels by Day 5 in the laboratory. 6. Captivity causes rapid and profound changes in the endocrine system which result in dramatic changes in steroid-sensitive EODs. These findings directly link captivity, hormones, and behavior, and show why feral animals brought into captivity usually do not exhibit sexual behavior.

Because precocious pubarche (PP) reveals late-onset congenital adrenal hyperplasia (LO-CAH) in 5 to 20% of cases, an adrenal stimulation test is recommended in all patients presenting with it. This test is stressful and expensive, and results are normal in more than 80% of cases. Objective: Our objective was to identify clinical and plasma predictors of LO-CAH among patients presenting with PP. We conducted a retrospective cohort study that included all patients seen for PP at our hospital between 1999 and 2006 (n ϭ 238). All had undergone an ACTH test. Main Outcome Measure: LO-CAH was defined by a post-ACTH 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP) plasma level greater than 10 ng/ml and confirmed by mutational analysis of the CYP21 gene. The association of standard clinical and laboratory indicators with LO-CAH was assessed. Results: Ten (4%) of 238 patients had LO-CAH. Basal 17-OHP, ⌬4-androstenedione, and testosterone plasma levels were significantly higher in these patients. A 2-ng/ml threshold for basal 17-OHP plasma levels offered 100% (95% CI, 69 -100) sensitivity for the diagnosis of LO-CAH and 99% (95% CI, 96 -100) specificity. We identified three plasma predictors of LO-CAH in patients presenting with PP. A selective strategy based on a 2-ng/ml basal 17-OHP plasma level threshold would have safely avoided 99% of the unnecessary ACTH tests among our patients. (

Streszczenie
Procesy demograficzne można uznać za społeczną konsekwencję podstawowego zjawiska biologicznego - rozmnażania. Nauki społeczne tymczasem pomijają ten wymiar biologiczny lub traktują go apriorycznie jako stałą. W rezultacie swoich próbach wyjaśnienia kryzysu demograficznego nauki te umieszczają potencjalnie kluczowe procesy w ich martwym polu.
Za stopień determinacji w realizowaniu zamierzeń prokreacyjnych odpowiadają hormony płciowe (testosteron, estrogen), tymczasem rosnąca liczba badań rejestruje narastanie różnego rodzaju negatywnych zjawisk wskazujących na zaburzenie gospodarki tymi hormonami i w rezultacie układu rozrodczego. Choć są to procesy biologiczne, nie mają pochodzenia naturalnego, tj. najprawdopodobniej są rezultatem globalnego rozprzestrzenienia związków endokrynnie-aktywnych (EDC). Stanowi to skutek uboczny nieskrępowanego rozwoju technologii możliwego w ramach społeczeństw o organizacji typu produkcyjnego i przy dominacji właściwego temu typowi systemu wartości.

Abstract
Demographic processes can be considered a social consequence of a basic biological phenomenon - reproduction. Meanwhile, social sciences ignore this biological dimension or treat it a priori as a constant. As a result, these sciences place potentially key processes in their blind spots in their attempts to explain the demographic crisis.
Sex hormones (testosterone, oestrogen) are responsible for the degree of determination in realizing procreative intentions meanwhile a growing number of studies register an increase  of various negative phenomena indicating a disturbance in balance of these hormones and, consequently, the reproductive system. Although these are biological processes, they are not of natural origin, i.e. they are most likely the result of the global spread of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). This is a side effect of the unrestricted development of technology possible within societies with a industrial type organization and with the dominance of the value system inherent in this type.

El conjunto del libro trata sobre la conectividad ecológica, que es un concepto emergente que busca garantizar la continuidad y funcionalidad de los ecosistemas a través de herramientas que faciliten el movimiento de especies y el flujo de procesos ecológicos, en un escenario condicionado por la fragmentación de los hábitats, la grave pérdida de biodiversidad y el cambio climático. Conectividad Ecológica y Derecho explora, desde un punto de vista primordialmente jurídico y urbanístico, las bases para integrar esta variable en las políticas y regulaciones ambientales. Con este fin, propone un marco general y una teoría de la conectividad ecológica a partir del análisis de la Estrategia Nacional de Infraestructura Verde y del Reglamento de Restauración como instrumentos clave, examina su evolución y carácter necesario en el seno del constitucionalismo global, y presenta principios eco-jurídicos y taxonomías de corredores ecológicos aplicables. En su núcleo se exploran las virtudes extraídas de las fórmulas de la coafectación de vías pecuarias, de la custodia del territorio, de incorporar estándares ecológicos en la práctica del urbanismo y las derivadas de la contratación pública. El trabajo culmina con el análisis de casos concretos, experiencias exitosas y desafíos encontrados en diferentes regiones y contextos, relativos a humedales urbanos, al ecosistema marino, al papel de la conectividad en la lucha contra los incendios forestales y al estudio comparado de modelos urbanos. En conjunto, la obra ofrece un análisis innovador para el contexto académico y de carácter práctico para el cuerpo de profesionales que operan en el ámbito público y privado, legislativo y judicial, interesados en comprender y aplicar conceptos avanzados de sostenibilidad y restauración ecológica.

