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O brother, where art thou? Investment in siblings for inclusive fitness benefits, not father absence, predicts earlier age at menarche.

ABSTRACT: Numerous studies have indicated that father absence is associated with earlier age at menarche, with many evolutionary theories assuming that father absence is a causal factor that accelerates reproductive development. However, an alternative interpretation suggests that offspring may reproduce earlier in the presence of half- or step-siblings as the indirect fitness benefits to investing in them are lower, relative to delaying reproduction and investing in full siblings. From this perspective, father absence may perform no causal role in facilitating the onset of menarche. Using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, I find that individuals with only half- or step-siblings reach reproductive age earlier than those with only full siblings, with no independent effect of father absence. These results suggest that inclusive fitness benefits to investing in siblings, rather than father absence, may predict variation in age at menarche. These results provide a greater understanding of the adaptive mechanisms involved in reproductive decision-making, as well as potential implications for human life-history evolution and cooperative breeding more broadly.

SUBMITTER: Smith D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5665773 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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O brother, where art thou? Investment in siblings for inclusive fitness benefits, not father absence, predicts earlier age at menarche.

Smith Daniel D

Biology letters 20171001 10

Numerous studies have indicated that father absence is associated with earlier age at menarche, with many evolutionary theories assuming that father absence is a causal factor that accelerates reproductive development. However, an alternative interpretation suggests that offspring may reproduce earlier in the presence of half- or step-siblings as the indirect fitness benefits to investing in them are lower, relative to delaying reproduction and investing in full siblings. From this perspective, ...[more]

PMID: 29046373

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Project description:Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) can be an early manifestation of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology, other pathologic entities [e.g., cerebrovascular disease, Lewy body disease, LATE (limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy)], or mixed pathologies, with concomitant AD- and non-AD pathology being particularly common, albeit difficult to identify, in living MCI patients. The National Institute on Aging and Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA) A/T/(N) [β-Amyloid/Tau/(Neurodegeneration)] AD research framework, which classifies research participants according to three binary biomarkers [β-amyloid (A+/A-), tau (T+/T-), and neurodegeneration (N+/N-)], provides an indirect means of identifying such cases. Individuals with A+T-(N+) MCI are thought to have both AD pathologic change, given the presence of β-amyloid, and non-AD pathophysiology, given neurodegeneration without tau, because in typical AD it is tau accumulation that is most tightly linked to neuronal injury and cognitive decline. Thus, in A+T-(N+) MCI (hereafter referred to as "mismatch MCI" for the tau-neurodegeneration mismatch), non-AD pathology is hypothesized to drive neurodegeneration and symptoms, because β-amyloid, in the absence of tau, likely reflects a preclinical stage of AD. We compared a group of individuals with mismatch MCI to groups with A+T+(N+) MCI (or "prodromal AD") and A-T-(N+) MCI (or "neurodegeneration-only MCI") on cross-sectional and longitudinal cognition and neuroimaging characteristics. β-amyloid and tau status were determined by CSF assays, while neurodegeneration status was based on hippocampal volume on MRI. Overall, mismatch MCI was less "AD-like" than prodromal AD and generally, with some exceptions, more closely resembled the neurodegeneration-only group. At baseline, mismatch MCI had less episodic memory loss compared to prodromal AD. Longitudinally, mismatch MCI declined more slowly than prodromal AD across all included cognitive domains, while mismatch MCI and neurodegeneration-only MCI declined at comparable rates. Prodromal AD had smaller baseline posterior hippocampal volume than mismatch MCI, and whole brain analyses demonstrated cortical thinning that was widespread in prodromal AD but largely restricted to the medial temporal lobes (MTLs) for the mismatch and neurodegeneration-only MCI groups. Longitudinally, mismatch MCI had slower rates of volume loss than prodromal AD throughout the MTLs. Differences in cross-sectional and longitudinal cognitive and neuroimaging measures between mismatch MCI and prodromal AD may reflect disparate underlying pathologic processes, with the mismatch group potentially being driven by non-AD pathologies on a background of largely preclinical AD. These findings suggest that β-amyloid status alone in MCI may not reveal the underlying driver of symptoms with important implications for enrollment in clinical trials and prognosis.

Project description:BackgroundAlthough paternal involvement in the perinatal period is associated with benefits for maternal-child health and reduced obesity risk, fathers are seldom included in perinatal or obesity prevention efforts. Engaging community leaders and fathers as stakeholders in intervention development is a critical step in designing a father-inclusive intervention that is efficacious and responsive to their needs.MethodsWe conducted a structured engagement study, including community stakeholder engagement and qualitative interviews with new fathers, to inform the development of a prospective randomized controlled trial that includes mothers and fathers as equal partners in infant obesity prevention. We interpreted stakeholder feedback through the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) framework.ResultsBetween September 2019 and April 2020, we held a Community Engagement meeting, formed a Community Advisory Board, and conducted 16 qualitative interviews with new fathers. Stakeholder engagement revealed insights across CFIR domains including intervention characteristics (relative advantage, complexity, design quality & packaging), outer setting factors (cosmopolitanism and culture), individual characteristics (including self-efficacy, state of change, identification with the organization) and process (engagement and adaptation). Stakeholders discussed the diverse challenges and rewards of fatherhood, as well as the intrinsic paternal motivation to be a loving, supportive father and partner. Both community leaders and fathers emphasized the importance of tailoring program delivery and content to meet specific parental needs, including a focus on the social-emotional needs of new parents.ConclusionsA structured process of multidimensional stakeholder engagement was successful in improving the design of a father-inclusive perinatal obesity prevention interventions. Father engagement was instrumental in both reinforcing community ties and increasing our understanding of fathers' needs, resulting in improvements to program values, delivery strategies, personnel, and content. This study provides a practical approach for investigators looking to involve key stakeholders in the pre-implementation phase of intervention development.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04477577 . Registered 20 July 2020.

Dataset Information

O brother, where art thou? Investment in siblings for inclusive fitness benefits, not father absence, predicts earlier age at menarche.

Publications

O brother, where art thou? Investment in siblings for inclusive fitness benefits, not father absence, predicts earlier age at menarche.

Similar Datasets

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