scholarly journals Male–Female Fertility Differentials Across 17 High-Income Countries: Insights From A New Data Resource

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Dudel ◽  
Sebastian Klüsener
Keyword(s):  
Male Fertility ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
High Income ◽  
Female Fertility ◽  
Paternal Age ◽  
Parental Age ◽  
Data Resource ◽  
Human Fertility ◽  
Gender Theories ◽  
First Time

AbstractObtaining cross-country comparative perspectives on male fertility has long been difficult, as male fertility is usually less well registered than female fertility. Recent methodological advancements in imputing missing paternal ages at childbirth enable us to provide a new database on male fertility. This new resource covers more than 330 million live births and is based on a consistent and well-tested set of methods. These methods allow us to handle missing information on the paternal age, which is missing for roughly 10% of births. The data resource is made available in the Human Fertility Collection and allows for the first time a comparative perspective on male fertility in high-income countries using high-quality birth register data. We analyze trends in male–female fertility quantum and tempo differentials across 17 high-income countries, dating as back as far as the late 1960s for some countries, and with data available for the majority of countries from the 1980s onward. Using descriptive and counterfactual analysis methods, we find substantial variation both across countries and over time. Related to the quantum we demonstrate that disparities between male and female period fertility rates are driven to a large degree by the interplay of parental age and cohort size differences. For parental age differences at childbirth, we observe a development toward smaller disparities, except in Eastern Europe. This observation fits with expectations based on gender theories. However, variation across countries also seems to be driven by factors other than gender equality.

scholarly journals New opportunities for comparative male fertility research: Insights from a new data resource based on high-quality birth registers

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Dudel ◽  
Sebastian Klüsener
Keyword(s):  
Male Fertility ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
Female Fertility ◽  
Parental Age ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Data Resource ◽  
Fertility Trends ◽  
Human Fertility ◽  
Gender Theories

Obtaining cross-country comparative perspectives on male fertility has long been difficult, as male fertility is usually less well registered than female fertility. This paper presents analyses based on a new male fertility database providing data on more than 330 million live births. This new resource, made available in the Human Fertility Collection, allows for the first time a comparative perspective on male fertility in high-income countries using high-quality birth register data. Contrasting male and female fertility trends across 17 countries, we show that trends in disparities between male and female period fertility rates are driven to a large degree by the interplay of parental age and cohort size differences. For parental age differences at childbirth, we observe a tendency toward smaller disparities, except in Eastern Europe. This observation fits with expectations based on gender theories. However, variation across countries also seems to be driven by factors other than gender equality.

Europe's Growth Champion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcin Piatkowski
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
High Income ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The West ◽  
Success Stories ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
Inclusive Society ◽  
First Time ◽  
Global Growth

The book is about one of the biggest economic success stories that one has hardly ever heard about. It is about a perennially backward, poor, and peripheral country, which over the last twenty-five years has unexpectedly become Europe’s and a global growth champion and joined the ranks of high-income countries during the life of just one generation. It is about the lessons learned from its remarkable experience for other countries in the world, the conditions that keep countries poor, and challenges that countries need face to grow and become high-income. It is also about a new growth model that this country—Poland—and its peers in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere need to adopt to continue to grow and catch up with the West for the first time ever. The book emphasizes the importance of the fundamental sources of growth—institutions, culture, ideas, and leaders—in economic development. It argues that a shift from an extractive society, where the few rule for the benefit of the few, to an inclusive society, where many rule for the benefit of many, was the key to Poland’s success. It asserts that a newly emerged inclusive society will support further convergence of Poland and Central and Eastern Europe with the West and help sustain the region’s Golden Age, but moving to the core of the European economy will require further reforms and changes in Poland’s developmental DNA.

scholarly journals TERRA: A Novel Biomarker of Embryo Quality and Art Outcome

Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 475
Author(s):  
Maria Santa Rocca ◽  
Ludovica Dusi ◽  
Andrea Di Nisio ◽  
Erminia Alviggi ◽  
Benedetta Iussig ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Telomere Length ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Male Fertility ◽  
Embryo Quality ◽  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Biological Clock ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Non Coding Rna ◽  
First Time

