assessment-of-sexual-behavior-of-male-mice

Assessment of Sexual Behavior of Male Mice

Sexual behavior is highly species-specific. Although rodents have slightly different sexual behaviors, mice and rats have a similar sexual behavioral ...

Hunan Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health

 Although various short forms of Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) have been developed, there is a lack of standard psychometric testing and comparison among them. The study aims to examine the psychometric properties of ten short versions of the most frequently used ZBI among a sample of schizophrenia caregivers and to find the one with the best performance.  Cross-sectional door-to-door survey of ZBI-22 and a series of validated instrument data from 327 family caregivers of schizophrenia patients in a Chinese rural community were conducted from October 2015 to January 2016. Reliability was assessed using McDonald's omega coefficient (ω). Validity including concurrent validity, known group's validity, and criterion validity were assessed by Spearman correlations and Mann-Whitney U tests. Overall discrimination ability was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).  Reliability was generally good for all short forms (ω = 0.69-0.84), except for the Gort ZBI-4 (ω = 0.58), which is acceptable considering its small item numbers. Concurrent validity was good across all various ZBI forms with significant negative correlations with patient's function ( = -0.34 to -0.48,  < 0.01), as well as significant positive correlations with caregiver's depression ( = 0.49-0.65,  < 0.01), and anxiety symptoms ( = 0.45-0.58,  < 0.01). Known groups' validity (carers with disease vs. without disease; carers being parents vs. spouse vs. others) showed inconsistent results among various short forms. Criterion validity was generally good for all short forms with significant positive correlations with Family Burden Interview Schedule ( = 0.67-0.75,  < 0.01), except for the Higginson ZBI-1( = 0.57,  < 0.01). Discriminative ability was also good for all short forms (AUC range: 0.85-0.99), with various cutpoints proposed. Among all ten short forms, the Ballesteros ZBI-12 and the Gort ZBI-7 outperformed others with almost equally good performance in comprehensive psychometric testing.  This study provides support for the reliability, validity, and discriminative ability of the ten various short forms of ZBI for use among schizophrenia family caregivers, with the Ballesteros ZBI-12 and the Gort ZBI-7 endorsed as the best ones.

Assessment of Burden Among Family Caregivers of Schizophrenia: Psychometric Testing for Short-Form Zarit Burden Interviews.

 No study has comprehensively evaluated the effect of postweaning isolation on the social and sexual behaviors of a certain strain of rodents in ethology. The present study aims to explore how and to what extent isolation rearing after postweaning affects the social and sexual behaviors of male CD-1 mice in adulthood systematically.  Male CD-1 mice were randomly assigned to two groups: isolation reared (IS, one mouse per cage,  = 30) and group housed (GH, five mice per cage,  = 15). The mice underwent isolation rearing from postnatal day 23 to day 93. Then, social affiliation, recognition and memory were measured through selection task experiments. Social interaction under a home cage and novel environment were measured via resident-intruder and social interaction test, respectively. Furthermore, sexual preference, homosexual and heterosexual behaviors were measured.  Our study found that postweaning isolation increased the social affiliation for conspecifics ( = 0.001), reduced social recognition ( = 0.042) and impaired social memory. As for social interaction, isolated mice showed a remarkably increased aggression toward the intruder male in a home cage or novelty environment. For instance, isolated mice presented a short attack latency ( < 0.001), high attack frequency ( < 0.001) and long attack duration ( < 0.001). In addition, isolated mice exhibited further social avoidance. Contrastingly, isolated mice displayed a reduced sexual preference for female (IS: 61.47 ± 13.80%, GH: 70.33 ± 10.06%,  = 0.038). As for heterosexual behavior, isolated mice have a short mating duration ( = 0.002), long mounting latency ( = 0.002), and long intromission latency ( = 0.015). However, no association was observed between postweaning isolation and homosexual behavior in male CD-1 mouse.  Postweaning isolation increased the social affiliation, impaired the social cognition and considerably increased the aggression in social interaction of adult male CD-1 mice. Postweaning isolation induced a decreased sexual preference for female in adulthood. Postweaning isolation extended the latency to mate, thereby reducing mating behavior. No association was observed between isolation and homosexual behavior.

Postweaning Isolation Rearing Alters the Adult Social, Sexual Preference and Mating Behaviors of Male CD-1 Mice.

Studies on the willingness to receive institutional eldercare among the rural elderly are scarce. This study aims to explore factors associated with the willingness to receive institutional eldercare and community-based eldercare among the rural elderly. A cross-sectional study was conducted in three rural villages of Changde City, Hunan Province, China. A total of 517 elderly were recruited through multistage sampling from these villages. The dependent variable is the willingness to receive eldercare from family (as reference), institution, and community. The independent variables includes sociodemographic characteristics: having physical disease, depression, anxiety, and daily living activities, and concerns toward home-based, institutional, and community-based care, respectively. Results show that 78.3% of the elderly are willing to receive home-based eldercare, 10.8% institutional eldercare, and 8.5% community-based eldercare. The factors associated with the willingness to receive institutional eldercare are having concerns toward home-based (OR = 4.85, P<0.001) and institutional eldercare (OR = 5.51, P<0.001). The factors associated with community-based care is living alone (OR = 2.18, P = 0.034). Finally, the major concerns toward home-based eldercare are lack of care ability and separation of family members, whereas those toward institutional eldercare are unaffordable services and fear of being abandoned by the children. The major concerns toward community-based eldercare includes affordability and lack of necessary services. In summary, elderly having concerns toward home-based care and having no concerns about institutional care are willing to accept institutional eldercare. Elderly who are living alone is tend to accept community-based care. Unaffordable services and loss of contact with family members are the major concerns of institutional eldercare. Aside from the cost, the lack of necessary care services is also a serious concern of community-based eldercare.

Zi-Wei Liu

Hunan Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health

Assessment of Sexual Behavior of Male Mice