"Background: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, was previously thought to be an endocrine condition. Research has now demonstrated that polycystic ovarian syndrome affects a patient's quality of life and is a metabolic, hormonal and psychosocial condition. Women's joys are disrupted by PCOS because the stigma attached to hyperandrogenism is strongly felt and may harm women's psychological development.

Methods: The aim of the study was to comprehend the psychosocial problems experienced by women in Kashmir and to obtain a thorough understanding of the coping mechanisms employed by women with PCOS. The re-search design was both qualitative and quantitative in nature. Thematic analysis was used to derive themes from the data. Sampling was purposeful in nature.

Results: The study underscores that women with PCOS encounter numerous difficulties encompassing social and psychological aspects. Psychological issues like mood swings, stress, anxiety and sleeping disorders are prevalent among women with PCOS. Furthermore, the research has revealed that menstrual disorders significant-ly contribute to depression in women. The study also highlights a connection between infertility and psychological problems. 

Conclusion: In conclusion, the research underscores the multifaceted challenges faced by individuals with PCOS. Therefore, understanding these issues is crucial for developing effective coping mechanisms and improving the quality of life for women dealing with PCOS.  "

Noam Chomsky, one of the most influential figures of the 20th century in the fields of linguistics and philosophy, had one of the most emblematic debates of his career: the intellectual conflict with B.F. Skinner over language and verbal behavior. This article evaluates the main controversies and contributions of this debate, using a variety of key sources to offer a balanced and critical view.

The incidence of precocious puberty is increasing not only in developed countries but also in developing countries. A lot of factors are responsible for precocious puberty such as, secular trends, obesity, health improvement, sexual harassments, sexualized media etc. In this review article we have briefly discussed about puberty and link between sexual harassment, sexualized media and precocious puberty.

The foundations of biology have been a topic of debate for the past few decades. The traditional perspective of the Modern Synthesis, which portrays organisms as passive entities with a limited explanatory role in evolutionary theory, is giving way to a new paradigm where organisms are recognized as active agents, actively shaping their own phenotypic traits for adaptive goals. Within this context, this article raises the question of whether contemporary biological theory is undergoing a cognitive revolution. This inquiry can be approached in two ways: from a theoretical standpoint, exploring the centrality of the cognitive sciences in current theoretical biology; and from a historical perspective, examining the resemblance between the current state of theoretical biology and the Cognitive Revolution of the mid-20th century. Both inquiries yield affirmative answers, though important nuances will be emphasized. The cognitive sciences' explanatory framework is employed to elucidate the agentic characteristics of organisms, establishing a clear parallelism between the Cognitive Revolution and the present state of theoretical biology.

The foundations of biology have been a topic of debate for the past few decades. The traditional perspective of the Modern Synthesis, which portrays organisms as passive entities with a limited explanatory role in evolutionary theory, is giving way to a new paradigm where organisms are recognized as active agents, actively shaping their own phenotypic traits for adaptive goals. Within this context, this article raises the question of whether contemporary biological theory is undergoing a cognitive revolution. This inquiry can be approached in two ways: from a theoretical standpoint, exploring the centrality of the cognitive sciences in current theoretical biology; and from a historical perspective, examining the resemblance between the current state of theoretical biology and the Cognitive Revolution of the mid-20th century. Both inquiries yield affirmative answers, though important nuances will be emphasized. The cognitive sciences' explanatory framework is employed to elucidate the agentic characteristics of organisms, establishing a clear parallelism between the Cognitive Revolution and the present state of theoretical biology.

Sexual desire is typically higher in men than in women, with testosterone (T) thought to account for this difference as well as within-sex variation in desire in both women and men. However, few studies have incorporated both hormonal and social or psychological factors in studies of sexual desire. The present study addressed how three psychological domains (sexual-relational, stress-mood, body-embodiment) were related to links between T and sexual desire in healthy adults and whether dyadic and solitary desire showed associations with T. Participants (n = 196) were recruited as part of the Partnering, Physiology, and Health study, which had 105 men and 91 women who completed questionnaires and provided saliva for cortisol and T assays. T was positively linked to solitary desire in women, with masturbation frequency influencing this link. In contrast, T was negatively correlated with dyadic desire in women, but only when cortisol and perceived social stress were controlled. Replicating past findings, no significant correlations between T and desire in men were apparent, but these analyses showed that the null association remained even when psychological and confound variables were controlled. Men showed higher desire than women, but masturbation frequency ratherthanTinfluencedthisdifference. Results were discussed in terms of challenges to assumptions of clear links between T and desire, gendered approaches to T, and the unitarity of desire.

