News by Subject Social & Behavior

Mice with epilepsy have altered patterns of neuron activity in the portion of the brain that controls the reproductive endocrine system, University of Illinois researchers report in a new study. Furthermore, the differences in neuron activity in female mice fluctuate across the reproductive cycle, the team found. The study demonstrates that the effects of epilepsy on other areas of the brain may not be as static as researchers have thought.

The age at which young women experience their first menstrual bleeding is linked to the age at which their sons start puberty, according to the largest study to investigate this association in both sons and daughters. The research is published in Human Reproduction journal.

In a new study that ultimately analyzed the genomes of nearly a quarter of a million men, a research team including UC San Francisco scientists has discovered that variants at a single site on Chromosome 6 are associated with a significantly higher risk of developing erectile dysfunction (ED).

In a study of postmenopausal women, participants who lost weight had a lower risk of developing invasive breast cancer than those who maintained or gained weight. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings suggest that weight loss may help lower postmenopausal women's breast cancer risk.

Non-invasive prenatal testing potentially provides a wealth of genetic information, but the quality of the DNA sequencing is poor -- only about 10 percent coverage per genome. Nevertheless, scientists led by Rasmus Nielsen at UC Berkeley now show that with enough genomes -- in this case, 141,431 -- it is possible to find genetic variants linked with human traits, including birth outcomes and susceptibility to infectious disease. Such statistical analyses can even by used to track migration patterns.

Key insights into how sperm and egg cells are formed have been discovered by scientists, shedding light on the earliest stages of their development.

A new Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research study offers infertile women new information regarding their expected probabilities of becoming pregnant and may help them select the optimal treatment based on their various risk factors.

What occurs during pregnancy could have longer-term health effects than originally thought. A new study suggests that women with a history of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and gestational diabetes may experience a greater burden of hot flashes during the menopause transition. Study results will be presented during The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) Annual Meeting in San Diego, Oct. 3-6, 2018.