Penis size does matter

Women tend to consider men with lengthier members more visually attractive

By Rachel Ehrenberg

Web edition: April 8, 2013

A perennial topic of locker room banter and sex columns has caught the attention of scientists: Do women find bigger penises more attractive? The answer, it turns out, is yes. But it?s not a purely bigger-is-better relationship. The attractiveness of a larger penis is intertwined with height and body shape, new research suggests.

Much research has been devoted to the male genitalia of insects, beasts, fish and fowl. But man has fallen by the wayside, says Brian Mautz, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Ottawa in Canada who led the new work. The handful of studies that have examined whether penis length in Homo sapiens affects attractiveness have looked at penis size alone, rather than size as part of a package of traits. And research that has relied on direct questioning of women has yielded mixed results: Depending on the study, women prefer longer penises or wider penises, or think penis size is unimportant.

?People tend to give socially desirable or politically correct answers,? says Mautz, who has studied mating behavior in fiddler crabs, fish, crickets and flies. Yet the upright body posture of humans, along with a protruding, nonretractable penis that stands out from the hair surrounding it, suggests to many biologists that the organ?s conspicuousness is no accident. Perhaps female choice has even driven an increase in human penis size over evolutionary time, Mautz says. Because humans have probably covered their genitals with clothing for most of their history, however, it isn?t clear what opportunities females would have had to exert their preference.

Mautz and Australian colleagues generated computer images of a male figure and toggled three traits: flaccid penis length, height, and shoulder-to-hip ratio (creating torsos on the spectrum from V-shaped to heavily love-handled). The researchers recruited 105 Australian women and had each rate the attractiveness of 53 figures, a subset of the 343 generated by creating seven different penis lengths, seven heights and seven shoulder-to-hip ratios.

The figures with larger penises were rated considerably more attractive, the researchers report April 8 in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. Teasing apart the effects of the various traits suggests that penis length influences attractiveness about as much as height, a trait with a well-documented influence on male reproductive success.

?This was quite surprising,? Mautz says. ?Height is one of the most studied traits ? it influences how much money a man makes, his place on the leadership scale and how many children he has. To find that penis size has the same effect is quite surprising.?

The researchers found no maximum preferred penis size ? the male figures generated for the study topped out at 13 centimeters, about 5 inches.?Yet penis size alone doesn?t override the relative unattractiveness of being wide-of-hip and short-of-stature. A larger penis did little to increase the attractiveness of the shorter, pear-shaped male figures.

The study ?is really great,? says behavioral ecologist Patricia Brennan of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, whose recent research has focused on duck penis length and shape. Sexual signals in nature are often complex affairs ? sage grouse for example, have a whole presex mating display that combines physical traits, such as an inflated air sac and contrasting plumage, with vocalizations and strutting. ?Female choice in most species is quite complicated,? Brennan says. ?But sometimes we find that males are doing 10 things and females are paying attention to only one.?

The study can?t answer whether the attractiveness of longer organs to females has influenced penis length over human evolution. In some ducks, for example, average penis size grows when more males are around.

?Genitalia really are hugely important evolutionarily,? Brennan says. ?It?s a crucial place to look if we want to understand why some organisms are more successful than others.?

It?s important to differentiate between finding a trait attractive and choosing it in a mate, says evolutionary biologist William Eberhard of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Universidad de Costa Rica. If flaccid penis length truly affects female choice in a mate ? which the study didn?t establish ? that would be very unusual, Eberhard says. As genitalia go, female choice is typically influenced by traits relating to the mating act itself, not presex genital displays. ?This is a small piece of what may be a very interesting story,? he says.

Researchers ought to look at the research question across cultures, says Alan Dixson, an expert in primate sexuality at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, who has studied the male penis?s attractiveness to women in several cultures. While women in the new study do seem to rate a bigger penis as better, the increase in attractiveness seems modest but might not be universal, he says.

