Secondary sex ratios of animals with genetically determined sex may considerably deviate from equality. These deviations may be attributed to several proximate and ultimate factors. Sex ratio theory explains some of them as strategic decisions of mothers improving their fitness by selective investment in sons or daughters, e.g. local resource competition hypothesis (LRC) suggests that philopatric females tend to produce litters with male-biased sex ratios to avoid future competition with their daughters. Until now, only little attention has been paid to examine predictions of sex ratio theory in snakes possessing genetic sex determination and exhibiting large variance in allocation of maternal investment. Cuban boa is an endemic viviparous snake producing large-bodied newborns (∼200 g). Extremely high maternal investment in each offspring increases importance of sex allocation. In a captive colony, we collected breeding records of 42 mothers, 62 litters and 306 newborns and examined secondary sex ratios (SR) and sexual size dimorphism (SSD) of newborns. None of the examined morphometric traits of neonates appeared sexually dimorphic. The sex ratio was slightly male biased (174 males versus 132 females) and litter sex ratio significantly decreased with female snout-vent length. We interpret this relationship as an additional support for LRC as competition between mothers and daughters increases with similarity of body sizes between competing snakes.

• Klíčová slova
• Litter sex ratio, Sex allocation, Sexual size dimorphism, Snakes,
• MeSH
• analýza rozptylu MeSH
• Boidae anatomie a histologie   fyziologie   MeSH
• poměr pohlaví * MeSH
• rozmnožování MeSH
• velikost těla * MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

This article highlights health issues related to prostitution, with special reference to the situation in Europe. Strategies aimed at improving the health care of commercial sex workers, including programs for screening for sexually transmitted infections, are discussed. Problems related to failure to follow-up, particularly of mobile (migratory, international) commercial sex workers, are considered. Other topics covered include counselling on sexual risk reduction, including medical hotline telephone services and clinical outreach work. Counselling commercial sex workers on contraception, desired termination of pregnancy and hazards of illicit drug use are also highlighted. The public-health consequences of delivering poor health care to commercial sex workers are generally severely underestimated, particularly in societies where prostitution is illegal.

• MeSH
• analýza nákladů a výnosů MeSH
• antikoncepce MeSH
• dítě MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• hodnocení programu MeSH
• hodnocení výsledků zdravotní péče MeSH
• horké linky MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladiství MeSH
• plošný screening organizace a řízení   MeSH
• poradenství MeSH
• přidělování zdravotní péče ekonomika   organizace a řízení   MeSH
• prostituce * MeSH
• rozvoj plánování MeSH
• sexuálně přenosné nemoci prevence a kontrola   psychologie   terapie   MeSH
• sociální opora MeSH
• společenskoinstitucionální vztahy MeSH
• těhotenství MeSH
• zdravotní výchova organizace a řízení   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dítě MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladiství MeSH
• těhotenství MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• přehledy MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Česká republika MeSH

Spider wasps of the genus Minagenia have evolved koinobiontism as a relatively rare life strategy within the widely diversified hymenopteran family Pompilidae. In this study, we evaluated several aspects of the parasitic strategy of the wasp Minagenia sp. (hereafter, Minagenia) - namely host specificity, ontogeny, and sex determination as a function of host size. We found that Minagenia is highly host specific, being associated only with the genus Lycosa from the family Lycosidae, namely Lycosa u-album (Mello-Leitão, 1938), Lycosa erythrognatha (Lucas, 1836) and Lycosa poliostoma (Koch, 1847) with a parasitism incidence of 18.9%, 15.8% and 12.5%, respectively. Both ecological and taxonomical host traits determine the host selection and sex allocation of Minagenia female wasps. Charnov's host-size model explains Minagenia's host-size-dependent sex ratio in combination with the effect of host development stage, host species, and host foraging strategy. We also found that the final instar larva of Minagenia induces behavioural changes in spider hosts. The manipulated spider builds a protective silk chamber as a shelter for parasitoid pupation. Our results suggest that host manipulation seems to be narrowly connected with koinobiont life style throughout Hymenoptera. This study provides new information about the host-parasitoid koinobiont life strategy among spider wasps, which probably arose convergently in distant taxonomical groups within Pompilidae.

