Birth order and sex of sibling as determinants of mother-infant interaction.

Mother-infant interaction was assessed on 32 first- and second-born siblings when each was 3 months old. Data were colleted during 2 6-hour naturalistic home observations using a modified time-sampling technique. The sample consisted of 4 equal-size subgroups of same and opposite sex sibling pairs. Results suggested that interaction between a mother and her infant varied depending on the birth order and gender of the infant. Mothers spent significantly less time in social, affectionate, and caretaking interaction (except for feeding activities) with their second borns than they had with their firstborns; this difference was greater if the second born was female. Certain patterns of maternal behaviors appeared to be stable from one sibling to the other. Different types of interaction between the mothers and their younger infants were related to attention-seeking behavior in the firstborn male and female siblings.     

Social class, birth order, and newborn experience

Early home experiences of a group of 32 2-week old infants, equally divided according to social class, birth order, and sex, were studied. Naturalistic observations were taken on 2 consecutive days for a total of 6 hours. Compared with later-borns, firstborns received significantly more caretaker interaction on all variables studied. Compared with lower-SES infants, those from higher-SES homes received significantly more direct verbal interaction although the 2 groups did not differ on total periods of other types of caretaking interaction. The findings are consistent with birth order and social class differences reported in home environments of older infants and children.     

And Baby Makes Four: Predictors of Attachment Security among Preschool-Age Firstborns during the Transition to Siblinghood

The present study examined preschool-age firstborns' adjustment to siblinghood, as indexed by security of firstborn-mother attachment, in a sample of 194 2-parent families. Security of firstborn attachment decreased significantly after a secondborn's birth, but the size of the decrease was smaller among firstborns under 24 months relative to 2–5-year-olds. Mothers' marital harmony and affective involvement with firstborns predicted firstborn security before and after the baby's birth, whereas mothers' psychiatric symptoms predicted firstborn security only after the birth. Post-hoc analyses of select subgroups revealed that mothers of firstborns with high security scores before the newborn's birth, regardless of whether scores remained high or dropped after the birth, showed higher levels of psychosocial and behavioral functioning than did mothers of firstborns with consistently low security scores at both time points. However, substantial drops in firstborn security after a secondborn's birth were associated with higher maternal psychiatric symptom scores both prior to and following the birth. Results suggest that quality of firstborn adjustment to siblinghood can be predicted from both structural and familial aspects of the firstborn environment.     

Analysis of Covariance in a Randomly Replicated Arithmetic Methods Experiment

Birth order was used to predict grades and school related attitudes following Bradley’s hypothesis that first-borns are more academically interested and less socially interested than later borns. Income, sex of child, and size of family were studied as interacting variables. Several interaction effects were found in the absence of birth order main effects which indicate a need to study birth order as an interacting variable rather than as a single independent variable.     

黄姜皂素在甾体激素药物合成中的应用

甾体激素药物因具有很强的抗感染、抗病毒和抗休克等药理作用,广泛用于治疗风湿病、心血管病、癌症、皮肤病等,是一类重要药物中间体。本文综述了利用黄姜皂素为原料合成甾体激素药物雄性激素、雌性激素、孕激素和肾上腺类皮质激素的进展,对临床上广泛应用的甾体激素药物如睾丸素、雌二醇、黄体酮、炔诺酮、可的松、氢化可的松、地塞米松及布地奈德等的合成路线进行了描述,以期为资源的进一步开发提供思路。     

Factors affecting neurobehavioral responses of preterm infants at term conceptional age

A revised Prechtl Neurological Examination was administered to 510 singleton infants at term conceptional age to assess the influence of gestational age, race, and sex on neurobehavioral responses in a "typical" newborn population. The infants were born at 1 of 5 centers and were subjects of the NIH Collaborative Study on Antenatal Steroid Therapy. Of these babies, 392 were born at less than 37 weeks gestational age, whereas 118 infants were born at greater than or equal to 37 weeks. Of a total of 50 items of interest, 12 differed significantly based on race, 14 items differed in terms of gestational age at birth, and 5 items were influenced by the sex of the baby. These data suggest that singleton preterm infants born at differing gestational ages should not be considered to comprise a homogeneous sample. Further, caution should be exercised when considering babies of heterogeneous race groupings, and the babies' sex has minimal impact on neurobehavioral responses at term conceptional age.     

Birth order and parental and sibling involvement in sex education. A nationally-representative analysis

This analysis set out to identify associations between birth order and sexual health outcomes, focusing on family involvement in sex education and early sexual experiences. The third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles is a stratified probability sample survey of 15 162 men and women aged 16–74 in Britain. Logistic regression was conducted to identify odds ratios for the association between birth order and sexual health outcomes. Multiple logistic regression was performed adjusting for socio-demographic factors and sibling number. Middle-born and last-born men had lower odds of reporting ease talking to parents about sex around age 14 and learning about sex from their mothers. Last-born women had lower odds of reporting a parental main source of sex education or having learned about sex from their mother. Findings represent an exploratory analysis in an under-researched area, and provide the basis for further research on the association between birth order and parental involvement in sex education, as well as the role and impact of sex education provided by older siblings.     