Animals in zoos are kept under environmental conditions differing from those of their original habitat. Recently, zoos have been attempting to reduce stress by introducing environmental enrichment. Adrenal-derived glucocorticoids are common stress indicators found in blood, saliva, urine, and feces. Fecal cortisol levels have been studied as a stress marker in captive giraffes, but the data are insufficient. In this study, we examined fecal cortisol in captive giraffes in northern Japan to increase basic data on fecal cortisol as an indicator of environmental enrichment. For one month, we collected fecal samples from 14 giraffes [Masai giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) and reticulated giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata)] from eight zoos. The fecal samples were stored at-20 °C until fecal cortisol levels were measured using a cortisol EIA kit after drying, grinding, and ethanol extraction. Cortisol levels were compared between males and females, pregnant and nonpregnant animals, by age, and by differences in temperature of the rearing environment. The fecal cortisol levels ranged from 37~10346 pg/g. Among females, pregnant individuals had the highest values. Among nonpregnant females, a female that was harassed by a male had higher fecal cortisol levels than the others. This may be due to chronic psychological distress. In males, values varied greatly among individuals. This study increases the volume of giraffe fecal cortisol data, which will contribute to establishing basic giraffe fecal cortisol values.

Evidence from several large randomised clinical trials has linked glycated haemoglobin (HbA 1c) to vascular diabetes complications. 1,2 Consequently, current diabetes management relies mainly on HbA 1c to assess quality of treatment and to adjust therapy. Optimal glycaemic Recent data have suggested that glucose variability may add to or modify the risk of diabetes complications. Glycated haemoglobin (HbA 1c), an integrated measure of sustained chronic hyperglycaemia, fails to reflect glucose variability and the risks associated with extreme glucose swings. Thus, whether glucose variability should become an integral part of assessing glucose control in clinical practice remains unknown. Since the establishment of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems, various indices of glucose variability and quality of glycaemic control such as the mean amplitude of glycaemic excursions (MAGE) and the Glycaemic Risk Assessment Diabetes Equation (GRADE) can now be precisely computed from CGM data sets. Analysis of CGM data, including the impact of glucose variability and its temporal aspects, has clinical importance and should be incorporated into use in clinical trials and the design of optimal antidiabetes therapies.

Objectives Little psychoneuroendocrine research has focused on steroid hormone responses to non-physical competition in middle childhood. This study sought to observe testosterone, estradiol, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), androstenedione, and cortisol responses in children during a mixed-sex, team, academic competition. Methods Salivary steroid hormones were collected, along with measures of performance, Body Mass Index, and pubertal development in ethnically Chinese boys (n = 18) and girls (n = 27), aged 9-10 years, during a math competition (N = 45). Results Testosterone and estradiol levels were generally low and unmeasurable. Nearly every competitor experienced decreases in cortisol and cortisol/DHEA molar ratio. Preand post-match DHEA and androstenedione did not significantly change. Exploratory analyses revealed a positive correlation between DHEA change and team performance among non-active participants (i.e. did not attempt to answer a question). ANCOVAs revealed differences in percentage change in androstenedione between active (n = 20) and non-active participants (n = 25) and among winners (n = 7) and losers (n = 38), and positive associations with age. Percentage change in cortisol was significantly lower among losers compared to winners. Performance measures were positively correlated with DHEA change and percentage change in androstenedione.

Research investigating the link between stress and sexual activity has been limited and the findings equivocal. We examined the stress-sexual activity link and the moderating effects of gender and relationship satisfaction using a daily diary methodology. Seventy-five heterosexual Israeli adults were asked in an initial session to report on their relationship satisfaction. Then, these participants were asked to provide daily diary measures of stress and sexual activity for a period of 18 consecutive weekdays. We found that stressful days increased the probability of having sex on a subsequent day, and that sexual intercourse relieved stress for both men and women in satisfying relationships, but not in unsatisfying relationships. The discussion emphasizes the importance of sex in regulating emotions and maintaining psychological wellbeing, especially among those satisfied with their relationships.