---

Suggested Reading

S. Milius. Sea slug carries disposable penis, plus spares. Science News. Vol. 183, March 23, 2013, p. 9. Available online: [Go to]

S. Milius. For ducks, penis length depends on the other guys. Science News. Vol. 178, August 28, 2010, p. 11. Available online: [Go to]

S. Milius. A private evolution. Science News. Vol. 175, February 14, 2009, p. 16. Available online: [Go to]

E. Quill. It?s written all over your face. Science News. Vol. 175, January 17, 2009, p. 24. Available online: [Go to]

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/349520/title/Penis_size_does_matter

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Suicide blast in Syrian capital kills at least 15

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows smoke rising from burned cars after a huge explosion shook the Sabaa Bahrat Square, one of the capital's biggest roundabouts, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 8, 2013. A car bomb rocked a busy residential and commercial district in central Damascus on Monday, killing more than a dozen with many more injured and sending a huge cloud of black smoke billowing over the capital?s skyline, Syrian state-run media said. (AP Photo/SANA)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows smoke rising from burned cars after a huge explosion shook the Sabaa Bahrat Square, one of the capital's biggest roundabouts, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 8, 2013. A car bomb rocked a busy residential and commercial district in central Damascus on Monday, killing more than a dozen with many more injured and sending a huge cloud of black smoke billowing over the capital?s skyline, Syrian state-run media said. (AP Photo/SANA)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrians inspecting a damaged car at the scene of a car bomb attack near the Sabaa Bahrat Square, one of the capital's biggest roundabouts, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 8, 2013. A car bomb rocked a busy residential and commercial district in central Damascus on Monday, killing more than a dozen with many more injured and sending a huge cloud of black smoke billowing over the capital?s skyline, Syrian state-run media said. (AP Photo/SANA)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows a Syrian fire fighter extinguishing a burning car after a huge explosion shook the Sabaa Bahrat Square, one of the capital's biggest roundabouts, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 8, 2013. A car bomb rocked a busy residential and commercial district in central Damascus, killing at least a dozen people with more than fifty injured and causing heavy material damage, a Syrian government official said. (AP Photo/SANA)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian fire fighters extinguishing burning cars after huge explosion shook the Sabaa Bahrat Square, one of the capital's biggest roundabouts, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 8, 2013. A car bomb rocked a busy residential and commercial district in central Damascus, killing at least a dozen people with tens more injured and causing heavy material damage, a Syrian government official said. (AP Photo/SANA)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrians inspecting a damaged car at the scene of a car bomb attack near the Sabaa Bahrat Square, one of the capital's biggest roundabouts, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 8, 2013. A car bomb rocked a busy residential and commercial district in central Damascus, killing at least a dozen people with tens more injured and causing heavy material damage, a Syrian government official said. (AP Photo/SANA)

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? A suicide car bomber struck Monday in the financial heart of Syria's capital, killing at least 15 people, damaging the nearby central bank and incinerating cars and trees in the neighborhood.

The attack was the latest in a recent series of bombings to hit Damascus in the civil war, slowly closing in on President Bashar Assad's base of power in the capital. Rebel fighters have chipped away at the regime's hold in northern and eastern Syria, as well as making significant gains in the south, helped in part by an influx of foreign-funded weapons.

The blast was adjacent Sabaa Bahrat Square ? near the state-run Syrian Investment Agency, the Syrian Central Bank and the Finance Ministry ? and dealt a symbolic blow to the nation's ailing economy.

In the early days of the 2-year-old uprising, the grandiose roundabout was home to huge pro-regime demonstrations with a gigantic poster of Assad hung over the central bank headquarters.

The area was a very different scene Monday.

State TV showed several cars on fire and thick black smoke billowing above the tree-lined street. At least six bodies were sprawled on the pavement. Paramedics carried a young woman on a stretcher, her face bloodied and her white shirt stained red. A man placed a T-shirt over a victim whose face was blown off.

Firefighters struggled to extinguish flames that engulfed the two buildings as well as a row of cars near the roundabout. State media put the toll at 15 dead and 146 wounded.

Witnesses said the suicide attacker tried to ram the vehicle into the investment agency but was stopped by guards, forcing the bomber to detonate the explosives at the gate.

Visiting a mosque across the street that was damaged in the blast, Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi described the attack as "the work of cowards" and vowed the army would crush all armed groups fighting the government. Shattered glass and torn curtains littered the mosque's red carpet.

Some people wandering through the twisted metal, body parts and rubble on the street and directed their anger at countries supporting the rebellion.

"I want to say to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey that the Syrian people stand firm behind their leadership, and they are steadfast and will never kneel down, and we will emerge victorious," said engineer Saeed Halabi, 54, calling the attack a "terrorist and cowardly act."

The U.N. estimates that more than 70,000 people have been killed in the civil war.

