Articles

Sex differences in urea breath test results for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection: a large cross-sectional study

Helicobacter pylori causes peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer only in a subset of infected persons. Sex differences were shown in results of urea breath test (UBT), a commonly used test for the diagnosis of

Authors: Ido Eisdorfer, Varda Shalev, Sophy Goren, Gabriel Chodick and Khitam Muhsen

Sex-specific phenotypes of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism in aged mice

Sex and age play a role in the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction (TD), but their interrelationship for manifestation of hyper- and hypothyroidism is still not well understood. Using a murine model, we asked wh...

Authors: Helena Rakov, Kathrin Engels, Georg Sebastian Hönes, Klaudia Brix, Josef Köhrle, Lars Christian Moeller, Denise Zwanziger and Dagmar Führer

SP-A2 contributes to miRNA-mediated sex differences in response to oxidative stress: pro-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and anti-oxidant pathways are involved

Human innate host defense molecules, surfactant protein A1 (SP-A1), and SP-A2 differentially affect the function and proteome of the alveolar macrophage (AM). We hypothesized that SP-A genes differentially reg...

Authors: George T. Noutsios, Nithyananda Thorenoor, Xuesheng Zhang, David S. Phelps, Todd M. Umstead, Faryal Durrani and Joanna Floros

Stress amplifies sex differences in primate prefrontal profiles of gene expression

Stress is a recognized risk factor for mood and anxiety disorders that occur more often in women than men. Prefrontal brain regions mediate stress coping, cognitive control, and emotion. Here, we investigate s...

Authors: Alex G. Lee, Megan Hagenauer, Devin Absher, Kathleen E. Morrison, Tracy L. Bale, Richard M. Myers, Stanley J. Watson, Huda Akil, Alan F. Schatzberg and David M. Lyons

Regulatory and evolutionary signatures of sex-biased genes on both the X chromosome and the autosomes

Sex is an important but understudied factor in the genetics of human diseases. Analyses using a combination of gene expression data, ENCODE data, and evolutionary data of sex-biased gene expression in human ti...

Authors: Jiangshan J. Shen, Ting-You Wang and Wanling Yang

Sex influences eQTL effects of SLE and Sjögren’s syndrome-associated genetic polymorphisms

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) are autoimmune disorders characterized by autoantibodies, dysregulated B cells, and notably high female-to-male incidence ratios. Genome-...

Authors: Magdalena Lindén, Jorge I. Ramírez Sepúlveda, Tojo James, Gudny Ella Thorlacius, Susanna Brauner, David Gómez-Cabrero, Tomas Olsson, Ingrid Kockum and Marie Wahren-Herlenius

The protective role of estrogen and estrogen receptors in cardiovascular disease and the controversial use of estrogen therapy

Epidemiologic studies have previously suggested that premenopausal females have reduced incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) when compared to age-matched males, and the incidence and severity of CVD incre...

Authors: Andrea Iorga, Christine M. Cunningham, Shayan Moazeni, Gregoire Ruffenach, Soban Umar and Mansoureh Eghbali

Sex differences in drugs: the development of a comprehensive knowledge base to improve gender awareness prescribing

Authors: Linnéa Karlsson Lind, Mia von Euler, Seher Korkmaz and Karin Schenck-Gustafsson

Genetic sex determination of mice by simplex PCR

Investigating fetal development in mice necessitates the determination of fetal sex. However, whilst the sex of adult and juvenile mice can be readily distinguished from anogenital distance, the sex of fetal a...

Authors: Simon James Tunster

The effects of 17 alpha-estradiol to inhibit inflammation in vitro

17 Alpha-estradiol (17 α-E2) is a natural, non-feminizing stereoisomer of 17 beta-estradiol (17 β-E2). Whereas much is known about the physiological effects of 17 β-E2, much less is known about 17 α-E2. For ex...

Authors: Roberta S. Santos, Luciana A. de Fatima, Aaron P. Frank, Everardo M. Carneiro and Deborah J. Clegg

Sex differences in thermal detection and thermal pain threshold and the thermal grill illusion: a psychophysical study in young volunteers

Sex-related differences in human thermal and pain sensitivity are the subject of controversial discussion. The goal of this study in a large number of subjects was to investigate sex differences in thermal and...