Telomeres are considered to be an internal biological clock, and their progressive shortening has been associated with the risk of age-related diseases and reproductive alterations. Over recent years, an increasing number of studies have focused on the association between telomere length and fertility, identifying sperm telomere length (STL) as a novel biomarker of male fertility. Although typically considered to be repeated DNA sequences, telomeres have recently been shown to also include a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) known as TERRA (telomeric repeat-containing RNAs). Interestingly, males with idiopathic infertility show reduced testicular TERRA expression, suggesting a link between TERRA and male fertility. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of seminal TERRA expression in embryo quality. To this end, STL and TERRA expression were quantified by Real Time qPCR in the semen of 35 men who underwent assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and 30 fertile men. We found that TERRA expression in semen and STL was reduced in patients that underwent ART (both p < 0.001). Interestingly, TERRA and STL expressions were positively correlated (p = 0.010), and TERRA expression was positively associated with embryo quality (p < 0.001). These preliminary findings suggest a role for TERRA in the maintenance of sperm telomere integrity during gametogenesis, and for the first time, TERRA expression was found as a predictive factor for embryo quality in the setting of assisted reproduction.

“Painful, yet Beautiful, Moments”: Pathways Through Infant Feeding and Dynamic Conceptions of Breastfeeding Success

2021 ◽  
pp. 104973232110321
Author(s):  
Mackenzie D. M. Whipps ◽  
Hirokazu Yoshikawa ◽  
Jill R. Demirci ◽  
Jennifer Hill
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Infant Feeding ◽  
The United States ◽  
High Income ◽  
First Year ◽  
Cultural Narratives ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Written Narratives ◽  
Intensive Mothering ◽  
First Time

What is breastfeeding “success”? In this article, we challenge the traditional biomedical definition, instead centering visions of success described by breastfeeding mothers themselves. Using semi-structured interviews, quantitative surveys, and written narratives of 38 first-time mothers in the United States, we describe five common pathways through the first-year postpartum, a taxonomic distinction far more complex than a success–failure dichotomy: sustained breastfeeding, exclusive pumping, combination feeding, rapid weaning, and grinding back to exclusivity. We also explore the myriad ways in which mothers define and experience breastfeeding success, and in the process uncover the ways that cultural narratives—especially intensive mothering—color those experiences. Finally, we discuss how these experiences are shaped by infant feeding pathway. In doing so, we discover nuance that has gone unexplored in the breastfeeding literature. These findings have implications for supporting, promoting, and protecting breastfeeding in the United States and other high-income countries.

scholarly journals Fertility Variation and its Impact on Effective Population Size in Seed Stands of Tamarindus indica and Azadirachta indica

2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (1-6) ◽  
pp. 91-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Kamalakannan ◽  
M. Varghese ◽  
J.-M. Park ◽  
S.-H. Kwon ◽  
J.-H. Song ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Azadirachta Indica ◽  
Male Fertility ◽  
Reproductive Traits ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Female Fertility ◽  
Tamarindus Indica ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Fertility Variation ◽  
Status Number

Abstract Growth and reproductive traits were assessed in seed stands of two native Indian tree species Tamarindus indica and Azadirachta indica. Positive correlation between growth (height and GBH) and reproductive traits (male and female contribution) were found in both species. Fertility was estimated from the flower and fruit production of individuals. Based on the fertility variation among individuals, parental balance, femaleness index and status number (Ns) were determined. The option of equal seed collection among individuals was also considered for estimating Ns. The percentage of fertile trees was higher in the high flowering year in both species. The best male contributing individuals also showed high female contribution (fruit production). The parental contribution in seed stands showed high deviation from expectation; 20% individuals contributed about 70% of male and female gametes in both species. Femaleness index showed that female and male contribution of individual tree was more balanced in the good flowering year, compared to the poor year. Coefficient of variation in male and female fertility was higher in the low flowering year resulting in high fertility variation among individuals and low status number. In T. indica, the female contribution was less variable compared to that of male fertility whereas in A. indica the female fertility variation was higher than that of male fertility. The relative status number (Nr = Ns/N) of the stands was lower for male and female fertility compared to the combined (male and female) fertility of individual trees.

scholarly journals Telomere heritability and parental age at conception effects in a wild avian population

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Sparks ◽  
Lewis G. Spurgin ◽  
Marco van der Velde ◽  
Eleanor A. Fairfield ◽  
Jan Komdeur ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Paternal Age ◽  
Parental Age ◽  
Wild Populations ◽  
Evolutionary Potential ◽  
Confounding Variables ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Seychelles Warbler ◽  
Heritability Estimates

