The psychobiology of early fatherhood: exploring the neural and hormonal aspects

Fathers’ involvement and parenting behaviors are associated with positive child development, attachment security, and well-being of the child. Interestingly, only little research focused on the onset of these parental behaviors and its possible underlying biological mechanism in men becoming a father. The overall aim of the current dissertation was to further explore the psychobiology of fatherhood and to test the associations between the neural and hormonal components and parenting behavior in fathers. In Chapter 2, we reviewed previous literature on fatherhood and proposed a biobehavioral model of the emergence of fatherhood incorporating social-cultural, behavioral, hormonal, and neural aspects in the context of the prenatal, perinatal and postnatal phases of fatherhood. In Chapter 3, we focused on the influence of vasopressin administration and infant’s birth on fathers’ thoughts and feelings about their infant and the desired relationship measured via the Five Minute Speech Sample. Analyses did not reveal a significant effect of vasopressin administration on FMSS-based expressed emotion, emotional content, and emotional prosody in the current study. These results suggest that fathers’ thoughts and feelings about their unborn child might be independent of vasopressin. In the context of infant’s birth, analyses showed that the fathers stated more positive comments about their infant after birth compared to when they were expecting. Moreover, a decrease in emotional prosody parameters was observed. Based on these results, it might be speculated that infant’s birth is more influential with regard to fathers’ expressed thoughts and feelings than vasopressin administration in the late prenatal phase of fatherhood. In Chapter 4, we studied the relation between oxytocin, vasopressin, testosterone and cortisol, and fathers’ sensitive parenting behavior in the early postnatal phase of fatherhood. Structural Equation Models did not reveal any significant associations between paternal sensitivity and basal hormone levels or hormone reactivity. Exploration of interaction effects of basal hormones on sensitivity indicated that the interaction testosterone*cortisol best predicted paternal sensitivity. Post-hoc analyses indicated a stronger positive association between testosterone and sensitivity for fathers with lower cortisol levels compared to fathers with higher cortisol levels. These results suggest that observed variation in paternal sensitivity might be better explained by interactions between hormones than by single hormone levels. In Chapter 5, we explored fathers’ protective parenting behavior and its possible hormonal and neural correlates. Analyses revealed that the paradigms for self-reported and observed protective behavior obtained good reliability. However, there was little overlap between observed and self-reported protective behavior. FMRI analyses revealed that we replicated and validated the role of several brain networks in the processing of infant-threatening situations previously observed by van ‘t Veer and colleagues (2019). Lastly, bivariate correlations revealed no associations between basal testosterone and vasopressin, neural responses and paternal protective behavior. Based on these findings, it may be concluded that both testosterone and vasopressin baseline levels and neural responses to infant threatening situations may not be suitable correlates of paternal protective behavior in the early phase of fatherhood. In sum, based on the empirical results presented in this dissertation, we cannot conclude that basal hormone levels and hormone reactivity are related to fathers’ sensitive and protective behavior in the late prenatal and early postnatal phase of fatherhood. Moreover, our results do not support our hypothesis that neural responses to infant threatening stimuli are related to behavioral components of infant protection in fathers. Interestingly, exploratory analyses indicated that the interaction effects of basal hormones may be promising for future research to explain observed variations in paternal behavior. Further examination of the psychobiology of paternal behavior is necessary to better understand the role of the neuroendocrine system in the development of paternal protection and paternal sensitivity

Risk factors for unfavourable postoperative outcome in patients with Crohn's disease undergoing right hemicolectomy or ileocaecal resection An international audit by ESCP and S-ECCO

