Reciprocal zebrafish-medaka hybrids reveal maternal control of zygotic genome activation timing

After fertilization, the sperm and egg contribute unequally to the newly formed zygote. While the sperm contributes mainly paternal DNA, the egg provides both maternal DNA and the bulk of the future embryonic cytoplasm. Most embryonic processes (like the onset of zygotic transcription) depend on maternally-provided cytoplasmic components, and it is largely unclear whether paternal components besides the centrosome play a role in the regulation of early embryogenesis. Here we report a reciprocal zebrafish-medaka hybrid system as a powerful tool to investigate paternal vs. maternal influence during early development. By combining expression of zebrafish Bouncer on the medaka egg with artificial egg activation, we demonstrate the in vitro generation of paternal zebrafish x maternal medaka (reripes) hybrids. These hybrids complement the previously established paternal medaka x maternal zebrafish (latio) hybrids (Herberg et al., 2018). As proof of concept, we investigated maternal vs. paternal control of zygotic genome activation (ZGA) timing using this reciprocal hybrid system. RNA-seq analysis of the purebred fish species and hybrids revealed that the onset of ZGA is primarily governed by the egg. Overall, our study establishes the reciprocal zebrafish-medaka hybrid system as a versatile tool to dissect parental control mechanisms during early development.

Paul’s Defense: Masculinity and Authority in 2 Corinthians 10–13

In 2 Cor. 10–13, Paul tries to prove his authority as a reliable leader by using two different masculinity standards. Paul manifests his power and control over the Corinthian church members by using an image of paterfamilias (11.2-3; 12.14). Paternal control of others was an essential element of hegemonic masculinity in the Greco-Roman world. Moreover, Paul proves his manliness by revealing his endurance and submission to divine authority (11.21b–12.10) according to the Hellenistic Jewish masculinity. I argue that Paul is embedded in these different cultural assumptions regarding masculinity and that he refers to these assumptions to persuade Gentile and Jewish groups in the Corinthian church.

The Delayed Effect of Parental Control on the Adaptation of Men and Women in Adulthood

Parental control is an integral part of parent-child relations and a traditional tool of socialization. However, numerous negative effects of parental intervention in the child’s inner world are known. This study clarifies the delayed effects of parental control and a detached parenting style. 270 men and women are aged 35-44 years filled in the questionnaires of hardiness, the sovereignty of the psychological space, and perceived behavior by the father and mother. The results confirmed the prevalence of parental control, especially its manifestations on the part of mothers about daughters. In adult women's lives, mothers' directiveness correlates with hostility and violation of personal boundaries as regards the body, personal territory, things, habits, social connections, and values; men noted maternal interference in the formation of sovereign habits and values. At the same time, parental non-involvement is widespread; the autonomy of fathers about children is significantly greater than mothers. Correlation analysis confirmed the assumption that parental directivity/autonomy determines the hardiness and sense of integrity of personal boundaries in adulthood. The effect of parental control in adulthood depends on the gender of the children and the parents. Maternal control is a strong negative factor for daughters, while maternal autonomy positively correlates with indicators of hardiness. Paternal control was a neutral factor for daughters. For sons, the directivity of father and mother contributes to the formation of resilience. The conclusion was made about the need for differentiation of positive and negative effects of parental control, taking into account gender positions.

The role of parenting and parental criticism on the body image and alexithymia during adulthood and emerging adulthood

Literature underline that the perception of parents as strongly critical can influence the tendency to self-criticize and, as a consequence, to be more vulnerable in manifesting problems in the developmental and adulthood age, such as the risk of dropouts and relapses in the eating disorders, negative results in the worsening of anxiety disorders, the possible presence of alexithymia or obsessive compulsive disorder. The purposes of the present study was to investigate the possible influence of parenting style and parental criticism on both the body image construct (body care, body protection, and comfort in touch) and the possible presence of alexithymia in a group of Italian adolescents and adults. The present study was conducted on a group of 140 subjects, aged between 19 and 36 (M = 24.71; SD = 5.11), of which 59 men (42.1%) and 81 women (57.9%). The participants were assigned to complete the following questionnaires: Parental Bonding Instrument, Twenty-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Perceived Criticism Inventory, and Body Checking Questionnaire. The results of this study support the research hypothesis that low age, a high level of paternal control and parental criticism can predict a high level of difficulty in communicating feelings. Furthermore, the importance attributed to appearance can be predicted by multiple variables, such as gender, age, mother care, father control and parental hypercriticism.

