Thyroid hormone receptors and ligand, tissue distribution and sexual behavior

The thyroid hormones (THs) triiodothyronine (T3) and tetraiodothyronine, or thyroxine (T4), not only dramatically impact on development and differentiation, but also on the sexual and reproductive function. There is large body of literature, in fact, on the effects of THs on the reproductive function in both humans (Poppe and Velkeniers, 2004; Wajner et al., 2009) and animals (Hapon et al., 2010; Nelson et al., 2011). For a long time the gonads were thought to be unresponsive to THs, but TH receptors (TR) were discovered in rat (Jannini et al., 1990; Palmero et al., 1988) and then in human testis (Jannini et al., 2000). In women, the association of menstrual disturbance with thyroid disease was described as early as 1840 by von Basedow, but the discovery of TRs in the ovary was carried out at the end of last century (Wakim et al., 1994b). Therefore, the link between thyroid and reproductive function was well established. Since then, research has shown that thyroid dysfunction is associated with an adverse effect on fertility, both in men (Wagner et al., 2009) and women (Dittrich et al., 2011). There is also evidence that THs can affect the sex steroid hormone axis (Bagamasbad and Denver, 2011), consequently sexual hormones and the pituitary gland can mediate the action of THs on the reproductive physiology. While the effects of THs on fertility have been widely studied, little is known about their influence on sexual function. In the last few years, an increasing number of evidences have shown the influence of THs on male sexual function, particularly on ejaculation control as well on desire and erectile function (Carani et al., 2005; Corona et al., 2012b; Di Sante et al., 2016). The female sexual function and the relationship with thyroid function is still less studied. Furthermore, studies conducted on animals have shown the presence of TRs in the male (Carosa et al., 2010) and female genitalia (Rodriguez-Castelan et al., 2017). Moreover, knockout mice for TRs showed alterations in sexual behavior (Dellovade et al., 2000). The purpose of this review is to summarize and discuss the available data on the influence of THs on male and female sexual function to understand the molecular mechanisms of the influence of the thyroid gland on sexual behavior and function

Nilsson-SU3 selfconsistency in heavy N=Z nuclei

It is argued that there exist natural shell model spaces optimally adapted to the operation of two variants of Elliott' SU3 symmetry that provide accurate predictions of quadrupole moments of deformed states. A selfconsistent Nilsson-like calculation describes the competition between the realistic quadrupole force and the central field, indicating a {\em remarkable stability of the quadruplole moments}---which remain close to their quasi and pseudo SU3 values---as the single particle splittings increase. A detailed study of the $N=Z$ even nuclei from $^{56}$Ni to $^{96}$Cd reveals that the region of prolate deformation is bounded by a pair of transitional nuclei $^{72}$Kr and $^{84}$Mo in which prolate ground state bands are predicted to dominate, though coexisting with oblate ones,Comment: Replacement I) Title simplified. II) Major revision: structure of paper kept but two thirds totally rewritten (same number of pages); 20 references adde

Isospin-breaking interactions studied through mirror energy differences

Background: Information on charge-dependent (i.e., isospin-non-conserving) interactions is extracted from excited states of mirror nuclei. Purpose: Specifically, the purpose of the study is to extract effective isovector (Vpp 12Vnn) interactions which, in general, can either be of Coulomb or nuclear origin. Methods: A comprehensive shell-model description of isospin-breaking effects is used to fit data on mirror energy differences in the A = 42\u201354 region. The angular-momentum dependence of isospin-breaking interactions was determined from a systematic study of mirror energy differences. Results: The results reveal a significant isovector term, with a very strong spin dependence, beyond that expected of a two-body Coulomb interaction. Conclusions: The isospin-breaking terms that are extracted have a J dependence that is not consistent with the known CSB properties of the bare nucleon-nucleon interaction

Neutron Skins and Halo Orbits in the sd and pf Shells

open3siThe strong dependence of Coulomb energies on nuclear radii makes it possible to extract the latter from calculations of the former. The resulting estimates of neutron skins indicate that two mechanisms are involved. The first one --isovector monopole polarizability—amounts to noting that when a particle is added to a system it drives the radii of neutrons and protons in different directions, tending to equalize the radii of both fluids independently of the neutron excess. This mechanism is well understood and the Duflo- Zuker (small) neutron skin values derived 14 years ago are consistent with recent measures and estimates. The alternative mechanism involves halo orbits whose huge sizes tend to make the neutron skins larger and have a subtle influence on the radial behavior of sd and f shell nuclei. In particular, they account for the sudden rise in the isotope shifts of nuclei beyond N=28 and the near constancy of radii in the A=40–56 region. This mechanism, detected here for the first time, is not well understood and may well go beyond the Efimov physics usually associated with halo orbits.openBonnard, JEREMY CHRISTIAN FREDERIC; Lenzi, SILVIA MONICA; Zuker, A. P.Bonnard, JEREMY CHRISTIAN FREDERIC; Lenzi, SILVIA MONICA; Zuker, A. P

Excitation of the GDR and the Compressional Isoscalar Dipole State by alpha scattering

The excitation of the isovector giant dipole resonance (GDR) by alpha scattering is investigated as a method of probing the neutron excess in exotic nuclei. DWBA calculations are presented for 28O and 70Ca and the interplay of Coulomb and nuclear excitation is discussed. Since the magnitude of the Coulomb excitation amplitude is strongly influenced by the Q-value, the neutron excess plays an important role, as it tends to lower the energy of the GDR. The excitation of the compressional isoscalar dipole state in 70Ca by alpha scattering is also investigated. It is shown that the population of this latter state may be an even more sensitive probe of the neutron skin than the isovector GDR.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, Latex2

Are the therapeutic strategies in anorexia of ageing effective on nutritional status? A systematic review with meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Anorexia of ageing (AA) may be considered as a risk factor for frailty and has an important impact on quality of life, morbidity and mortality. METHODS: A systematic review and a meta-analysis were performed to summarise the results from several trials on the effectiveness of treatments in AA, as associated with depression, sensory impairment of taste and smell, decreased appetite or early satiety, and disability. Eligible studies were required to report baseline and follow-up values, the mean change (∆-change) from baseline, and/or the mean difference among intervention groups versus control group, concerning food intake (kcal/daily) and/or nutritional outcomes, such as body weight, body mass index, albumin and Mini Nutritional Assessment. RESULTS: The systematic review included 20 papers based on different therapeutic approaches concerning food intake and/or nutritional outcomes. The results of the meta-analysis indicate that the interventions for AA have an important impact on body weight [+1.59 kg; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.48-+1.71 kg; P < 0.001) and on energy intake (+56.09 kcal; 95% CI = -54.05 to +166.25 kcal; P = 0.32). Regarding secondary outcomes, it was not possible to meta-analyse the limited amount of data availab le. CONCLUSIONS: The different variants of AA need to be defined because diverse therapeutic approaches are available. A more precise definition of the functional impairments associated with AA may allow a more correct decision about the most appropriate therapy to be prescribed. Moreover, this may allow for a more effective performance of the different therapeutic approaches once they are better targeted to the different scenarios of AA

Coulomb displacement energies, energy differenced and neutron skins

A Fock space representation of the monopole part of the Coulomb potential is presented. Quantum effects show through a small orbital term in $l(l+1)$. Once it is averaged out, the classical electrostatic energy emerges as an essentially exact expression, which makes it possible to eliminate the Nolen-Schiffer anomaly, and to estimate neutron skins and the evolution of radii along yrast states of mirror nuclei. The energy differences of the latter are quantitatively reproduced by the monopole term and a schematic multipole one.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Revte