Authors: Beate Averbeck, Lena Seitz, Florian P. Kolb and Dieter F. Kutz

Sex chromosomes drive gene expression and regulatory dimorphisms in mouse embryonic stem cells

Pre-implantation embryos exhibit sexual dimorphisms in both primates and rodents. To determine whether these differences reflected sex-biased expression patterns, we generated transcriptome profiles for six 40...

Authors: Rachael J. Werner, Bryant M. Schultz, Jacklyn M. Huhn, Jaroslav Jelinek, Jozef Madzo and Nora Engel

Sex differences in microRNA-mRNA networks: examination of novel epigenetic programming mechanisms in the sexually dimorphic neonatal hypothalamus

Sexual differentiation of the male brain, and specifically the stress circuitry in the hypothalamus, is primarily driven by estrogen exposure during the perinatal period. Surprisingly, this single hormone prom...

Authors: Christopher P. Morgan and Tracy L. Bale

Genomic upregulation of cardiac Cav1.2α and NCX1 by estrogen in women

Women have a higher risk of lethal arrhythmias than men in long QT syndrome type 2 (LQTS2), but the mechanisms remain uncertain due to the limited availability of healthy control human tissue. We have previous...

Authors: Rita Papp, Glenna C. L. Bett, Agnieszka Lis, Randall L. Rasmusson, István Baczkó, András Varró and Guy Salama

Long-term follow-up in primary Sjögren’s syndrome reveals differences in clinical presentation between female and male patients

Despite men being less prone to develop autoimmune diseases, male sex has been associated with a more severe disease course in several systemic autoimmune diseases. In the present study, we aimed to investigat...

Authors: Jorge I. Ramírez Sepúlveda, Marika Kvarnström, Per Eriksson, Thomas Mandl, Katrine Brække Norheim, Svein Joar Johnsen, Daniel Hammenfors, Malin V. Jonsson, Kathrine Skarstein, Johan G. Brun, Lars Rönnblom, Helena Forsblad-d’Elia, Sara Magnusson Bucher, Eva Baecklund, Elke Theander, Roald Omdal…

Sex difference in thermal preference of adult mice does not depend on presence of the gonads

The thermoneutral zone (TNZ) is a species-specific range of ambient temperature (T _a), at which mammals can maintain a constant body temperature with the lowest metabolic rate. The TNZ ...

Authors: Kasiphak Kaikaew, Jacobie Steenbergen, Axel P. N. Themmen, Jenny A. Visser and Aldo Grefhorst

Is HPA axis reactivity in childhood gender-specific? A systematic review

In adults, hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activity shows sexual dimorphism, and this is thought to be a mechanism underlying sex-specific disease incidence. Evidence is scarce on whether these sex d...

Authors: Jonneke J. Hollanders, Bibian van der Voorn, Joost Rotteveel and Martijn J. J. Finken

Inclusion of sex and gender in biomedical research: survey of clinical research proposed at the University of Pennsylvania

The 2015 National Institutes of Health (NIH) policy that sex be considered as a biological variable (SABV) is now a critical part of the peer-review process for NIH funding as well as publication in several hi...

Authors: Anne Freeman, Patrick Stanko, Lily N. Berkowitz, Neanta Parnell, Anastasia Zuppe, Tracy L. Bale, Tracy Ziolek and C. Neill Epperson

Sex differences in endogenous cortical network activity: spontaneously recurring Up/Down states

Several molecular and cellular processes in the vertebrate brain exhibit differences between males and females, leading to sexual dimorphism in the formation of neural circuits and brain organization. While st...

Authors: Charalambos Sigalas, Eleni Konsolaki and Irini Skaliora

Sex-dependent effects of maternal corticosterone and SSRI treatment on hippocampal neurogenesis across development

Postpartum depression affects approximately 15% of mothers and represents a form of early life adversity for developing offspring. Postpartum depression can be treated with prescription antidepressants like fl...

Authors: Aarthi R. Gobinath, Joanna L. Workman, Carmen Chow, Stephanie E. Lieblich and Liisa A. M. Galea

Sex differences in the development of vascular and renal lesions in mice with a simultaneous deficiency of Apoe and the integrin chain Itga8

Apoe-deficient (Apoe ^−/−) mice develop progressive atherosclerotic lesions with age but no severe renal pathology in the absence of additional challenges. We...