Understanding Society includes what is known as an 'Innovation Panel' sample. This sample of 1500 households is used to test different methods for conducting the study in order to produce the highest quality data. The results from the Innovation Panel provide evidence about the best way to conduct a longitudinal survey which is of relevance for all survey practitioners as well as influencing decisions made about how to conduct Understanding Society. As a longitudinal study where the continued cooperation of sample members is extremely important for the study to be viable over the longer term, testing methods on the main Understanding Society study sample would be problematic. The Innovation Panel therefore provides a test-bed where different ways of approaching sample members to gain their cooperation and different ways of asking questions can be tried out in advance of the main study going into the field. This paper reports the results of some of this testing work that was carried out at wave 2 of the Innovation Panel in the spring of 2009 and comments on how the results from the experiments influenced decisions made for the main survey.

espanolLa “Convencion de Ramsar” es un tratado intergubernamental con la mision de la conservacion y el uso racional de los humedales. Mexico ocupa el segundo lugar en numero de sitios Ramsar a nivel mundial, con 113 sitios, sin embargo, aun no cuenta con “Politica Nacional de Humedales”. Se revisaron las leyes, reglamentos y normas oficiales mexicanas relacionadas con los humedales y se encontro que Mexico no tiene con una legislacion de conservacion de la naturaleza especifica para humedales, pero ha incorporado el principio de la preservacion y restauracion del equilibrio ecologico en la Constitucion; tambien cuenta con varias leyes y reglamentos y normas relacionados de forma directa e indirecta con la regulacion de aspectos particulares en humedales. No se encontraron contradicciones en la legislacion que limiten conservacion de los humedales, ademas la legislacion vigente promueve en lo general la conservacion y el uso racional de los humedales, por lo que se recomienda introd...

To better understand how health risk processes are linked to adrenarche, measures of adrenarcheal timing and tempo are needed. Our objective was to describe and classify adrenal trajectories, in terms of timing and tempo, in a population of children transitioning to adolescence with repeated measurements of salivary dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), DHEAsulphate, and testosterone. We analysed data from the Childhood to Adolescence Transition Study (CATS), a longitudinal study of 1239 participants, recruited at 8-9 years old and followed up annually. Saliva samples were assayed for adrenal hormones. Linear mixedeffect models with subject-specific random intercepts and slopes were used to model longitudinal hormone trajectories by sex and derive measures of adrenarcheal timing and tempo. The median values for all hormones were higher at each consecutive study wave for both sexes, and higher for females than males. For all hormones, between-individual variation in hormone levels at age 9 (timing) was moderately large and similar for females and males. Between-individual variation in hormone progression over time (tempo) was of moderate magnitude compared with the population average age-slope, which itself was small compared with overall hormone level at each age. This suggests that between-individual variation in tempo was less important for modelling hormone trajectories. Between-individual variation in timing was more important for determining relative adrenal hormonal level in childhood than tempo. This finding suggests that adrenal hormonal levels at age 8-9 years can be used to predict relative levels in early adolescence (up to 13 years).

Los manglares sostienen la biodiversidad de los ecosistemas costeros intertropicales del planeta; pero son amenazados constantemente por el desarrollo acelerado antrópico y los impactos del Cambio Climático (CC). En México, a pesar de estar protegidos por la ley, se requieren más estudios a escala local, por lo que se eligió la ciudad de Playa del Carmen, con la mayor tasa de crecimiento en México y América Latina. Se cartografiaron las superficies de manglar, utilizando una imagen de satélite QuickBird, se

A new form of knowledge technology is used to diagnose psychology's epistemological woes and provide a solution to the difficulties. The argument presented is that psychology has traditionally spanned two separate but intimately related problems: (a) the problem of animal behavior and (b) the problem of human behavior. Accordingly, the solution offered divides the field into two broad, logically consistent domains. The first domain is psychological formalism, which is defined as the science of mind, corresponds to animal behavior, and consists of the basic psychological sciences. The second domain is human psychology, which is defined as the science of human behavior at the individual level and is proposed as a hybrid that exists between psychological formalism and the social sciences.

A new form of knowledge technology is used to diagnose psychology's epistemological woes and provide a solution to the difficulties. The argument presented is that psychology has traditionally spanned two separate but intimately related problems: (a) the problem of animal behavior and (b) the problem of human behavior. Accordingly, the solution offered divides the field into two broad, logically consistent domains. The first domain is psychological formalism, which is defined as the science of mind, corresponds to animal behavior, and consists of the basic psychological sciences. The second domain is human psychology, which is defined as the science of human behavior at the individual level and is proposed as a hybrid that exists between psychological formalism and the social sciences.

Bestrebungen, soziale Phänomene wie Bildungsungleichheiten, gruppenbezogene Intelligenzunterschiede oder reproduktives Verhalten durch den Rückgriff auf biologische, insbesondere genetische Faktoren zu erklären, sind bekanntlich nicht neu. In mehr oder weniger regelmäßigen Abständen, und zumeist gestützt auf neue technowissenschaftliche Möglichkeiten und Verfahren, finden sich immer wieder Versuche, Soziales als biologisch oder genetisch bedingt zu begreifen. Die entsprechenden Erklärungsansätze – von der Rasseforschung über Eugenik, Soziobiologie und evolutionäre Psychologie bis zur Verhaltensgenetik – erwiesen sich allerdings als fragwürdig und letztlich unhaltbar, weshalb sie in den Sozialwissenschaften bisher nicht Fuß fassen konnten.