The Syrian regime denies there is a popular uprising and refers to the rebels as "terrorists" and "mercenaries," allegedly backed by foreign powers trying to destabilize the country.

The last large explosion in central Damascus took place March 21, when a suicide bomber at a mosque killed 42 people, including a top Sunni Muslim preacher who was an outspoken supporter of Assad.

A month earlier, a suicide car bombing near the ruling Baath Party headquarters ? just blocks away from Monday's attack ? killed 53, according to state media. Anti-regime activists put the death toll from that bombing at 61, which would make it the deadliest in the conflict.

There was no claim of responsibility for any of those bombings.

In the past, the Islamic militant group Jabhat al-Nusra has claimed responsibility for some of the suicide bombings targeting regime and military facilities. The U.S. says the group, which is one of the most effective rebel factions fighting Assad's forces, is linked to al-Qaida and has designated it a terrorist organization.

The bombings, along with now near-daily mortar attacks in the capital, have punctured the sense of normalcy that the regime has tried to cultivate in Damascus. Until recently, the city was largely insulated from the bloodshed and destruction in other urban centers.

The rebels launched an offensive on Damascus in July but were swept out in a punishing counteroffensive. Since then, government warplanes have pounded opposition strongholds on the outskirts, and rebels have managed only small incursions on the city's southern and eastern sides.

The recently elected prime minister of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition bloc, Ghassan Hitto, visited the northern province of Idlib, the Syrian National Coalition said on its Facebook page. The coalition posted photos of Hitto, dressed in a gray suit, meeting with rebel fighters. It was his second trip to Syria since he was selected last month to lead the opposition's interim government, which the U.S. and its allies hope will emerge as the united face of those fighting to topple Assad.

Also on Monday, the Syrian government rejected a request by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to allow international inspectors to have access to the whole country to investigate allegations of chemical weapons use in the civil war.

The government is willing to allow the inspectors only into the village of Khan al-Assal in northern Syria, where an attack was alleged to have taken place on March 19.

Both the rebels and the regime have traded blame for the alleged attack, which has not been confirmed.

Speaking in the Netherlands, Ban said an advance team of inspectors is waiting in Cyprus, ready to move into Syria immediately to investigate the reported use of chemical weapons.

All reports of chemical attacks "should be examined without delay, without conditions and without exceptions," Ban said. "The longer we wait, the harder this essential mission will be."

His comments appeared aimed at increasing the pressure on Assad's regime and ensuring that U.N. inspectors are given access to all sites of reported chemical weapons attacks ? not just those the Syrian government wants them to see.

Syria's Foreign Ministry swiftly rejected the proposal, saying it would constitute "a violation of Syrian sovereignty."

"The secretary-general, while in The Hague, asked for additional tasks that would allow the team to deploy across all of Syrian territory, which goes against what Syria had asked from the U.N. and shows bad intentions," the ministry said in statement. "Syria cannot accept such maneuvers from the secretary-general of the U.N, taking into consideration the negative role played in Iraq which paved the way for the American invasion."

It added, however, that Syria is ready to grant inspectors access to Khan al-Assal.

Syria is widely believed to have a large stockpile of chemical weapons, but it is one of only eight countries in the world that has not signed up to the chemical weapons convention. That means it does not have to report any chemical weapons to The Hague-based organization that monitors compliance with the treaty.

Britain and France have followed up by asking Ban to investigate allegations of chemical weapons use in two locations in Khan al-Assal and the village of Ataybah, in the vicinity of Damascus, all on March 19, as well as in Homs on Dec. 23.

The delay in getting to the scene will hamper investigators, said Amy Smithson, a chemical weapons expert with the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in the United States.

"It is going to make it a bigger challenge. But it doesn't mean you should throw in the towel," Smithson said in a telephone interview.

Investigators will likely go after two key sources of evidence ? samples from the environment and from any possible victims or survivors of suspected chemical attacks.

"When the environment has changed, that makes it that much more challenging to get a clean environmental sample," Smithson said.

___

Lucas reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Zeina Karam, Bassem Mroue and Barbara Surk in Beirut, and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-08-ML-Syria/id-868de211cfae4256b437a8f1dc1e0484

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Schumer sees deal this week on immigration

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A raucous public debate over the nation's flawed immigration system is set to begin in earnest this week as senators finalize a bipartisan bill to secure the border, allow tens of thousands of foreign workers into the country and grant eventual citizenship to the estimated 11 million people living here illegally.

