Maladaptive defense mechanisms are associated with decoupling of testosterone from sexual desire in women of reproductive age

O presente artigo contém uma errata, disponível em: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15294145.2015.1108503

Quantifying aggressive behavior in zebrafish

Aggression is a complex behavior that influences social relationships and can be seen as adaptive or maladaptive depending on the context and intensity of expression. A model organism suitable for genetic dissection of the underlying neural mechanisms of aggressive behavior is still needed. Zebrafish has already proven to be a powerful vertebrate model organism for the study of normal and pathological brain function. Despite the fact that zebrafish is a gregarious species that forms shoals, when allowed to interact in pairs, both males and females express aggressive behavior and establish dominance hierarchies. Here, we describe two protocols that can be used to quantify aggressive behavior in zebrafish, using two different paradigms: (1) staged fights between real opponents and (2) mirror-elicited fights. We also discuss the methodology for the behavior analysis, the expected results for both paradigms, and the advantages and disadvantages of each paradigm in face of the specific goals of the study.

Poorer subjective sleep quality is related to higher fantasy-induced sexual arousal in women of reproductive age

Lack of sleep enhances erections and lubrication the next day. This raises the possibility that poorer subjective sleep quality is related to sexual arousal. To test this hypothesis, sexual arousal was elicited in 70 Portuguese women of reproductive age by means of fantasy. The level of salivary testosterone before and shortly after fantasy was determined by luminescence immunoassays. Participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), reported their sexual arousal before and during fantasy, and how anxious they were after the fantasy. The hypothesis was confirmed. Anxiety did not explain the association, but testosterone response (poststimulus minus baseline) had a slight explanatory effect.