The evolution of advanced sociality in bees was apparently associated with significant modifications in juvenile hormone (JH) functions. By contrast to most insects in which JH is a gonadotropin regulating female fertility, in the highly eusocial honeybee (Apis mellifera) JH has lost its gonadotropic function in adult females and instead it regulates age-related division of labor among worker bees. This variation in JH function provides an excellent model system for understanding major evolutionary changes that are mediated by modifications in endocrine signaling pathways. We manipulated JH levels in workers of the 'primitively eusocial' bumblebee Bombus terrestris by removing the sole JH producing glands, the corpora allata (CA). Allatectomized bees showed strong reduction in several behavioral, physiological, and molecular systems: egg laying, egg-cell construction, ovarian development, hemolymph vitellogenin protein abundance, wax secretion, and vitellogenin and the transcription factor krüppel homolog 1 fat body transcript levels. These effects were reversed, at least partially, by treating the allatectomized bees with JH-III, the natural JH of bees. By combining these manipulations with RNA-seq transcriptomic analyses we identified hundreds of brain transcripts that are regulated by JH. These include krüppel homolog 1 and many genes of the insulin/ insulin-like signaling pathway. JH also influenced the splicing pattern of several dozen transcripts. By contrast, manipulations of JH levels by the CA inhibitor precocene and replacement therapy treatments, which did inhibit ovaries, had no effect on foraging or nursing activities. These results provide the strongest available support for the hypothesis that JH is a gonadotropin in B. terrestris and start to reveal the molecular processes it regulates in the bumblebee brain. Our study lends credence to the hypothesis that the evolution of eusociality was associated with major modifications in JH signaling in honeybees but not in bumblebees.

According to the World health organization 116 million women's (3.4%) are affected with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. It considered being the most common female syndrome worldwide and its affected 4 to 18 % of reproductive aged women around the globe (Moran Lj et al. 2011). The present research studies investigate the relationship of psychological Correlates depression, irritability and anxiety among Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome woman and normal woman. The cross sectional research method is used from 2021 to 2022. The sample comprises of 100 women's randomly selected from private clinics of Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh and private nursing home of Betul District and Bhopal City (M.P.). The research tools used to assess the level of depression, irritability and anxiety in PCOS women's and normal women's by using IDAS Scale developed and standardized by Snaith et al in 1978 and The symptom checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R)develop by Dergotis(1994) to assess the symptoms of anxiety. For analyzing the data analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to check the significance of difference in level of depression, irritability and Anxiety among PCOS and Normal women's. Difference in level of depression, irritability and anxiety was significant at 0.01 levels that show that PCOS women's had higher level of depression, irritability and Anxiety in comparison to Normal women's. Most of the research studies show that there is no pharmacological therapy that can cure the syndrome but some intervening medications are used to treat the clinical symptoms of it. Pharmacological therapies along with a change in the lifestyle, psychological therapies and meditation are fruitful in ameliorate the overall condition.

Little is known about head-tilts in dogs. Based on previous investigations on the head turning and the lateralised brain pattern of human speech processing in dogs, we hypothesised that head-tilts may be related to increased attention and could be explained by lateralised mental functions. We observed 40 dogs during object-label knowledge tests and analysed head-tilts occurring while listening to humans requesting verbally to fetch a familiar toy. Our results indicate that only dogs that had learned the name of the objects tilted their heads frequently. Besides, the side of the tilt was stable across several months and tests. Thus, we suggest a relationship between head-tilting and processing relevant, meaningful stimuli.

Little is known about head-tilts in dogs. Based on previous investigations on the head turning and the lateralised brain pattern of human speech processing in dogs, we hypothesised that head-tilts may be related to increased attention and could be explained by lateralised mental functions. We observed 40 dogs during object-label knowledge tests and analysed head-tilts occurring while listening to humans requesting verbally to fetch a familiar toy. Our results indicate that only dogs that had learned the name of the objects tilted their heads frequently. Besides, the side of the tilt was stable across several months and tests. Thus, we suggest a relationship between head-tilting and processing relevant, meaningful stimuli.