Identifying sex differences in reading disability

The issue of sex differences in reading disability has been of recent interest in relation to sex ratios in families with reading disabled children and to possible sex biases in referred populations. Data from a study of 570 twins are used to develop alternative definitions of reading disability that vary in the manner to which sex effects are taken into account. These definitions include discrepancies between reading quotients and IQ, the use of the regression of reading onto IQ and chronological age/reading age differences. In each case the reading and spelling disability was defined either separately for the sexes or based upon the data for the sexes combined and with and without an IQ>90 exclusion criterion. The consequences of using the alternative definitions for prevalence, sex ratio and heritability are examined. The results demonstrate that the characteristics of reading disabled children vary with the way disability is defined. The excess of males seems to be a robust finding. Definitions that take into account differences in mean score for males and females reduce but do not eradicate the sex ratio. From the genetic analysis, there is no support for the suggestion that the genetic effect on reading is greater for females than males. It is concluded that the use of regression based procedures for identifying reading disability is desirable but that at present there is insufficient evidence to justify the adoption of separate regression procedures for the two sexes.     

Cortisol in Neonatal Mother's Milk Predicts Later Infant Social and Cognitive Functioning in Rhesus Monkeys

Milk provides not only the building blocks for somatic development but also the hormonal signals that contribute to the biopsychological organization of the infant. Among mammals, glucocorticoids (GCs) in mother's milk have been associated with infant temperament. This study extended prior work to investigate rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) mother–infant dyads (N = 34) from birth through 8 months postpartum. Regression analysis revealed that cortisol concentrations in milk during the neonatal period predicted impulsivity on a cognitive task, but not global social behaviors, months later. During this time period, sex‐differentiated social behavior emerged. For female infants, milk cortisol concentrations predicted total frequency of play. Collectively, these findings support and extend the “lactational programming” hypothesis on the impact of maternal‐origin hormones ingested via milk.     

The Development of Gendered Interests and Personality Qualities From Middle Childhood Through Adolescence: A Biosocial Analysis

This study charted the development of gendered personality qualities and activity interests from age 7 to age 19 in 364 first- and secondborn siblings from 185 White, middle/working-class families, assessed links between time in gendered social contexts (with mother, father, female peers, and male peers) and gender development, and tested whether changes in testosterone moderated links between time use and gender development. Multilevel models documented that patterns of change varied across dimensions of gender and by sex and birth order and that time in gendered social contexts was generally linked to development of more stereotypical qualities. Associations between time with mother and expressivity and time with father and instrumentality were stronger for youth with slower increases in testosterone.     

Interactions of black inner-city mothers with their newborn infants.

Interactions of 45 black inner-city mothers with their healthy full-term newborn infants were observed during a bottle-feeding on the third day after birth. An exhaustive catalog of some 100 mother and infant behaviors was used to describe objectively the interactions of mothers and infants. In addition to being observed with their mothers, infants were examined with the Rosenblith scale. The infants' birth weights, birth order, and sex and maternal medication were found to affect the infants' behaviors and/or the patterns of mother-infant interactions.     

甲状腺功能对雄性马鹿春季繁殖活动退化的影响

试验一，在秋季和冬季对正常雄性马鹿处理T3以升高血浆T3水平，但处理鹿和对照鹿的睾丸直径、血浆睾酮水平在试验过程中变化趋势无显著差异．试验二，从冬季开始至春季，对正常雄性马鹿处理T4，使其血浆甲状腺激素从冬季开始就升高，处理鹿与对照鹿的睾丸直径和血浆酮水平都是在春季急剧下降．两试验的结果表明，正常雄性马鹿在春季发生的季节性繁殖退化，不是由于春季甲状腺激素水平上升的结果．     

The salience and utility of school sex education to young men

This paper focuses on young men's views on the school sex education they have received, the influence of this sex education on their intended or actual behaviour, and the extent to which other sources of information complement or supplement school sex education. Thirty‐five in‐depth interviews and eight group discussions were conducted with male pupils from six schools in the east of Scotland. Most of those interviewed did cite school as a useful source in learning about sex. The most commonly named highlights were learning more about what girls think about sexual matters and learning how to use a condom. Nine described how something they had learned in school sex education had changed the way they had behaved in a sexual encounter. A further eight, who had not experienced sexual intercourse, talked about how they thought sex education would influence their behaviour in a positive way in the future. The most common criticism of sex education was that it was not explicit enough. Although friends and/or television were named by the majority of young men as useful, for most young men school sex education appeared to be the only substantive source of information they had received on sexual matters.     

