This study aimed to evaluate the effects of range grazing and three concentrate-based production systems on the growth, sexual behavior, scrotal circumference, and semen quality of breeding bucks. A total of 40 yearling bucks (10 bucks/treatment) were randomly allocated to range grazing (T1) and three different roughage-to-concentrate ratios: 60:40% (T2), 50:50% (T3), and 40:60% (T4) on a DM basis for a period of 90 days. All data were analyzed via ANOVA in SAS-JMP Pro 19. Bucks in T3 and T4 presented greater average daily gains (ADG) than those in T1 and T2 did, although T2 presented better gains than did T1. In T1 bucks, scrotal development, the number of mounts, the frequency of ejaculation, the courtship behavior score, and the testosterone concentration were lower, whereas the reaction time and refractory period were greater than those in T3 and T4. Bucks fed the T4 diet presented greater semen volume, followed by those fed T3 and T2, and the lowest semen volume was observed at T1. Strong positive correlations were observed between dry matter intake (DMI), scrotal circumference, and semen volume. ADG was also strongly correlated with semen volume (r = 0.81), motility (r = 0.78), and scrotal circumference (r = 0.82). The results of this study indicated that concentrate-fed bucks had better daily gain, scrotal development, and functional semen quality traits (semen volume, motility, and concentration) than did range grazing bucks, although the ADG, feed conversion efficiency, and mating frequency of the bucks fed the T3 and T4 diets were similar.

Postmenopausal hyperandrogenism is uncommon and should prompt evaluation for an underlying androgen-secreting source. Although ovarian causes are more frequent, adrenal tumors remain an important consideration and may occasionally be malignant. We report a 53-year-old postmenopausal woman who presented with progressive hirsutism, scalp hair loss, and mild clitoromegaly. Laboratory evaluation showed markedly elevated total testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate levels with suppressed gonadotropins. Pelvic ultrasonography showed no ovarian mass. CT demonstrated a 3.5 × 2.4 cm left adrenal mass with precontrast attenuation of 31 Hounsfield units and an enhancement washout pattern not typical of an adrenal adenoma. MRI showed a 3.6 × 2.1 cm left adrenal lesion with arterial hyperenhancement, restricted diffusion, and no signal drop on out-of-phase imaging. Biochemical testing excluded pheochromocytoma, primary aldosteronism, and clinically significant cortisol co-secretion. The patient underwent laparoscopic adrenalectomy, and pathology confirmed a 3.6 cm adrenal cortical adenoma with negative margins, positive inhibin, Melan-A, and steroidogenic factor-1 staining, and Ki-67 <3%. Postoperative androgen levels normalized, and adrenal insufficiency was excluded by cosyntropin stimulation testing. This case highlights the importance of integrating clinical presentation, biochemical localization, adrenal imaging, differential diagnosis, and pathology when evaluating severe postmenopausal hyperandrogenism.

Frailty is a common and debilitating feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD), yet effective therapeutic strategies targeting both cognitive decline and physical frailty remain limited. Qi-Fu-Yin (QFY), a traditional Chinese herbal formulation, has been used to treat aging-related disorders, but its effects on frailty in AD and the underlying mechanisms are unclear. This study aimed to evaluate whether QFY alleviates frailty in 5xFamilial Alzheimer's Disease (FAD) transgenic mice and to explore the potential involvement of gut microbiota and neuroendocrine hormones. Mice were treated with QFY at low (2.8 g/kg), medium (5.6 g/kg), or high (11.2 g/kg) doses, or with donepezil as a positive control, for 194 days. Frailty-related behaviors were assessed using CatWalk gait analysis, grip strength, rotarod, nest-building, and aging scoring. Plasma hormone levels were measured, and fecal gut microbiota composition and function were analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing and metagenomic analysis. QFY treatment significantly improved gait parameters, grip strength, motor coordination, nesting ability, and reduced aging scores in 5xFAD mice, with effects comparable to or superior to those of donepezil. QFY also restored aberrant levels of estradiol, testosterone, and corticosterone, and reshaped gut microbiota composition, particularly by increasing the abundance of Adlercreutzia, which negatively correlated with senescence and testosterone levels. Functional metagenomics revealed that QFY partially restored disease-associated microbial pathways, including those involved in carbohydrate metabolism and virulence. These findings suggest that QFY alleviates frailty in 5xFAD mice, with effects associated with concurrent modulation of gut microbiota and neuroendocrine function, though causal relationships require further validation. These findings support further investigation of QFY as a potential intervention for AD-associated frailty.

Long-term glucocorticoid therapy is standard of care for individuals with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) but often results in impaired growth and delayed or incomplete puberty, impacting their physical and psychosocial health. Although DMD endocrine care has evolved, leading to inclusion in the 2018 Care Considerations, these issues remain prevalent and concerning, and gaps in care persist. The Growth and Puberty Working Group of the OPTIMIZE DMD Consortium, an international multidisciplinary group including endocrinology and neuromuscular specialists with DMD expertise, conducted a literature review and surveyed clinicians to inform updated clinical guidance on growth and puberty. This report is based on evidence where available, plus expert consensus, and thereby provides revised guidance on the investigation and management of growth and pubertal delay, as well as hypogonadism beyond the pubertal years, among individuals with DMD. It also addresses new topics subsequent to the 2018 Care Considerations, including: 1) the dissociative glucocorticoid vamorolone and its impact on growth, and 2) gonadal function in older adolescents and young adults. With the current lack of long-term data on growth and puberty outcomes, prevailing themes underscore the importance of person- and family-centered care with informed shared decision-making aligned with individualized goals plus interdisciplinary team communication. This report also highlights specific areas in these domains in need of research. Through ongoing collaborations within the OPTIMIZE DMD Consortium, growth and puberty care continues to evolve and will inform and advance research to improve the health and quality of life of individuals with DMD.