Already negotiators are cautioning of struggles ahead for an issue that's defied resolution for years. An immigration deal came close on the Senate floor in 2007 but collapsed amid interest group bickering and an angry public backlash.

"There will be a great deal of unhappiness about this proposal because everybody didn't get what they wanted," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a leader of the eight senators negotiating the legislation, said Sunday. "There are entrenched positions on both sides of this issue."

"There's a long road," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., appearing alongside McCain on CBS' "Face the Nation." ''There are people on both sides who are against this bill, and they will be able to shoot at it."

Schumer, McCain and their "Gang of Eight" already missed a self-imposed deadline to have their bill ready in March, but Schumer said he hopes that this week, it will happen.

"All of us have said that there will be no agreement until the eight of us agree to a big, specific bill, but hopefully we can get that done by the end of the week," said Schumer.

Schumer, McCain and other negotiators are trying to avoid mistakes of the past.

A painstaking deal reached a week ago knit together traditional enemies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO, in an accord over a new low-skilled worker program. The proposal would allow up to 200,000 workers a year into the county to fill jobs in construction, hospitality, nursing homes and other areas where employers say they have a difficult time hiring Americans.

The negotiators also have pledged to move the bill through the Senate Judiciary Committee and onto the floor according to what's known in Senate jargon as "regular order," trying to head off complaints from conservatives that the legislation is being rammed through.

A deal on immigration is a top second-term priority for President Barack Obama, and his senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said Sunday that the bill being developed in the Senate is consistent with Obama's approach ? even though the Senate plan would tie border security to a path to citizenship in a manner Obama administration officials have criticized.

Pfeiffer didn't answer directly when asked on "Fox News Sunday" whether Obama would sign legislation making a path to citizenship contingent on first securing the border. But he suggested Obama was supportive of the Senate plan.

"What has been talked about in the Gang of Eight proposal is 100 percent consistent with what the president is doing so we feel very good about it," Pfeiffer said. "And they are looking at it in the right way."

Sticking points remain. There's still disagreement over plans for a new program to bring in agriculture workers, who weren't included in the deal struck between the chamber and AFL-CIO. The agriculture industry is at odds with United Farm Workers over wages.

But overall, all involved are optimistic that the time is ripe to make the biggest changes to the nation's immigration laws in more than a quarter-century. For many Republicans, their loss in the November presidential election, when Latino and Asians voters backed Obama in big numbers, resonates as evidence that they must confront the immigration issue.

"The politics of self-deportation are behind us," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., referring to GOP candidate Mitt Romney's suggestion in the presidential campaign. "It was an impractical solution. Quite frankly it's offensive. Every corner of the Republican Party, from libertarians to the (Republican National Committee), House Republicans and the rank-and-file Republican Party member, is now understanding there has to be an earned pathway to citizenship."

Graham and McCain also had praise for Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a member of the negotiating team who's acted as a bridge to conservatives but also has kept advocates and other lawmakers guessing about whether he'll ultimately support the bill.

"Marco Rubio has been a game changer in my party. He will be there only if the Democrats will embrace a guest worker program and a merit-based immigration system to replace the broken one," Graham said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

After consideration by the Judiciary Committee, floor action could start in the Senate in May, Schumer said.

Meanwhile two lawmakers involved in writing a bipartisan immigration bill in the House, Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., sounded optimistic that they, too, would have a deal soon that could be reconciled with the Senate agreement.

"I am very, very optimistic that the House of Representatives is going to have a plan that is going to be able to go to a conference with the Senate in which we're going to be able to resolve this," Gutierrez said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union".

___

Follow Erica Werner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericawerner

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/schumer-sees-deal-week-immigration-152159931.html

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Charter Madrasa Movement (Balloon Juice)

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Kerry seeks speedy fix for Turkish-Israeli ties

ISTANBUL (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Turkish leaders Sunday to speedily restore full diplomatic relations with Israel, two American allies the U.S. sees as anchors of stability in a Middle East wracked by Syria's civil war, Arab Spring political upheavals and the potential threat posed by Iran's nuclear program.

Turkey, however, demanded that Israel end all "embargoes" against the Palestinians first.

In Istanbul on the first leg of a 10-day overseas trip, Kerry met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu with the aim of firming up the rapprochement between Turkey and Israel that President Barack Obama kick-started during a visit to the Jewish state last month.

