Childhood developmental environment affects adult intestinal inflammation levels: preliminary evidence from older adults in the United States.

Background: The Old Friends Hypothesis suggests limited exposure to symbionts during development leads to immune system dysregulation (e.g. allergies, autoimmunity) and inflammatory conditions (e.

The value of publicly engaged podcasting in human biology.

Podcasting about science may be popular, but does it motivate engagement? The Human Biology Association and American Journal of Human Biology (AJHB) cosponsor a podcast that highlights recent articles. We hypothesized that AJHB articles discussed on the podcast (n = 42) receive more online views than other articles from the same issues. We used Student's t-tests to compare mean article views and found podcasted articles received more views, but the difference was not significant.

Hyperandrogenism associated with polycystic ovary syndrome may have a protective effect against fracture risk in female athletes: A pilot study.

Objectives: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), characterized by polycystic ovaries, anovulation, and hyperandrogenism, is believed to be an evolutionary mismatch disease. Past research has examined PCOS as a uniform disease, despite variation in phenotypes across diagnostic categories, but establishing an evolutionary mismatch requires a focus on individual traits. We suggest PCOS hyperandrogenism may have been beneficial in ancestral environments because it reduced fracture risk and associated morbidity and mortality due to increased bone mineral density (BMD).