Correction: Interleukin-22-deficiency and microbiota contribute to the exacerbation of Toxoplasma gondii-induced intestinal inflammation

The original version of this Article omitted the author Dr Mathias Chamaillard from the l'Institut de Pasteur, Lille, France. This has been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

Political Attitude and Fertility: Is There a Selection for the Political Extreme?

There is growing evidence that human ideology as well as social and political attitudes also have a genetic basis. In case of some genetic predisposition of political attitude, an association with fertility would be a hint of potential selection on political ideology. We therefore investigated on the basis of men and women that have completed, respectively, almost completed reproduction, of three different data sets (the World Value Survey 1981-2014 covering a wide range of countries and developmental levels, n = 152,380, the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe of 2005, n = 65,912, and the General Social Survey of the United States 1972-2014, n ∼ 6200) whether political attitude is associated with number of children. Overall, in the world wide survey, both extreme political attitudes, albeit more pronounced for right/conservative than for left/liberal attitude, are associated with higher average offspring number compared to intermediate attitudes. If countries are analyzed separately, however, the picture is inconsistent, and in most countries, the association is non-significant. In the European and the US-survey, only the political right is associated with above average number of children. The time series of US data from 1972 to 2014 shows that at least in the US-sample, this pattern emerged during the 1990s: in the 1970s and 1980s, also in the US-sample both political extremes had a reproductive advantage, which vanished for left wing individuals during the 1990s. From an evolutionary perspective, we are not able to draw final conclusions as the association between political attitude and reproduction varies across countries and time. Nonetheless, the overall pattern suggests that in human evolutionary history, both left and right political attitudes may have conveyed fitness benefits so that both attitudes have been kept in the population.

Evidence for a maximum "shelf-life" of oocytes in mammals suggests that human menopause may be an implication of meiotic arrest

There is an ongoing debate why a trait like human menopause should have evolved. Adaptive explanations explain menopause with fitness benefits of ceasing reproduction, whereas non-adaptive explanations view it as an epiphenomenon. Here we present data in support of non-adaptive explanations of menopause suggesting a maximum shelf-life of oocytes. By analyzing the association between lifespan and age at reproductive senescence across 49 mammal species, we find that the positive association levels off in long lived species, indicating that the age at reproductive senescence has an upper limit. Only in baleen whales there seems to be no evidence for reproductive senescence. We suggest that apart from the baleen whales, the confinement of reproductive senescence in long-lived species may be the result of physiological constraints imposed by the long period of time oocytes remain inactive in an arrested phase of meiosis from their production in utero until ovulation. We therefore conclude that menopause may be an implication of the long duration of meiotic arrest caused by semelgametogenesis together with long lifespan.

Interleukin-22-deficiency and microbiota contribute to the exacerbation of Toxoplasma gondii-induced intestinal inflammation

Upon oral infection with Toxoplasma gondii cysts (76 K strain) tachyzoites are released into the intestinal lumen and cross the epithelial barrier causing damage and acute intestinal inflammation in C57BL/6 (B6) mice. Here we investigated the role of microbiota and IL-22 in T.gondii-induced small intestinal inflammation. Oral T.gondii infection in B6 mice causes inflammation with IFNγ and IL-22 production. In IL-22-deficient mice, T.gondii infection augments the Th1 driven inflammation. Deficiency in either IL-22bp, the soluble IL-22 receptor or Reg3γ, an IL-22-dependent antimicrobial lectin/peptide, did not reduce inflammation. Under germ-free conditions, T.gondii-induced inflammation was reduced in correlation with parasite load. But intestinal inflammation is still present in germ-free mice, at low level, in the lamina propria, independently of IL-22 expression. Exacerbated intestinal inflammation driven by absence of IL-22 appears to be independent of IL-22 deficiency associated-dysbiosis as similar inflammation was observed after fecal transplantation of IL-22-/- or WT microbiota to germ-free-WT mice. Our results suggest cooperation between parasite and intestinal microbiota in small intestine inflammation development and endogenous IL-22 seems to exert a protective role independently of its effect on the microbiota. In conclusion, IL-22 participates in T.gondii induced acute small intestinal inflammation independently of microbiota and Reg3γ.

Neuraxial analgesia is not associated with an increased risk of post-partum relapses in MS

Background:

Obstetrical analgesia remains a matter of controversy because of the fear of neurotoxicity of local anesthetics on demyelinated fibers or their potential relationship with subsequent relapses.

Objective:

To assess the impact of neuraxial analgesia on the risk of relapse during the first 3 months post-partum, with a focus on women who experienced relapses during pregnancy.

Methods:

We analyzed data of women followed-up prospectively during their pregnancies and at least 3 months post-partum, collected in the Pregnancy in Multiple Sclerosis (PRIMS) and Prevention of Post-Partum Relapses with Progestin and Estradiol in Multiple Sclerosis (POPARTMUS) studies between 1992–1995 and 2005–2012, respectively. The association of neuraxial analgesia with the occurrence of a post-partum relapse was estimated by logistic regression analysis.

