Poor Reproductive Fitness of Sperm in Aging Males

Poor Reproductive Fitness of Sperm in Aging Males Deterioration of germline DNA found to produce low quality offspring in aged male houbara bustards. A study in houbara bustards, an African bird species gives insight on what is happening with aging men. The scientists suggest that the decline in hatching success observed is caused by senescent decline of both male and female gametes. On the other hand, the development of chicks within the egg appear to be influenced solely by maternal aging which can be explained by reduction in older females’ abilities to provision their eggs. The researchers then monitored the artificial insemination of houbara bustards ranging in age from 1 to 23, recorded the egg hatching success as well as the growth of resulting chicks. Their results found that eggs produced from inseminating older females with ejaculate from older males have lower hatching success as compared to eggs of parents at peak age. The scientists suggest that the decrease in hatching success observed is caused by senescent decline of both male and female gametes. Of the eggs that did hatch, it was discovered that the mass of chicks at hatching were heaviest in chicks born to young mothers, suggesting that the development of chicks within the egg appear to be influenced solely by maternal aging. This can be explained by reduction in older females’ abilities to provision their eggs. Additionally, it was found that chicks born to young fathers had the best overall growth within the first month of life than those born to older fathers. The reason for this is that since males only contribute their DNA to offspring, the growth of the How Reproductively Fit is the Sperm of Older Males? A study in houbara bustards, an African bird species gives insight on the production of low quality offspring in aging men. Gametes are reproductive cells such as ovum or sperm, containing the genetic material required to form a new organism. This genetic material is essential in determining the quality of offspring produced. According to the paper by Brian Preston and his colleagues in Nature Communications, gametes from animals of advanced years undergo degradation by a process called senescence. Senescence is a gradual decline of function and can occur by two mechanisms. The first is the decline in the performance of their spermatogenic machinery such that the sperm has difficulty in carrying out its function. The second mechanism involves the build-up of genetic mutations within the germline of gametes, resulting in the degradation of the DNA carried within. These mechanisms lead to a reduction in both the viability and quality of offspring produced. To determine whether male aging has influence on reproductive fitness, Brian Preston and his colleagues examined 10 years’ worth of data regarding the post insemination success of male houbara bustards part of a captive breeding programme. To begin with, female bustards were inseminated with ejaculates collected from males. The male and female bustards involved in this study ranged from 1 to 23 years of age. Eggs produced were collected and the hatching success recorded. The researchers found that eggs produced from inseminating older females with ejaculate from older males have lower hatching success as compared to eggs of parents at peak age, suggesting that this is caused by senescent decline of both male and female gametes. Furthermore, of the eggs that did hatch, it was discovered that the mass of chicks at hatching were heavier in chicks born to young fathers compared to older fathers. Additionally, a measure of overall growth within the first month of life showed that chicks born to old fathers had the worst overall growth. The scientists reasoned that the cause for growth patterns observed in chicks born to old fathers confirms that the dominant mechanism of senescence in the bird species is mutation-based aging of germline DNA. This is because, since males only contribute their DNA to offspring, the growth of the chicks is inhibited. Eggs produced were collected for incubation and hatched chicks were hand-reared so as to avoid any confounding variables. The researchers monitored the artificial insemination of houbara bustards ranging from 1 to 23 years old, recorded the egg hatching success as well as the growth of resulting chicks. Their results found that eggs produced from inseminating older females with ejaculate from older males have lower hatching success as compared to eggs of parents at peak age, suggesting that this is caused by senescent decline of both male and female gametes. Of the eggs that did hatch, it was discovered that the mass of chicks at hatching were heaviest in chicks born to young fathers. Furthermore, it was found that chicks born to old fathers had the worst overall growth within the first month of life than those born to younger fathers. The scientists suggest that the development of chicks within the egg appears to be influenced solely by maternal aging. This can be explained by reduction in older females’ abilities to provide their eggs with nutrients. On the other hand, the researchers reasoned that the cause for growth patterns observed in chicks born to old fathers confirms that the dominant mechanism of senescence in the bird species is mutation-based aging of germline DNA. This is because, since males only contribute their DNA to offspring, the growth of the chicks is inhibited. According to a recent study by Brian Preston and his colleagues in Nature Communications, gametes (ovum or sperm) from animals of advanced years undergo degradation by a process called senescence. Senescence is a gradual decline of function and occurs by two mechanisms. The first involves the decline of the spermatogenic machinery performance while the second mechanism involves the build-up of genetic mutations within the germline DNA of gametes. To determine whether male aging has influence on reproductive fitness, the researchers examined 10 years’ worth of data on the post insemination success of male houbara bustards aged between 1 to 23 years that were part of a captive breeding programme. First, female bustards were inseminated with the male ejaculates collected so that gametes are the only influencing factor on offspring quality. The eggs produced from older parents were seen to have lower hatching success when compared to eggs of peak age parents. Of the eggs that did hatch, researchers observed that the lightest chicks at hatching were a result of maternal aging. Alternatively, a measure of overall growth within the first month after hatching revealed that chicks born to older fathers had the worst overall growth. In other words, as males age, their ability to produce offspring that are viable and of high quality diminishes. These findings lead scientists to conclude that the dominant mechanism of senescence in the bird species is mutation-based aging of germline DNA. Additionally, it seems that the decline in offspring development linked to paternal aging is similar in scale to that linked to maternal aging. Interestingly, when findings were compared with that of human studies similar patterns were observed, deepening concern for the recent trend of delayed parenthood in both sexes. In future, Brian Preston and his colleagues wish to be able to identify and quantify the reproductive cost associated with male aging in a long-lived species. In their most recent work, published in Nature Communications, they found that, not only did males appear less able to produce offspring successfully as they aged, they also appeared to produce offspring that were of intrinsically lower quality. Perhaps most surprisingly, these declines in offspring quality were of a similar size to those resulting from maternal aging. Patterns observed in humans are in line with the findings in houbara bustards and their interpretation, with paternal aging being linked to adverse reproductive outcomes, a number of genetic diseases, and some mental disorders. The evidence is beginning to accumulate that delaying parenthood until later life can potentially have negative consequences for the children of both older men and women. Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-02-male-birds-reproduction-life.html#jCp

