A study in Nature identifies molecular responses to endurance exercise training in rats, including sex-specific responses. The findings may offer new insights into the impact of exercise on health and disease. Read the paper:
Temporal multi-omic analysis of tissues from rats undergoing up to eight weeks of endurance exercise training reveals widespread shared, tissue-specific and sex-specific changes, including immune, metabolic, stress response and mitochondrial pathways.
NIAID researchers have found that male mice have weaker immune responses to infection and microbial colonization of the skin than female mice because male sex hormones reduce the density and activation of key immune cells in skin. The findings are published in the journal Science.
A person who lost their uterus to cancer, for example, could have an embryo created in the lab, like in IVF, but implant it in an artificial womb for gestation, rather than using a human surrogate, which is an ethically fraught practice.
By eliminating the need for surrogacy, artificial wombs could also make it easier for gay couples to have biological children. Further on the horizon, if scientists can replicate their success creating embryos from the DNA of same-sex mice in people, any two people might one day be able to have biological children related to both of them.
Artificial wombs would fill in the critical gap between IVF and incubators. They don’t yet exist outside of science fiction, but they’re getting closer to reality.
Science and Technology:
I will want to see a video of myself doing sex with some cinema actresses 😍❤️
OpenAI’s premier text-to-video generator is coming in 2024, and the company is not ruling out AI-generated adult content.
Stanford researchers developed an AI model that identifies sex differences in brain activity with 90% accuracy, shedding light on neuropsychiatric conditions. This breakthrough, leveraging rsfMRI data, highlights significant brain function variances between men and women, offering new insights for personalized treatment.
Although the interplay between sex and mental health is well-studied, a new study suggests there may be a complex correlation between seemingly disparate disorders.
In a new paper published in the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, a group of Italian psychology researchers say they’ve found a correlation between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depressive symptoms, hypomania (the clinical term for “mania” or high energy) and hypersexuality, or an intense preoccupation with sexual thoughts and acts — and that people who experience these sets of symptoms may use sex as a sort of “self-medication.”
Study coauthors Giacomo Ciocca, a sexual psychology assistant professor at Rome’s Sapienza University, and Davide Doroldi, a clinical psychologist, told PsyPost that they were inspired to look into the possible link after observing higher rates of hypersexuality among people with ADHD.
A study involving long-term acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survivors found certain genetic variants related to the folate pathway, glucocorticoid regulation, and other factors were associated with impaired attention, motor skills, memory, and more. Read the article here:
Genetic predispositions may modulate risk for developing neurocognitive late effects in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survivors.
Methods.
Long-term ALL survivors (n = 212; mean = 14.3 [SD = 4.77] years; 49% female) treated with chemotherapy completed neurocognitive testing and task-based functional neuroimaging. Based on previous work from our team, genetic variants related to the folate pathway, glucocorticoid regulation, drug metabolism, oxidative stress, and attention were included as predictors of neurocognitive performance, using multivariable models adjusted for age, race, and sex. Subsequent analyses evaluated the impact of these variants on task-based functional neuroimaging. Statistical tests were 2-sided.
Summary: Researchers developed an artificial intelligence model that accurately determines the sex of individuals based on brain scans, with over 90% success. This breakthrough supports the theory that significant sex differences in brain organization exist, challenging long-standing controversies.
The AI model focused on dynamic MRI scans, identifying specific brain networks—such as the default mode, striatum, and limbic networks—as critical in distinguishing male from female brains.
This research not only deepens our understanding of brain development and aging but also opens new avenues for addressing sex-specific vulnerabilities in psychiatric and neurological disorders.
The team found that administering an HDAC inhibitor orally effectively halted sperm production and fertility in mice while preserving the sex drive.
Researchers are grappling with the challenge of developing effective male contraceptives as existing attempts to block sperm production, maturation, or fertilization have fallen short, either offering incomplete protection or leading to severe side effects.
Now, a team of researchers at the Salk Institute in the US has developed a novel approach to halting sperm production, which is both non-hormonal and reversible, marking a significant advancement in male contraception research.
Researchers have identified a novel protein complex governing gene expression in sperm production. By administering an existing class of drugs, called HDAC (histone deacetylase) inhibitors to male mice, they effectively disrupt this complex, leading to infertility without impacting libido. This breakthrough suggests a promising avenue for non-hormonal and reversible male contraception, according to the team.