Kerry met later Sunday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan before traveling on to Israel.

"We would like to see this relationship that is important to stability in the Middle East and critical to the peace process ... get back on track in its full measure," Kerry told reporters at a joint news conference with Davutoglu. He said that meant promises of "compensation be fulfilled, ambassadors be returned and full relations be embraced."

The two nations were once close partners, but the relationship plummeted in 2010 after an Israeli raid on a flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip. Eight Turks and a Turkish-American died.

Before leaving Israel two weeks ago, Obama arranged a telephone conversation between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Erdogan. Netanyahu apologized for the incident, and compensation talks are expected to begin this week.

But Davutoglu suggested that full normalization of ties would probably take some time.

"There is an offense that has been committed and there needs to be accountability," Davutoglu said. He signaled that Turkey would pursue a "careful" advance toward a complete restoration of relations, with compensation and an end to Israeli trade restrictions on the Gaza Strip as the stumbling blocks.

"All of the embargoes should be eliminated once and for all," he said, speaking through an interpreter.

Fixing the Turkish-Israeli relationship has been a long-sought goal of the Obama administration, and the U.S. desperately wants significant progress by the time Erdogan visits the White House in mid-May.

The Turks have reveled somewhat in what they view as a diplomatic victory, with billboards in Ankara celebrating Netanyahu's apology and praising Erdogan for bringing pride to his country. Perhaps seeking to buffer his leverage further, Erdogan signaled shortly after the call that he was in no hurry to finalize the deal and pledged to visit the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory soon.

From a U.S. strategic sense, cooperation between the American allies has only become more important as Syria's two-year conflict has grown ever deadlier. More than 70,000 people have died in the war, according to the United Nations, but the U.S. fears it could get even worse ? by spilling into neighboring countries or through chemical weapons being used. Both potential scenarios have prompted intense contingency planning among Washington and its regional partners, Israel and Turkey included.

Kerry, who noted his twice-weekly telephone chats with Davutoglu, spoke of shared U.S. and Turkish efforts to support Syria's opposition coalition. The opposition has suffered from poor coordination between its political leadership and the military factions leading the fight against the Assad regime, and from intense infighting among those who seek to guide the amorphous movement's overall strategy.

Turkey has gone further than the U.S. in its assistance, accepting some 180,000 Syrians as refugees and sending advanced weaponry to rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad. The U.S. is only providing non-lethal aid to the rebels in the form of meals, medical kits and training.

Kerry praised Turkey for its generosity toward refugees and commitment to keeping its borders open, an issue of growing U.S. concern as the outflow of Syrians stretches the capacities of neighboring countries to accommodate them.

"The United States and Turkey will continue cooperating toward the shared goal of a peaceful transition in Syria," he said.

Although given short shrift at the news conference, a U.S. official stressed ahead of Kerry's meetings that he would also urge the Turks to remain cautious over the contentious issue of Iraqi oil.

Turkey wants to import oil directly from Iraq's autonomous Kurds in the north, a step that would enrage the central government in Baghdad and one the U.S. opposes. Washington doesn't want the riches of Iraq to bring the country back to sectarian warfare and has urged that any export arrangement get the Iraqi government's blessing.

The secretary of state is flying later Sunday to Israel, his third trip there in the span of two weeks. He'll meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Sunday night, followed by Netanyahu and other senior Israeli and Palestinian officials Monday as part of a fresh American bid to unlock the long-stalled Middle East peace process.

Conversations in Israel will also cover shared U.S. and Israeli concerns over Iran's nuclear program. The U.S. and other world powers met the Islamic republic in Kazakhstan for another round of negotiations, but no breakthrough was announced on a proposed deal that would see international sanctions on Iran eased if Tehran convinces the world it is not trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Kerry said the "door is still open" for a negotiated agreement, but that the onus was on the Iranians.

"If you have a peaceful program for nuclear power, as a number of nations do, it's not hard to prove that," he said. "They have chosen not to live up to the international requirements and standards with respect to verification of their program."

