Secretly connected? Perceptions about anonymous semen donation and genetic fatherhood

The use of anonymously-donated semen (DI) as a strategy for circumventing human male infertility and for helping couples to avoid passing on a genetic problem has been practiced in the UK for over seventy years. The development of the practice arose from the response of infertility doctors and scientists to the growing recognition of male infertility and the social pressure on married couples to become parents. DI is now also used to enable a woman without a male partner to conceive and bear a child. This research briefing provides an overview of findings from doctoral research on the perceptions of semen donors in the UK who had donated anonymously, and often for material gain, in the 1960s-1980s. Information was also gathered from other stakeholders in the field of donor-assisted conception, including past and current infertility treatment providers, and donor-conceived people and their parents

Social and emotional components of book reading between caregivers and their toddlers in a high-risk sample

In this collective case study of caregiver behaviors with their toddlers, two-minute videotaped reading interactions were analyzed using a constant comparative method. Twenty-four caregiver—toddler dyads from a high-risk sample of children prenatally exposed to cocaine were selected from a larger sample because they represented the extremes of expressive language scores on the Reynell Expressive Language Quotient at 36 months, one year after the reading interactions. Caregivers in the high-scoring group shared control of the book and discourse, were ‘in tune’ with the child’s needs and abilities, and answered their own questions to the children. This was in contrast to the behaviors of caregivers of the low-scoring children, who appeared unaware of the child’s developmental needs in the interaction, particularly in their ability to respond to the questions posed. Implications of the results for future research on caregiver reading with young children are discussed

Psychological heterogeneity among honors college students

Greater knowledge of the psychology of honors college students will help to inform program administrators, counselors, residence life assistants, and faculty about how they may provide support to those with the greatest need. Via an online survey, personality, perfectionism, and suicidal ideation data were collected from honors college students (N = 410, 73% female). Using latent profile analysis, students were classified by their responses to the Big Five Inventory personality measure into five profiles. Risk factors of high perfectionism and suicidal ideation scores were found in two of the profiles, suggesting students with these personality characteristics may need enhanced psychological support. The largest profile (35% of students) had extraversion scores above the norm, but all other profiles had introverted scores below the norm. Neuroticism scores were also higher than the norm in the introverted profiles, which represented a majority of the honors college students

Can a key boreal Calanus copepod species now complete its life-cycle in the Arctic? Evidence and implications for Arctic food-webs

The changing Arctic environment is affecting zooplankton that support its abundant wildlife. We examined how these changes are influencing a key zooplankton species, Calanus finmarchicus, principally found in the North Atlantic but expatriated to the Arctic. Close to the ice-edge in the Fram Strait, we identified areas that, since the 1980s, are increasingly favourable to C. finmarchicus. Field-sampling revealed part of the population there to be capable of amassing enough reserves to overwinter. Early developmental stages were also present in early summer, suggesting successful local recruitment. This extension to suitable C. finmarchicus habitat is most likely facilitated by the long-term retreat of the ice-edge, allowing phytoplankton to bloom earlier and for longer and through higher temperatures increasing copepod developmental rates. The increased capacity for this species to complete its life-cycle and prosper in the Fram Strait can change community structure, with large consequences to regional food-webs

A single-cell atlas enables mapping of homeostatic cellular shifts in the adult human breast

A.D.R. performed the majority of the bioinformatic analysis and interpretation of the data. S.P. contributed to the study design, sample processing, analysis and interpretation of the data. J.S. contributed to the sample processing. D.J.K. and P.H. contributed to the data processing, batch correction and cell cluster identification. A.S. contributed to the design of the sample batches and contributed to the analysis of the raw data. A.J.T. contributed to the analysis of the data and Figure design. L.J.P. performed the immune histochemistry validations. K.H. assisted A.D.R. with the inferCNV analysis and interpretation. P.H. assisted with the subclustering of immune cells and scVI integration analysis. A.Q.S. performed the immunofluorescence quantification. K.K. performed all the scRNA-seq library preparation and sequencing. R.B.M., I.G., J.J.G., V.S. and J.L.J. provided the human tissues and the metadata from the 55 donors. A.D.R., S.P., J.C.M. and W.T.K. wrote the paper. J.C.M. and W.T.K. conceptualized and supervised the study.Peer reviewe

Meeting the rights and needs of donor-conceived people: the contribution of a voluntary contact register

In this paper we consider the recording of information in donor conception and access to this information by donor-conceived people. While our preference is for a formalised record (register) that mandates disclosure of donor identity, where the necessary political support for such a system does not exist then we suggest that a voluntary contact register could help to meet the needs and rights of donor-conceived people and to respect the dignity of others directly involved in donor conception and that counselling values and principles should underpin the operation of these register

Wither the HFEA and the fate of donor registers?

This comment considers the proposals to disband the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) under the auspices of the Government's review of Arm's-Length Bodies in the NHS. The comment highlights some of the difficulties this might raise in relation to the Register of Information held by the HFEA, and urges the need for greater consideration of the most appropriate homes for information, advice and services for donor-conceived persons in the UK

How do LGBTQ+ youth build liveable lives?

There are stark inequalities in mental health between lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning and asexual (LGBTQ+) youth and their heterosexual, cisgender counterparts, and has drawn out inequalities within LGBTQ+ identities. In a field where vulnerability and suicidality are often highlighted, this thesis contributes to a recent and growing body of research into queer youth wellbeing, that affirms young people’s agency and resilience, and asks, “how do LGBTQ+ youth build liveable lives?” I draw on Veenhoven’s liveability framework, which offers a sociological approach to wellbeing that incorporates both structure and agency. 20 participants, recruited both online and offline, took part in this qualitative, mixed methods study and could choose to participate in interviews, diary-keeping, online questionnaire and a period of online ethnographic observation. The varied data, which included images as well as text, was analysed by taking each participant as a whole and producing ethnographic case studies. From the data emerged two key factors for queer youth liveability: self-understanding and recognition. I argue that available narratives of self are necessary to accessing a positive and coherent sense of self-understanding. These narratives were not equally available to all, and those with more marginalised identities struggled to access positive stories of self. Despite structural constraints, participants were engaging in online and offline actions to claim recognition for themselves, and their actions could transcend their individual contexts to cultivate liveability for other queer youth. These actions, online and offline, demonstrated the agency and resilience of participants as they actively engaged in building liveable lives for themselves and each other. I end by recommending that future research and practice continue to look to youth as experts in their own experiences, and learn from their own innovative solutions that go beyond what can be articulated in text