Lay Summary Social environment experienced during development shapes female mate choice in guppies. We showed that they modified their preferences depending on the distribution of males’ phenotypes experienced while maturing, favoring unfamiliar phenotypes. This may allow them to avoid inbreeding and could contribute to the maintenance of the polymorphism found in male color patterns. Moreover the length of exposure to adult males also affected their preferences but only when exposed to certain sexual traits.

Study objectives

Catathrenia is an underrecognized nocturnal vocalization phenomenon that can be a source of perplexity to patients, bed partners, and medical providers. Catathrenia is distinct from both sleep talking (a parasomnia with loud talking during sleep) and snoring (noise due to vibration of upper airway soft tissues related to variations in airway resistance). The objective of this review is to provide an evidence-based resource to help the practitioner reliably evaluate and manage patients with this condition.

Methods

Data were gathered from: (1) PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar; and (2) catathrenia social media groups (Yahoo and Facebook).

Results

Data collected were (1) 15 case reports and 17 case series describing 191 patients with catathrenia; (2) questionnaires from 47 catathrenia subjects; (3) 5 audio files.

Conclusions

Catathrenia is a noise produced during sleep (distinct from snoring) with identifiable harmonics, a computable main frequency, and high-decibel intensity that involves active adduction and vibration of the vocal cords during expiration. The quality of groaning in catathrenia is monotone, and often presents with a morose or sexual connotation, causing a significant social problem for patients. Although there is no association with risk of physical harm, catathrenia does present a significant disturbance to the bed partner and has been associated with subjective impairments to sleep quality, including unrefreshing sleep and fatigue. Polysomnography can be useful if performed properly to confirm the diagnosis and to evaluate for comorbid sleep disturbances, such as obstructive sleep apnea or parasomnia. Directions for further research could involve consideration of deep breathing exercises, yoga, meditation, or myofunctional therapy to help abate symptoms.

Abstract Background Because previous studies have suggested that motorized non-surgical spinal decompression can reduce chronic low back pain (LBP) due to disc degeneration (discogenic low back pain) and disc herniation, it has accordingly been hypothesized that the reduction of pressure on affected discs will facilitate their regeneration. The goal of this study was to determine if changes in LBP, as measured on a verbal rating scale, before and after a 6-week treatment period with non-surgical spinal decompression, correlate with changes in lumbar disc height, as measured on computed tomography (CT) scans. Methods A retrospective cohort study of adults with chronic LBP attributed to disc herniation and/or discogenic LBP who underwent a 6-week treatment protocol of motorized non-surgical spinal decompression via the DRX9000 with CT scans before and after treatment. The main outcomes were changes in pain as measured on a verbal rating scale from 0 to 10 during a flexion-extension range of motion evaluation and changes in disc height as measured on CT scans. Paired t-test or linear regression was used as appropriate with p < 0.05 considered to be statistically significant. Results We identified 30 patients with lumbar disc herniation with an average age of 65 years, body mass index of 29 kg/m2, 21 females and 9 males, and an average duration of LBP of 12.5 weeks. During treatment, low back pain decreased from 6.2 (SD 2.2) to 1.6 (2.3, p < 0.001) and disc height increased from 7.5 (1.7) mm to 8.8 (1.7) mm (p < 0.001). Increase in disc height and reduction in pain were significantly correlated (r = 0.36, p = 0.044). Conclusions Non-surgical spinal decompression was associated with a reduction in pain and an increase in disc height. The correlation of these variables suggests that pain reduction may be mediated, at least in part, through a restoration of disc height. A randomized controlled trial is needed to confirm these promising results. Clinical trial registration number NCT00828880

UNLABELLED: Fermentation of pectin-rich biomass by Saccharomyces cerevisiae can produce bioethanol as a fuel replacement to combat carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels. Saccharomyces cerevisiae UCDFST 09-448 produces its own pectinase enzymes potentially eliminating the need for commercial pectinases during fermentation. This research assessed growth, pectinase activity, and fermentative activity of S. cerevisiae UCDFST 09-448 and compared its performance to an industrial yeast strain, S. cerevisiae XR122N. Saccharomyces cerevisiae UCDFST 09-448s growth was inhibited by osmotic stress (xylose concentrations above 1 M), ethanol concentrations greater than 5% v/v, and temperatures outside of 30°C-37°C. However, S. cerevisiae UCDFST 09-448 was able to consistently grow in an industrial pH range (3-6). It was able to metabolize glucose, sucrose, and fructose but was unable to metabolize arabinose, xylose, and galacturonic acid. The pectinase enzyme produced by S. cerevisiae UCDFST 09-448 was active under typical fermentation conditions (35°C-37°C, pH 5.0). Regardless of S. cerevisiae UCDFST 09-448s limitations when compared to S. cerevisiae XR122N in 15% w/v peach fermentations, S. cerevisiae UCDFST 09-448 was still able to achieve maximum ethanol yields in the absence of commercial pectinases (44.7 ± 3.1 g/L). Under the same conditions, S. cerevisiae XR122N produced 39.5 ± 3.1 g/L ethanol. While S. cerevisiae UCDFST 09-448 may not currently be optimized for industrial fermentations, it is a step toward a consolidated bioprocessing approach to fermentation of pectin-rich biomass. ONE-SENTENCE SUMMARY: Saccharomyces cerevisiae UCDFST 09-448 demonstrates the potential to ferment pectin-rich biomass as part of a consolidated bioprocess, but is sensitive to industrial stressors.