Authors: Ines Marek, Maurizio Canu, Nada Cordasic, Manfred Rauh, Gudrun Volkert, Fabian B. Fahlbusch, Wolfgang Rascher, Karl F. Hilgers, Andrea Hartner and Carlos Menendez-Castro

HDAC9 is an epigenetic repressor of kidney angiotensinogen establishing a sex difference

Sexual difference has been shown in the pathogenesis of chronic kidney disease induced by hypertension. Females are protected from hypertension and related end-organ damage. Augmentation of renal proximal tubu...

Authors: Camille T. Bourgeois, Ryousuke Satou and Minolfa C. Prieto

Sex differences in rat placental development: from pre-implantation to late gestation

A male fetus is suggested to be more susceptible to in utero and birth complications. This may be due in part to altered morphology or function of the XY placenta. We hypothesised that sexual dimorphism begins at...

Authors: J. I. Kalisch-Smith, D. G. Simmons, M. Pantaleon and K. M. Moritz

Difference in clinical presentation between women and men in incident primary Sjögren’s syndrome

A more severe disease phenotype has been reported in men compared to women in several rheumatic diseases. However, studies have not conclusively established sex-related clinical features in primary Sjögren’s s...

Authors: Jorge I. Ramírez Sepúlveda, Marika Kvarnström, Susanna Brauner, Chiara Baldini and Marie Wahren-Herlenius

From sexless to sexy: Why it is time for human genetics to consider and report analyses of sex

Science has come a long way with regard to the consideration of sex differences in clinical and preclinical research, but one field remains behind the curve: human statistical genetics. The goal of this commen...

Authors: Matthew S. Powers, Phillip H. Smith, Sherry A. McKee and Marissa A. Ehringer

Does the sex of one’s co-twin affect height and BMI in adulthood? A study of dizygotic adult twins from 31 cohorts

The comparison of traits in twins from opposite-sex (OS) and same-sex (SS) dizygotic twin pairs is considered a proxy measure of prenatal hormone exposure. To examine possible prenatal hormonal influences on a...

Authors: Leonie H. Bogl, Aline Jelenkovic, Eero Vuoksimaa, Linda Ahrenfeldt, Kirsi H. Pietiläinen, Maria A. Stazi, Corrado Fagnani, Cristina D’Ippolito, Yoon-Mi Hur, Hoe-Uk Jeong, Judy L. Silberg, Lindon J. Eaves, Hermine H. Maes, Gombojav Bayasgalan, Danshiitsoodol Narandalai, Tessa L. Cutler…

Sex differences in insular cortex gyri responses to a brief static handgrip challenge

Cardiovascular disease varies between sexes, suggesting male-female autonomic control differences. Insular gyri help coordinate autonomic regulation and show a sex-dependent response to a sympathetic challenge.

Authors: Paul M. Macey, Nicholas S. Rieken, Jennifer A. Ogren, Katherine E. Macey, Rajesh Kumar and Ronald M. Harper

Muscle function and fatigability of trunk flexors in males and females

Optimal function of the abdominal muscles is necessary for several life functions including lifting and carrying tasks. Sex differences in strength and fatigability are established for many limb muscles and ba...

Authors: Rita E. Deering, Jonathon W. Senefeld, Tatyana Pashibin, Donald A. Neumann and Sandra K. Hunter

Do sex differences in CEOAEs and 2D:4D ratios reflect androgen exposure? A study in women with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome

Studies investigating the influence of perinatal hormone exposure on sexually differentiated traits would greatly benefit from biomarkers of these early hormone actions. Click-evoked otoacoustic emissions show...

Authors: Judy van Hemmen, Peggy T. Cohen-Kettenis, Thomas D. Steensma, Dick J. Veltman and Julie Bakker

Association between cannabis use and methadone maintenance treatment outcomes: an investigation into sex differences

Cannabis will soon become legalized in Canada, and it is currently unclear how this will impact public health. Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is the most common pharmacological treatment for opioid use ...

