The effect of reproductive hormones on women's daily smoking across the menstrual cycle.

BACKGROUND: Women attempt to quit smoking less often than men and are less likely to maintain abstinence. Reproductive hormones have been postulated as a reason for this sex difference, though this remains to be clarified. Research suggests that estradiol and progesterone may influence nicotine addiction, though various methodologies have led to inconsistent findings. The current study aimed to directly examine the effect of reproductive hormones on women's smoking behavior. METHODS: Over the course of one menstrual cycle, twenty-one female smokers recorded the number of cigarettes smoked in a day, as well as their perceived need for and enjoyment of cigarettes smoked. Additionally, they provided 12 urine samples for the measurement of the urinary metabolites of estradiol (estrone-3-glucuronide, E1G) and progesterone (pregnanediol glucuronide, PdG). Multilevel modeling was used to examine the effects of hormone levels as well as hormone change on smoking outcomes. RESULTS: When PdG levels were low, they were inversely associated with daily cigarettes smoked. Furthermore, E1G level was negatively associated with both self-reported need for and enjoyment of cigarettes smoked but not the number of cigarettes smoked. Examining the effect of hormonal change on smoking outcomes revealed a significant interaction between change in PdG and E1G on number of cigarettes smoked such that only a simultaneous drop or increase in both hormones was associated with a greater number of cigarettes. Hormonal change effects on need for and enjoyment of cigarettes were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: The present study suggests that (1) elevated progesterone levels lessen the propensity to smoke in women, (2) estrogen levels influence women's subjective experience of smoking, and (3) simultaneous drops or increases in these hormones are associated with increased smoking.

Perimenopausal vasomotor symptoms and the cortisol awakening response.

OBJECTIVE: Vasomotor symptoms (VMS) are associated with a poorer cardiovascular risk profile. Although the mechanisms underlying this relationship are poorly understood, alterations of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) stress axis have been hypothesized to play a role. This study examined the within- and between-subject relationship between VMS and cortisol in a sample of healthy perimenopausal women. METHODS: A total of 101 perimenopausal women, ages 45 to 55 years, were included in the study. Once a week for 12 weeks, participants completed a 24-hour hot flash diary assessing frequency and severity of VMS. They also provided two saliva samples for the measurement of the cortisol awakening response (CAR) - immediately upon waking and 30 minutes postwaking - and collected a urine sample for the measurement of a urinary metabolite of estradiol and progesterone: estrone-3-glucuronide and pregnanediol glucuronide, respectively. General linear models examined the between-subject relationship between mean VMS symptoms and mean CAR, whereas multilevel modeling was used to examine the relationship between within-person weekly changes on weekly CAR. RESULTS: Within-subject weekly change in VMS bother, frequency, and severity were not significantly related to weekly CAR. Several significant between-subject effects of VMS on the CAR were, however, observed such that total number of hot flashes, overall VMS severity, and VMS bother, were each associated with a blunted CAR. Results remained significant despite statistically adjusting for levels of estrone-3-glucuronide, pregnanediol glucuronide, and self-reported sleep quality. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that women who suffer from more severe and bothersome perimenopausal VMS exhibit alterations in HPA axis activity. Within an individual, short-term changes in VMS are, however, not associated with concurrent changes in HPA axis functioning. Further research investigating the role of the HPA axis in linking VMS and increased cardiovascular disease risk is warranted. : Video Summary:http://links.lww.com/MENO/A607.

Video Summary:http://links.lww.com/MENO/A607.

Size and emotion averaging: costs of dividing attention after all.

Perceptual averaging is a process by which sets of similar items are represented by summary statistics such as their average size, luminance, or orientation. Researchers have argued that this process is automatic, able to be carried out without interference from concurrent processing. Here, we challenge this conclusion and demonstrate a reliable cost of computing the mean size of circles distinguished by colour (Experiments 1 and 2) and the mean emotionality of faces distinguished by sex (Experiment 3). We also test the viability of two strategies that could have allowed observers to guess the correct response without computing the average size or emotionality of both sets concurrently. We conclude that although two means can be computed concurrently, doing so incurs a cost of dividing attention.

Throwing accuracy during prism adaptation: male advantage for throwing accuracy is independent of prism adaptation rate.

Previous studies have found that men are more accurate at throwing an object at a target than are women, independent of experience. However, these studies' results are based on average scores from multiple trials. As such, it is unknown whether the male advantage results from superior throwing accuracy or from a superior ability to calibrate subsequent throws. This study examined whether men can calibrate repeated throws more quickly and accurately than women, 25 men and 30 women were required to throw velcro-covered balls at a carpet-covered target, both with and without 10-diopter prism lenses. Participants had multiple trials in both conditions. Analyses examined whether there was a sex difference in the rate of adaptation to the prism lenses (as indicated by calibration of subsequent throws), instead of simply averaging all throwing accuracy scores and looking for an overall sex difference. Men threw the balls significantly more accurately than women, both with and without the prism lenses. However, there was no significant sex difference found on the rate of prism adaptation, as measured by improvement across the trials, i.e., calibration. Although men were more accurate at throwing balls overall, there was no sex difference in calibration of subsequent throws in adapting to the prism lenses, therefore indicating that the male advantage in throwing accuracy does not result from superior ability to calibrate subsequent throws but rather from superior throwing accuracy overall.

Female advantage for spatial location memory in both static and dynamic environments.

A female advantage has previously been found for spatial location tests of object memory. Previous studies have used static, 2-D tasks to test this advantage. This study used a computerized adaptation of the game Concentration to test object location memory in both a static and dynamic array of 24 pairs of line drawings. The dynamic version of this task was used to better reflect the dynamic real world in which we usually use object location memory. Consistent with previous research, we observed a female advantage. This advantage was found to a similar extent in both the static and dynamic versions of the task. The female advantage for object location memory is a concrete advantage in spatial cognition that females show on the Concentration Task, regardless of the nature of the presentation environment.