Individual variation in telomere length is predictive of health and mortality risk across a range of species. However, the relative influence of environmental and genetic variation on individual telomere length in wild populations remains poorly understood. In previous studies, heritability of telomere length has primarily been calculated using parent-offspring regression, but shared environments can confound such estimates. Furthermore, associations with age and parental age at conception effects are typically not accounted for but can also bias heritability estimates. To control for these confounding variables, quantitative genetic ‘animal models’ can be used. However, the few studies on wild populations using this approach have been restricted by power. Here, we investigated the heritability of telomere length and parental age at conception effects in the Seychelles warbler using 2664 telomere length measures from 1318 birds over 20 years and a multi-generational pedigree. We found a weak negative within-paternal age at conception effect (as fathers aged, their offspring had shorter telomeres) and a weak positive between-maternal age at conception effect (females that survived to older ages had offspring with longer telomeres). While parent–offspring regressions did not detect heritability, animal models provided evidence that heritability of telomere length was low in this population. Environmental and technical variation largely influenced telomere length and would have biased heritability estimates if unaccounted for. Estimating the heritability of telomere length is complex, requiring large sample sizes and accounting for confounding effects in order to improve our understanding of the evolutionary potential of telomere length in the wild.

Schizophrenia Risk and Paternal Age: A Potential Role for De Novo Mutations in Schizophrenia Vulnerability Genes

CNS Spectrums ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dolores Malaspina ◽  
Alan Brown ◽  
Deborah Goetz ◽  
Nelly Alia-Klein ◽  
Jill Harkavy-Friedman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Population ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Paternal Age ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Parental Age ◽  
De Novo Mutations ◽  
New Mutations

ABSTRACTHow schizophrenia (SZ) is maintained at roughly 1% of the population despite diminished reproduction is one puzzle currently facing researchers. De novo mutations were first proposed over half a century ago as a source for new SZ genes. Current evidence linking advancing paternal age to SZ risk makes revisiting this hypothesis important. Advancing paternal age is the major source of new mutations in the human population. This article will examine potential mechanisms whereby parental age may impact new mutations, as well as review recent data supporting such a hypothesis.

Unmaking Democratic Europe

2020 ◽  
pp. 294-312
Author(s):  
Martin Conway
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
European Union ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
The Other ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Post War ◽  
First Time

This concluding chapter describes how the Europe of the 1990s was for the first time in its history both united and democratic. But the sudden turning point of 1989 lacked something of the global significance of the other European post-war moments of the twentieth century in 1918 and 1945. Europe no longer stood at the centre of its own history, as demonstrated by the ineffective response of the European Union to the violent disintegration of Yugoslavia during the 1990s, and by the divisions that emerged among European states during the American-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In economic terms, too, the ascendancy of a new global capitalism obliged Europe to accept the economic weather generated by more distant or universal forces. In addition, however, Europe had lost confidence in the democratic model that it had developed and, to a large degree, patented. The more fractured and fluid politics that had emerged in Europe by the end of the twentieth century might be more appropriately described as post-democracy: a politics still conducted through the language and institutional structures of democracy, but which lacked much of the former substance of democratic politics.

scholarly journals Selection for bull fertility: a review

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 423-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madison L Butler ◽  
Jennifer M Bormann ◽  
Robert L Weaber ◽  
David M Grieger ◽  
Megan M Rolf
Keyword(s):  
Male Fertility ◽  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Average Daily Gain ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Female Fertility ◽  
Cattle Production ◽  
Conception Rates ◽  
Beef Bull ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Fertility Traits

Abstract Fertility is a critically important factor in cattle production because it directly relates to the ability to produce the offspring necessary to offset costs in production systems. Female fertility has received much attention and has been enhanced through assisted reproductive technologies, as well as genetic selection; however, improving bull fertility has been largely ignored. Improvements in bull reproductive performance are necessary to optimize the efficiency of cattle production. Selection and management to improve bull fertility not only have the potential to increase conception rates but also have the capacity to improve other economically relevant production traits. Bull fertility has reportedly been genetically correlated with traits such as average daily gain, heifer pregnancy, and calving interval. Published studies show that bull fertility traits are low to moderately heritable, indicating that improvements in bull fertility can be realized through selection. Although female fertility has continued to progress according to increasing conception rates, the reported correlation between male and female fertility is low, indicating that male fertility cannot be improved by selection for female fertility. Correlations between several bull fertility traits, such as concentration, number of spermatozoa, motility, and number of spermatozoa abnormalities, vary among studies. Using male fertility traits in selection indices would provide producers with more advanced selection tools. The objective of this review was to discuss current beef bull fertility measurements and to discuss the future of genetic evaluation of beef bull fertility and potential genetic improvement strategies.

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