Higher number of steps is related to lower endogenous progesterone but not estradiol levels in women.

OBJECTIVES: Sex steroid hormones are important not only for reproduction but also for many aspects of women's health, including the risk of breast cancer. Physical activity has been shown to influence sex hormone levels in women. This study aimed to investigate a relationship between the average daily number of steps and the sex hormone (estradiol and progesterone) levels in premenopausal women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were collected from 85 healthy, urban women of reproductive age who performed at least 180 minutes/week of moderate physical activity for two complete menstrual cycles. Physical activity was measured using wrist bands. Estradiol and progesterone concentrations were measured in daily-collected saliva samples in the second menstrual cycle. RESULTS: There was a significant negative association between the average number of steps taken daily and salivary progesterone levels after adjusting for potential confounding factors (age, BMI). Women who took more than 10,000 steps a day had significantly lower progesterone levels compared to women who took less than 10,000 steps. The association between physical activity and estradiol levels was statistically insignificant. DISCUSSION: Our results indicate that taking at least 10,000 steps a day reduces progesterone levels, but this intensity of physical activity may not be high enough to affect estradiol levels. Daily step tracking is a valuable element of health promotion, but currently recommended levels of physical activity may not be high enough for healthy premenopausal women to significantly reduce both sex hormone levels and thus their risk of postmenopausal breast cancer.

The spiral of disadvantage: Ethnolinguistic discrimination, acculturative stress and health in Nahua indigenous communities in Mexico.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that ethnic and ethnolinguistic discrimination, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) related to being Indigenous as well as different aspects of acculturative stress, are associated with poorer health and higher levels of depression among the Nahua Indigenous communities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our quantitative survey was carried out in four different regions inhabited by the Nahua people in Mexico. Self-rated health and depression, the symptoms of PTSD, two facets of acculturative stress and ethnolinguistic discrimination were assessed by questionnaires. The data were analyzed using binary logistic regression models. RESULTS: The symptoms of PTSD and acculturative stress experienced in the workplace were significantly associated with a higher risk of poor self-rated health, adjusted for various socio-demographic characteristics. Acculturative stress, discouragement of language use, language avoidance and ethnolinguistic discrimination were related to a higher risk of depression and PTSD. DISCUSSION: Our research implies that ethnic and linguistic discrimination, acculturative stress and the memory of harm linked to being Indigenous reflected in the symptoms of PTSD, are important predictors of poorer health and depression among Nahua groups in Mexico. These adverse effects could be significantly counteracted by effective dealing with stigmatization and discrimination against Indigenous people in Mexico and by replacing strong assimilation pressures with integrational approaches that respect ethnolinguistic diversity and reduce socioeconomic marginalization.

It gets better with age: Resilience, stigma, and mental health among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer persons from Poland.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer populations are disproportionately affected by chronic stress associated with stigma which contributes to health adversities including depression. Negative impact of stigma on health can be alleviated by factors such as resilience. Little is known however on how exposure to stigma, protective factors and mental health change with age among gender and sexually diverse persons. Our study aimed at investigating this issue. Our sample consisted of (i) 245 sexually diverse cisgender women, (ii) 175 sexually diverse cisgender men, and (iii) 98 transgender and gender diverse persons. We collected data through a web-based survey. Linear regression models were performed to investigate the interactions of age and each group of participants for resilience, stigma exposure, and mental health indicators (depression and self-esteem). We hypothesized that resilience and mental health indicators will be positively associated with age in all distinguished groups despite the continued exposure to minority stress. The analysis yielded no significant relationships between stigma exposure and age among study participants. However, we observed significant interaction effects of distinguished groups of participants and age in case of self-esteem, depression, and resilience. Self-esteem and resilience were related positively, and depression was negatively associated with age in all study groups. Additionally, we observed that sexually diverse cisgender men demonstrated significantly increased resilience, reduced depression and higher self-esteem compared to other groups. Although the exposure to stigma did not decrease with age, resilience and self-esteem increased, suggesting that LGBTQ persons manage to thrive despite adversities.

Disgust Sensitivity Among Women During the COVID-19 Outbreak.

The emotion of disgust is suggested to be an adaptation that evolved to keep us away from sources of infection. Therefore, individuals from populations with greater pathogen stress should have a greater disgust sensitivity. However, current evidence for a positive relationship between disgust sensitivity and the intensity of infectious diseases in the environment is limited. We tested whether disgust and contamination sensitivity changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Disgust was assessed in 984 women in 2017 (before pandemic) and 633 women in 2020 (during pandemic) by a set of photographs depicting sources of infection and Pathogen and Moral of Three-Domain Disgust Scale. Further, contamination sensitivity among participants in two waves was measured by Contamination Obsessions and Washing Compulsions Subscale of Padua Inventory. State anxiety was measured with the Polish adaptation of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) only during the second wave of data collection. Women from the COVID-19 pandemic group assessed the photographs depicting sources of infection as more disgusting, scoring higher on Padua Inventory, but lower on Moral Disgust Domain as compared to women from before the pandemic. In addition, anxiety levels during pandemic positively correlated with scores from Pathogen Disgust Domain, Padua Inventory, and the ratings of the photographs. The participants of the study scored higher in state anxiety than the norms determined for the Polish population. Summarizing, we present evidence for differences in individual levels of disgust sensitivity in relation to pathogen stress, supporting the idea that disgust evolved to serve as protection from pathogens.

