BACKGROUND The relative length of the second and fourth fingers (2D:4D) may be a sex-linked correlate of prenatal androgen exposure. However, the nature of the sex-linkage is controversial, with evidence for both X- and Y-linkage of the 2D:4D phenotype. AIMS To examine transgenerational effects relating to sex-linkage. In addition, assortative mating on 2D:4D was considered, as well as associ...

A high-frequency, season-independent, in vitro regeneration of Ficusreligiosa was developed, followed by comparative acetylcholinesterase inhibitory (AChEI) activity assay of the in vitro raised and conventionally grown plants. The use of AChEI activity is the most accepted strategy for the treatment of Alzheimer disease. Fully expanded, mature leaves were cut into different segments to initiat...

BACKGROUND The stress that results from preterm birth, requisite acute care and prolonged physical separation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) can have adverse physiological/psychological effects on both the infant and the mother. In particular, the experience compromises the establishment and maintenance of optimal mother-infant relationship, the subsequent development of the infant,...

Objective: Verbal fluency is a cognitive function that can be easily assessed in bedside and provide useful data for clinical assessment of a variety of cognitive functions. We decided to provide a standardized test for the assessment of verbal fluency in Persian language, including both phonemic and semantic fluency subtests.  Method: First, three letters (P, D, and Sh) and three categories (...

Since malnutrition is one of the main causes of subnormal weight in infants, therefore identification and determination of the role of bodily factors and others such as age, number of labors and maternal anemia and for omitting the role of known and interactive factors, the present study was performed to evaluate the nutritional status of infants and the influence of some maternal factors. Thi...

BACKGROUND Concurrent admission of a mother and her newborn to separate intensive care units (herein referred to as co-ICU admission), possibly in different centres, can magnify family discord and stress. We examined the prevalence and predictors of mother-infant separation and mortality associated with co-ICU admissions. METHODS We completed a population-based study of all 1 023 978 singleto...

In species where parental care occurs primarily via the provisioning of eggs, older females tend to produce larger offspring that have better fitness prospects. Remarkably however, a relationship between age of mother and fitness of offspring has also been reported independently of effects on offspring size suggesting that there may be other factors at play. Here, using experimental matings bet...