• Klíčová slova
• Araneae, ectoparasitoid, host manipulation, host–parasitoid interaction,
• MeSH
• chování zvířat MeSH
• interakce hostitele a parazita MeSH
• larva fyziologie   MeSH
• rozmnožování fyziologie   MeSH
• sršňovití fyziologie   MeSH
• stadia vývoje MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

In this paper, we examine intraspecific variation in the quantity of alkaloid chemical defence in field collected individuals of the polymorphic ladybird beetle Adalia decempunctata (10-spot ladybird). Like its more widely studied relative Adalia bipunctata (2-spot ladybird), A. decempunctata possesses the alkaloids adaline and adalinine, which are, respectively, the major and minor alkaloids of A. bipunctata. We focused especially on alkaloid concentration in relation to colour pattern morph, sex, and the relationship between female and egg parameters. There was a marked sexual dimorphism in the balance of the two alkaloids, with adaline predominating in females and adalinine predominating in males: in males, on average, over 70% of total alkaloid was adalinine. Females had a lower proportion of adalinine (< 10%) than their eggs (> 15%) and relationships between egg alkaloid and female alkaloid or fecundity were weak or non-existent. Colour pattern morph had a borderline (although not) significant relationship with adaline concentration and total alkaloid concentration, which could be further explored with laboratory reared individuals. The sexual dimorphism in alkaloid content, which seems likely due to differences in synthesis, might be related to their relative costs to the two sexes and might provide insight into the evolution of alkaloid diversity in ladybirds.

• Klíčová slova
• Aposematism, Chemical defence, Color morph, Polymorphism, Reproductive allocation, Sexual dimorphism,
• MeSH
• alkaloidy * analýza   chemie   metabolismus   MeSH
• barva MeSH
• brouci * fyziologie   chemie   MeSH
• druhová specificita MeSH
• ovum chemie   MeSH
• pigmentace MeSH
• pohlavní dimorfismus MeSH
• rozmnožování * MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Názvy látek
• alkaloidy * MeSH

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: One of the hallmarks of schizophrenia is altered brain structure, potentially due to antipsychotic treatment, the disorder itself or both. It was proposed that functional changes may precede the structural ones. In order to understand and potentially prevent this unwanted process, brain function assessment should be validated as a diagnostic tool. METHODS: We used Arterial Spin Labelling MRI technique for the evaluation of brain perfusion in several brain regions in a neurodevelopmental poly(I:C) model of schizophrenia (8mg/kg on a gestational day 15) in rats taking into account sex-dependent effects and chronic treatment with aripiprazole (30days), an atypical antipsychotic acting as a partial agonist on dopaminergic receptors. RESULTS: We found the sex of the animal to have a highly significant effect in all regions of interest, with females showing lower blood perfusion than males. However, both males and females treated prenatally with poly(I:C) showed enlargement of the lateral ventricles. Furthermore, we detected increased perfusion in the circle of Willis, hippocampus, and sensorimotor cortex, which was not influenced by chronic atypical antipsychotic aripiprazole treatment in male poly(I:C) rats. CONCLUSION: We hypothesize that perfusion alterations may be caused by the hyperdopaminergic activity in the poly(I:C) model, and the absence of aripiprazole effect on perfusion in brain regions related to schizophrenia may be due to its partial agonistic mechanism.

• Klíčová slova
• Aripiprazole *, Arterial Spin Labelling *, MRI *, Schizophrenia *, Sex *, Wistar rats *,
• MeSH
• antipsychotika farmakologie   MeSH
• aripiprazol farmakologie   MeSH
• magnetická rezonanční tomografie MeSH
• modely nemocí na zvířatech MeSH
• mozek diagnostické zobrazování   účinky léků   patofyziologie   MeSH
• mozkový krevní oběh účinky léků   fyziologie   MeSH
• náhodné rozdělení MeSH
• pohlavní dimorfismus * MeSH
• poly I-C MeSH
• potkani Wistar MeSH
• schizofrenie diagnostické zobrazování   farmakoterapie   patofyziologie   MeSH
• těhotenství MeSH
• zpožděný efekt prenatální expozice MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• těhotenství MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• antipsychotika MeSH
• aripiprazol MeSH
• poly I-C MeSH

