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European Journal of Clinical... Sep 2021The polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has genetic, epigenetic, metabolic and reproductive aspects, while its complex pathophysiology has not been conclusively deciphered. (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
The polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has genetic, epigenetic, metabolic and reproductive aspects, while its complex pathophysiology has not been conclusively deciphered.
AIM
The goal of this research was to screen the gene/gene products associated with PCOS and to predict any possible interactions with the highest possible fidelity.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
STRING v10.5 database and a confidence level of 0.7 were used.
RESULTS
A highly interconnected network of 48 nodes was created, where insulin (INS) appears to be the major hub. INS upstream and downstream defects were analysed and revealed that only the kisspeptin- and glucagon-coding genes were upstream of INS.
CONCLUSION
A metabolic dominance was inferred and discussed herein with its implications in puberty, obesity, infertility and cardiovascular function. This study, thus, may contribute to the resolution of a scientific conflict between the USA and EU definitions of the syndrome and/or provide a new P4 medicine approach.
Topics: Cardiovascular Diseases; Female; Gene Regulatory Networks; Humans; Infertility, Female; Obesity; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome; Protein Interaction Maps; Puberty
PubMed: 33955010
DOI: 10.1111/eci.13578 -
Nutrients Nov 2021Pesticide residues are largely found in daily consumed food because of their extensive use in farming and their long half-life, which prolongs their presence in the... (Review)
Review
Pesticide residues are largely found in daily consumed food because of their extensive use in farming and their long half-life, which prolongs their presence in the environment. Many of these pesticides act as endocrine-disrupting chemicals after pre- or postnatal exposure, significantly affecting, among other things, the time of puberty onset, progression, and completion. In humans, precocious or delayed puberty, and early or delayed sexual maturation, may entail several negative long-term health implications. In this review, we summarize the current evidence on the impact of endocrine-disrupting pesticides upon the timing of the landmarks of female and male puberty in both animals (vaginal opening, first estrus, and balanopreputial separation) and humans (thelarche, menarche, gonadarche). Moreover, we explore the possible mechanisms of action of the reviewed endocrine-disrupting pesticides on the human reproductive system. Access to safe, healthy, and nutritious food is fundamental for the maintenance of health and wellbeing. Eliminating the presence of hazardous chemicals in largely consumed food products may increase their nutritional value and be proven beneficial for overall health. Consequently, understanding the effects of human exposure to hazardous endocrine-disrupting pesticides, and legislating against their circulation, are of major importance for the protection of health in vulnerable populations, such as children and adolescents.
Topics: Adolescent; Agriculture; Animals; Dietary Exposure; Endocrine Disruptors; Environmental Pollutants; Female; Humans; Male; Pesticides; Puberty; Sexual Maturation; Young Adult
PubMed: 34836437
DOI: 10.3390/nu13114184 -
International Journal of Environmental... Nov 2021Adolescent pregnancy (occurring < age 20) is considered a public health problem that creates and perpetuates inequities, affecting not only women, but societies as a... (Review)
Review
Adolescent pregnancy (occurring < age 20) is considered a public health problem that creates and perpetuates inequities, affecting not only women, but societies as a whole globally. The efficacy of current approaches to reduce its prevalence is limited. Most existing interventions focus on outcomes without identifying or addressing upstream social and biological causes. Current rhetoric revolves around the need to change girls' individual behaviours during adolescence and puberty. Yet, emerging evidence suggests risk for adolescent pregnancy may be influenced by exposures taking place much earlier during development, starting as early as gametogenesis. Furthermore, pregnancy risks are determined by complex interactions between socio-structural and ecological factors including housing and food security, family structure, and gender-based power dynamics. To explore these interactions, we merge three complimentary theoretical frameworks: "Eco-Social", "Life History" and "Developmental Origins of Health and Disease". We use our new lens to discuss social and biological determinants of two key developmental milestones associated with age at first birth: age at girls' first menstrual bleed (menarche) and age at first sexual intercourse (coitarche). Our review of the literature suggests that promoting stable and safe environments starting at conception (including improving economic and social equity, in addition to gender-based power dynamics) is paramount to effectively curbing adolescent pregnancy rates. Adolescent pregnancy exacerbates and perpetuates social inequities within and across generations. As such, reducing it should be considered a key priority for public health and social change agenda.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Female; Humans; Menarche; Pregnancy; Pregnancy in Adolescence; Puberty; Young Adult
PubMed: 34831907
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph182212152 -
Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health :... Jun 2020Early puberty is associated with higher than average risk of antisocial behaviour, both in girls and boys. Most studies of such association, however, have focused on... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Early puberty is associated with higher than average risk of antisocial behaviour, both in girls and boys. Most studies of such association, however, have focused on psychosocial mediating and moderating factors. Few refer to coterminous hormonal measures.
