Do differences in Toxoplasma prevalence influence global variation in secondary sex ratio? Preliminary ecological regression study
Jazyk angličtina Země Anglie, Velká Británie Médium print
Typ dokumentu časopisecké články, práce podpořená grantem
PubMed
27350331
DOI
10.1017/s0031182016000597
PII: S0031182016000597
Knihovny.cz E-zdroje
- Klíčová slova
- Toxoplasmosis, Trivers Willard effect, ecological regression, manipulation hypothesis, secondary sex ratio,
- MeSH
- celosvětové zdraví MeSH
- energetický příjem MeSH
- faktory vyvracející (epidemiologie) MeSH
- fertilita MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- manželství statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- podnebí MeSH
- poměr pohlaví * MeSH
- prevalence MeSH
- příjem MeSH
- regresní analýza MeSH
- socioekonomické faktory MeSH
- toxoplazmóza epidemiologie patofyziologie MeSH
- zdravotní stav MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
Sex of the fetus is genetically determined such that an equal number of sons and daughters are born in large populations. However, the ratio of female to male births across human populations varies significantly. Many factors have been implicated in this. The theory that natural selection should favour female offspring under suboptimal environmental conditions implies that pathogens may affect secondary sex ratio (ratio of male to female births). Using regression models containing 13 potential confounding factors, we have found that variation of the secondary sex ratio can be predicted by seroprevalence of Toxoplasma across 94 populations distributed across African, American, Asian and European continents. Toxoplasma seroprevalence was the third strongest predictor of secondary sex ratio, β = -0·097, P < 0·01, after son preference, β = 0·261, P < 0·05, and fertility, β = -0·145, P < 0·001. Our preliminary results suggest that Toxoplasma gondii infection could be one of the most important environmental factors influencing the global variation of offspring sex ratio in humans. The effect of latent toxoplasmosis on public health could be much more serious than it is usually supposed to be.
Department of Anthropology Faculty of Humanities Charles University Prague 158 00 Czech Republic
Department of Biology Faculty of Science Charles University Prague 128 44 Czech Republic
Institute of Wildlife Veterinary Research KVAFSU Doddaluvara Kodagu 571232 India
Citace poskytuje Crossref.org
Thirty years of studying latent toxoplasmosis: behavioural, physiological, and health insights