In nature, almost all animals have to cope with periods of food shortage during their lifetimes. Starvation risks are especially high for carnivorous predatory species, which often experience long intervals between stochastic prey capturing events. A laboratory experiment using the common predatory carabid beetle Anchomenus dorsalis revealed an exceptional level of starvation resistance in this species: males survived up to 137 days and females up to 218 days without food at 20°C. Individual starvation resistance was strongly positively affected by pre-starvation body mass but only slightly by beetle structural body size per se. Females outperformed males even when the effect of gender was corrected for the effects of structural body size and pre-starvation body mass. The better performance of females compared to males and of beetles with higher relative pre-starvation body mass could be linked to higher fat content and lean dry mass before starvation, followed by a greater decrease in both during starvation. There was also a difference between the sexes in the extent of body mass changes both during ad libitum feeding and following starvation; the body masses of females fluctuated more compared to males. This study stresses the need to distinguish between body mass and structural body size when investigating the ecological and evolutionary consequences of body size. Investigation of the net effects of body size and sex is necessary to disentangle the causes of differences in individual performances in studies of species with significant sexual size dimorphism.

• MeSH
• brouci chemie   fyziologie   MeSH
• dlouhověkost MeSH
• fyziologická adaptace MeSH
• hladovění MeSH
• lipidy analýza   MeSH
• náhodné rozdělení MeSH
• pohlavní dimorfismus MeSH
• predátorské chování MeSH
• tělesná hmotnost MeSH
• velikost těla MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• lipidy MeSH

In the present study we investigated the sex differences in the effect of adult long-term drug treatment on cognitive functions of Wistar rats, which were prenatally exposed to MA (5mg/kg) or saline. Cognitive functions were tested as an ability of spatial learning in the Morris Water Maze (MWM), which consisted of three types of tests: "Place Navigation Test"; "Probe Test", and "Memory Recall Test". Adult animals were injected daily, after completion of the last trial, either with saline or cocaine (COC; 5mg/kg), MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine; 5mg/kg), morphine (MOR; 5mg/kg), or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC; 2mg/kg). Results revealed worsened MWM performance in female rats after drug treatment in adulthood. Not only were traditionally investigated parameters affected by drug treatment (latency of platform acquisition, search strategy, distance traveled), but also strategies used by animals (thigmotaxis, scanning). Analyses of search strategies observed in the Place Navigation Test, as well as in the Memory Recall Test, demonstrated variations in the percentage of time spent in thigmotaxis and scanning in females after treatment with COC, MDMA, MOR, and THC. Although we did not see a sensitizing effect of prenatal MA, in some cases the effect of drug treatment in adulthood differed depending on the prenatal drug exposure. The data presented in this study demonstrates that exposure to drugs with various mechanisms of action alters spatial abilities of female rats in the MWM. Alterations in the effect of adult drug treatment with reference to prenatal drug exposure were also found in the present study.

• Klíčová slova
• Long-term drug treatment, Methamphetamine, Morris Water Maze, Sex differences, Spatial learning,
• MeSH
• kognice účinky léků   MeSH
• kokain farmakologie   MeSH
• methamfetamin toxicita   MeSH
• morfin farmakologie   MeSH
• N-methyl-3,4-methylendioxyamfetamin farmakologie   MeSH
• náhodné rozdělení MeSH
• pohlavní dimorfismus * MeSH
• potkani Wistar MeSH
• prostorová navigace účinky léků   MeSH
• prostorové učení účinky léků   MeSH
• psychologické testy MeSH
• psychotropní léky farmakologie   MeSH
• těhotenství MeSH
• tetrahydrokanabinol farmakologie   MeSH
• zpožděný efekt prenatální expozice psychologie   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• těhotenství MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• kokain MeSH
• methamfetamin MeSH
• morfin MeSH
• N-methyl-3,4-methylendioxyamfetamin MeSH
• psychotropní léky MeSH
• tetrahydrokanabinol MeSH

