Polyandrous females avoid costs of inbreeding

Why do females typically mate with more than one male? Female mating patterns have broad implications for sexual selection, speciation and conflicts of interest between the sexes, and yet they are poorly understood. Matings inevitably have costs, and for females, the benefits of taking more than one mate are rarely obvious. One possible explanation is that females gain benefits because they can avoid using sperm from genetically incompatible males, or invest less in the offspring of such males. It has been shown that mating with more than one male can increase offspring viability, but we present the first clear demonstration that this occurs because females with several mates avoid the negative effects of genetic incompatibility. We show that in crickets, the eggs of females that mate only with siblings have decreased hatching success. However, if females mate with both a sibling and a non-sibling they avoid altogether the low egg viability associated with sibling matings. If similar effects occur in other species, inbreeding avoidance may be important in understanding the prevalence of multiple mating

Building Interprofessional Global Health Infrastructure at a University and Health System: Navigating Challenges and Scaling Successes

Mission: Global Jefferson will create sustainable programs of global distinction through collaboration that position Jefferson as a local and international destination and resource for education, research, and clinical activities. Global Jefferson is supported by the Associate Provost for Global Affairs, part of the Office of the Provost. Global activity at Jefferson includes: Global Health Initiatives Committee (GHIC) Service Learning Global Research & Exchange between institutions Pre-clinical, translational, clinical, and applied research Poster presented at: 8th Annual Global Health Conference of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH)https://jdc.jefferson.edu/globalhealthposters/1000/thumbnail.jp

Good Genes and Sexual Selection in Dung Beetles (Onthophagus taurus): Genetic Variance in Egg-to-Adult and Adult Viability

Whether species exhibit significant heritable variation in fitness is central for sexual selection. According to good genes models there must be genetic variation in males leading to variation in offspring fitness if females are to obtain genetic benefits from exercising mate preferences, or by mating multiply. However, sexual selection based on genetic benefits is controversial, and there is limited unambiguous support for the notion that choosy or polyandrous females can increase the chances of producing offspring with high viability. Here we examine the levels of additive genetic variance in two fitness components in the dung beetle Onthophagus taurus. We found significant sire effects on egg-to-adult viability and on son, but not daughter, survival to sexual maturity, as well as moderate coefficients of additive variance in these traits. Moreover, we do not find evidence for sexual antagonism influencing genetic variation for fitness. Our results are consistent with good genes sexual selection, and suggest that both pre- and postcopulatory mate choice, and male competition could provide indirect benefits to females

College Within A College (CwiC) – Population Health

Seminar presentation (55 PowerPoint Slides) The development of programmatic tracks providing students with academic opportunities outside of the traditional medical curriculum represents a national trend in medical education. With HRSA Interdisciplinary and Interprofessional Joint Graduate Degree five-year funding, the Department of Family and Community Medicine at ThomasJeffersonUniversitycreated an Inter-professional Primary Care Dual Degree Program (IPCDDP), which builds on JeffersonMedicalCollege’s College within a College (CwiC) Scholarly Concentrations Program in Population Health. The mission of the IPCDDP is to provide outstanding training in primary care and innovative education in chronic care management and population and public health in order to prepare primary care leaders to serve as future change agents working to improve the health of Americans, especially its most vulnerable and underserved populations. Key CwiC-PH components include: Year 1 – enhanced population health components of Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM) I, participation in community health initiatives, journal club, and twice monthly seminars Summer – population health related programs Year 2 – case studies in Fundamentals of Clinical Medicine, twice monthly seminars emphasizing application of the social and behavioral foundations of Public Health Year 3 – On going advising, enhanced clerkship experiences, Capstone planning Year 4 – Two community electives and completion of a Capstone Project Benefits to students include a certificate upon completion of the program, and 15 credits applied to the MPH program at Jefferson. The development, institutional collaboration, and a detailed description of the CwiC – PH program will be presented along with implementation, evaluation, and sustainability plans. Learning Objectives: Participants attending this session will be able to: 1. Organize an approach to integrating population health into health professional’s curriculum 2. Apply a methodology to recruit students into an area of concentration in population health 3. Identify the challenges in curricular reform and innovatio

Large Numbers of Matings Give Female Field Crickets a Direct Benefit but not a Genetic Benefit

