Men's masculinity and attractiveness predict their female partners' reported orgasm frequency and timing

It has been hypothesized that female orgasm evolved to facilitate recruitment of high-quality genes for offspring. Supporting evidence indicates that female orgasm promotes conception, although this may be mediated by the timing of female orgasm in relation to male ejaculation. This hypothesis also predicts that women will achieve orgasm more frequently when copulating with high-quality males, but limited data exist to support this prediction. We therefore explored relationships between the timing and frequency of women's orgasms and putative markers of the genetic quality of their mates, including measures of attractiveness, facial symmetry, dominance, and masculinity. We found that women reported more frequent and earlier-timed orgasms when mated to masculine and dominant men—those with high scores on a principal component characterized by high objectively-measured facial masculinity, observer-rated facial masculinity, partner-rated masculinity, and partner-rated dominance. Women reported more frequent orgasm during or after male ejaculation when mated to attractive men—those with high scores on a principal component characterized by high observer-rated and self-rated attractiveness. Putative measures of men's genetic quality did not predict their mates' orgasms from self-masturbation or from non-coital partnered sexual behavior. Overall, these results appear to support a role for female orgasm in sire choice.     

Controlling Schistosomiasis: Significant Decrease of Anaemia Prevalence One Year after a Single Dose of Praziquantel in Nigerien Schoolchildren

Background

In the framework of the monitoring and evaluation of the Nigerien schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminth control programme, a follow-up of children took place in eight sentinel sites. The objective of the study was to assess the evolution of Schistosoma haematobium infection and anaemia in schoolchildren after a single administration of praziquantel (PZQ) and albendazole.

Methods/Principal Findings

Pre-treatment examination and follow-up at one year post-treatment of schoolchildren aged 7, 8, and 11 years, including interview, urine examination, ultrasound examination of the urinary tract, and measurement of haemoglobin. Before treatment, the overall prevalence of S. heamatobium infection was 75.4% of the 1,642 enrolled children, and 21.8% of children excreted more than 50 eggs/10 ml urine. Prevalence increased with age. The overall prevalence of anaemia (haemoglobin <11.5 g/dl) was 61.6%, decreasing significantly with increasing age. The mean haemoglobinemia was 11 g/dl. In bivariate analysis, anaemia was significantly more frequent in children infected with S. haematobium, although it was not correlated to the intensity of infection. Anaemia was also associated with micro-haematuria and to kidney distensions. In a sub-sample of 636 children tested for P. falciparum infection, anaemia was significantly more frequent in malaria-infected children. In multivariate analysis, significant predictors of anaemia were P. falciparum infection, kidney distension, and the village. One year after a single-dose praziquantel treatment (administered using the WHO PZQ dose pole) co-administered with albendazole (400 mg single dose) for de-worming, the prevalence of S. haematobium infection was 38%, while the prevalence of anaemia fell to 50.4%. The mean haemoglobinemia showed a statistically significant increase of 0.39 g/dl to reach 11.4 g/dl. Anaemia was no longer associated with S. haematobium or to P. falciparum infections, or to haematuria or ultrasound abnormalities of the urinary tract.

Conclusions

The high prevalence of anaemia in Nigerien children is clearly a result of many factors and not of schistosomiasis alone. Nevertheless, treatment of schistosomiasis and de-worming were followed by a partial, but significant, reduction of anaemia in schoolchildren, not explainable by any other obvious intervention.     

The analysis of three markers flanking GJB2 gene suggests a single origin of the most common 35delG mutation in the Moroccan population

In Caucasian populations a single mutation, 35delG, accounts for the majority of GJB2 gene mediated hearing loss, with carrier frequencies estimated between 2-4%, possibly resulting from a founder effect rather than from a mutational hot spot. In Moroccan population, the 35delG mutation accounts for 90.8% of all GJB2 mutated alleles in deaf patients with a carrier frequency of 2.65%. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the 35delG mutation has derived from a single origin in the Moroccan population. We enrolled 30 unrelated deaf patients homozygous for the 35delG mutation and 165 unrelated control individuals negative for this mutation, and genotyped three microsatellite markers flanking the GJB2 region: D13S141, D13S175 and D13S143. Data analysis revealed that the 35delG mutation is associated with particular alleles of these markers, with significant linkage disequilibrium for the 125 and 105 nucleotide long alleles of D13S141 and D13S175, and that a single specific haplotype accounts for 68% of the chromosomes carrying the 35delG mutation. The estimate age of 35delG mutation is 135 generations or approximately 2700 years old. Like in other Mediterranean populations, our results suggest that in the Moroccan population the 35delG mutation has derived from a single origin in a common founder process.     

