Lay Summary
Blue tit females that defend themselves aggressively are passive when they defend offspring, but this relationship is opposite in males. Our findings imply that the 2 sexes differentially ...value themselves versus their young possibly because of the different reproductive roles they have.
The direction of covariation in behavioral traits (a behavioral syndrome) is typically the same in males and females, although intersexual differences in life history could lead to intersexual heterogeneity in syndrome structure. We explored whether a behavioral syndrome was the same in both sexes. We recorded 2 metrics of nest defense in wild blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus: 1) Nest defense of a female around the time her eggs hatch (hatching defense), 2) nest defense of the male and female parent when their offspring was 16 days old (nestling defense), and 3) handling aggression. We used repeated records of these behaviors collected on 392 females and 363 males during 2007–2012 in a hierarchical mixed model to separate the between-individual from the residual (co)variances. We find that 1) hatching defense is not repeatable across breeding seasons (but highly repeatable within years). 2) Nestling defense intensity is 38% repeatable in males and females. 3) Contrary to our expectation, females that defended their nestlings more intensively were less aggressive when being handled (negative between-individual correlation), but 4) nestling defense and handling aggression showed a positive between-individual correlation in males although nonsignificantly. These correlations were completely masked on the phenotypic level by a low residual correlation. Individuals may hence display repeatable and correlated aggressive behavior in different contexts, but the direction of this syndrome may differ between the sexes. Intersexual heterogeneity in animal personality and syndrome structure remains poorly understood, and our findings hence urge future work to explicitly consider this heterogeneity.
Second malignant neoplasm (SMN) is one of the most severe long-term risks for childhood cancer survivors (CCS), significantly impacting long-term patient survival. While radiotherapy and chemotherapy ...are known risk factors, the observed inter-individual variability suggests a genetic component contributing to the risk of SMN. This article aims to conduct a systematic review of genetic factors implicated in the SMN risk among CCS. Searches were performed in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Sciences. Eighteen studies were included (eleven candidate gene studies, three genome-wide association studies, and four whole exome/genome sequencing studies). The included studies were based on different types of first cancers, investigated any or specific types of SMN, and focused mainly on genes involved in drug metabolism and DNA repair pathways. These differences in study design and methods used to characterize genetic variants limit the scope of the results and highlight the need for further extensive and standardized investigations. However, this review provides a valuable compilation of SMN risk-associated variants and genes, facilitating efficient replication and advancing our understanding of the genetic basis for this major risk for CCS.
Forest decline is reported in recent decades all over the world. However, developing a clear vision of the associated tree dysfunctioning is still a challenge for plant physiologists. In this study, ...our aim was to examine the seasonal carbon adjustments of beech trees in the case of a long-term drought-induced decline. We compared healthy and declining trees in terms of stem radial growth, phloem sugar content and δ13C, together with xylem carbohydrates and intra-ring δ13C patterns. The radial growth of declining trees was clearly reduced by lower growth rates and shorter growing season length (44 days compared with healthy trees). The soluble sugar content was higher in the xylem of declining trees compared with the healthy ones, but similar in the phloem except at the end of their growth. Declining trees increased their levels of xylem starch content from budburst until the date of maximal growth rate. These reserve dynamics revealed an early trade-off between radial growth and starch storage that might be the result of an active or passive process. For declining trees, the slight decrease of intra-ring cellulose δ13C pattern during the early growing season was attributed to the synthesis of 13C enriched starch. For healthy trees, δ13C patterns were characterized by a progressive 13C increase along the ring, attributed to increased water-use efficiency (WUE) in response to decreased water availability. Individual variations of the crown area were negatively correlated to the intra-ring δ13C amplitude, which was ascribed to variations in canopy WUE and resource competition for healthy trees and partly to variations in the amount of reserves accumulated during spring for declining ones. Our study highlights the carbon physiological adjustment of declining trees towards reducing spring growth while storing starch, which can be reflected in the individual intra-ring cellulose δ13C patterns.
It is commonly observed in many bird species that dependent offspring vigorously solicit for food transfers provided by their parents. However, the likelihood of receiving food does not only depend ...on the parental response, but also on the degree of sibling competition, at least in species where parents raise several offspring simultaneously. To date, little is known about whether and how individual offspring adjusts its begging strategy according to the entwined effects of need, state and competitive ability of itself and its siblings. We here manipulated the hunger levels of either the two heaviest or the two lightest blue tit (
) nestlings in a short-term food deprivation experiment. Our results showed that the lightest nestlings consistently begged more than the heaviest nestlings, an effect that was overruled by the tremendous increase in begging behaviour after food deprivation. Meanwhile, the amplified begging signals after food deprivation were the only cue for providing parents in their decision process. Furthermore, we observed flexible but state-independent begging behaviour in response to changes in sibling need. As opposed to our expectations, nestlings consistently increased their begging behaviour when confronted with food deprived siblings. Overall, our study highlights that individual begging primarily aims at increasing direct benefits, but nevertheless reflects the complexity of a young birds' family life, in addition to aspects of intrinsic need and state.