Griffin’s smooth writing style and his remarkable survey of the relevant literature and important concepts make his book, a revised version of his 1992 text, one of the most impressive ethological texts I have ever read. He states that “Cognitive ethology presents us with one of the supreme scientific challenges of our time, for it constitutes the final chapter of the Darwinian revolution, and it therefore calls for our best efforts of imaginative and critical investigation” (p. 285). Such words are appropriate from the individual most researchers consider JOURNAL OF APPLIED ANIMAL WELFARE SCIENCE, 5(2), 163–168 Copyright © 2002, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Studies indicate that the evaluation of animal welfare in birds may be carried out with the measurement of the stress-related hormone corticosterone in feathers. However a standardized procedure for corticosterone measurements in feathers is lacking, a validation needs to be carried out for each new species before implementation. The aim of the present study was to establish a valid method to measure corticosterone concentrations in feathers of laying hens in a precise and repeatable manner using an established and commercially available ELISA. Validation was performed with feather pools of tail and interscapular feathers of commercial Lohmann Brown laying hens. Assessment groups, consisting of 5 replicates, were created. All replicates of an assessment group were processed at the same time. Each replicate was run in 4 repetitions by ELISA. Intra-assay and interassay CV was 7.5 and 6.4%, respectively. The serial dilution showed linearity and parallelism. Examining the hormone extraction efficiency by using different methanol volumes resulted in no statistical differences (P. 0.05). Pulverized feathers showed higher corticosterone values than minced feathers (P. 0.05). Differences were shown between 2 feather types (tail vs. interscapular feathers; P , 0.05), as well as between vane and rachis (P , 0.05). Performance of a freeze-thaw cycle led to a decrease of corticosterone concentrations in the samples. A possible effect of UV-A radiation on the stability of corticosterone in the feathers was not found (P. 0.05). With the present study, a valid protocol, feasible for analyzing feather pools of laying hens, was developed. It may provide fundamentals for further investigations on corticosterone in feathers as a noninvasive indicator to evaluate aspects of animal welfare.

Philosophers and psychologists have long worried that a human tendency to anthropomorphize leads us to err in our understanding of nonhuman minds. This tendency, which I call intuitive anthropomorphism, is a heuristic used by our unconscious folk psychology to understand the behavior of nonhuman animals. I argue that the dominant understanding of intuitive anthropomorphism underestimates its complexity. It does often lead us to err, but not always. And the errors it produces are not only overestimations of nonhuman intelligence. If we want to understand and control intuitive anthropomorphism, we must treat is as a cognitive bias, and look to the empirical evidence. The literature on controlling implicit social biases is particularly helpful. That literature suggests that the most common for intuitive anthropomorphism, Morgan's Canon, should be rejected, while others need supplementation. It also suggests new approaches.

We examined potential changes in salivary DHEA, androstenedione, cortisol, testosterone, and cortisol/DHEA ratio in boys in response to soccer practice and soccer match competition. To our knowledge, this study is the first to explore the impacts of athletic competition on salivary steroid hormone change in juvenile boy soccer players. Boys from five different Las Vegas, Nevada teams provided saliva samples during soccer practice (N=28), with four out of five teams providing saliva samples during a soccer match (N=26). All participants were aged 8-10 years. A Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Sum Test and standard linear regression analyses were performed to assess the change in hormone concentrations during soccer practice and soccer match competition. Results revealed a statistically significant rise in boys' DHEA concentrations during both practice and match play. Androstenedione significantly increased during the match competition only. Cortisol did not change with statistical significance during either condition. A Friedman's ANOVA was used to evaluate within-subject differences in boys who participated in both the practice and match treatments (N=17). Cortisol was the only hormone measure that, with statistical significance, increased more during the match than it did during practice. Analysis of the cortisol/DHEA ratios revealed a statistically significant decrease occurred during practice only. No statistical analysis was available for testosterone since all but seven samples were below the sensitivity of the assay (<3.0 pg/mL). These data suggest acute adrenal steroid hormone release in juvenile boys is sensitive to physical competition and responds differently than adult males.

The Challenge Hypothesis (Wingfield et al., 1990) originally focused on adult male avian testosterone elevated in response to same-sex competition in reproductive contexts. The purpose of the present paper is to demonstrate how the Challenge Hypothesis has shaped ideas about human life histories. We conduct a citation analysis, drawing upon 400 Google Scholar citations in the human literature to identify patterns in this body of scholarship. We cover key factors, such as context and personality traits, that help explain variable testosterone responses such as winning/losing to adult competitive behavior. Findings from studies on courtship and sexual behavior indicate some variation in testosterone responses depending on factors such as motivation. A large body of research indicates that male testosterone levels are often lower in contexts of long-term committed partnerships and nurturant fathering and aligned with variation in male mating and parenting effort. As the Challenge Hypothesis is extended across the life course, DHEA and androstenedione (rather than testosterone) appear more responsive to juvenile male competitive behavior, and during reproductive senescence, baseline male testosterone levels decrease just as male life history allocations show decreased mating effort. We discuss how research on testosterone administration, particularly in older men, provides causal insight into effects of testosterone in humans, and how this "natural experiment" can be viewed in light of the Challenge Hypothesis. We synthesize central concepts and findings, such as an expanded array of costs of testosterone that inform life history tradeoffs between maintenance and reproductive effort, and we conclude with directions for future research. 2. Human life histories and the Challenge Hypothesis Human life histories exhibit key, derived characteristics: early weaning, extended childhood, large brains, late puberty, long-term

