BACKGROUND Human exposure to phenols, including bisphenol A and parabens, is widespread. Evidence suggests that paternal exposure to environmental chemicals may adversely affect reproductive outcomes. OBJECTIVES We evaluated associations of paternal phenol urinary concentrations with fertilization rate, embryo quality, implantation, and live birth. METHODS Male-female couples who underwent ...

The effects of aromatase within the brain on sexual behavior have been studied in a wide variety of species. Relatively few non-mating behaviors have been considered, despite evidence that estrogen affects many social behaviors. Testosterone promotes paternal behavior in California mouse (Peromyscus californicus) fathers, acting primarily via aromatization to estradiol. Virgin male California m...

In mammals, imprinted gene expression results from the sex-specific methylation of imprinted control regions (ICRs) in the parental germlines. Imprinting is linked to therian reproduction, that is, the placenta and imprinting emerged at roughly the same time and potentially co-evolved. We assessed the transcriptome-wide and ontology effect of maternally versus paternally methylated ICRs at the ...

Tobacco use has declined in the US from 42% in the 1960’s to 20% in 2004. However, even though these rates have remained relatively stable since then, smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death in the US, responsible for over 440,000 deaths per year in the US alone, which consists of 20% of all deaths in the country. In addition, numerous studies have indicated a relationship betwe...

Individuals within monogamous species form bonds that may buffer against the negative effects of stress on physiology and behavior. In some species, involuntary termination of the mother-offspring bond results in increased symptoms of negative affect in the mother, suggesting that the parent-offspring bond may be equally as important as the pair bond. To our knowledge, the extent to which affec...

In female mammalian cells, one of the two X chromosomes is inactivated to compensate for gene-dose effects, which would be otherwise doubled compared with that in male cells. In somatic lineages in mice, the inactive X chromosome can be of either paternal or maternal origin, whereas the paternal X chromosome is specifically inactivated in placental tissue. In human somatic cells, X inactivation...

Although paternal ethanol (EtOH) abuse has been shown to affect the growth and behavior of offspring, the exact molecular and mechanistic basis remains largely unclear. Methylation alterations in imprinted genes may be related to well-documented teratogenic effects of ethanol. Here we show that chronic paternal ethanol exposure increases the susceptibility to abnormal behavior in offspring thro...

BACKGROUND: The role of paternal factors in determining the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes has received less attention than maternal factors. Similarly, the interaction between the effects of race and socioeconomic status (SES) on pregnancy outcomes is not well known. Our objective was to assess the relative importance of paternal vs. maternal education in relation to risk of low birth weig...

Sex-allocation theory predicts that females in good condition should preferentially produce offspring of the sex that benefits the most from an increase in maternal investment. However, it is generally assumed that the condition of the sire has little effect on progeny sex ratio, particularly in species that lack parental care. We used a controlled breeding experiment and molecular paternity an...

In species where males provide neither direct benefits nor paternal care, it is typically assumed that female preferences are maintained by indirect selection reflecting genetic benefits to offspring of preferred males. However, it remains unclear whether populations harbour sufficient genetic variation in fitness to support costly female preferences - a problem called the 'lek paradox'. Here, ...