Latent toxoplasmosis has been previously found to cause behavioural and personality changes in humans, which are specific for each gender. Here we tested the stress hypothesis of these gender differences based on the assumption that latent toxoplasmosis causes long-term subliminal stress. In line with this hypothesis, the gender difference will appear specifically in situations with interpersonal context because in contrast to the typical individualistic coping style of men, women have a tendency to express elevated prosocial behaviour under stress. Altogether 295 biology students (29/191 females and 27/104 males infected by T. gondii) played a modified version of the Dictator Game and the Trust Game. As predicted, a gender difference in the effect of latent toxoplasmosis was found for the measure of reciprocal altruism in the Trust Game (p = 0.016), but both genders appeared less generous when infected in the Dictator Game modified to minimize social connotation (p = 0.048).

• MeSH
• experimentální hry * MeSH
• fyziologický stres * MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• pohlavní dimorfismus * MeSH
• Toxoplasma * MeSH
• toxoplazmóza komplikace   psychologie   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

A single dose of clomipramine, 10 mg i.v., or desipramine, 25 mg i.m., was administered to seven healthy young sibling pairs in a randomized cross-over experiment. The response of serum growth hormone, prolactin and cortisol was measured. The main findings were (1) sex differences in the growth hormone and cortisol response to desipramine and (2) a significant genetic component of the prolactin and cortisol response to desipramine as indicated by significantly (p less than 0.05) lower within-pair than between-pair variance in the sibling pairs but not random pairs of the experimental subjects.

• MeSH
• desipramin farmakologie   MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• genetika MeSH
• hydrokortison krev   metabolismus   MeSH
• jednoduchá slepá metoda MeSH
• klomipramin farmakologie   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• náhodné rozdělení MeSH
• neurosekreční systémy účinky léků   MeSH
• prolaktin krev   metabolismus   MeSH
• růstový hormon krev   metabolismus   MeSH
• sexuální faktory MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• klinické zkoušky MeSH
• randomizované kontrolované studie MeSH
• Názvy látek
• desipramin MeSH
• hydrokortison MeSH
• klomipramin MeSH
• prolaktin MeSH
• růstový hormon MeSH

In the framework of forensic anthropology osteometric techniques are generally preferred over visual examinations due to a higher level of reproducibility and repeatability; qualities that are crucial within a legal context. The use of osteometric methods has been further reinforced by incorporating statistically-based algorithms and large reference samples in a variety of user-friendly software applications. However, the continued increase in admixture of human populations have made the use of osteometric methods for estimation of ancestry much more complex, which confounds one of major requirements of ancestry assessment - intra-population homogeneity. The present paper tests the accuracy of ancestry and sex assessment using four identification software tools, specifically FORDISC 2.0, FORDISC 3.1.293, COLIPR 1.5.2 and 3D-ID 1.0. Software accuracy was tested in a sample of 174 documented human crania of Brazilian origin composed of different ancestral groups (i.e., European Brazilians, Afro-Brazilians, and Japanese Brazilians and of admixed ancestry). The results show that regardless of the software algorithm employed and composition of the reference database, all methods were able to allocate approximately 50% of Brazilian specimens to an appropriate major reference group. Of the three ancestral groups, Afro-Brazilians were especially prone to misclassification. Japanese Brazilians, by contrast, were shown to be relatively easily recognizable as being of Asian descent but at the same time showed a strong affinity towards Hispanic crania, in particularly when the classification based on FDB was carried out in FORDISC. For crania of admixed origin all of the algorithms showed a considerable higher rate of inconsistency with a tendency for misclassification into Asian and American Hispanic groups. Sex assessments revealed an overall modest to poor reliability (60-71% of correctly classified specimens) using the tested software programs with unbalanced individual rates for males and females. The highest and atypically balanced rate of classification for sex assessment was provided by COLIPR software, which reached 78% of correctly assessed crania.

• Klíčová slova
• 3D-ID, Ancestry assessment, Brazilian crania, FORDISC, Sex assessment,
• MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• populační skupiny etnologie   MeSH
• software normy   MeSH
• soudní antropologie * metody   MeSH
• určení pohlaví podle kostry metody   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• validační studie MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Brazílie MeSH