Female crickets can potentially gain both direct and indirect benefits from mating multiple times with different males. Most studies have only examined the effects of small numbers of matings, although female crickets are capable of mating many times. The goal of this paper is to examine the direct and indirect benefits of mating large numbers of times for female reproductive success. In a previous experiment, female Gryllus vocalis were found to gain diminishing direct benefits from mating large numbers of times. In this study I attempt to determine whether mating large numbers of times yields similar diminishing returns on female indirect benefits. Virgin female Gryllus vocalis crickets were assigned to mate five, ten or 15 times with either the same or different males. Females that mated more times gained direct benefits in terms of laying more eggs and more fertilized eggs. Females that mated with different males rather than mating repeatedly with the same male did not have higher offspring hatching success, a result that is contrary to other published results comparing female reproductive success with repeated versus different partners. These results suggest that females that mate large numbers of times fail to gain additional genetic benefits from doing so

Anti-Hypertensive Therapy and Risk Factors Associated with Hypotension during Colonoscopy under Conscious Sedation*

Abstract Background & Aims: Pre-operative use of select antihypertensive therapy has been associated with peri-operative hypotension in the surgical setting. Our aim was to determine the effect of anti-hypertensive medications on blood pressure (BP) and procedural outcomes in gastrointestinal endoscopy. methods: Our study was a prospective, crosssectional survey of outpatients undergoing colonoscopy with conscious sedation. We enrolled patients with hypertension that took anti-hypertensive medications within 24 hours of the procedure and patients without hypertension that were not on BP-lowering agents. We recorded mean BP prior to, during, and after the procedure. Results: 626 patients (338 males; mean age 56.0 ± 10.4 years) were enrolled, and 158 patients were on anti-hypertensive therapy. There were 57 patients who developed hypotension, defined as systolic BP <90 mmHg and/or diastolic BP <60 mmHg, during the colonoscopy. Taking a BP medication, regardless of class, was not associated with an increased risk of procedural hypotension (all p >0.05). Age, body mass index, gender, duration, fentanyl dose, midazolam dose, and co-morbidities (asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease) were also not associated (all p >0.05). Instead, a lower pre-procedure systolic BP (OR=0.97, 95% CI=0.95-0.99; p=0.004) and diastolic BP (OR=0.95, 95% CI=0.92-0.97; p<0.001) were identified as the only risk factors. Conclusion: Patients should continue their anti-hypertensive therapy leading u

No Detectable Fertility Benefit from a Single Additional Mating in Wild Stalk-Eyed Flies

Background: Multiple mating by female insects is widespread, and the explanation(s) for repeated mating by females has been the subject of much discussion. Females may profit from mating multiply through direct material benefits that increase their own reproductive output, or indirect genetic benefits that increase offspring fitness. One particular direct benefit that has attracted significant attention is that of fertility assurance, as females often need to mate multiply to achieve high fertility. This hypothesis has never been tested in a wild insect population.Methodology/Principal Findings: Female Malaysian stalk-eyed flies (Teleopsis dalmanni) mate repeatedly during their lifetime, and have been shown to be sperm limited under both laboratory and field conditions. Here we ask whether receiving an additional mating alleviates sperm limitation in wild females. In our experiment one group of females received a single additional mating, while a control group received an interrupted, and therefore unsuccessful, mating. Females that received an additional mating did not lay more fertilised eggs in total, nor did they lay proportionately more fertilised eggs. Female fertility declined significantly through time, demonstrating that females were sperm limited. However, receipt of an additional mating did not significantly alter the rate of this decline.Conclusions/Significance: Our data suggest that the fertility consequences of a single additional mating were small. We discuss this effect (or lack thereof), and suggest that it is likely to be attributed to small ejaculate size, a high proportion of failed copulations, and the presence of X-linked meiotic drive in this species

Long COVID in children and young after infection or reinfection with the Omicron variant: a prospective observational study

To describe the prevalence of long COVID in children infected for the first time (n = 332) or reinfected (n = 243) with Omicron compared with test-negative children (n = 311). Overall, 12%-16% of those infected with Omicron met the research definition of long COVID at 3 and 6 months after infection, with no evidence of difference between cases of first positive and reinfected (Pχ2 = 0.17)