The other stops on his trip are Britain, South Korea, China and Japan. He returns to Washington on April 15.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-seeks-speedy-fix-turkish-israeli-ties-101244805--politics.html

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The equine Adam lived fairly recently: Close relationships among modern stallions

The equine Adam lived fairly recently: Close relationships among modern stallions

Thursday, April 4, 2013

In mammals, an individual's sex is determined by the chromosomes it inherits from its parents. Two X chromosomes lead to a female, whereas one X and one Y lead to a male. Y chromosomes are only passed from fathers to sons, so each Y chromosome represents the male genealogy of the animal in question. In contrast, mitochondria are passed on by mothers to all their offspring. This means that an analysis of the genetic material or DNA of mitochondria can give information on the female ancestry. For the modern horse, it is well known that mitochondrial DNA is extremely diverse and this has been interpreted to mean that many ancestral female horses have passed their DNA on to modern horse breeds. Until recently, though, essentially no sequence diversity had been detected on the Y chromosome of the domestic horse. Not only does the lack of sequence markers on the Y chromosome make it impossible to trace male lineages with confidence, it also represents a scientific paradox. How can a species with so many female lines have so few male lines? The issue has now been addressed by Barbara Wallner and colleagues at the Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna (Vetmeduni Vienna).

Wallner initially selected seventeen horses from a range of European breeds. She pooled their DNAs and used modern sequencing technology to examine the level of diversity on a 200 kb portion of the Y chromosome she had previously sequenced. The Y chromosomes were found to be highly similar: only five positions turned out to be variable. As Wallner says, "the results confirmed what we had previously suspected: that the Y chromosomes of modern breeds of horse show far less variability than those of other domestic animals."

The five variable positions, or polymorphisms, were nevertheless sufficient to enable the researchers to derive a type of "family tree" for the various breeds of modern horse they investigated. An examination of over 600 stallions from 58 (largely European) breeds showed that the animals could be grouped into six basic lines or haplotypes. The ancestral haplotype is distributed across almost all breeds and geographical regions. A second haplotype also occurs at high frequencies across a broad range of breeds, although not in northern European breeds or in horses from the Iberian Peninsula. A third haplotype is present in almost all English Thoroughbreds and in many warm-blooded breeds. The final three haplotypes are only found in local northern European breeds: one in Icelandic horses, one in Norwegian Fjord horses and one in Shetland ponies.

The pedigree of horses is very tightly controlled, with studbooks in many cases going as far back as the 18th century. Combining the results of the genetic analysis with pedigree data enabled the scientists to trace the paternal roots of many of the current male lines. Wallner feels that, "the results were intriguing, for example in the way the distribution of one haplotype reflects the widespread movement of stallions from the Middle East to Central and Western Europe in the past 200 years. Another haplotype results from a mutation that occurred in the famous English Thoroughbred stallion 'Eclipse' or in his son or grandson. It is amazing to see how much influence this line has had on modern sport horses: almost all English Thoroughbreds and nearly half the modern sport horse breeds carry the Eclipse haplotype."

The Vetmeduni Vienna scientists have confirmed the low diversity of the horse Y chromosome, which contrasts sharply with range of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes observed in modern horses. The difference is presumably due to the strong variation in male reproductive success. Wild horses have a polygynous breeding pattern, while the intensive breeding practices in domestic horses mean that single stallions can effectively pass on their DNA to entire generations. The senior author on the paper, Gottfried Brem, comments that, "most modern breeds were established in the last two centuries, during which time the horse has undergone a transition from working and military use towards leisure and sports. This has largely been achieved through the use in breeding of a few selected males. The restricted genetic diversity of the modern horse Y chromosome is a reflection of what has survived the species' dynamic history."

###

The paper "Identification of genetic variation on the horse Y chromosome and the tracing of male founder lineages in modern breeds" by Barbara Wallner, Claus Vogl, Priyank Shukla, Joerg P Burgstaller, Thomas Druml and Gottfried Brem has just been published online in "PLOS ONE".

The original article in full text online (Open Access): http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0060015

University of Veterinary Medicine -- Vienna: http://www.vetmeduni.ac.at

Thanks to University of Veterinary Medicine -- Vienna for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127593/The_equine_Adam_lived_fairly_recently___Close_relationships_among_modern_stallions

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School-based 'healthy living' programs triggering eating disorders in ...

In one case, a 14-year-old boy who was normal weight lost 11.5 kilograms over seven months after he began severely restricting food, cutting out ?bad foods and junk foods? and limiting his intake of cheese, milk and meat in response to a ?healthy ?

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Source: http://www.16g.org/school-based-healthy-living-programs-triggering-eating-disorders-in-some-2/

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