Background: Pediatric differentiated thyroid cancer (P-DTC) frequently presents with advanced disease. The study aim was to evaluate the outcome of P-DTC and a modified 2015 American Thyroid ...Association risk classification (ATA-R). Methods: A retrospective study of consecutive P-DTC patients was performed. The ATA-R for P-DTC was used with a cut-off of ≤ 5 N1a for low-risk. The outcome could be excellent response (ER) (thyroglobulin < 1 ng/mL and no evidence of disease (EoD) at imaging), biochemical incomplete response (BIR) (thyroglobulin ≥ 1 ng/mL and no EoD at imaging) or structural incomplete response (SIR) (EoD at imaging). Results: We studied 260 P-DTC (70% females; median age at diagnosis 14 years; 93% total thyroidectomy and 82% lymph node dissection). The ATA-R was low in 30% cases, intermediate in 15% and high in 55%, including 31.5% with distant metastases. Radioiodine treatment was administered in 218 (83.8%), and further radioiodine and surgery was performed in 113 (52%) and 76 (29%) patients, respectively. After a median follow-up of 8.2 years, the outcome was ER in 193 (74.3%), BIR in 17 (6.5%) and SIR in 50 (19.2%). Independent predictors of SIR or BIR at first and last visits were ATA-R intermediate or high. Conclusion: P-DTC has an excellent prognosis. Modified ATA-R is a useful prognostic tool in P-DTC to guide management.
The late effects of treatments for childhood cancers may lead to severe and multiple health conditions requiring hospitalisation. We aimed to estimate the hospitalisation rate among childhood cancer ...survivors (CCS) in France, to compare them with the general population and to investigate the associated factors. We matched total of 5439 5-year solid CCS diagnosed before the age of 21 between 1945 and 2000 by sex, birth year and region of residence to 386,073 individuals of the French general population. After linkage with the national hospital discharge database, we estimated the relative hospitalisation rate (RHR), the absolute excess risks (AERs) and the relative bed-day ratio (RBDR) during 2006-2018. We used generalised linear models to estimate associations between hospitalisation and survivor characteristics. Overall, the RHR was 2.49 (95% confidence interval CI 2.46-2.52) and the RBDR was 3.49 (95% CI 3.46-3.51). We found that neoplasm-related hospitalisations had the highest AER (105.8 per 1000 person-years), followed by genitourinary system diseases (34.4 per 1000 person-years) and cardiovascular diseases (19.2 per 1000 person-years). In adjusted analysis, CCS treated with chemotherapy (risk ratio RR 1.62, 95% CI 1.53-1.70), radiotherapy (RR 2.11, 95% CI 1.99-2.24) or both (RR 2.59, 95% CI 2.46-2.73) had a higher risk of hospitalisation than the ones who had not received any of these treatments. CCS treated during the past decades by chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy now had a higher hospitalisation risk for all main categories of diagnosis than the general population. Prevention strategies and medical surveillance programmes may promote a long-term decrease in the hospitalisation rate among CSS.
In adults' non-seminomatous germ cell tumours (NS-GCT), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) decline was identified as an important prognostic factor. We investigated its prognostic value in the French TGM95 ...study for childhood NS-GCT.
Three risk groups were defined: low risk (LR: localised and completely resected pS1, AFP<15000 ng/ml), with a ‘wait-and-see’ strategy; intermediate-risk (IR: localised incompletely resected, AFP<15000 ng/ml) with 3–5 vinblastine-bleomycine-cisplatin courses; high risk (HiR: AFP≥15000 ng/ml and/or metastatic) with 4–6 etoposide-ifosfamide-cisplatin courses. The multivariable prognostic analysis for progression-free survival (PFS) included age (±10 years), primary tumour site (1-testis, 2-ovary, 3-extragonadal), extent of disease (1-pS1, 2-loco-regional dissemination, 3-metastasis) and AFP (±10,000 ng/ml). AFP decline prognostic value was investigated in IR + HiR groups using predicted time to normalisation (TTN), AFP change, and difference between observed and expected (based on AFP half-life) area under the curve (O-E AUC).
From January 1995 to December 2005, 239 patients (median age = 3years, 60 LR, 65 IR, 114 HiR) were included. Main sites were testis (n = 66), ovary (n = 77) and sacrococcygeal (n = 57). Five-year PFS and OS were 85% (95% confidence interval CI = 80–89%) and 93% (89–95%), respectively. Age ≥ 10 years (hazard ratio HR = 4.6, 95% CI = 2.1–10.1, p = 0.0001) and extragonadal primary (HR = 6.3, 95% CI = 2.0–19.9, p = 0.005) were significant prognostic factors. In AFP decline analysis (n = 151, 17 events), TTN (p = 0.61) and AFP change (p = 0.10) were not prognostic, whereas we showed a significant effect of O-E AUC (HR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.0–4.2, p = 0.05).