The interplay of perceived parenting practices and bullying victimization among Hong Kong adolescents

This study explored the interplay of adolescents’ perceived maternal and paternal practices and their associations with traditional and cyberbullying victimization experiences among adolescents. Participants included 439 Grades 7–11 adolescents (242 girls) from five secondary schools in Hong Kong. Moderation analyses were conducted controlling for adolescents sex. No strengthening effects were found between maternal × paternal control and maternal × paternal autonomy-support in relation to bullying victimization experiences. No buffering effect of parental autonomy-support was evident in the association between parental control and traditional bullying victimization. However, high levels of paternal autonomy-support were associated with more frequent reports of cyberbullying victimization at high levels of maternal control but not low levels. A similar pattern emerged for maternal autonomy-support and paternal control. These findings imply that inconsistent parenting might increase adolescents’ likelihood for cyberbullying victimization.

Prescribed analgesics in pregnancy and risk of childhood asthma

Many epidemiological studies have reported a positive association between prenatal exposure to paracetamol and childhood wheezing and asthma. We investigated whether the link between prenatal analgesic exposure and asthma/wheeze is specific to paracetamol, and whether it is causal or confounded.Using linked Swedish health register data we investigated the relation between various prescribed analgesics in pregnancy and the risk of childhood asthma/wheeze in a population of 492 999, and used negative paternal control and sibling comparison approaches to explore unmeasured confounding.After controlling for potential confounders, prescribed opioids, antimigraine drugs and paracetamol were all positively associated with childhood asthma/wheeze risk at all ages (e.g. for asthma/wheeze at age 4 years: adjusted OR 1.39 (95% CI 1.30–1.49), 1.19 (95% CI 1.01–1.40) and 1.47 (95% CI 1.36–1.59) for opioids, antimigraine drugs and paracetamol, respectively). The results of the paternal control analysis did not suggest the presence of unmeasured confounding by genetics or shared environment. However, the sibling control analysis broadly suggested that associations between prenatal exposure to the analgesics and asthma/wheeze were confounded by specific maternal factors (e.g. for asthma/wheeze at age 4 years: adjusted OR 0.91 (95% CI 0.62–1.31), 0.50 (95% CI 0.17–1.45) and 0.80 (95% CI 0.50–1.29) for opioids, antimigraine drugs and paracetamol, respectively).We propose that analgesic use in pregnancy does not cause childhood asthma/wheeze and that the association is confounded by unmeasured factors that are intrinsic to the mother, such as chronic pain or anxiety.

Male spiders control offspring sex ratio through greater production of female-determining sperm

Sex allocation theory predicts that when sons and daughters have different reproductive values, parents should adjust offspring sex ratio towards the sex with the higher fitness return. Haplo-diploid species directly control offspring sex ratio, but species with chromosomal sex determination (CSD) were presumed to be constrained by Mendelian segregation. There is now increasing evidence that CSD species can adjust sex ratio strategically, but the underlying mechanism is not well understood. One hypothesis states that adaptive control is more likely to evolve in the heterogametic sex through a bias in gamete production. We investigated this hypothesis in males as the heterogametic sex in two social spider species that consistently show adaptive female-biased sex ratio and in one subsocial species that is characterized by equal sex ratio. We quantified the production of male (0) and female (X) determining sperm cells using flow cytometry, and show that males of social species produce significantly more X-carrying sperm than 0-sperm, on average 70%. This is consistent with the production of more daughters. Males of the subsocial species produced a significantly lower bias of 54% X-carrying sperm. We also investigated whether inter-genomic conflict between hosts and their endosymbionts may explain female bias. Next generation sequencing showed that five common genera of bacterial endosymbionts known to affect sex ratio are largely absent, ruling out that endosymbiont bacteria bias sex ratio in social spiders. Our study provides evidence for paternal control over sex allocation through biased gamete production as a mechanism by which the heterogametic sex in CSD species adaptively adjust offspring sex ratio.