Search

Background:Animal experiments suggest that exposure to elevated levels of androgens during development by means of so-called hormonal programming causes metabolic aberrations at adulthood. An indirect strategy to address the possible importance of such an influence also in humans would be to study female dizygotic twins, presuming that those with a twin brother-due to diffusion of testosterone-have been exposed to higher androgen levels prenatally.Design:We have compared 8409 women with a male twin with 9166 women with a dizygotic female twin with respect to self-reported indices of anthropometry and metabolic aberrations at age 42 or older.Results:Body mass index (BMI), body weight and rate of dyslipidemia were moderately, but significantly, higher in women from opposite-sexed (OS) twin pairs; splitting for age revealed this difference to be present in those 60 years of age only.Conclusion:The results (i) support the notion that comparisons of women with a twin brother with women from same-sexed twin pairs may be used to shed light on possible long-term effects of interindividual variations in early androgen exposure, and (ii) suggest that the effects of early androgen exposure on metabolism previously observed in animal experiments are of relevance also for humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Testosterone has been attributed importance for various aspects of behaviour. The aim of our study was to investigate the potential influence of 2 functional polymorphisms in the amino terminal of the androgen receptor on personality traits in men. METHODS: We assessed and genotyped 141 men born in 1944 recruited from the general population. We used 2 different instruments: the Karolinska Scales of Personality and the Temperament and Character Inventory. For replication, we similarly assessed 63 men recruited from a forensic psychiatry study group. RESULTS: In the population-recruited sample, the lengths of the androgen receptor repeats were associated with neuroticism, extraversion and self-transcendence. The association with extraversion was replicated in the independent sample. LIMITATIONS: Our 2 samples differed in size; sample 1 was of moderate size and sample 2 was small. In addition, the homogeneity of sample 1 probably enhanced our ability to detect significant associations between genotype and phenotype. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the repeat polymorphisms in the androgen receptor gene may influence personality traits in men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raised levels of inflammation markers have been associated with several mental disorders; however, studies regarding the relationship between inflammation or the immune system and various aspects of human behaviour are not numerous. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether an association exists between personality traits and two single nucleotide polymorphisms located in genes that are associated with the innate immune system. The studied population consisted of 42-year-old women recruited from the population registry that had been assessed by means of Karolinska Scales of Personality, a self-reported inventory. The first polymorphism, +1444C>T (rs1130864), is located in the gene coding for C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of low-grade inflammation. The T-allele has previously been suggested to be linked to raised serum levels of CRP. The second polymorphism, Y402H (1277T>C, rs1061170), is located in the gene coding for complement factor H, an important regulator of the complement system. The C-allele has consistently been associated with age-related macular degeneration. While the +1444T allele was associated with higher scores in the personality traits impulsiveness, monotony avoidance and social desirability, the 1277C polymorphism was associated with higher scores in verbal aggression and lower scores in social desirability. In conclusion, the associations between the personality traits and the studied polymorphisms further support the possible influence of the immune system on mental functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B Conclusions: b Our data do not support that sex-hormone manipulation with GnRHa changes hippocampal volume per se. 78, 2015, 534-543 2 J. Macoveanu, S. Henningsson, A. Pinborg, P. Jensen, G.M. Knudsen, V.G. Frokjaer, H.R. Siebner, Sex-steroid hormone manipulation reduces brain response to reward. [Extracted from the article]