AIM
The aim of this review is to consider the role of hormonal markers as potential mediating or moderating factors between puberty timing and antisocial behaviour.
METHOD
A systematic literature search was conducted searching Medline, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, Psycinfo, Cochrane and Google Scholar.
RESULTS
Just eight studies were found to fit criteria, all cross-sectional. Measurements were too heterogeneous to allow meta-analysis. The most consistent associations found were between adrenal hormones-both androgens and cortisol-which were associated with early adrenarche and antisocial behaviours in girls and later adrenarche and antisocial behaviour in boys.
CONCLUSIONS
The findings from our review suggest that longitudinal studies to test bidirectional hormone-behaviour associations with early or late puberty would be worthwhile. In view of the interactive processes between hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axes, integrated consideration of the hormonal end products is recommended.
Topics: Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior; Adrenarche; Androgens; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Child; Female; Gonadal Steroid Hormones; Gonadotropins, Pituitary; Hormones; Humans; Hydrocortisone; Male; Menarche; Puberty; Sexual Maturation; Time Factors
PubMed: 32535969
DOI: 10.1002/cbm.2149 -
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Apr 2023Continuous body temperature is a rich source of information on hormonal status, biological rhythms, and metabolism, all of which undergo stereotyped change across... (Review)
Review
Continuous body temperature is a rich source of information on hormonal status, biological rhythms, and metabolism, all of which undergo stereotyped change across adolescence. Due to the direct actions of these dynamic systems on body temperature regulation, continuous temperature may be uniquely suited to monitoring adolescent development and the impacts of exogenous reproductive hormones or peptides (e.g., hormonal contraception, puberty blockers, gender affirming hormone treatment). This mini-review outlines how traditional methods for monitoring the timing and tempo of puberty may be augmented by markers derived from continuous body temperature. These features may provide greater temporal precision, scalability, and reduce reliance on self-report, particularly in females. Continuous body temperature data can now be gathered with ease across a variety of wearable form factors, providing the opportunity to develop tools that aid in individual, parental, clinical, and researcher awareness and education.
Topics: Female; Adolescent; Humans; Adolescent Development; Body Temperature; Puberty
PubMed: 36821877
DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101221 -
Neuroendocrinology 2021The pubertal process is initiated as a result of complex neuroendocrine interactions within the preoptic and hypothalamic regions of the brain. These interactions... (Review)
Review
The pubertal process is initiated as a result of complex neuroendocrine interactions within the preoptic and hypothalamic regions of the brain. These interactions ultimately result in a timely increase in the secretion of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). Researchers for years have believed that this increase is due to a diminished inhibitory tone which has applied a prepubertal brake on GnRH secretion, as well as to the gradual development of excitatory inputs driving the increased release of the peptide. Over the years, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) has emerged as a prime candidate for playing an important role in the onset of puberty. This review will first present initial research demonstrating that IGF-1 increases in circulation as puberty approaches, is able to induce the release of prepubertal GnRH, and can advance the timing of puberty. More recent findings depict an early action of IGF-1 to activate a pathway that releases the inhibitory brake on prepubertal GnRH secretion provided by dynorphin, as well as demonstrating that IGF-1 can also act later in the process to regulate the synthesis and release of kisspeptin, a potent stimulator of GnRH at puberty.
Topics: Animals; Dynorphins; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone; Humans; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; Kisspeptins; Puberty
PubMed: 33406521
DOI: 10.1159/000514217 -
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology... Aug 2023Accelerated early growth and early timing of puberty or pubertal variant have been noticed as risk factors for metabolic syndrome, more frequently observed in children... (Review)
Review
Accelerated early growth and early timing of puberty or pubertal variant have been noticed as risk factors for metabolic syndrome, more frequently observed in children born small for gestational age (SGA) or children with premature adrenarche (PA). Children with SGA, especially if they make an accelerated catch-up growth in early life, carry a higher risk for long-term metabolic consequences, such as type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, multiple studies support that these children, either born SGA or with a history of PA, may have earlier pubertal timing, which is also associated with various metabolic risks. This review aims to summarize the recent studies investigating the association between early infantile growth, the timing of puberty, and metabolic risks to expand our knowledge and gain more insight into the underlying pathophysiology.
