Human axillary secretions influence women''s menstrual cycles: The role of donor extract from men

Menstrual cycle lengths of 29.5 +/- 3 days ("normal cycles") are more frequent in women who have weekly coital activity than in women who do not. In order to investigate potential mechanisms controlling the association between heterosexual activity and menstrual cycle length, and in light of the nonhuman literature suggesting that a chemical signal from males could be involved, menstrual cycle lengths of nulliparous women were evaluated following regular application of axillary extract from donor males. Compared to controls receiving only blank/ethanol applications, women receiving axillary extracts for 12.5 to 14.5 weeks showed the following changes: a reduced incidence in variability of cycle lengths; and a reduced proportion of aberrant length cycles.     

Female axillary secretions influence women''s menstrual cycles: A critique

Preti, Cutler, Garcia, Huggins, and Lawley report (1986, Horm. Behav. 20, 474-482) that women's menstrual cycles can be modulated with applications of female-derived secretions. An experimental sample of 10 women who reported that they had 29.5 +/- 3 day menstrual cycles was treated on a 22- to 25-day cycle with an extract of axillary secretions from a group of female donors. After two menstrual cycles, the mean absolute difference between the women's menses onsets and the treatment applications decreased significantly. A control sample of 9 women similarly treated with blank/ethanol showed no significant change. Reanalysis of the data indicates that four subjects in the extract sample synchronized with the extract cycles because of "errors" in the extract applications and another four synchronized as a result of experimental design, mathematical properties of cocycling menses onsets, and chance variations. After these factors are accounted for, no evidence suggests that the cycles of the subjects in the extract sample were modulated by the female-derived axillary secretion.     

Male axillary secretions influence women's menstrual cycles: a critique

W. B. Cutler et al. report in the December 1986 issue of Hormones and Behavior (20, 463-473), that women treated with axillary extract from male donors showed reduced variability in menstrual cycle lengths and a reduced proportion of aberrant cycles. The initial samples--seven subjects treated with the male extract and nine subjects treated with blank/ethanol--did not differ significantly in the frequency of aberrant and normal cycles. The cycles of four subjects who were having weekly coital activity were removed from the samples, since coital activity has been shown to be associated with normal-length cycles. The frequency differences of aberrant and normal cycles in the reduced extract and placebo samples were statistically significant. The experiment's conclusions are questionable because (1) the decision to remove the cycles of the four women who had weekly coital activity was not justified by the evidence from this experiment and (2) the researchers lacked an observed preexperimental data base from which to measure changes in the women's cycle lengths.     

Endocrine characteristics of adolescent menstrual cycles: impact of early menarche

An initial group of 200 girls, 7-17 years old, was investigated longitudinally 4 times at 1.5-, 1.5- and 5-year intervals. The present study gives information of the impact of early menarche, a risk factor for breast cancer, on some physical and endocrine characteristics in these subjects. The frequency of ovulation depended significantly on both the time since menarche and the age at menarche. Early menarche was associated with early onset of ovulatory cycles. Even in early puberty, before menarche, the subjects who displayed early menarche during follow-up had higher serum FSH and estradiol concentrations than the girls whose menarche took place after the age of 13.0 years. Adrenal androgen secretion (dehydroepiandrosterone) was not influenced by age at menarche but it increased, as expected, on the basis of chronological age. The group with early menarche was characterized by high circulating estradiol concentrations also after menarche, even in the oldest subjects so far studied, 17-25 years of chronological age. At these ages, the differences in the frequencies of ovulatory cycles were disappearing between the groups formed on the basis of age at menarche. The present findings in pre- and postmenarcheal subjects suggest that the increased risk of breast cancer associated with early menarche is created over several years of exposure to high-level estrogen stimulus.     

The role of Dufour's gland secretions in bees

ABSTRACT. Dufour's gland of bees is often hypertrophied and an extremely rich source of diverse natural products. In the ground-dwelling bees the secretion is mostly used for lining the brood cell with a hydrophobic lining. Whereas in several species the secretion is smeared on the cell walls without any modification, in others the hydrophobic lining is formed only after a chemical transformation of the secretion. The diversity of the chemical means by which hydrophobicity of the brood cells is achieved suggests that it has evolved repeatedly in the bees. In addition to lining their brood cells, several species use Dufour's gland secretion to mark their nest entrance. Analyses of single glands from various species reveal that each bee possesses its own individual composition, expressed in specific relative amounts of each component. Interestingly in the social halictid Evylaeus malachurum , nestmates (considered as sisters) are more similar to each other than non-related bees. The possible functional evolution of the glandular exudate from structural functions to communication and its implications for our understanding of eusociality in bees, is discussed.     