Niche Marketing

1) What is niche marketing? The word ‘niche’ is defined as: A special area of demand for a products or service. The word ‘marketing’ is defined as: The opportunity to buy or sell. Niche Marketing means buying or selling a product or service in a special area of demand. All that really means product or service is being sold to the people who are most interested in that particular product or service and not to the world in general. Often time big businesses use niche marketing. For example, a company that makes computers and computers accessories might advertise all-in-one such as copy, printer and scanner to the home computer user while at the same time advertising single function machines to large businesses. One of the things that make niche marketing so attractive to sellers is that their advertising budgets go further. It costs less to advertise to a specialized market that it does to advertise to a broader market. Niche marketing must be designed to meet the unique needs of the targeted audience. Niche marketers must tailor their product to meet those unique needs. Example, I have design a product to make poodle grooming easy enough for the untrained professional to do it, those who own poodles will be most interested in the products. Those who own Blood Hounds or cats will not care so much. 2) As an automobile retailer, what would you propose to increase sales volumes through niche marketing? Toyota is a huge multinational company. At first glance, it appears that Toyota focuses on the auto business as a whole both from a marketing and production standpoint. Notwithstanding this fact, Toyota is excellent when it comes to niche marketing. Toyota will search for niches for which it can supply a product in need. Toyota was one of the first companies to realize there was a group of car buyers who would be very interested in environmentally friendly cars. To answer this need, it came up with the legendary Prius. The Prius is the first mass production hybrid car. Where other car manufacturers saw Toyota taking a huge risk, Toyota saw it as an opportunity to identify a new niche and establish its brand in that niche. In marketing, it is often the first brand on the scene that takes the day. Once Toyota took the plunge, it pursued an effective niche marketing plan. It didn’t promote the Prius in just any media. It focused on media outlets that were watched, read or listened to by people concerned about the environment. For example, it heavily promoted the car through environmental groups and their publications. As the only game in town at that time, Toyota not only dominated the niche. 3) Explain the role of RMI. RMI create brand awareness and communication tools which have been use from any company’s. They publish their own magazine naming Automobil. RMI also responsible for assisting its members with all matters surrounding the motor industry while ensure that members do comply with high level of business and offers a revenue generating device through its unique niche status.