Esports, or competitive video gaming, has rapidly increased in online play and viewing. The popularity of esports such as League of Legends may derive in part because it features skills-based coalitional competition. Whereas a sizable literature focuses on adult human hormones and competition, little research has addressed the hormone responses of men playing video games. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effects of playing a coalitionary-based esport on young U.S. men's steroid hormone levels in a naturalistic study. We tested salivary steroid changes in response to esports club members (n ¼ 26) playing League of Legends against other people and the computer. We hypothesized that esports competition would increase testosterone, cortisol, DHEA and androstenedione levels, with more pronounced increases in winners than losers. Participants provided saliva samples before and after competitions lasting 15e27 min in duration. Salivary testosterone, cortisol, DHEA and androstenedione levels did not change overall or between play against people vs. the computer or with respect to winning or losing. However, play duration (range 16e27 min) was positively related to changes in DHEA, androstenedione and testosterone during play against people. Aldosterone levels decreased overall. We suggest that the informal and familiar environment as well as relatively short play duration help account for generally null findings. These findings help document physiological effects of esport play, in turn contributing to a richer understanding of why so many play and watch esports.

Objectives: Little is known about salivary steroid hormone responses to dyadic competition among prepubescent boys. The current study explored pre-match and post-match testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), androstenedione, and cortisol among 22 ethnically Chinese, Hong Kongese table tennis athletes, aged 8-11 years, during dyadic competition against peers. These data provide novel comparative insight into boys' hormone responses when participating in similar forms of competition to that of adults. Methods: Measures of salivary steroid hormones, age, outcome, and participant's self-reported perceived performance were obtained. Pre-match salivary steroid hormones and competition-induced steroid hormone changes were explored to further assess overall hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. Results: Cortisol decreased for most participants, whereas testosterone measures were below the sensitivity of the assay. DHEA and androstenedione did not significantly change during the table tennis exhibitions and were unrelated to independent performance variables. Correlational analyses indicated that competition-induced androstenedione and cortisol change were positively related. Conclusions: Findings show that juvenile boys' steroid hormone responses during dyadic athletic competition differ in comparison to adult males, in whom cortisol and testosterone tend to rise. Lack of significant DHEA and androstenedione change during the table tennis competition differs from our previous work that showed DHEA and androstenedione were sensitive to more physically taxing forms of athletic competition (eg, soccer). These results are discussed in light of potential factors that may have contributed to these differences.

The ways in which the end of life of an animal is understood and undertaken depend on the category of the animal and its position in relation to humans. In this paper, we explore how transformations in human-animal relationality, including practices and cultural conceptions about animals, become apparent in the norms and practices regarding the killing of animals. We focus here on rats and cats, species whose position in society has always been liminal, especially between the category of pet and that of pest but also between wild and domesticated. Rats and cats have co-existed with each other and with humans since a very long time and the three species have co-evolved in a constant dance of mutual interests and conflicts. The shared history of this multispecies network reflects in many ways how humans have related to animals in different historical and spatial contexts and how these relations have transformed. By discussing the entanglement of rats, cats and humans in the close connection between caring and killing we wish to highlight the ways in which human-animal relations are manifested in the North of Europe during the 20th century. The specific context of the study is Sweden and Finland, countries that share similar histories and cultural characteristics. In our analysis we draw from various data collected in both countries, including written narratives from an nationwide writing collection and historic documents such as the journals of animal welfare societies and documents concerning the extermination of rats.

Understanding Society is a household panel survey with continuous fieldwork (monthly samples) using a mixed mode design. Prior to March 2020, around half of all interviews were carried out face-to-face, amounting to around 1,150 interviews per month. This article outlines how the survey rapidly transitioned to a protocol without face-to-face interviews and presents some initial indicators of the impact of the change on field outcomes.

We analyzed co-citation patterns in 332.498 articles published in Anglophone psychology journals between 1946 and 1990 to estimate (1) when cognitive psychology first emerged as a clearly delineated subdiscipline, (2) how fast it grew, (3) to what extent it replaced other (e.g., behaviorist) approaches to psychology, (4) to what degree it was more appealing to scholars from a younger generation, and (5) whether it was more interdisciplinary than alternative traditions. We detected a major shift in the structure of co-citation networks between approximately 1955 and 1975 and draw novel conclusions about the developments commonly referred to as 'the cognitive turn'.