The influence of peat extract onClostridium acetobutylicum

Summary The effects of peat extract onCl. acetobutylicum appear to be at least two-fold. It is a source of mineral nutrients and it functions as a buffering agent in the presence of a semi-synthetic medium.     

Salivary testosterone measurements among women: relative magnitude of circadian and menstrual cycles.

Measures of testosterone among women are potentially useful in behavioral research, but information is needed on how much error is introduced by variability across the menstrual cycle. Morning and evening salivary testosterone concentrations were measured at weekly intervals across one menstrual cycle in each of 22 women, using the luteinizing hormone surge to mark midcycle. Menstrual cycles were statistically significant but smaller than daily cycles or individual differences. Menstrual cycle effects can be ignored in most research relating psychological and behavioral variables to individual differences in testosterone.     

The influence of outdoor thermal environment on young Japanese females

The influence of short wave solar radiation appears to be strong outdoors in summer, and the influence of airflow appears to be strong outdoors in winter. The purpose of this paper was to clarify the influence of the outdoor environment on young Japanese females. This research shows the relationship between the physiological and psychological responses of humans and the enhanced conduction-corrected modified effective temperature (ETFe). Subjective experiments were conducted in an outdoor environment. Subjects were exposed to the thermal environment in a standing posture. Air temperature, humidity, air velocity, short wave solar radiation, long wave radiation, ground surface temperature, sky factor, and the green solid angle were measured. The temperatures of skin exposed to the atmosphere and in contact with the ground were measured. Thermal sensation and thermal comfort were measured by means of rating the whole-body thermal sensation (cold–hot) and the whole body thermal comfort (comfortable–uncomfortable) on a linear scale. Linear rating scales are given for the hot (100) and cold (0), and comfortable (100) and uncomfortable (0) directions only. Arbitrary values of 0 and 100 were assigned to each endpoint, the reported values read in, and the entire length converted into a numerical value with an arbitrary scale of 100 to give a linear rating scale. The ETFe considered to report a neither hot nor cold, thermally neutral sensation of 50 was 35.9 °C, with 32.3 °C and 42.9 °C, respectively, corresponding to the low and high temperature ends of the ETFe considered to report a neither comfortable nor uncomfortable comfort value of 50. The mean skin temperature considered to report a neither hot nor cold, thermally neutral sensation of 50 was 33.3 °C, with 31.0 °C and 34.3 °C, respectively, corresponding to the low and high temperature ends of the mean skin temperature considered to report a neither comfortable nor uncomfortable comfort value of 50. The acceptability raised the mean skin temperature even for thermal environment conditions in which ETFe was high.     

The role of phytoplankton photosynthesis in global biogeochemical cycles

Phytoplankton biomass in the world's oceans amounts to only 1–2% of the total global plant carbon, yet these organisms fix between 30 and 50 billion metric tons of carbon annually, which is about 40% of the total. On geological time scales there is profound evidence of the importance of phytoplankton photosynthesis in biogeochemical cycles. It is generally assumed that present phytoplankton productivity is in a quasi steady-state (on the time scale of decades). However, in a global context, the stability of oceanic photosynthetic processes is dependent on the physical circulation of the upper ocean and is therefore strongly influenced by the atmosphere. The net flux of atmospheric radiation is critical to determining the depth of the upper mixed layer and the vertical fluxes of nutrients. These latter two parameters are keys to determining the intensity, and spatial and temporal distributions of phytoplankton blooms. Atmospheric radiation budgets are not in steady-state. Driven largely by anthropogenic activities in the 20th century, increased levels of IR- absorbing gases such as CO₂, CH₄ and CFC's and NO_x will potentially increase atmospheric temperatures on a global scale. The atmospheric radiation budget can affect phytoplankton photosynthesis directly and indirectly. Increased temperature differences between the continents and oceans have been implicated in higher wind stresses at the ocean margins. Increased wind speeds can lead to higher nutrient fluxes. Throughout most of the central oceans, nitrate concentrations are sub-micromolar and there is strong evidence that the quantum efficiency of Photosystem II is impaired by nutrient stress. Higher nutrient fluxes would lead to both an increase in phytoplankton biomass and higher biomass-specific rates of carbon fixation. However, in the center of the ocean gyres, increased radiative heating could reduce the vertical flux of nutrients to the euphotic zone, and hence lead to a reduction in phytoplankton carbon fixation. Increased desertification in terrestrial ecosystems can lead to increased aeolean loadings of essential micronutrients, such as iron. An increased flux of aeolean micronutrients could fertilize nutrient-replete areas of the open ocean with limiting trace elements, thereby stimulating photosynthetic rates. The factors which limit phytoplankton biomass and photosynthesis are discussed and examined with regard to potential changes in the Earth climate system which can lead the oceans away from steady-state. While it is difficult to confidently deduce changes in either phytoplankton biomass or photosynthetic rates on decadal time scales, time-series analysis of ocean transparency data suggest long-term trends have occurred in the North Pacific Ocean in the 20th century. However, calculations of net carbon uptake by the oceans resulting from phytoplankton photosynthesis suggest that without a supply of nutrients external to the ocean, carbon fixation in the open ocean is not presently a significant sink for excess atmospheric CO₂.The submitted paper has been authored under Contract No. DE-AC02-76H00016 with the US Department of Energy. Accordingly, the US Government retains a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish or reproduce the published form of this contribution, or allow others to do so, for US Government purposes.     