Results:

A total of 389 women were included, 215 from PRIMS and 174 from POPARTMUS. In total, 156 women (40%) had neuraxial analgesia. Overall, 24% experienced a relapse during pregnancy and 25% in the 3 months post-partum. Women with a pregnancy relapse were more likely to have a post-partum relapse (odds ratio (OR) = 1.83, p = 0.02), independently of the use of neuraxial analgesia. There was no association between neuraxial analgesia and post-partum relapse (OR = 1.08, p = 0.78).

Conclusion:

Neuraxial analgesia was not associated with an increased risk of post-partum relapses, whatever multiple sclerosis (MS) activity during pregnancy.

Whole Transcriptome Screening Reveals Myelination Deficits in Dysplastic Human Temporal Neocortex

Focal cortical dysplasias (FCDs) are local malformations of the human neocortex with strong epileptogenic potential. To investigate the underlying pathomechanisms, we performed a whole human transcriptome screening to compare the gene expression pattern of dysplastic versus nondysplastic temporal neocortex. Tissue obtained from FCD IIIa cases (mean age 20.5 years) who had undergone surgical treatment, due to intractable epilepsy, was compared with nondysplastic specimens (mean age 19.9 years) by means of Affymetrix arrays covering 28 869 genes. We found 211 differentially expressed genes (DEX) among which mainly genes important for oligodendrocyte differentiation and myelination were downregulated in FCD IIIa. These findings were confirmed as functionally important by Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) analysis. The reduced expression of myelin-associated transcripts was confirmed for FCD Ia, IIa, and IIIa by real-time RT-qPCR. In addition, we found that the density of myelin basic protein mRNA-expressing oligodendrocytes and of 2',3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphodiesterase-positive myelin fibers was significantly reduced in dysplastic cortex. Moreover, high-resolution confocal imaging and 3D reconstruction revealed that the myelin fiber network was severely disorganized in dysplastic neocortex, indicating a disturbance of myelin sheath formation and maintenance in FCD.

Amb a 1 isoforms: Unequal siblings with distinct immunological features

Background

Ragweed pollen represents a major allergy risk factor. Ragweed extracts contain five different isoforms of the major allergen Amb a 1. However, the immunological characteristics of Amb a 1 isoforms are not fully investigated. Here, we compared the physicochemical and immunological properties of three most important Amb a 1 isoforms.

Methods

After purification, the isoforms were physicochemically characterized, tested for antibody binding and induction of human T‐cell proliferative responses. Their immunological properties were further evaluated in vitro and in vivo in a mouse model.

Results

Amb a 1 isoforms exhibited distinct patterns of IgE binding and immunogenicity. Compared to Amb a 1.02 or 03 isoforms, Amb a 1.01 showed higher IgE‐binding activity. Isoforms 01 and 03 were the most potent stimulators of patients’ T cells. In a mouse model of immunization, Amb a 1.01 induced higher levels of IgG and IgE antibodies when compared to isoforms 02 and 03. Interestingly, ragweed‐sensitized patients also displayed an IgG response to Amb a 1 isoforms. However, unlike therapy‐induced antibodies, sensitization‐induced IgG did not show IgE‐blocking activity.

Conclusion

The present study showed that naturally occurring isoforms of Amb a 1 possess different immunogenic and sensitizing properties. These findings should be considered when selecting sequences for molecule‐based diagnosis and therapy for ragweed allergy. Due to its high IgE‐binding activity, isoform Amb a 1.01 should be included in diagnostic tests. In contrast, due to their limited B‐ and T‐cell cross‐reactivity patterns, a combination of different isoforms might be a more attractive strategy for ragweed immunotherapy.

Living with own or husband's mother in the household is associated with lower number of children: a cross-cultural analysis

It has been discussed in the literature that the presence of kin, particularly the presence of a women's own mother or her mother in law, may have fertility effects. We aimed to examine the effects of the presence of a woman's own or her husband's mother in the household on a woman's fertility in terms of number of children on a broad basis by analysing census data of over two million married women aged between 15 and 34 years from 14 countries worldwide. We find that with the exception of Iraq, across all countries, the majority of women live only with their spouse in the household. We further find that the presence of any mother in the household is invariably associated with a significantly lower number of children compared to women living only with their spouse. In addition, in most countries, a woman's number of children is lower if she lives with her own mother as compared to her husband's mother in the household. Number of children is nonlinearly associated with woman's age, the presence of any mother being related with an earlier start of childbearing but a shallower increase in number of children. We speculate that the presence of a mother in the household may slow down woman's reproduction, but also discuss alternative explanations.

Mutual compensation of the effects of religious and ethnic homogamy on reproduction

OBJECTIVES

Homogamy, mating based on similarity, has been demonstrated for a great variety of traits such as age, education, religion, and physical and psychological traits. Recently, pro-fertile effects of religious as well as educational homogamy have been reported. We investigate whether ethnic homogamy also has a pro-fertile effect and whether ethnic and religious homogamy interact in their putative effects on reproduction (in terms of average number of offspring).

METHODS

We analyzed the association between ethnic as well as religious homogamy and woman's average number of offspring based on census data from ten countries provided by IPUMS international, encompassing a total of 1,485,433 married women aged 46-60 years (who have thus completed or almost completed reproduction) and their spouses.