Traditional indices of effect size are designed to answer questions about average group differences, associations between variables, and relative risk. For many researchers, an additional, important question is, “How many people in my study behaved or responded in a manner consistent with theoretical expectation?” We show how the answer to this question can be computed and reported as a straightforward percentage for a wide variety of study designs. This percentage essentially treats persons as an effect size, and it can easily be understood by scientists, professionals, and laypersons alike. For instance, imagine that in addition to d or η2, a researcher reports that 80% of participants matched theoretical expectation. No statistical training is required to understand the basic meaning of this percentage. By analyzing recently published studies, we show how computing this percentage can reveal novel patterns within data that provide insights for extending and developing the theory ...

Sometimes philosophers believe, rightly or wrongly, that a region of (declarative) discourse is in need of their help-that vindicating its standing requires the kind of treatment that a philosopher might be able to offer. There is a wide variety of circumstances leading to this situation. In many cases, a perceived tension between naturalism and the ostensible subject matter of the discourse is an important factor, 1 but there could in principle be lines of reasoning leading to the conclusion that a discourse needs philosophical help in which naturalism is not involved. I am going to discuss the situation focusing on linguistic items-sentences and terms, but parallel problems arise for their mental correlates-beliefs and concepts, and I'll be interested only in proposals for the linguistic version of the task that don't presuppose that the mental version has already been accomplished. There are several general approaches that a philosopher can adopt to discharge this kind of task. One that has attracted some attention in recent years seeks to explicate a discourse in terms of features of the practice in which the discourse is embedded-of what speakers do with the expressions in the discourse. Its central insight is the Wittgensteinian thought that the semantic properties of linguistic expressions are determined by how they are used. 2 There are several ways of articulating this insight. The one I want to focus on proposes to vindicate the discourse by identifying features of the practice in which it is embedded that are necessary and sufficient for generating its semantic properties: a discourse will have the semantic properties of the target discourse if and only if it is embedded in a practice in which these features are present. I'm going to refer to features of a linguistic practice that can play this role with respect to its discourse as pragmatic grounds, 3 and to the project of vindicating

Sickness behavior, a coordinated set of behavioral changes during infection and elicited by the pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β), is well studied in non-human animals. Over the last two decades, several papers have expanded this research to include humans. However, these studies use a variety of research designs, and typically focus on a single cytokine and only a few of the many behavioral changes constituting sickness behavior. Therefore, our understanding of human sickness behavior remains equivocal. To generate a more holistic, integrative picture of this phenomenon, a meta-analysis of the human sickness behavior literature was conducted. Full model results show that both IL-6 and IL-1β have significant relationships with sickness behavior, and the strength of these relationships is affected by a number of study parameters, such as type of immune stimulus and inclusion of controls. In addition to researc...

This study examines day-today patterns of salivary cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) under baseline conditions and in response to mild stress among 59 children residing in a rural Caribbean village. Cortisol secretion showed the typical circadian variation with high levels in the morning. Children showed significant increases of cortisol before and during a videotaped interview when compared to routine days. DHEA levels were positively associated with cortisol levels; however, within-day secretion of salivary DHEA was more stable than cortisol and DHEA levels did not change significantly during the day. Average DHEA concentrations were positively associated with age but did not show the sharp increase that is usually observed at the onset of adrenarche. These results highlight both similarities and differences in the secretion of cortisol and DHEA during childhood among rural and industrialized human populations.

Circulating adult testosterone levels, digit ratio (length of the second finger relative to the fourth finger), and directional asymmetry in digit ratio are considered sexually dimorphic traits in humans. These have been related to spatial abilities in men and women, and because similar brain structures appear to be involved in both spatial and musical abilities, neuroendocrine function may be related to musical as well as spatial cognition. To evaluate relationships among testosterone and musical ability in men and women, saliva samples were collected, testosterone concentrations assessed, and digit ratios calculated using standardized protocols in a sample of university students (N = 61), including both music and non-music majors. Results of Spearman correlations suggest that digit ratio and testosterone levels are statistically related to musical aptitude and performance only within the female sample: A) those females with greater self-reported history of exposure to music (p = 0.016) and instrument proficiency (p = 0.040) scored higher on the Advanced Measures of Music Audiation test, B) those females with higher left hand digit ratio (and perhaps lower fetal testosterone levels) were more highly ranked (p = 0.007) in the orchestra, C) female music students exhibited a trend (p = 0.082) towards higher testosterone levels compared to female non-music students, and D) female music students with higher rank in the orchestra/band had higher testosterone levels (p = 0.003) than lower ranked students. None of these relationships were significant in the male sample, although a lack of statistical power may be one cause. The effects of testosterone are likely a small part of a poorly understood system of biological and environmental stimuli that contribute to musical aptitude. Hormones may play some role in modulating the phenotype of musical ability, and this may be the case for females more so than males.