One of the most common reported postpartum concerns, linked with relationship dissatisfaction, is how body image will affect sexuality. Outside of the postpartum period, feeling more satisfied with one's body is linked with feeling more sexually and relationally satisfied, with some cross-sectional evidence that sexual satisfaction mediates these associations. This dyadic daily experience study examined how new parents' daily satisfaction with their own and their partner's bodies relates to their own sexual satisfaction, and in turn, their own and their partner's relationship satisfaction during a vulnerable time in their sexual and romantic relationship-3- to 4-months postpartum.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Tumor genomic testing (TGT) is standard-of-care for most patients with advanced/metastatic cancer. Despite established guidelines, patient education prior to TGT is frequently omitted. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a concise 4 min video for patient education prior to TGT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultiple studies have reported new or exacerbated persistent or resistant hypertension in patients previously infected with COVID-19. We used literature-based discovery to identify and prioritize multi-scalar explanatory biology that relates resistant hypertension to COVID-19. Cross-domain text mining of 33+ million PubMed articles within a comprehensive knowledge graph was performed using SemNet 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGender differences in appraisals of first intercourse are among the largest in sexuality research, with women indicating less satisfying "sexual debuts" than men. Dispositional or "actor-level" explanations for this gender gap are pervasive, yet research has largely examined heterosexual debuts in which actor gender and partner gender are confounded. We assessed whether women's less satisfying sexual debuts are better explained by actor gender or partner gender, comparing experiences of women who debuted with men (WDM) with those of men and women who debuted with women (MDW, WDW).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe prevailing theory on relationship judgments for interaction attributes suggests individuals tend to underestimate a romantic partner's expressions of compassionate love and that such underestimation is beneficial for the relationship. Yet, limited research has incorporated dyadic perspectives to assess how biased perceptions are associated with both partners' outcomes. In two daily studies of couples, we used distinct analytical approaches (Truth and Bias Model; Dyadic Response Surface Analysis) to inform perspectives on how biased perceptions are interrelated and predict relationship satisfaction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntraperitoneal (i.p.) experimental models in mice can recapitulate the process of i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGiven the powerful implications of relationship quality for health and well-being, a central mission of relationship science is explaining why some romantic relationships thrive more than others. This large-scale project used machine learning (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRomantic relationships help people meet needs for connection and emotional and sexual fulfillment. In the current research, we investigate an unexplored response to feeling sexually and relationally unfulfilled: reflecting on positive sexual experiences with past partners (or ). Across three studies, people low in attachment avoidance (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn most long-term romantic relationships, partners experience sexual conflicts of interest in which one partner declines the other partner's sexual advances. We investigated the distinct ways people reject a partner's advances (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSituations in which one partner is interested in having sex but the other partner is not "in the mood" are common in relationships. We extend previous work on sexual communal strength-the motivation to be responsive to a partner's sexual needs-to demonstrate that in addition to the motivation to meet a partner's need to have sex, the motivation to be understanding about a partner's need not to engage in sex is uniquely associated with sexual and relationship satisfaction. In Study 1, we adapted a measure of sexual communal strength for having sex (SCSS) to create a new measure of sexual communal strength for not having sex (SCSN).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMen's sexual overperception bias-where men tend to perceive greater sexual interest in women's behavior than actually exists-is a well-documented finding in previous research. All of the existing research, however, has tested this effect in the context of initial encounters or for fictitious or unknown targets. No research currently exists on how people perceive their romantic partner's sexual desire in the context of ongoing, intimate relationships.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBinge eating disorders are characterized by episodes of intense consumption of high-calorie food. In recently developed animal models of binge eating, rats given intermittent access to such food escalate their consumption over time. Consumption of calorie-dense food is associated with neurochemical changes in the nucleus accumbens, including dopamine release and alterations in dopamine and opioid receptor expression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA key function of the nucleus accumbens is to promote vigorous reward seeking, but the corresponding neural mechanism has not been identified despite many years of research. Here, we study cued flexible approach behavior, a form of reward seeking that strongly depends on the accumbens, and we describe a robust, single-cell neural correlate of behavioral vigor in the excitatory response of accumbens neurons to reward-predictive cues. Well before locomotion begins, this cue-evoked excitation predicts both the movement initiation latency and the speed of subsequent flexible approach responses, but not those of stereotyped, inflexible responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBinge eating disorders are characterized by discrete episodes of rapid and excessive food consumption. In rats, giving intermittent access to sweet fat food mimics this aspect of binge eating. These models typically employ solid food; however, the total amount consumed depends on motivation, palatability and satiety, which are difficult to dissociate with solid food.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurons are functionally segregated into discrete populations that perform specific computations. These computations, mediated by neuron-neuron electrochemical signaling, form the neural basis of behavior. Thus fundamental to a brain-based understanding of behavior is the precise determination of the contribution made by specific neurotransmitters to behaviorally relevant neural activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To determine whether elevation of intraocular pressure (IOP) triggers mitochondrial fission and ultrastructural changes and alters optic atrophy type 1 (OPA1) expression and distribution in the optic nerve (ON) of glaucomatous DBA/2J mice.
Methods: IOP in the eyes of DBA/2J mice was measured, and mitochondrial structural changes were assessed by conventional electron microscopy (EM) and EM tomography. Cytochrome c oxidase IV subunit 1 (COX), OPA1, and Dnm1, a rat homologue of dynamin-related protein-1, mRNA were measured by quantitative (q)PCR.