(Press-News.org) Birth control is used worldwide by more than 60 million women. Since its introduction, it has changed certain aspects of women's lives including family roles, gender roles and social life. New research in The Journal of Sexual Medicine found a link between birth control and women's preferences for psychophysical traits in a sexual mate.
The researchers utilized a PMI (Partner's Masculinity Index) to determine the male traits that women found attractive during the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle. The participants were from Central Italy and divided into two groups – one that completed a questionnaire to verify the structure of the PMI, and another to determine the pill's influence in mate selection.
The PMI, which consisted of 20 items, was used to assess the degree of masculinity in a desired mate. It referred to concepts of physical, psychological, and behavioral "masculinity" as an indicator of genetic fitness.
The results indicated that, with regard to mate selection, taking the pill may psychologically influence women's preference for certain characteristics of an ideal sexual partner. In particular, it was hypothesized that indicators of masculinity would be considered more attractive in the central phase of the cycle (between 11th and 21st day) than other phases as well for both pill and non-pill users.
INFORMATION: END
Does birth control impact women's choice of sexual partners?
2014-05-19
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Teens who participate in sports show lower levels of hazardous drinking
2014-05-19
New research in Criminal Behavior and Mental Health aimed to find the relationship between participation in organized sports and an increase in hazardous drinking. Unlike previous research, the study focused on an underrepresented group – young offenders – adolescents who were either excluded from school or involved with the justice system.
93 British male young offenders from a local Youth Offending Team participated in the study, as well as 53 non-offenders from local schools. Both groups had similarly low socioeconomic status. Participants were asked to partake in ...
Citizen scientists map the flyways of North American birds
2014-05-19
Flyways used by migratory birds as they travel across America have long been a topic of fascination for ornithologists. For larger species like waterfowl that are easily visible during their migratory flights, these flyways have been described, but until now the flyways for smaller-bodied birds have been largely based on conjecture.
New research in the Journal of Biogeography has used analyses of information from the eBird citizen-science database to describe week by week the distributions of 93 North American land birds. By determining the level of similarity in the ...
Wildfires around Lake Baikal, Russia
2014-05-19
Lake Baikal, which is usually still frozen over at this time of year, can clearly be seen in the image. At this time, though, the lake has lost all of its ice coverage already even though snow still surrounds it. Temperatures in this region have skyrocketed in the past few weeks to the 70s prompting outbreaks of fires. Temperatures are usually cooler until late July/early August when the bulk of the wildfires in this area normally erupt. Careless handling with fire and withered dry grass fires on the croplands reportedly were the main reasons for the fires.
The Voice ...
Several new apple varieties recommended for growers
2014-05-19
PARMA, ID – 'Fuji' apples have become increasingly popular among consumers, but the apple variety faces some challenges on its path to full consumer appreciation. Research has determined that "consumer acceptance" of apples depends largely on fruit color, size, eating quality, and texture. Consumers are very discerning: poor color can drastically reduce the value of red apples, even if their size is acceptable. The poor and inconsistent peel color of 'Fuji' apple strains has limited the apple's marketability. The authors of a new study say that the introduction of new 'Fuji' ...
Making better medicines with a handful of chemical building blocks
2014-05-19
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Soon, making and improving medical drugs could be as easy for chemists as stacking blocks is for a child.
University of Illinois chemist Martin Burke, a pioneer of a technique that constructs complex molecules from simple chemical "building blocks," led a group that found that thousands of compounds in a class of molecules called polyenes – many of which have great potential as drugs – can be built simply and economically from a scant one dozen different building blocks.
The researchers published their findings in the journal Nature Chemistry.
"We ...
Improved supercapacitors for super batteries, electric vehicles
2014-05-19
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have developed a novel nanometer scale ruthenium oxide anchored nanocarbon graphene foam architecture that improves the performance of supercapacitors, a development that could mean faster acceleration in electric vehicles and longer battery life in portable electronics.
The researchers found that supercapacitors, an energy storage device like batteries and fuel cells, based on transition metal oxide modified nanocarbon graphene foam electrode could work safely in aqueous electrolyte and deliver ...
Is Duloxetine more or less effective than Fluoxetine in children and teens with MDD?
2014-05-19
New Rochelle, NY, May 19, 2014—Two studies of the anti-depressive drug duloxetine, a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI), compared its effectiveness and safety to either fluoxetine or placebo in children and adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD). The results of these first controlled trials of duloxetine in pediatric patients with MDD are published in Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The articles are available free on the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology.
Graham ...
Children who exercise have better body-fat distribution, regardless of their weight
2014-05-19
URBANA, Ill. – Maybe the numbers on the scale aren't alarming, but that doesn't mean that healthy-weight children get a pass on exercising, according to a new University of Illinois study published in Pediatrics.
"The FITKids study demonstrates the extent to which physical activity can improve body composition, and that's important because it matters to your health where fat is stored. But the study is also interesting for what happened in the control group to the kids who didn't exercise," said Naiman Khan, a postdoctoral researcher in the U of I's Division of Nutritional ...
New 'T-ray' tech converts light to sound for weapons detection, medical imaging
2014-05-19
ANN ARBOR—A device that essentially listens for light waves could help open up the last frontier of the electromagnetic spectrum—the terahertz range.
So-called T-rays, which are light waves too long for human eyes to see, could help airport security guards find chemical and other weapons. They might let doctors image body tissues with less damage to healthy areas. And they could give astronomers new tools to study planets in other solar systems. Those are just a few possible applications.
But because terahertz frequencies fall between the capabilities of the specialized ...
Study shows dementia patients benefit from holistic exercise program
2014-05-19
Philadelphia, PA, May 19, 2014 – While dementia patients can often suffer from depression and declining physical and mental ability, exercise has been shown to help improve both their physical and psychological wellbeing. Researchers at Teesside University in the U.K. investigated how combining cognitive activities and elements of yoga, tai chi, qigong and meditation with routine physical exercise affected dementia patients. They found that a holistic exercise program focusing on both mind and body can help improve quality of life for dementia patients. Their findings are ...