Background Patient and disease-related factors, as well as operation technique all have the potential to impact on postoperative outcome in Crohn's disease. The available evidence is based on small series and often displays conflicting results. Aim To investigate the effect of pre- and intra-operative risk factors on 30-day postoperative outcome in patients undergoing surgery for Crohn's disease. Method International prospective snapshot audit including consecutive patients undergoing right hemicolectomy or ileocaecal resection. This study analysed a subset of patients who underwent surgery for Crohn's disease. The primary outcome measure was the overall Clavien-Dindo postoperative complication rate. The key secondary outcomes were anastomotic leak, re-operation, surgical site infection and length of stay at hospital. Multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were used to produce odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results Three hundred and seventy five resections in 375 patients were included. The median age was 37 and 57.1% were female. In multivariate analyses, postoperative complications were associated with preoperative parenteral nutrition (OR 2.36 95% CI 1.10-4.97)], urgent/expedited surgical intervention (OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.13-3.55) and unplanned intraoperative adverse events (OR 2.30, 95% CI 1.20-4.45). The postoperative length of stay in hospital was prolonged in patients who received preoperative parenteral nutrition (OR 31, CI [1.08-1.61]) and those who had urgent/expedited operations (OR 1.21, CI [1.07-1.37]). Conclusion Preoperative parenteral nutritional support, urgent/expedited operation and unplanned intraoperative adverse events were associated with unfavourable postoperative outcome. Enhanced preoperative optimization and improved planning of operation pathways and timings may improve outcomes for patients

Students Exposure to Sustainable Thermal Energy Storage Technologies at West Texas A&M University

In the mechanical and civil engineering programs at West Texas A&M University, students are exposed to a variety of sustainability-oriented projects through senior design and research courses. The projects are selected to provide an in-depth understanding of the investigated area through analytical and experimental studies. In this particular project, students in thermal design were asked to investigate the feasibility of using paraffin-oil mixture as a phase change material (PCM) in residential walls. A PCM material with a melting point of 23°C (73°F) was designed and mixed. The mass of PCM required for a 1 m2 (10.8 ft2) wall (the size of the test apparatus) was determined to be 5.8 kg (12.8 lb) in a vertical 3.18 cm (1.25 in) thick sheet. A wall containing the PCM and another wall designated as a “control” were placed on 1 meter cubic insulated structures and were monitored through controlled experimentation. The testing was conducted indoors and an interior heating element simulated four complete day cycles. The result of the indoor study proved conclusively that with the correct modifications and optimization, PCM, as a form of insulation, is economically viable over its lifespan of 20 years. The reduced cost to the owner of a 186 m2 (2,000 ft2) home is $129.73/year. The proposed design causes a minuscule 5.76 kg/m2 (1.2 lb/ft2) of additional load to the structure. Because the PCM is in the configuration of a uniform sheet, the majority of the extra load will be supported by the concrete slab of the home.Cockrell School of Engineerin

A M\"obius Characterization of Metric Spheres

In this paper we characterize compact extended Ptolemy metric spaces with many circles up to M\"obius equivalence. This characterization yields a M\"obius characterization of the $n$-dimensional spheres $S^n$ and hemispheres $S^n_+$ when endowed with their chordal metrics. In particular, we show that every compact extended Ptolemy metric space with the property that every three points are contained in a circle is M\"obius equivalent to $(S^n,d_0)$ for some $n\ge 1$, the $n$-dimensional sphere $S^n$ with its chordal metric.Comment: 24 pages, 1 figur

Hypothyroidism in hibernating brown bears

Brown bears hibernate throughout half of the year as a survival strategy to reduce energy consumption during prolonged periods with scarcity of food and water. Thyroid hormones are the major endocrine regulators of basal metabolic rate in humans. Therefore, we aimed to determine regulations in serum thyroid hormone levels in hibernation compared to the active state to investigate if these are involved in the adaptions for hibernation. We used electrochemiluminescence immunoassay to quantify total triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) levels in hibernation and active state in paired serum samples from six subadult Scandinavian brown bears. Additionally, we determined regulations in the liver mRNA levels of three major thyroid hormone-binding proteins; thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG), transthyretin (TTR), and albumin, by analysis of previously published grizzly bear RNA sequencing data. We found that bears were hypothyroid when hibernating with T4 levels reduced to less than 44% (P=0.008) and T3 levels reduced to less than 36% (P=0.016) of those measured in the active state. In hibernation, mRNA levels of TBG and albumin increased to 449% (P=0.031) and 121% (P=0.031), respectively, of those measured in the active state. TTR mRNA levels did not change. Hibernating bears are hypothyroid and share physiologic features with hypothyroid humans, including decreased basal metabolic rate, bradycardia, hypothermia, and fatigue. We speculate that decreased thyroid hormone signaling is a key mediator of hibernation physiology in bears. Our fndings shed light on the translational potential of bear hibernation physiology to humans for whom a similar hypometabolic state could be of interest in specifc conditions