Intermediate Ca2+-Sensitive K+ Channels are Necessary for Prolactin-Induced Proliferation in Breast Cancer Cells

Prolactin (PRL) is a polypeptidic hormone which acts both systemically and locally to cause lactation by interacting with the PRL receptor, a Janus kinase (JAK2)-coupled cytokine receptor family member. Several studies have reported that serum PRL level elevation is associated with an increased risk for breast cancer, and evidence has suggested that PRL is one actor in the pathogenesis and progression of this cancer. We previously reported the involvement of hIKCa1 in breast cell cycle progression and cell proliferation. However, mechanisms by which PRL cooperates with these channels to modulate breast epithelial cell proliferation remain unknown. Our results showed that, in the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line, PRL increased hIKCa1 current density. These channels were functional and regulated the resting membrane potential. The PRL effects were inhibited by TRAM-34 and clotrimazole, the most used hIKCa1 blockers. Moreover, PRL increased proliferation in a dose-dependent manner without overexpressing hIKCa1. To determine whether PRL-induced proliferation and hIKCa1 activity involved the JAK2 pathway, we used pharmacological JAK2 inhibitors (AG490 and JAK inhibitor I). Indeed, PRL-induced JAK2 phosphorylation was required for both cell proliferation and hIKCa1 activity. In the presence of either hIKCa1 blockers or siRNA-hIKCa1, PRL failed to increase cell proliferation and hIKCa1 activity. Taken together, our results demonstrate that PRL plays a role in breast cancer cell proliferation by increasing hIKCa1 activity through the JAK2 signaling pathway.     

A euryhaline fish,lost in the desert: The unexpected metapopulation structure of Coptodon guineensis (Günther, 1862) in the Sebkha of Imlili

Euryhaline Cichlid fish of the species Coptodon guineensis are present in different water holes situated in a dried depression in the desert in the extreme South of Morocco, the Sebkha of Imlili. A genetic survey of this population, using complete sequences of the ND2 gene (mtDNA) and sixteen microsatellite loci, revealed that the fish in the sebkha did not form a single population, but rather a metapopulation. This metapopulational structure may be regarded as good news from the point of view of the conservation of fish in the sebkha. Although small individual populations may have short, finite life spans, the metapopulation as a whole is more stable, because immigrants from one population are likely to re-colonize the habitat, left open by the extinction of another.     

Countrywide Survey for MERS-Coronavirus Antibodies in Dromedaries and Humans in Pakistan

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a zoonotic pathogen capable of causing severe respiratory disease in humans. Although dromedary camels are considered as a major reservoir host, the MERS-CoV infection dynamics in camels are not fully understood. Through surveillance in Pakistan, nasal (n = 776) and serum (n = 1050)samples were collected from camels between November 2015 and February 2018. Samples were collected from animal markets, free-roaming herds and abattoirs. An in-house ELISA was developed to detect IgG against MERS-CoV. A total of 794 camels were found seropositive for MERS-CoV. Prevalence increased with the age and the highest seroprevalence was recorded in camels aged [ 10 years (81.37%) followed by those aged 3.1–10 years (78.65%) and B 3 years (58.19%).Higher prevalence was observed in female (78.13%) as compared to male (70.70%). Of the camel nasal swabs, 22 were found to be positive by RT-qPCR though with high Ct values. Moreover, 2,409 human serum samples were also collected from four provinces of Pakistan during 2016–2017. Among the sampled population, 840 humans were camel herders.Although we found a high rate of MERS-CoV antibody positive dromedaries (75.62%) in Pakistan, no neutralizing antibodies were detected in humans with and without contact to camels.