Topics: Infant, Newborn; Female; Humans; Child; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Puberty; Infant, Small for Gestational Age; Fetal Growth Retardation; Metabolic Syndrome
PubMed: 37029976
DOI: 10.1210/clinem/dgad202 -
Current Hypertension Reports Jul 2023Puberty is a complex process leading to physical, sexual, and psychosocial maturation. The changes in morphology and organ function during puberty also affect blood... (Review)
Review
Puberty is a complex process leading to physical, sexual, and psychosocial maturation. The changes in morphology and organ function during puberty also affect blood pressure (BP) regulation, and as a consequence (BP) values change noticeably, reaching values often higher than after reaching full maturity. In children entering puberty, BP, especially systolic, increases and then reaches adult values by the end of puberty. The mechanisms responsible for this process are complex and not fully understood. Sex hormones, growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-1, and insulin, whose production increases during puberty, significantly regulate BP through complex and overlapping mechanisms. During puberty, the incidence of arterial hypertension also increases, especially in children with excess body weight. The present paper presents the current state of knowledge regarding the influence of processes occurring during puberty on blood pressure.
Topics: Child; Adult; Humans; Blood Pressure; Hypertension; Body Mass Index; Puberty; Gonadal Steroid Hormones
PubMed: 37071287
DOI: 10.1007/s11906-023-01241-9 -
International Journal of Molecular... Mar 2021Chronic stress is encountered in our everyday life and is thought to contribute to a number of diseases. Many of these stress-related disorders display a sex bias.... (Review)
Review
Chronic stress is encountered in our everyday life and is thought to contribute to a number of diseases. Many of these stress-related disorders display a sex bias. Because glucocorticoid hormones are the main biological mediator of chronic stress, researchers have been interested in understanding the sexual dimorphism in glucocorticoid stress response to better explain the sex bias in stress-related diseases. Although not yet demonstrated for glucocorticoid regulation, sex chromosomes do influence sex-specific biology as soon as conception. Then a transient rise in testosterone start to shape the male brain during the prenatal period differently to the female brain. These organizational effects are completed just before puberty. The cerebral regions implicated in glucocorticoid regulation at rest and after stress are thereby impacted in a sex-specific manner. After puberty, the high levels of all gonadal hormones will interact with glucocorticoid hormones in specific crosstalk through their respective nuclear receptors. In addition, stress occurring early in life, in particular during the prenatal period and in adolescence will prime in the long-term glucocorticoid stress response through epigenetic mechanisms, again in a sex-specific manner. Altogether, various molecular mechanisms explain sex-specific glucocorticoid stress responses that do not exclude important gender effects in humans.
Topics: Adolescent; Animals; Child; Child Development; Embryonic Development; Genetic Association Studies; Glucocorticoids; Gonadal Hormones; Humans; Hydrocortisone; Puberty; Sex Characteristics; Sex Factors; Steroids; Stress, Physiological; Stress, Psychological
PubMed: 33808655
DOI: 10.3390/ijms22063139 -
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Apr 2021Total amygdala volumes develop in association with sex and puberty, and postmortem studies find neuronal numbers increase in a nuclei specific fashion across...
Total amygdala volumes develop in association with sex and puberty, and postmortem studies find neuronal numbers increase in a nuclei specific fashion across development. Thus, amygdala subregions and composition may evolve with age. Our goal was to examine if amygdala subregion absolute volumes and/or relative proportion varies as a function of age, sex, or puberty in a large sample of typically developing adolescents (N = 408, 43 % female, 10-17 years). Utilizing the in vivo CIT168 atlas, we quantified 9 subregions and implemented Generalized Additive Mixed Models to capture potential non-linear associations with age and pubertal status between sexes. Only males showed significant age associations with the basolateral ventral and paralaminar subdivision (BLVPL), central nucleus (CEN), and amygdala transition area (ATA). Again, only males showed relative differences in the proportion of the BLVPL, CEN, ATA, along with lateral (LA) and amygdalostriatal transition area (ASTA), with age. Using a best-fit modeling approach, age, and not puberty, was found to drive these associations. The results suggest that amygdala subregions show unique variations with age in males across adolescence. Future research is warranted to determine if our findings may contribute to sex differences in mental health that emerge across adolescence.
Topics: Adolescent; Amygdala; Child; Female; Humans; Male; Neural Pathways; Puberty; Sex Characteristics
PubMed: 33476872
DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100883