UC Science Today

Paternal age has long been associated with autism in children, but could it lead to other health problems as well? Recent studies have found that mood disorders and reading disabilities like dyslexia may also be linked to older dads. Neuroscientist Fumiko Hoeft of the University of California, San Francisco is further unraveling the effects of paternal age on a child’s brain development.

"What we’re adding to this, in this new study that we’re writing up right now, is a brain imaging piece and a genetic piece, looking at the mechanism in which older dads impact the child negatively."

In addition to measuring the reading abilities of these children, Hoeft is looking at de novo mutations in both parents. These are the genetic changes first seen in an egg or sperm.

"And then we can look at brain scans to see whether these de novo mutations and these brain structures are functions of paternal age, older dads having a negative impact on the offspring."

Hoeft hopes to identity risks when it comes to mood disorders or learning disabilities.

Paternal age has long been associated with autism in children, but could it lead to other health problems as well? Recent studies have found that mood disorders and reading disabilities like dyslexia may also be linked to older dads. Neuroscientist Fumiko Hoeft of the University of California, San Francisco is further unraveling the effects of paternal age on a child’s brain development.

"What we’re adding to this, in this new study that we’re writing up right now, is a brain imaging piece and a genetic piece, looking at the mechanism in which older dads impact the child negatively."

In addition to measuring the reading abilities of these children, Hoeft is looking at de novo mutations in both parents. These are the genetic changes first seen in an egg or sperm.

"And then we can look at brain scans to see whether these de novo mutations and these brain structures are functions of paternal age, older dads having a negative impact on the offspring."

Hoeft hopes to identity risks when it comes to mood disorders or learning disabilities.

Paternal age has long been associated with autism in children, but could it lead to other health problems as well? Recent studies have found that mood disorders and reading disabilities like dyslexia may also be linked to older dads. Neuroscientist Fumiko Hoeft of the University of California, San Francisco is further unraveling the effects of paternal age on a child’s brain development.

"What we’re adding to this, in this new study that we’re writing up right now, is a brain imaging piece and a genetic piece, looking at the mechanism in which older dads impact the child negatively."

In addition to measuring the reading abilities of these children, Hoeft is looking at de novo mutations in both parents. These are the genetic changes first seen in an egg or sperm.

"And then we can look at brain scans to see whether these de novo mutations and these brain structures are functions of paternal age, older dads having a negative impact on the offspring."

Hoeft hopes to identity risks when it comes to mood disorders or learning disabilities.

How can the group of chemicals known as steroid hormones cause almost instantaneous changes in your body, like hydrocortisone inhalers with asthma? Researcher Polina Lishko of the University of California, Berkeley mapped out the rapid route taken by progesterone, a female sex hormone, to trigger what’s called the “power kick” in sperm that leads to fertilization. This pathway may explain how similar hormones act everywhere from the brain to the lungs.

"Basically, we uncovered the universal pathway, how steroid hormones can alter the function of our organisms in quite a fast and efficient way. So the classical mechanism of how a steroid hormone functions implies that they should alter the function of our genomes, which would result in the cell changing, how the cell produces proteins. It’s a very slow mechanism."

But Lishko found that steroid hormones can change the physiology of the cell within milliseconds to seconds. They’re hoping a similar approach will shed more light on the pathways of other common steroid hormones, like estrogen and testosterone.

How can the group of chemicals known as steroid hormones cause almost instantaneous changes in your body, like hydrocortisone inhalers with asthma? Researcher Polina Lishko of the University of California, Berkeley mapped out the rapid route taken by progesterone, a female sex hormone, to trigger what’s called the “power kick” in sperm that leads to fertilization. This pathway may explain how similar hormones act everywhere from the brain to the lungs.

"Basically, we uncovered the universal pathway, how steroid hormones can alter the function of our organisms in quite a fast and efficient way. So the classical mechanism of how a steroid hormone functions implies that they should alter the function of our genomes, which would result in the cell changing, how the cell produces proteins. It’s a very slow mechanism."

