Association of Assisted Reproductive Technology Treatments with Imprinting Disorders

Assisted reproductive technology (ART) is a broad field in infertility that encompasses different types of treatments. These revolutionary treatment methods aimed to aid infertile or subfertile couples. Treatment was expanded exponentially, as 1 to 3% of the births worldwide takes place with ART procedures. However, treatment is not flawless. Gametes and embryos are exposed to different chemicals and stress through treatment, which leads to disturbance in proper embryo development and results in prenatal and congenital anomalies. When compared with in-vivo development of gametes and preimplantation embryos in mice, in-vitro conditions during ART treatments have been suggested to disturb the gene expression levels, especially imprinted genes. Therefore, ART has been suggested to be associated with increased incidences of different imprinting disorders such as Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome, Angelman syndrome, and Silver–Russell syndrome, as proved by different case reports and studies. This literature review aims to explain the association of imprinting disorders with this revolutionary treatment procedure.

Nation-level Gender Inequality and Couples' Income Arrangements

Using data from the 2012 International Social Survey Program (n = 8,269), this study investigated how couples integrate and manage their income across 20 countries with varying degrees of gender inequality. Couples were more likely to report that one person managed the shared pot of money in countries with high gender inequality compared with couples in more gender equal countries. This pattern was not moderated by within-couple earnings equality. We found a cohabitation—marriage gap in income arrangements that is largest where national-level gender equality is high. In more gender equal contexts, married couples were more likely to pool and manage their money together, whereas a larger proportion of married couples assigned one money manager in countries with less gender equality. Cohabiting couples were more likely to keep some money separate than to take-up a pooled, jointly managed approach in more gender equal countries. Findings demonstrate the need to consider both management and pooling dimensions of couples’ treatment of money to understand the influence of contextual factors on couples’ income arrangements.

Effect Toxic and Behavioral of Annona mucosa (Annonaceae) on the Tomato Leaf Miner

Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) is considered a pest with high destructive potencial and its control depends mainly on successive applications of insecticides. Therefore, new alternatives for the control of the tomato leaf miner using plants with insecticidal potential have been examined. This study was aimed at evaluating the toxic effect of Annona mucosa extract on the developmental stages of T. absoluta. Larval survival bioassay was performed in which newly-hatched caterpillars were inoculated in tomato leaflets sprayed with A. mucosa extract in the LC50 and LC90 treatments and the insecticidal controls chlorfenapyr, methanol, and water. To identify the mode of action of the extract in caterpillars, histological analyzes of the integument and gut were carried out. To evaluate ovicidal activity and oviposition repellency, only the LC50 treatment and controls (water and methanol) were carried out. In the ovicidal bioassay 75 eggs/treatment were used, and for the oviposition repellency, 10 couples/treatment, with 10 replicates. In the larval survival bioassay, a significant difference among survival curves, and the crude extract of A. mucosa significantly reduced the survival of T. absoluta caterpillars. The mode of action of the extract occurred by contact and ingestion, as indicated by changes in the integument and gut. The extract of A. mucosa also interfered in the embryonic development of T. absoluta, with a viability of more than 90% of the eggs. Regarding the behavioral effect, the extract reduced oviposition rates of T. absoluta females. Thus, A. mucosa extract had toxic effects on the different stages of pest development.