Mortality Rates: Pregnancy Related
- *huge disparities across time
Black and Alaskan native are the largest mortality rates
Education and socieconomic factors don’t factor into the mortality rates in newborns
Physician-Patient Racial Study
study: obsevred dfferences in birthing mortality rates in babies
Compared white baby and race of the physician
- *if white doctor and black baby, huge difference in mortality rate
- *if black doctor and black baby, decrease in mortality rate
- *not a biological event (something is causing this)
○ Not because of educational or socioeconomic status
○ Likely due to differences in communication (difference in how patients and doctors interact with each other – some aren’t asking the right questions)
Play - background
early social behavior
*when animal becomes less directed at mom, and more direceted at siblings on peers (social interaction)
Testes - Pathway
testes secretes tesosterone
**tesosterone gets aromatized into estradiol and then estrogen receptors
play behavior: influenced by androgens
Mental Illness - Diff. in sex and time
Any mental illness, overall, sex differences in adults that occur at higher rates in females vs. males
- At age 18-25: highest peak of mental illness
- Major depression:
○ Sex differences in diagnosis rates (for things like depression) - Females diagnosed more with depression than males
○ The younger group has the bigger risk for depression
age 12-17: females have huge diff between diagnosis
- very few under age 10 diagnosed with depression (starts around 15)
***more depression in females than males
Consequence of People not getting help
increased risk in depression (especially between ages 15-25)
*most people (60%) don’t get help
suicide rates: less than 15 yrs old and very low levels of suicide rate
- right after 15 yrs old, massive increase in suicide (major life event happening here)
***males higher in females in suicide rates (even though females have higher rates of depression)
Hormonal Changes in Males and Females
Hormones lower (perinatal stage) and then around puberty, they spike
- The adolescnece (puberty stage) the hormone levels spike
○ This increases anxiety and depression risk (but also changes in social structure) *prob mix of social structure changes and hormonal levels
Joy in animals
helps us understand depression
Anxiety
we can study animals by measuring anxiety based on their behaviors
Elevator plus maze: **Measure rat’s anxiety
- Rats and mice don’t like open spaces (like to hide)
○ Test of anxiety: if you give drugs to humans, changes their time in the open
§ **Animals who walk out in the open space, are less anxious
○ Validated study: if you give animals SSRIs, the animal will walk out more into open space
Depression
Swim test: tests for depression
- the animal gets put in a bucket of water (they try to swim and struggle, but then give up)
Tail Suspension Test: test for depression
- hold animals by its tail (it struggles)
- The longer it struggles, the less depressed the animal is
- ***if you give animals anti-depressants, they will swim longer, struggle longer and faster
- *weight and age dependent (most ppl use swim test because if the animal is too big, can’t hold them by their tail)
Value in Play
*a study found that play is the best predictor of academic performance (their scores were better if they played before)
play is self-chosen
- play is intricially motivated
- guided by mental rules
- imaginative
- conducted in alert, active, but non-stressed mind
**if you don’t play during adolescent period, it impairs the person later in life (changes their impulse behavior)
Rats Interact with Parents
the rats interact with parents first
- males wrestle with babies
- play between parents
- as they get older, they do rough in tumble play with their peers
*then they go thru puberty, and do less play and more reproductive behaviors
Conditioned Place Preference Test
used to test if animals like social rewards (do they like being with each other)
animal put in one arena, then add another mice and let them play
- then animal gets dropped in diff area without anyone else (no play)
- then they put the animals in the middle together and watched where they played — ***the animals wanted to play together where they were because that’s where they had a good time
Video of Rat Brain Test
scientist wanted to know where in the brain play comes from:
- He removed the cortex from the brains of young rats
- Saw if the rats still wanted to play after, **they did want to keep playing after
- *rats would even chase human hands if they had played with them before
- ***experiment showed that the play impulse must come from deep part of the brain that is ancient that most animals have
○ Play must be vital to survive (they didn’t die when they played despite predators) - **they think play exists because it helps with social interaction
- *play is how animals can learn the rules of the world and how to interact with each other
Article on Oxytocin
if you give oxytocin to an animal and increase their preference to play
**animals want to engage in play (unless you break their emtions by making them depressed)
Play before Perinatal stage
Before puberty, play is highest (joy)
- Puberty moves that behavior to something else – is play that was joy now gone?
In puberty, drug seeking, addiction, and other behaviors to seek joy
Play organized during parinatal stage:
- Boys do more rough and tumble play
- Sex difference in play that is driven by hormone exposure during development
Neonatal Hormones in males (castration)
the intact males play higher levels than the females
*** if you castrate males, they play the same level as the females
*if you remove ovaries: no effect on play
**there’s a sex difference that is organized by hormones during development
giving hormones around birth: then tested them after 30 days (juvenile)
- If you give females testosterone, they play like males
- If you give females DHT, they play like males
- If you give females estradiol, has no effect they play like females
Estradiol Effects on Play
*low does of esterdiol is ineffective in changing play behavior but tesosterone works
- females have alpha fetal protein
- you have to give them high dose of estradiol to change their play behavior
**if you give them andorgens, it activates androgen receptors
- neonatal hormones can masculinize the play
Play Behvaior in Brain
**play behavior controlled by many brain regions
**very controlled by amygdala (humans and rats have amygdalas)
**if you put tesosterone only in the amygdala on first day of life, then remove and look at day 6
- males play higher than females
**high dose of testosterone masculinizes the female and male for play behavior
**amygdala is very involved - if you put androgens just in the amygdala, you get male play behavior
Sex Differences in Monkeys
*sex differences in toy preferences in monkeys
- the males like wheels (cars)
- females don’t like wheels
*females like sticks (they think it’s like a doll or they like it bc its a tool)
***rough and tumble play
- in 9 months, they go thru puberty which lowers their play
- andorgens masculinize their play too
***androgens (hormone) early in life increases rough and tumble play
Play needed for Brain development
○ If you isolate species, you can measure deficits
○ Young rats that play have increased production of BDNF (positive thing)
Play helps humans manage stress
○ When a bad thing happens, they look at the consequences of having 1:1 time
○ If you dominate play, it’s less joyful (want to have give-and-take of play)
○ They show improved coping behavior and less stress (lower cortisol levels)
Play helps families bond
- Play helps families bond: peer play
○ Needed for imagination
How to predict interactions (what is coming at you?)
Play Improves Academic Skills
○ Play is decision making
○ Play and impulse control
○ Scientists designed experiment to see if play before class increases grades
*play improves skills