Season of birth and biomarkers of early-life environment.

OBJECTIVE: Early-life conditions play an important role in human development, affecting health status and survival. Conditions in utero partly depend on the external environment and thus vary in relation to the season of birth. The aim of this study was to investigate if people born in different seasons of the year differ in values of biomarkers that reflect conditions during fetal development. METHODS: The study was conducted among Polish rural women recruited at the Mogielica Human Ecology Study Site. The participants were 234 women aged 45 to 92 (mean = 60.2; SD = 10.44). The indicators of early-life environment analyzed in the study were: Absolute Finger Ridge Count (AFRC), the difference between mean number of ridge counts in both thumbs and both little fingers (Md15), overall facial fluctuating asymmetry (OFA), central facial asymmetry (CFA), right and left hand 2D:4D. RESULTS: Values of biomarkers of fetal development did not vary among groups of women born in different seasons of the year. CONCLUSIONS: Lack of differences in values of biomarkers according to birth season may indicate that: (a) season of birth is not a good indicator of early-life conditions; (b) tested biomarkers do not reliably reflect the prenatal environment; (c) season of birth does not fully overlap with the sensitive periods of biomarker development and thus fails to capture differences in developmental conditions.

Fluctuating asymmetry of finger lengths, digit ratio (2D:4D), and tattoos: A pre-registered replication and extension of Koziel et al. (2010).

BACKGROUND: Tattoos bring risks yet no obvious evolutionary benefit. Koziel et al. (2010) reported increased fluctuating symmetry (a proxy for low developmental instability) in tattooed men, suggesting they could serve as fitness indicators. AIMS: We replicate and extend the findings of Koziel et al. by examining fluctuating asymmetry of finger lengths and digit ratio (2D:4D) (a putative indicator of prenatal testosterone exposure) as predictors of adult tattoo prevalence. STUDY DESIGN: We used an online survey with a correlational design. SUBJECTS: Participants were recruited from the UK and Poland via university participant pools and social media. Data were available for presence/absence of tattoos and at least one predictor variable (composite Fluctuating Asymmetry [cFA], right-hand digit ratio [R2D:4D] and left-hand digit ratio [L2D:4D]) for n = 186 males and n = 997 females. OUTCOME MEASURES: We firstly assessed presence/absence of tattoos; when at least one tattoo was present, we also examined overall number and highest visibility. RESULTS: Greater cFA was associated with lower likelihood of having tattoos in males, though in females greater cFA was associated with higher numbers of tattoos. R2D:4D and L2D:4D correlated negatively with number of tattoos in males, and a positive correlation between L2D:4D and number of tattoos was observed in females. However, these latter findings did not remain significant after controlling for covariates. CONCLUSIONS: Tattoos may act as fitness indicators in males, though this explanation appears not to extend to females. Prenatal testosterone may also play a role, though doubt is cast on this premise because 2D:4D effects did not remain statistically significant after controlling for covariates.

Disgust sensitivity in relation to menstrual cycle phase in women with and without an infection.

OBJECTIVES: The compensatory prophylaxis hypothesis (CPH) proposes that evolved psychological mechanisms enhance the avoidance of potential contaminants during periods of reproductive immunomodulation in order to decrease a chance of infection. However, the results of previous studies are inconclusive. Our aim was to investigate the differences in disgust sensitivity during phases of menstrual cycle in regularly cycling young healthy women and among women who reported having an infection. METHODS: The disgust sensitivity was measured using Two Domains of the Three Domain Disgust Scale (TDDS), Padua Inventory (PI), and photographs during the internet-based survey. Women (N = 527) were divided by phases of menstrual cycle using two different methods on the basis of reported cycle length and the number of days since the onset of their most recent menstrual bleeding. RESULTS: The women who had an infection and who were in luteal phase had higher scores in Pathogen Disgust Domain than women in follicular phase. However, they did not differ in other assessments of disgust sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide weak support for the CPH hypothesis. We found differences in disgust sensitivity in women who declared having an infection-participants in the luteal phase scored higher in the Pathogen Domain Scale of TDDS than women in the follicular phase. We suggest that future studies should measure levels of sex steroids and immunological markers of infection.

Lack of support for relation between woman's masculinity preference, estradiol level and mating context.

It has been proposed that women's preferences for male facial sexual dimorphism are positively correlated with conception probability and differ between short- and long-term mating contexts. In this study, we tested this assumption by analyzing relationships between estradiol levels to the women's preferences of male faces that were manipulated to vary in masculinity. Estradiol was measured in daily saliva samples throughout the entire menstrual cycle collected by Polish women with regular menstrual cycles. In our analyses, we included the three most commonly used definitions of the fertile window in the literature. After computing the overall masculinity preference of each participant and measuring hormone levels, we found that i) the timing of ovulation varied greatly among women (between -11 and -17days from the onset of the next menses, counting backwards), ii) there was no relationship between daily, measured during the day of the test (N=83) or average for the cycle (N=115) estradiol levels and masculinity preferences, iii) there were no differences in masculinity preferences between women in low- and high-conception probability phases of the cycle, and iv) there were no differences in masculinity preferences between short- and long-term mating contexts. Our results do not support the idea that women's preferences for a potential sexual partner's facial masculinity fluctuate throughout the cycle.