RESULTS

We find a clear pro-fertile but nonadditive effect of both ethnic and religious homogamy, which is most pronounced in the case of double homogamy. Our results further indicate that homogamy for one trait may compensate for heterogamy of the other, albeit countries differ regarding which trait compensates for the other.

CONCLUSIONS

We suggest that the interaction between ethnic homogamy, religious homogamy, and reproduction provides an interesting example for gene-culture co-evolution.

First Measurement of Transverse-Spin-Dependent Azimuthal Asymmetries in the Drell-Yan Process

The first measurement of transverse-spin-dependent azimuthal asymmetries in the pion-induced Drell-Yan (DY) process is reported. We use the CERN SPS 190  GeV/c π^{-} beam and a transversely polarized ammonia target. Three azimuthal asymmetries giving access to different transverse-momentum-dependent (TMD) parton distribution functions (PDFs) are extracted using dimuon events with invariant mass between 4.3  GeV/c^{2} and 8.5  GeV/c^{2}. Within the experimental uncertainties, the observed sign of the Sivers asymmetry is found to be consistent with the fundamental prediction of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) that the Sivers TMD PDFs extracted from DY have a sign opposite to the one extracted from semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering (SIDIS) data. We present two other asymmetries originating from the pion Boer-Mulders TMD PDFs convoluted with either the nucleon transversity or pretzelosity TMD PDFs. A recent COMPASS SIDIS measurement was obtained at a hard scale comparable to that of these DY results. This opens the way for possible tests of fundamental QCD universality predictions.

Analysis of 2D NMR relaxation data using Chisholm approximations

To analyze 2D NMR relaxation data based on a discrete delta-like relaxation map we extended the Padé-Laplace method to two dimensions. We approximate the forward Laplace image of the time domain signal by a Chisholm approximation, i.e. a rational polynomial in two dimensions. The poles and residues of this approximation correspond to the relaxation rates and weighting factors of the underlying relaxation map. In this work we explain the principle ideas of our algorithm and demonstrate its applicability. Therefore we compare the inversion results of the Chisholm approximation and Tikhonov regularization method as a function of SNR when the investigated signal is based on a given discrete relaxation map. Our algorithm proved to be reliable for SNRs larger than 50 and is able to compete with the Tikhonov regularization method. Furthermore we show that our method is also able to detect the simulated relaxation compartments of narrow Gaussian distributions with widths less or equal than 0.05s^-1. Finally we investigate the resolution limit with experimental data. For a SNR of 750 the Chisholm approximation method was able to resolve two relaxation compartments in 8 of 10 cases when both compartments differ by a factor of 1.7.

The association between religious homogamy and reproduction

Individuals more strongly affiliated to religion have on average more children than less religious ones. Here, based on census data of 3 658 650 women aged 46-60 years from 32 countries provided by IPUMS International and data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (n = 2400 women, aged 53-57 years), we show that religious homogamy is also associated with higher reproduction in terms of a higher number of children and a lower chance of remaining childless. We argue that, together with the relationship between general religious intensity and number of children, religious homogamy has reproductive consequences. These may impact future demographic developments and could have also played a role in the biological evolution of humans.

The Adapting Mind in the Genomic Era

Genomics and molecular biology has added substantial methods and knowledge to nearly all fields of biology and medicine. In this review we try to demonstrate how genomics and molecular biology is also on the way to have a profound impact on behavioral anthropology, evolutionary psychology, evolutionary sociology, and bio-sociology. We propose that particularly studies on “selection and adaptation” will be influenced profoundly by genomics, for instance via identification of the partially genetic basis of human behavior by “candidate gene studies” and by “genome wide association studies.” In addition, epigenetics will lead to a deeper study of the interaction of the genetic basis of a behavior and its environmental regulation. We argue that the “genomic revolution” is much more than merely a new methodological approach, but will change our concepts of human behavior and its development in the evolution of homo.

Ultrastructural and functional adaptations of the female reproductive system in the family Heterozerconidae (Acari, Anactinotrichida, Gamasida, Heterozerconina) and implications for the systematic position of the group

Heterozerconidae is a poorly known, early derived mite family belonging to Heterozerconina (Monogynaspida, Gamasida (= Mesostigmata)). The systematic position of the family is still controversial and little is known about the biology and anatomy of the taxon. In this paper, the gross anatomy, ultrastructure and functional morphology of the female reproductive system are described comparing genera from different geographic areas. The occurence of podospermy (i.e. the use of a sperm transfer process carried by the fixed digit of the male chelicerae to inseminate females through secondary insemination pores instead of through the oviporus) as insemination mode in this family was documented. Nevertheless, morphological and functional evidence in the reproductive system of the females supports the idea that, in the same family, more than one insemination mode is present: some genera are plesiomorphically tocospemic (i.e. insemination through the oviporus) while others switched to podospermy. Such discovery is of fundamental importance for the determination of the relationship between the family Heterozerconidae and the family Discozerconidae, both belonging tentatively to Heterozerconina and for the phylogenetic position of the Heterozerconina among Gamasida.