The isolated and combined effects of menstrual cycle phase and time-of-day on muscle strength of eumenorrheic females

Diurnal variation in muscle performance has been well documented in the past few years, but almost exclusively in the male population. The possible effects of the menstrual cycle on human circadian rhythms have remained equivocal, particularly in the context of muscle strength. The purpose of the study was to analyze the isolated and combined effects of circamensal variation and diurnal changes on muscle strength. Eight eumenorrheic females (age 30 +/- 5 yrs, height 1.63 +/- 0.06m and body mass 66.26 +/- 4.6kg: mean +/- SD) participated in this investigation. Isokinetic peak torque of knee extensors and flexors of the dominant leg were measured at 1.05, 3.14rad.s(-1) (through 90 degrees ROM) at two times-of-day (06:00, 18:00 h) and five time points of the menstrual cycle (menses, mid-follicular, ovulation, mid-luteal, late luteal). In addition, maximum voluntary isometric contraction of knee extensors and flexors and electrically stimulated isometric contraction of the knee extensors were measured at 60 degrees of knee flexion. Rectal temperature was measured during 30min before the tests. There was a significant time-of-day effect on peak torque values for isometric contraction of knee extensors under electrical stimulation (P< 0.05). At 18:00 h, muscle force was 2.6% greater than at 06:00 h. The time-of-day effect was not significant when the tests were performed voluntarily without stimulation: effect size calculations indicated small differences between morning and evening for maximal voluntary isometric contraction and peak torque (at 1.05rad.s(-1) for the knee extensors. A circamensal variation was observed for peak torque of knee flexors at 1.05rad.s(-1), extensors at 3.14rad.s(-1), and also isometric contraction of knee flexors, values being greatest at the ovulation phase. Interaction effects between time-of-day and menstrual cycle phase were not observed in any of the indices of muscle strength studied. The phase of the menstrual cycle seemed to have a greater effect than did the time-of-day on female muscle strength in this group of subjects. The present results suggest that peripheral rather than central mechanisms (e.g., motivation) are implicated in the diurnal variation of maximal isometric strength of women.     

The role of mobile consumers in lake nutrient cycles: a brief review

Spawning habitats of anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus and sardinella Sardinella aurita were investigated in the Gulf of Gabès by means of two surveys carried out during the summer of 2005 and 2009. The spatial patterns of early developmental stages were analyzed through Lloyd’s patchiness index, single quotient analyses, and principal component analyses. The results showed that Gulf of Gabès is an important area for anchovy and sardinella spawning. Within this area, anchovy and sardinella showed preference for the warmest waters to spawn. The main spawning areas for anchovy were located in the inner parts of the Gulf, and a secondary spawning area was observed offshore. Contrastingly, the main spawning ground of sardinella was found in the center of the Gulf. In both years, early larvae of anchovy showed a greater degree of aggregation than that of sardinella. The developmental stages of both species showed low spatial overlap, indicating that the spawning habitats of these species are spatially differentiated in the Gulf of Gabès.     

Maintenance of ovulatory menstrual cycles in chronically cannulated monkeys: a vest and mobile tether assembly

We report maintenance of apparently normal ovulatory menstrual cycles in cynomolgus monkeys up to 3 months after their placement in a vest and mobile tether assembly, with or without chronic cannulation via a femoral to vena caval catheter. Since menstrual cyclicity and characteristic hormonal profiles of the principal ovarian steroids remained normal in these monkeys, use of the vest and mobile tether apparatus described here permits long-term study of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis during chronic cannulation without introducing overt aberrancies as a part of the experimental model.     

