Single motherhood has been socially constructed as a deviant identity category. Up against the master societal framework of hegemonic heterosexuality, single mothers, as a social group, have been systematically discriminated against and subjected to moral regulation. The single mother has consistently been depicted as either criminal or victim, and she has almost always been cast as an individual actor whose lot is explained in individualized, apolitical terms. The current rhetoric of choice feeds the idea that single mothers in need deserve their hardships because they have freely and singularly chosen their sexual and reproductive behaviors and circumstances. In light of the historically constructed identity position of the single mother, it is evident that a more sociologically sensitive analysis of single motherhood has been culturally suppressed. Feminism has long been adamant about the significance of the role that reproduction plays in gender inequality. Queer Theory, with its critique of the sexualization of social life, is amenable to such a perspective and is employed here to illuminate how familial, sexual, and/or reproductive realities rigidify into overarching identity categories that shape and restrict rights and freedoms. / N/A

Males of the Mexican lizard Sceloporus minor (Phrynosomatidae) exhibit striking variation in dorsal coloration, both within and among populations, which may have arisen by sexual selection. The possible significance of this trait was investigated through a combination of observational and experimental approaches. This research revealed that males in one population (La Manzana) in NW Hidalgo exhibit three discrete color morphs (blue, yellow, red) each characterized by morphological, physiological and behavioral differences. Furthermore, these morphs can be identified by an objective approach to color assessment (spectroradiometry). In addition, males in a second population (Escalerillas) from SE San Luis Potosí were also found to occur in at least two color morphs (yellow and red), suggesting that color polymorphism may be general in this species. The hypothesis of sensory exploitation by male contest competition was tested for S. minor from Escalerillas; however, no support for this hypothesis was found. Overall, results from this study are consistent with the hypothesis of alternative reproductive tactics in S. minor.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Anthropology, June 1999. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Although nest reuse is most commonly associated with costs such as nest instability and increased ectoparasite loads,contrary evidence supports the possibility that nest reuse might provide an adaptive function in the form of time and energy savings. The Cave Swallow (Petrochelidon fulva), which nests under bridges and culverts in east-central Texas, chooses predominately to reuse nests when old nests are available. I conducted a field experiment involving bridge pairs and single bridges, in which I applied a treatment of nest removal to one bridge of each pair and one half of each single bridge in order to test whether control bridges and nests exhibited increased productivity from the availability of old nests. I found that a higher percentage of young fledged from control bridges and more fledged per clutch from control bridges. Small sample sizes diminished the ability to detect differences within the single bridge experiment. Results from this research support the time-energy savings concept and may be reconciled with conflicting research through fundamental differences between studies in immunity to ectoparasites, infestation type, and nest microclimate.

Selon la théorie de la sélection de la parentèle, les individus peuvent transmettre des copies de leurs gènes à la génération suivante sans accéder eux-mêmes à la reproduction, mais en aidant des apparentés à augmenter leur propre succès reproductif. Ce concept reste aujourd'hui l'explication la plus probable pour justifier l'évolution de l’altruisme de reproduction dans le règne animal. Les coefficients de corrélations génétiques entre les membres d’un groupe ont une importance capitale, puisqu'ils influencent directement les bénéfices génétiques indirects associés au comportement altruiste. Trois principaux facteurs sont cependant connus pour influencer profondément l'architecture des sociétés: (i) le nombre de reines présentes dans un nid (polygynie), (ii) le nombre d'accouplements des reines (polyandrie), et (iii) l’accouplement entre apparentés (consanguinité). Nous avons étudié les stratégies de reproduction de cinq espèces de fourmis du genre Plagiolepis. Nous avons d’abord déterminé l’origine endogène des signaux de reconnaissance responsables de la fermeture des sociétés (I). Nous avons également identifié les causes proximales de la forte consanguinité observée chez P. pygmaea : une éviction par les ouvrières des mâles étrangers tentant de s’introduire dans leur société et une préférence des femelles vierges à s’accoupler avec des mâles apparentés (II). A l’aide de marqueurs génétiques, nous avons estimé le degré de polygynie, le taux de polyandrie des reines, et le niveau de consanguinité pour quatre espèces libres : P. pygmaea, P. taurica, P. schmitzii et P. maura (III; IV). Enfin, nous avons testé l’hypothèse d’une réversion du nombre d’accouplements vers la monandrie chez les espèces parasites, au travers de P. xene. (V).

Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att beskriva kvinnors alkoholkonsumtion före och under graviditeten samt undersöka prevalensen, informationen som gravida kvinnor får av vårdpersonalen och problemhanteringen på mödravården. Metoden var en litteraturstudie av vetenskapliga artiklar från åren 1997-2008. Resultatet visade att prevalensen av alkoholkonsumtion nådde siffror över 50 % före respektive 20 % under graviditeten. I studierna observerades hög konsumtion under både perikonceptional perioden och första trimestern. Speciellt vanligt var det med berusningsdrickande tidigt i graviditeten. Kvinnor som drack under graviditeten visade sig vara äldre, väl utbildade, rökare och alkoholkonsumenter redan innan graviditeten. Mödravården identifierade inte alla gravida kvinnor som använde alkohol. Screeningsinstrument var nödvändiga för att identifiera och då kunna erbjuda hjälp till denna grupp. Konklusion: I Sverige observerades en positiv tendens med minskat drickande under graviditeten men andelen gravida kvinnor som nyttjade alkohol var fortfarande stor. Problemet var dock fortfarande stort i många andra länder. Nyckelord: alkoholkonsumtion, graviditet, mödravård, screeningstest.

The global population of leatherback sea turtles is decreasing worldwide, with extinction predicted for some populations within 15 years. The population of leatherbacks nesting at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge (SPNWR), St. Croix, USVI, displayed a significant population increase from 1982 2001 but has experienced a slowed recovery since then. To better understand the causes of this decline, a historical database of SPNWR nesting female data was utilized to investigate trends in reproductive indices. Since 2001, average remigration interval (RI) has increased significantly, while average number of clutches laid, hatch success, hatchling production, and the percentage of neophytes recruited annually have decreased. Annual remigrant numbers have been stable to increasing, suggesting that adult survivorship remains high. To assess whether maternallyderived factors may be influencing clutch production and low hatch success, blood samples were collected by saturation sampling during nesting. Circulating estradiol, testosterone, and progesterone were evaluated in conjunction with reproductive data. All hormones were highest at deposition of the first clutch and declined progressively with each consecutive clutch, as previously observed in other sea turtle species. Increased clutch production in remigrants was associated with higher estradiol levels compared to neophytes, presumably due to ovarian size and maturity. Contrary to observations in Pacific leatherbacks, progesterone decreased significantly with successive nests and total levels of estrogen were significantly lower, suggesting Atlantic leatherbacks may undergo a longer migration or spend more time in the feeding grounds prior to migrating. Linear Mixed Effect (LME) modeling was employed to determine whether hormone levels at nesting might serve as indicators of reproductive variables. Because models for all hormones were individual specific, a population model could not be developed that effectively utilized hormone levels at nesting to predict clutch size, hatch success, age or RI. However, number of clutches laid may potentially be predicted based on individually tailored estrogen models. Decreased recruitment (due to increased mortality of early life stages, altered sex ratios, or delayed age to sexual maturity), decreased productivity, and increased RI (possibly due to diminished foraging ground productivity) appear primarily responsible for current population trends which threaten the population's future.