But Lishko found that steroid hormones can change the physiology of the cell within milliseconds to seconds. They’re hoping a similar approach will shed more light on the pathways of other common steroid hormones, like estrogen and testosterone.

How can the group of chemicals known as steroid hormones cause almost instantaneous changes in your body, like hydrocortisone inhalers with asthma? Researcher Polina Lishko of the University of California, Berkeley mapped out the rapid route taken by progesterone, a female sex hormone, to trigger what’s called the “power kick” in sperm that leads to fertilization. This pathway may explain how similar hormones act everywhere from the brain to the lungs.

"Basically, we uncovered the universal pathway, how steroid hormones can alter the function of our organisms in quite a fast and efficient way. So the classical mechanism of how a steroid hormone functions implies that they should alter the function of our genomes, which would result in the cell changing, how the cell produces proteins. It’s a very slow mechanism."

But Lishko found that steroid hormones can change the physiology of the cell within milliseconds to seconds. They’re hoping a similar approach will shed more light on the pathways of other common steroid hormones, like estrogen and testosterone.

When we heave a deep sigh, there can be many reasons and interpretations, but an unconscious sigh is actually a life-sustaining reflex that helps preserve lung function. Now for the first time, a team of researchers at UCLA and Stanford have pinpointed the origin of the sighing reflex in the brain. Neurobiologist Jack Feldman of UCLA’s Brain Research Institute says this study gave researchers an opportunity to identify a circuit that’s responsible for an easily identifiable behavior.

"And this is one of the holy grails now of neuroscience – is to try and understand how circuits are organized. And the problem that most scientists face is that most of the problems that we’re interested in are just too complicated. With breathing, we have a direct readout of what the brain is doing, so we have a great system for interrogating what’s going on inside the brain. And the number of neurons we had identified were about 200 per side, which is not a lot of neurons, so it was tractable."

This discovery may also help doctors treat patients with breathing disorders.

When we heave a deep sigh, there can be many reasons and interpretations, but an unconscious sigh is actually a life-sustaining reflex that helps preserve lung function. Now for the first time, a team of researchers at UCLA and Stanford have pinpointed the origin of the sighing reflex in the brain. Neurobiologist Jack Feldman of UCLA’s Brain Research Institute says this study gave researchers an opportunity to identify a circuit that’s responsible for an easily identifiable behavior.

"And this is one of the holy grails now of neuroscience – is to try and understand how circuits are organized. And the problem that most scientists face is that most of the problems that we’re interested in are just too complicated. With breathing, we have a direct readout of what the brain is doing, so we have a great system for interrogating what’s going on inside the brain. And the number of neurons we had identified were about 200 per side, which is not a lot of neurons, so it was tractable."

This discovery may also help doctors treat patients with breathing disorders.

When we heave a deep sigh, there can be many reasons and interpretations, but an unconscious sigh is actually a life-sustaining reflex that helps preserve lung function. Now for the first time, a team of researchers at UCLA and Stanford have pinpointed the origin of the sighing reflex in the brain. Neurobiologist Jack Feldman of UCLA’s Brain Research Institute says this study gave researchers an opportunity to identify a circuit that’s responsible for an easily identifiable behavior.

"And this is one of the holy grails now of neuroscience – is to try and understand how circuits are organized. And the problem that most scientists face is that most of the problems that we’re interested in are just too complicated. With breathing, we have a direct readout of what the brain is doing, so we have a great system for interrogating what’s going on inside the brain. And the number of neurons we had identified were about 200 per side, which is not a lot of neurons, so it was tractable."

This discovery may also help doctors treat patients with breathing disorders.

It turns out that remote coral reefs can thrive despite climate change.

The new findings, published by UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, particularly underscore previous calls for coral reef preservation because the report revealed that despite threats posed by ocean warming, reefs surrounding remote islands were dramatically healthier than those in populated areas exposed to a variety of human impacts, including overfishing and coastal development.

In this full-length interview, study leader Jennifer Smith describes their landmark report on the impact of fishing on a group of fish known to protect the health of coral reef ecosystems.

Original photo: Eduardo Contreras