Human respiratory tract secretions: Mucous glycoproteins of nonpurulent tracheobronchial secretions,and sputum of patients with bronchitis and cystic fibrosis

Mucous glycoproteins were isolated by agarose gel filtration from nonpurulent tracheobronchial secretions and purulent sputum which had been reduced, carboxymethylated and, in the case of purulent secretions, treated with deoxyribonuclease. The solubilized and purified glycoproteins were fractionated on diethylaminoethyl cellulose into two major (I, II) and two minor (Ia, III) blood group active components. Components I and II had similar carbohydrate and amino acid compositions which were typical for human blood group substances. These two components did differ in several respects. Component I contained 1.4–2.6% sulfate and did not inhibit influenza virus hemagglutination while component II contained 7.1–7.8% sulfate and was a potent inhibitor of virus hemagglutination. Component II also migrated more rapidly on sodium dodecyl sulfate-3.3% acrylamide gel electrophoresis. Components I and II in purulent secretions displayed only minor compositional differences from their counterparts in nonpurulent secretions. Component II was more abundant in two sputum samples from subjects with cystic fibrosis than in purulent bronchitic secretions or in nonpurulent secretions.     

The butterflies and birds of Madeira and La Gomera: taxon cycles and human influence

Analyses of the habitat distributions and densities of Madeiran and La Gomeran butterflies and birds are used to test the predictions of the taxon cycle hypothesis. The predictions are as follows: recent colonists should occupy more habitats and be found at higher densities than endemic species or sub-species; colonists should predominate in the marginal habitats on the islands.
The distributions of Madeiran and La Gomeran birds and butterflies do not conform to those predicted by the taxon cycle. Neither do the densities of the bird and butterfly species on either island. There is some evidence that recent colonizers occupy marginal habitats but we suggest that it is difficult to draw conclusions when man has greatly influenced the nature of the islands' habitats.     

The role of contrast enchanced axillary ultrasonography in early breast cancer patients

The most important prognostic factor for the patients with breast cancer are metastases to axillary lymph nodes (ALNs). Preoperative ultrasound (US) combined with fine needle aspiration biopsy (US-FNAB) has been proved to be the most reliable method to detect nonpalpable axillary metastases in patients with breast cancer. Our study was aimed to examine the value of US contrast agent (CA) SonoVue in the US examination of the axilla for the detection of axillary lymph node (ALN) metastases in breast cancer patients. Therefore, two studies were performed. The first study included 27/70 patients with breast cancer who had an indeterminate result of the standard US examination of the axilla (L/T < 1.2 or MCT > 3 mm or predominantly non-hilar vessel signal) and underwent US examination with CA. In the second study, 26 breast cancer patients underwent standard axillary US examination performed independently by two skilled operators. The patients with indeterminate or malignant ALN underwent US- guided fine needle aspiration biopsy (US-FNAB). For macrometastases, the sensitivity, specificity, NPV and PPV of US-FNAB were 91%, 93%, 100% and 100%, respectively. The reproducibility of the standard US examination (the second study) was 85% (22/26 patients), and for the metastases larger than 5 mm, it was 100%. Moreover, our second study proved that the same results as with CA can be achieved by two skilled operators performing a standard US examination. The sensitivity of both operators was 92%. In the case of metastases larger than 5 mm, the reproducibility was 100%. Micrometastases remain a problem also in the hands of very experienced operators even if using CA.     

The influence of brood type on activity cycles inLeptothorax allardycei (Hymenoptera: Faruicidae)

We investigated the effect that different categories of brood had on the production of periodic activity within artificial aggregates of the ant,Leptothorax allardycei. Colonies of this species exhibit periodic patterns of movement activity with a period of approximately 20–30 min. Artificial aggregates of this species show that periodic activity appears gradually as the number of workers in the aggregate increases to 15 workers. In addition, it has been noted that the presence of brood with the workers makes the periodic activity more pronounced. In this paper we investigate the effect that four categories of brood had on the periodic activity of worker ants. Eggs, small larvae, large larvae, and pupae were tested with four different-sized aggregates of workers. We hypothesized that brood care is responsible for the increase in periodic activity and therefore that larvae (which require more tending) would be more effective at increasing periodic activity than eggs or pupae. Contrary to our expectations, eggs and both size categories of larvae were equally effective in enhancing periodicity in our experimental aggregates. Pupae, in contrast, were completely ineffective at enhancing periodic activity. We discuss some possible reasons for the differential effects of eggs, larvae, and pupae on the behavior of worker ants.     

Seed release in Banksia: the role of wet-dry cycles

Seed release in two serotinous and two nonserotinous Banksia species from southwestern Australia increased many fold when burnt cones were subjected to wet-dry cycles compared with those remaining air-dry. The response was temperature-dependent, increasing markedly in treated cones of B. leptophylla as temperature was lowered from 30 to 15°C. This episodic wetting requirement at cool temperatures for prolific seed release implies that, following summer fruit opening, dispersal is delayed until the onset of late autumn/early winter rains when conditions are suitable for germination (optimum at ～15°C) and recruitment. Seed loss from post-dispersal predation and exposure to high summer soil temperatures also would be minimized.