Researchers analysed nearly 19,000 IVF cycles and found that for women under 35 or over 40, the age of their male partner made little difference to their chances of conceiving.
But there was a "significant drop" in the live birth rate for women between the ages of 35 and 40 if their partner was 40 and above.
"Clearly it is very important that we do not ignore the paternal age when it comes to educating couples about fertility outcomes," Professor Geeta Nargund, medical director at IVF clinic group Create Fertility, and a co author was quoted as saying to The Observer.
"A woman's age obviously plays a large role but not all the focus should be on her biological clock. Now we know that, for women in a certain age bracket, paternal age is more significant than previously thought when it comes to live birth rates," Nargund added.
The findings revealed that for women aged between 35 and 40, the live birth rate dropped from 32.8 per cent when the paternal age was under 35 to 27.9 per cent when the paternal age was between 40 and 44.
When male partners were over 55 years old, the live birth rate was 25 per cent.
Nargund said the study indicates that eggs from younger females have the capacity to "repair the much higher incidence of DNA damage found in the sperm of older males".
She also said the potential ability of both egg and sperm to "repair the effects of the ageing process" needs to be better understood, the report said.
397 dowry deaths makes Odisha stand 4th in the country after UP, Haryana and Bihar, with not missing the rate of dowry deaths by a long margin from its competitors. Special and local law crimes registered 1400 cases under dowry prohibition Act, making Odisha 2nd rank holder in India with Jharkhand taking the top spot. 2781 cases of cruelty by husband were registered in the same year.
With 13 acid attacks in 2016, Odisha bags the 6th position. With a rate of 4.1 Odisha is 6th in cases of sexual harassment in the country and 7th in cases of insult to modesty of women. With 84 gang rape cases the state stands at 5th position, 9th in attempt to commit rape. In the year 2016 Odisha has seen on an average 163.3 cases of rape per month.
This author in an earlier piece had pointed out other abysmal parameters like education level (67.4% female literacy rate as per NFHS-4) and health status (50% females are anaemic in Odisha). There are nearly 3,00,000 girls in Odisha who are married when they are mere 15-19 year old. Of them, 87 thousand are mothers among which 11,000 are disturbingly mothers below 15 years of age. One can go on and on with several such shameful parameters.
One thing that is clear is that there exists a law and order problem when it comes to crime against women. Crime prevention and creation of deterrence is responsibility of the state government and the lax here is out in open. Conviction rates of 16% in rape cases, 18% in cases of kidnapping of women and 13% in dowry related cases also speak volumes.
The first step in solving any problem is acceptance of the fact that the problem exists. Denial is often writ large when one is shown the mirror. Arguments like such is the general condition of women in India and Odisha can be no different, it is just a law and order situation, these data do not reflect the true respect that Odia society have for women, only few anti-social elements and criminals are responsible for such numbers, things are slowly getting better for women, are not going to help the cause.
Effective policing, better investigations, sound legal counsel by the state, awareness campaigns targeted at behavioural change needs to be undertaken by the State. The society at large needs to reflect on where things are amiss. Patriarchy is so deeply embedded that we take things for normal and for granted where there actually is a deep deficit. It needs to be shaken and early signs of it are showing. Yet there are miles to go before one can say that Odisha is a safe and conducive place for women.
Repeated binge drinking was found to significantly alter molecular pathways in the nucleus accumbens -- a region of the brain linked to addiction.
But, in females the genes linked to hormone signalling and immune function are altered, whereas in males genes related to nerve signalling are affected.
The study has significant implications for the treatment of alcohol use disorder as they emphasise the importance of tailoring effective therapies towards male and female patients, said researchers led by Deborah Finn, Professor at Oregon Health and Science University.
Repeated binge drinking can be a risk factor for the development of alcohol dependence.
For the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Genetics, the team analysed gene expression in nucleus accumbens.
"We examined the effect of repeated binge drinking on the expression of 384 genes previously identified as important in addiction and mood disorders," Finn said.
Of a total of 106 genes regulated by binge drinking, only 14 were regulated in both males and females, representing common targets to binge drinking. Interestingly, only 4 of these 14 genes were regulated in the same direction and the top 30 genes regulated by binge drinking in each sex differed markedly.
"We have shown that pharmacologically manipulating a pathway in both sexes that only was affected by binge drinking in males did not decrease binge drinking in females; binge drinking was only decreased in males," Finn explained.
She noted that a consideration of sex is critical in the development of potential pharmacological therapies for the treatment of alcohol use disorder.
The researchers found that oestrogen, which plays a major role in development of masculine traits in rats, activates mast cells -- a type of white blood cell -- in the brain and that those mast cells drive the animal's sexual development.
"We're really interested in the fundamental mechanisms that drive brain development and sex-specific brain development, and this study found that mast cells -- immune cells involved in allergic responses -- play a key role," said lead author Kathryn Lenz, Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University in the US.
For the study, appearing in the Journal of Neuroscience, the team silenced the cells in male foetal rats and then observed the rats' development later in life.
They paired one of these male animals with a female that was receptive to mating and watched to see whether the male sexually pursued the female - basically, whether he chased her and mounted her.
The experimental males were far less interested than typical males, acting almost like females.
The researchers also manipulated female newborn rats, activating the mast cells with a stimulating chemical.
As adults, they acted like males.
"It's fascinating to watch, because these masculine females don't have the hardware to engage in male reproductive behaviour, but...they appear to be strongly motivated to try to engage in male sexual behaviour with other females," Lenz said.
If human development mirrors what was seen in this animal study, it's possible that relatively minor influences -- such as an allergic reaction, injury or inflammation during pregnancy -- could steer sexual behaviour development in children, Lenz explained.
It's even conceivable that taking antihistamines or pain relievers during pregnancy could play a role.
Furthermore, this discovery could help explain risks for psychiatric and neurological disorders that are more common in males, including autism, she noted.