Identifying early life biomarkers of suboptimal aging trajectories could help design interventions to delay or even prevent the onset of pathological conditions in older adulthood. To address this issue, we capitalize on evidence that the prevalence rates and presentation of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative conditions tend to vary between males and females, thereby raising the possibility that processes involved in sexual differentiation could help connect brain maturation and aging outcomes. Here, we focus on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a neurodevelopmental condition with male-biased prevalence, and examine the relevance of its genetic risk and functional brain profile to aging outcomes. We analyzed multimodal data from a child sample enriched in ADHD cases and a neurologically intact adult sample. Among 6-to-12-year-olds (N =522), genetic vulnerability to pathological aging, indexed via polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for Alzheimer's Disease (AD), predicted ADHD diagnosis across sexes, regardless of psychiatric history and PRSs for multiple disorders (including ADHD). Irrespective of age, boys and girls diagnosed with ADHD showed preferential alignment with male-, rather than female-, typical functional connectivity patterns in metabolically active transmodal areas which are enriched in 5-HT 2,4 , D1, and mGLU5 receptors. In an independent sample aged 36-90 years (N = 345), the ADHD brain profile correlated with higher levels of testosterone, physiological markers of reproductive aging and poorer performance on AD-relevant cognitive tasks among older individuals of either sex. Our results imply that neurodevelopmental conditions could provide insights into vulnerability to suboptimal aging trajectories and could help guide early interventions targeting at-risk individuals.

Suffering the stress of others (termed empathic stress or stress contagion) may affect an individual's health and well-being. To understand the underlying hormonal processes of empathic stress, N = 108 opposite-sex dyads were tested, with one dyad partner passively observing the other undergoing a standardized psychosocial laboratory stressor. A positive link between oxytocin release and empathic stress response was hypothesized, while a negative relationship was expected for testosterone release. Associations of observer oxytocin and testosterone levels with two components of empathic stress were examined: stress resonance (i.e. synchronized observer-target responses) and vicarious stress (observer responses independent of target stress). During the passive observation of a stressed target, salivary oxytocin and testosterone levels increased by 16.64% and 23.00%, respectively, followed by a drop back to baseline levels. Supporting our hypotheses, increased observer oxytocin reactivity was linked to greater stress resonance in HF-HRV reactivity. This association was reversed in low oxytocin responders. Further, testosterone reactivity was negatively associated with stress resonance in heart rate activity. However, testosterone also showed a positive association with vicarious cortisol activity, which resembles the response pattern seen in first-hand stress exposure. We conclude that stress resonance may be the more empathy-dependent component of the empathic stress construct, aligning with previous work on the involvement of oxytocin and testosterone in empathy. To draw further conclusions about the role of oxytocin and testosterone in empathic stress response, future studies including a control group and hormone stimulation are needed.

Pain is felt and expressed through a complex interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors. While hormonal factors have been linked with pain in humans, these factors are underexplored. In this study, daily-diary data from the publicly available Texas Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Stress Resilience and Health dataset was used to examine the longitudinal relationship between a series of stress and sex hormones with self-reported headache, backache, stomachache. Latent growth modeling within a generalized structural equation modelling framework was used. A total of 735 students from 9th grade high school contributed self-reported daily diary on their mental and physical health alongside saliva samples up to 10 days. Analyses included available diary observations with complete data for each model with analytic sample size ranging from 440 to 530 participants. The hormones cortisol, testosterone, estradiol, progesterone, and DHEA-S were all examined as independent variables. In the adjusted models that did not control for sex, higher testosterone was associated with a decrease in the likelihood of having backache (β = -.24, p < .001), headaches β = -.20, p < .001) and stomachache (β = -.19, p < .001). Cortisol was positively associated with a higher likelihood of backache (β =.16, p = .034). In a stratified analysis based on pubertal status, testosterone remained negatively associated with the likelihood of having a headache, backache, and stomachache for participants in late/post puberty. The current study provides evidence that variations in hormonal levels depend on pubertal status when impacting pain.

Adolescence begins with puberty and involves dynamic hormonal, neural, and social changes. The early-pubertal testosterone surge, particularly in boys, may shape the amygdala, which regulates emotion and behavior. However, it remains unclear how testosterone- and amygdala-related correlates of psychobehavioral problems differ across early adolescence. Using data from the Tokyo Teen Cohort and its neuroscience extension, we examined associations among salivary testosterone, amygdala volumes, and parent-rated Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scores at approximately ages 10-11 and 12-13. Participants were 106 boys in wave 1 and 98 boys in wave 2, with 69 contributing complete biological measures at both waves. Wave-specific Poisson models of CBCL internalizing and externalizing scores were adjusted for age, Tanner stage, and intracranial volume. In wave 1, higher testosterone was associated with lower internalizing and externalizing scores (exp(β)= 0.64 and 0.66, both adjusted P < 0.001). In wave 2, testosterone was not significantly related to CBCL scores, whereas smaller right amygdala volume was associated with higher internalizing problems (exp(β)= 0.71, adjusted P < 0.001). Exploratory analyses suggested that testosterone moderated the wave-2 right amygdala-internalizing association, and that smaller right amygdala volume and lower testosterone at wave 1 were both prospectively associated with higher wave-2 internalizing problems (n = 104), associations that persisted after adjustment for wave-1 Internalizing score. These findings suggest age-dependent differences in endocrine and neural correlates of psychobehavioral problems and highlight the importance of developmental timing and hormone-brain interplay.