Authors: Laura Zielinski, Meha Bhatt, Nitika Sanger, Carolyn Plater, Andrew Worster, Michael Varenbut, Jeff Daiter, Guillaume Pare, David C. Marsh, Dipika Desai, James MacKillop, Meir Steiner, Stephanie McDermid Vaz, Lehana Thabane and Zainab Samaan

Sex differences in the association of phospholipids with components of the metabolic syndrome in young adults

There are differences in the prevalence and severity of diseases between males, females not taking hormonal contraceptives (non-HC females) and females taking hormonal contraceptives (HC females). The aim of t...

Authors: Sebastian Rauschert, Olaf Uhl, Berthold Koletzko, Trevor A. Mori, Lawrence J. Beilin, Wendy H. Oddy and Christian Hellmuth

Severe pulmonary hypertension in aging female apolipoprotein E-deficient mice is rescued by estrogen replacement therapy

Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is a multifunctional protein, and its deficiency leads to the development of atherosclerosis in mice. Patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) have reduced expression of ApoE in lung t...

Authors: Soban Umar, Rod Partow-Navid, Gregoire Ruffenach, Andrea Iorga, Shayan Moazeni and Mansoureh Eghbali

Sex differences in variability across timescales in BALB/c mice

Females are markedly underinvestigated in the biological and behavioral sciences due to the presumption that cyclic hormonal changes across the ovulatory cycle introduce excess variability to measures of inter...

Authors: Benjamin L. Smarr, Azure D. Grant, Irving Zucker, Brian J. Prendergast and Lance J. Kriegsfeld

Sex and age differences in the expression of liver microRNAs during the life span of F344 rats

Physiological factors such as age and sex have been shown to be risk factors for adverse effects in the liver, including liver diseases and drug-induced liver injury. Previously, we have reported age- and sex-...

Authors: Joshua C. Kwekel, Vikrant Vijay, Tao Han, Carrie L. Moland, Varsha G. Desai and James C. Fuscoe

Sex differences in the aging pattern of renin–angiotensin system serum peptidases

Serum peptidases, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), neutral endopeptidase (NEP), aminopeptidase N (APN), and aminopeptidase A (APA), are important elements of...

Authors: A. Fernández-Atucha, A. Izagirre, A. B. Fraile-Bermúdez, M. Kortajarena, G. Larrinaga, P. Martinez-Lage, E Echevarría and J. Gil

Bariatric surgery emphasizes biological sex differences in rodent hepatic lipid handling

Eighty percent of patients who receive bariatric surgery are women, yet the majority of preclinical studies are in male rodents. Because sex differences drive hepatic gene expression and overall lipid metaboli...

Authors: Bernadette E. Grayson, Ruth Gutierrez-Aguilar, Joyce E. Sorrell, Emily K. Matter, Michelle R. Adams, Philip Howles, Rebekah Karns, Randy J. Seeley and Darleen A. Sandoval

Gender-specific differences in hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis activity during childhood: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Gender-specific differences in hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activity have been postulated to emerge during puberty. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to test the hypothesis that g...

Authors: Bibian van der Voorn, Jonneke J. Hollanders, Johannes C. F. Ket, Joost Rotteveel and Martijn J. J. Finken

Corticotropin-releasing factor overexpression in mice abrogates sex differences in body weight, visceral fat, and food intake response to a fast and alters levels of feeding regulatory hormones

Corticotropin-releasing factor overexpressing (CRF-OE) male mice showed an inhibited feeding response to a fast, and lower plasma acyl ghrelin and Fos expression in the arcuate nucleus compared to wild-type (W...

Authors: Lixin Wang, Miriam Goebel-Stengel, Pu-Qing Yuan, Andreas Stengel and Yvette Taché

Sex-dependent alteration of cardiac cytochrome P450 gene expression by doxorubicin in C57Bl/6 mice

There is inconclusive evidence about the role of sex as a risk factor for doxorubicin (DOX)-induced cardiotoxicity. Recent experimental studies have shown that adult female rats are protected against DOX-induc...