Age ≥ 10 years and extragonadal tumours remain as poor prognostic factors. Contrary to adults, TTN is not reliable in paediatric NS-GCT. The prognostic value of O-E AUC should be investigated in larger studies.
•In TGM95 study, age ≥10 years and extragonadal tumours remain poor prognostic factors.•Contrary to adults, predicted time to AFP normalisation (TTN) is not prognostic in paediatric NS-GCT.•AFP decline was prognostic when modelling by the difference between observed and expected (based on AFP half-life) area under the curve (AUC).
Dans le cadre du dispositif de suivi médical destiné aux adultes guéris d'un cancer pédiatrique à l'Institut Gustave-Roussy (Villejuif, France), un entretien psychologique est proposé. Cet article ...s'appuie sur 198 entretiens auprès de patients ayant entre 18 et 67 ans, diagnostiqués entre 0 et 24 ans. Ces rencontres donnent à entendre la subjectivité du vécu du cancer et de la guérison, révélant les traces de cette expérience dans l'après-coup. Les enjeux de l'activité narrative amorcée dans le cadre de cette consultation, et pouvant se poursuivre au-delà, sont abordés dans une perspective métapsychologique.
As part of the medical follow-up program for adult survivors of childhood cancer at the Institut Gustave Roussy (Villejuif, France), a psychological consultation is offered. This article is based on 198 interviews with patients between the ages of 18 and 67 who were diagnosed between the ages of 0 and 24. These meetings give voice to the subjectivity of cancer and recovery, revealing the traces of this experience
aprèscoup
. The issues at stake in the narrative activity initiated in the context of this consultation, and which may continue beyond, are approached from a metapsychological perspective.
•A fertility visit should be proposed to all male childhood cancer survivors.•Secondary fertility preservation should discussed in case of persistent severe OAT.•Guidelines would be useful to ...homogenize practices in Europe.
What are current practices of post-treatment fertility preservation in male childhood cancer survivors (CCS) who have not benefitted from pre-therapeutic fertility preservation in France and other European countries?
A survey was conducted of all fertility preservation centres in France (n = 30) and European fertility specialists (n = 9) in five European countries. Eight clinical cases and 40 questions were included to assess the effect of age at diagnosis, type of treatment (alkylating-agents, orchidectomy, testicular radiotherapy) and sperm parameters on the probability of a post-treatment fertility preservation proposal. Demographic characteristics of the responding practitioner were also collected.
Post-treatment sperm cryopreservation was proposed by 100% of fertility specialists in cases of severe oligoasthenoteratozoospermia, 77–88% in cases of moderate oligoasthenoteratozoospermia and in 65–77% in cases of sperm motility and vitality impairment. In cases of normal sperm parameters, 27–54% of fertility specialists would propose post-treatment sperm cryopreservation. These results did not differ significantly according to the type of treatment received or to responder-related factors. Practices of European specialists were also guided by sperm parameter results; 44–67% of specialists responding that they would propose sperm cryopreservation in cases of moderate to severe sperm parameter alterations.
Post-treatment semen analysis could be widely proposed to CCS who have not benefitted from pre-therapeutic fertility preservation. Post-treatment fertility preservation could be proposed in cases of persistent moderate to severe sperm parameter alterations. Guidelines would be important to homogenize practices and to encourage oncologists to refer CCS for fertility assessments.
Objective
Health risk behaviors (HRB) of childhood cancer survivors (CCS) are generally studied separately, despite the evidence suggesting that HRB are not independent. To our knowledge, few studies ...have examined HRB profiles in the former pediatric cancer patients. In this study, we identified HRB profiles and examined predictors engaging in unhealthy behaviors in CCS.
Methods
We used data from a French cohort of CCS that includes five‐year survivors diagnosed between 1945 and 2000 and treated before reaching age 18, in five centers in France. A total of 2961 adult CCS answered a self‐reported questionnaire pertaining to HRB. Latent class analysis was used to identify HRB profiles combining physical activity, smoking, cannabis use, and alcohol drinking. Multinomial logistic analyses examined predictors for engaging in unhealthy behaviors.
Results
Three HRB patterns emerged: “Low‐risk” (n = 1846, 62.3%) included CCS who exhibited the highest frequency for usual physical activity and the lowest probabilities for current smoking or cannabis use, but most drank at least moderately; “Moderate‐risk behaviors” (n = 291, 9.8%), and “High‐risk behaviors” (n = 824, 27.8%) for CCS who exhibited the highest frequencies for current smoking, cannabis use, and heavy drinking. The multivariable regression revealed that male CCS, less educated or not married were significantly more likely to be in the high‐risk behaviors group than the low‐risk group.
Conclusions
As CCS remain a vulnerable population, screening for HRB should be routinized in long‐term follow‐up care and interventions targeting multiple HRB simultaneously among survivors should be developed.
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