Aim The aim of this study was to investigate the attitudes of midwives and gynaecologists at youth health clinics about their own thoughts of risks with unprotected oral sex and testing of orally contagious sexually transmitted infections (STI). The aim was also to investigate the level of knowledge of oral STIs. One further aim was to examine what they thought about the level of knowledge about oral STIs among adolescents and how common unprotected oral sex is within this group and if oral STIs/oral sex is brought up in the form of information or questions during STI-testing. Method Seventy-five youth health clinics all over Sweden were randomly chosen. A questionnaire was sent by mail to the clinics. It included questions about attitudes, knowledge about STIs and information exchange. A midwife or a gynaecologist was asked to fill out the questionnaire. The answers were analysed in the statistical programme SPSS. Results The percentage of answers was 76 % (57/75).  One third of the clinics had guidelines for oral STI-testing. Those clinics were more often testing for oral STIs, informing and asking adolescents about oral STIs. Seventy-nine percent responded that they always or sometimes informed adolescents who were tested for STIs about risks with unprotected oral sex. Almost everyone thought that the knowledge about oral STIs was insufficient among health care staff.  Staff working at clinics with guidelines more often thought that they had sufficient knowledge about oral STIs than those without guidelines. All respondents thought unprotected oral sex was common among adolescents. Eight out of ten were in favor of oral STI-testing being performed more often. The overall attitude was that adolescents should be given more information of the risks of STIs when practising unprotected oral sex. Conclusions Practise of unprotected oral sex involves a risk of transmission of oral STIs. Youth health clinics need to be more actively informing adolescents about it. There is a lack of national guidelines for testing of STIs in Sweden. The majority of youth health clinics did not have any local guidelines for oral STI-testing. Guidelines on oral STI-testing are needed for achieving a more evidence-based care in testing and informing about oral STIs. Keywords; Oral sex, STI, testing, midwives, attitudes.

Extensive research and clinical observations in the past 20 years confirmed that the cessation of ovarian function at menopause does not stop the process of sex steroid hormone synthesis in females. Indeed, multiple extra-ovarian tissues contain the same enzymatic machinery the ovary uses which can maintain a significant rate of local hormonal synthesis sufficient to cause pathological outcomes. This is commonly termed “intracrine”. However, two obstacles face intracrinology. Firstly, wide clinical appreciation of this mechanism in causing disease and in targeting it with therapy does not currently exist. Secondly, blood hormonal assays are used in the clinic to diagnose and manage intracrine based disorders. This could be entirely misleading, since hormonal synthesis, action and metabolism occur within the tissue and, therefore, measuring blood levels is not reflective of the actual disease environment. This thesis presents evidence of significant intracrine based disorders in menopausal women that could be effectively managed by tackling the core intracrine mechanism. Three protocols are investigated emphasizing the usefulness of menopausal intracrine estrogen inhibition. The first presents a joint objective of treating menopausal symptoms using estrogenic replacement therapy while reducing breast cancer risk using long-term aromatase inhibitors. Aromatase inhibition is used to suppress the local estrogen synthesis in the breast. The second protocol is a new method of acute inhibition of breast estrogens to improve the accuracy of breast imaging techniques. This method showed a benefit in reducing the benign parenchymal enhancement during breast MRI indicating a potential improvement in specificity. The third protocol involves using aromatase inhibitors in the treatment of severe endometriosis that did not respond to oophorectomy. The pathogenesis of breast cancer, endometriosis and fibroids are believed to involve intracrine estrogen activity. Another significant contribution presented in this thesis is the development of a new technique that enables minimally invasive tissue assays of hormones in their genuine site of synthesis rather than indirectly in the blood. The new assay requires only microliter volumes of sample and employs a novel digital microfluidics technology. Estrogen and other sex steroids were extracted from droplet-scale breast tissue and blood samples.

This project examines how Nadya Suleman and Kate Gosselin were represented in the media following the births of their higher order multiples by conducting a critical textual analysis of newspaper and entertainment magazine articles to answer the following questions: How were Suleman and Gosselin portrayed as mothers? And how were they portrayed as recipients of reproductive technology? The findings illustrate that race and class combined with gender to play an important role in determining who has a right to be a mother and what that mother should look like. Traditional stereotypes within media coverage about good mothers and bad mothers reinforced prejudices about who deserves access to reproductive technology and who does not.