The Importance Of Animal Rights - 1387 Words

Throughout the developed world animal rights have steadily increased over the past few decades. The cause has been successful in raising awareness, as images of animals in desperate conditions played over a somber Sarah McLaughlin song are commonplace during commercial breaks on TV. It has also been successful in creating laws to protect animals and prosecute those that inflict harm upon innocent animals. There is a grey area when it comes to children who abuse animals, there is little to no legal recourse for those who are under 18. It is well documented that childhood behaviors are indicators of how that person will develop as an adult. Personality traits as well as traumatic events can influence a person’s actions later on in life, how†¦show more content†¦Even more alarming is that, according to the Canadians for Animal Welfare Reform, fifty percent of school shooters have histories of animal cruelty (2010). It is potential public dangers such as these that should be receiving more attention. On April 22, 1992, a young man named Adam Lanza was born. He quickly progressed through his years and was praised for his intelligence although he was diagnosed with Asperger’s and OCD. He never completed his full years at high school but continued to be taught at home and at the Western Connecticut State University. Family members assumed his weird outbursts and aggression towards animals were just an increase of Asperger’s but, they were actually the signs of a psychotic break. December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza became notorious for the massive killing spree at Sandy Hook Elementary. He took the lives of twenty children from ages six to seven and six staff members. He had killed his mother earlier in the day, then proceeded to the Elementary School armed with his mother’s Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle. This event brought sorrow to the nation and made it question if they were ever able to prevent this situation. According to Gail F. Melson (2013), who wrote the article, â€Å"Do Mass Killers Start Out by Harming Pets?†, this horrific event could had been stopped if they were aware of the warning signs. Melson writes, â€Å"While there are no easy answers, animal abuse may be one of thoseShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Animal Rights1975 Words   |  8 PagesThe subject matter at hand, is whether animals should have rights or not? Following two opposing views by Tom Regan and Carl Cohen. However, before getting into more detail on their positions, what exactly is animal rights? As simple as it may seem, animal rights is exactly defined by its own term. 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By changing events to his advantage an d implementingRead MoreAnimal Rights And Utilitarianism1063 Words   |  5 PagesAnimal Rights and Utilitarianism Peter Singer argues, in regard to animal rights, that equal beings with equal interests should be considered equally. Singer makes three claims about equality to support his position; equality is based on equal consideration, speciesism is unjustified, and the ability to feel pain makes one worthy of moral consideration. He believes equal interests deserve equal treatment, and guidelines for having interests concern sentience; the ability to experience suffering.Read MoreThe Moral Equality Of Animals Vs Humans1428 Words   |  6 PagesThe Moral Equality of Animals vs Humans The discretion between animal versus human equality has been a controversial subject for many years. Philosophers and activists have pushed this matter into debate among the general society in our culture. What exactly is moral equality for animals? 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Family School Community Partnership ( Fsc Partnership )

Family-School-Community Partnership What is a partnership? According to www.merriam-webster.com, â€Å"partnership is a relationship resembling a partnership and usually involving close cooperation between parties having specified and joint rights and responsibilities† (accessed 9/14/16). The information provided in this paper will answer the following questions: What is a Family-School-Community Partnership (FSC partnership), what the framework for forming a partnership is, and who or what would benefit. Family-school-community partnerships â€Å"are collaborative initiatives and relationships among school personnel, family members, and community members and representatives of community-based organizations such as universities, businesses, religious organizations, libraries, and mental health and social service agencies† (Bryan Henry, 2012). The partnerships are more than just a parent/guardian volunteering in the classroom or coming to a PTA meeting. The family-school partnership could be in the form of continuing education for parents to receive their GED, parenting support, or making sure families know how to help their child with homework (Casto, 2016). By forming partnerships with the community schools can bring in experts from the community to begin or finish a project as well as providing basic information. Building these partnerships help to narrow the achievement gap, increase attendance, reduce behavioral problems, and strengthen the school environment (Bryan S how MoreRelatedAnnual Performance Report Essay956 Words   |  4 PagesAs reported in our Annual Performance Report, we continue to invest in our staff for their professional success. We use our Community School Accountability Rubric to assist our team in identifying areas for growth in the Community School Model implemented at the four schools. This rubric also helps us in identifying areas in which our staff excel and need improvement on. 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