Authors: Marianne K. O. Grant, Davis M. Seelig, Leslie C. Sharkey and Beshay N. Zordoky

A primer on the use of mouse models for identifying direct sex chromosome effects that cause sex differences in non-gonadal tissues

In animals with heteromorphic sex chromosomes, all sex differences originate from the sex chromosomes, which are the only factors that are consistently different in male and female zygotes. In mammals, the imb...

Authors: Paul S. Burgoyne and Arthur P. Arnold

Sex differences in sympathetic innervation and browning of white adipose tissue of mice

The higher prevalence of obesity-related metabolic disease in males suggests that female sex hormones provide protective mechanisms against the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome. Because browning of white adi...

Authors: Sang-Nam Kim, Young-Suk Jung, Hyun-Jung Kwon, Je Kyung Seong, James G. Granneman and Yun-Hee Lee

Pancreatic cancer risk in relation to sex, lifestyle factors, and pre-diagnostic anthropometry in the Malmö Diet and Cancer Study

Lifestyle factors may influence the risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Whereas cigarette smoking is an established risk factor, the effects of high alcohol intake and obesity are more uncertain. The aim of ...

Authors: Gustav Andersson, Christoffer Wennersten, Signe Borgquist and Karin Jirström

Sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth patterns: a prospective population-based cohort study

The objective of this study was to assess whether sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth exist.

Authors: Zoe A. Broere-Brown, Esme Baan, Sarah Schalekamp-Timmermans, Bero O. Verburg, Vincent W. V. Jaddoe and Eric A. P. Steegers

Impact of gonadectomy on blood pressure regulation in ageing male and female rats

Sexual dimorphism in blood pressure has been associated with differential expression of the angiotensin II (AII) receptors and with activity of the nervous system. It is generally accepted that ageing affects ...

Authors: Wioletta Pijacka, Bethan Clifford, Dawid Walas, Chantal Tilburgs, Jaap A. Joles, Sarah McMullen and Simon C. Langley-Evans

Sex-related differences in the associations between plasma free fatty acid levels and clinical features in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Previous studies have indicated that inefficient energy utilization may play a pivotal role in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). However, whether plasma free fatty acid (FFA), a main energy substrate of heart...

Authors: Chengzhi Yang, Changlin Zhang, Jiansong Yuan, Jingang Cui, Shengwen Liu, Fenghuan Hu, Weixian Yang, Xuanye Bi and Shubin Qiao

Sex differences in outcomes after stroke among patients with low total cholesterol levels: a large hospital-based prospective study

Previous studies have shown that total cholesterol (TC) levels are associated with stroke outcomes, but sex differences in the association between TC levels, especially a low TC level, and ischemic stroke outc...

Authors: Guanen Zhou, Zhongping An, Wenjuan Zhao, Yan Hong, Haolin Xin, Xianjia Ning and Jinghua Wang

Comparisons of chromosome Y-substituted mouse strains reveal that the male-specific chromosome modulates the effects of androgens on cardiac functions

The C57BL/6J.Y^A/J mouse strain is a chromosome-substituted line where the original male-specific portion of chromosome Y (MSY) from C57BL/6J mice was substituted for that from A/J mice. In hearts from male C57BL/...

Authors: Samantha D. Praktiknjo, Sylvie Picard and Christian F. Deschepper

Sexual dimorphism in the mast cell transcriptome and the pathophysiological responses to immunological and psychological stress

Biological sex plays a prominent role in the prevalence and severity of a number of important stress-related gastrointestinal and immune-related diseases including IBS and allergy/anaphylaxis. Despite the esta...

Authors: Emily Mackey, Saravanan Ayyadurai, Calvin S. Pohl, Susan D’ Costa, Yihang Li and Adam J. Moeser

Gene-specific sex effects on eosinophil infiltration in leishmaniasis

Sex influences susceptibility to many infectious diseases, including some manifestations of leishmaniasis. The disease is caused by parasites that enter to the skin and can spread to the lymph nodes, spleen, l...

Authors: Martina Slapničková, Valeriya Volkova, Marie Čepičková, Tatyana Kobets, Matyáš Šíma, Milena Svobodová, Peter Demant and Marie Lipoldová

The role of sex-differential biology in risk for autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental condition that affects approximately four times as many males as females, a strong sex bias that has not yet been fully explained. Understanding the causes of ...

Authors: Donna M. Werling