Study of androgen and atherosclerosis in old-age male

Objective: To observe the difference of androgen and inflammatory cytokines level in atherosclerosis and analyse their relations. Method: Both carotid arteries and arteries of lower extremity were subjected to ultrasonic examination by Doppler's method. Those with much atheromatous plaque formation were ranged into case group, and those with normal result formed control group. Total, free testosterone and estradiol were assayed by radioimmunoassay. C reactive protein (CRP) was assayed by nepheloturbidity. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Interleukin-8 (IL-8), Interleukin-10 (IL-10), Interleukin- 18 (IL- 18), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule- 1 (sICAM- 1) and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule- 1 (sVCAM- 1)were assayed by ELISA. The mean difference between two groups and the correlation between free testosterone and cytokines were analysed. Results: Free testosterone was (6.337±3.371) pg/L in case group and (11.375±4.733) pg/L in control group, P＜0.01.No differences were found in total testosterone and estradiol. CRP was (27.294±10.238) mg/L in case group and (12.843±6.318)mg/L in control group, P＜0.01. IL-6 was (41.700±31.385) pg/L in case group and (25.396±20.772) pg/L in control group, P＜0.05.IL-8 was (89.249±58.357) pg/L in case group and (67.873±31.227) pg/L in control group, P＜0.05. sICAM-1 was (470.491±134.078) pg/L in case group and (368.487±97.183) pg/L in control group, P＜0.01. sVCAM-1 was (537.808±213.172)pg/L in case group and (457.275±157.273) pg/L in control group, P＜0.05. There were no differences in TNF-α, IL-10 and IL-18.Correlation analysis showed that FT (free testosterone) had negative correlation with CRP, IL-6 and sICAM-1. Among them FT had well correlation with CRP, correlation index was -0.678. Conclusion: Free testosterone was in negative correlation with atherosclerosis in old-age male. Free testosterone may have the role of anti-atherosclerosis, and this effect was not achieved by its transformation to estradiol. Low free testosterone level was followed by increased level of inflammatory cytokines. Low free testosterones coexist with inflammation and they both affect the process of atherosclerosis in old-age male.     

“Sex Hormones” in Secondary School Biology Textbooks

This study explores the extent to which the term “sex hormone” is used in science textbooks, and whether the use of the term “sex hormone” is associated with pre-empirical concepts of sex dualism, in particular the misconceptions that these so-called “sex hormones” are sex specific and restricted to sex-related physiological functioning. We found that: (1) all the texts employed the term “sex hormone”; (2) in all texts estrogen is characterized as restricted to females and testosterone is characterized as restricted to males; and (3) in all texts testosterone and estrogen are discussed as exclusively involved in sex-related physiological roles. We conclude that (1) contemporary science textbooks preserve sex-dualistic models of steroid hormones (one sex, one “sex hormone”) that were rejected by medical science in the early 20th century and (2) use of the term “sex hormone” is associated with misconceptions regarding the presence and functions of steroid hormones in male and female bodies.

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Interaction of sex and year of enrollment in student perceptions of the university climate

This study investigated differences in student perceptions of the institutional climate associated with sex, year of enrollment, and the interaction between these two variables. Consistent with previous research, freshmen at both institutions sampled had significantly higher ratings of the climate on an intellectualism/scholarship factor than seniors. On two factors, identified as responsiveness and openness, a significant interaction effect was indicated between sex and class. No significant differences were noted between freshmen men and women; however, senior women were found to have significantly lower mean ratings on these two dimensions than senior men. Thus as length of exposure to the institution increased (comparing freshmen with seniors) assessments of the environmental press by male and female students tended to diverge.     

Counseling sexually abused girls: the impact of sex of counselor

OBJECTIVE: The present study was conducted to assess the impact of sex of counselor on the therapeutic process for sexually abused girls in individual counseling. METHOD: Raters evaluated videotapes of counseling sessions recorded for 35 sexually abused girls who had been systematically assigned to brief-term psychoeducationally oriented treatment with either a male or female counselor. Clients' in-session behavior was rated using accepted therapeutic process measures, while statistically controlling for the effect of girls' pretreatment comfort level with male and female counselors. RESULTS: Overall, MANCOVA results revealed that girls' participation in counseling was not significantly related to session number, the child's age (i.e., preadolescent vs. adolescent), or the sex of counselor who provided treatment services. However, univariate results and graphic representations of girls' behavior suggest that adolescent clients, when compared with their preadolescent counterparts, seemed to be more reluctant to discuss certain child sexual abuse topics. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that caution is warranted regarding categorical recommendations on the assignment of young female survivors to male counselors. Delimitations and limitations of the study and directions for future research are discussed.     

Ni~(2+)、Hg~(2+)对果蝇生长发育的影响

以黑体红眼长翅果蝇(Drosophila melanogaster)为材料,培养基用硝酸镍和氯化汞染毒(浓度为0.5μg/mL、5μ/mL、15μg/mL、30μg/mL)后对果蝇后代的雌雄性比、存活率,体重的影响进行研究.结果表明:随着镍、汞浓度的增加和处理世代的增加,Ni2+对果蝇雌雄性比、存活率和体重的毒害较Hg2+轻;高浓度的Hg2+严重抑制雄果蝇的发育;降低果蝇的存活率,抑制果蝇体重的增加.这表明Hg2+对果蝇的毒害要比Ni2+重.