Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) plays an important role in innate immune responses and in female fertility, as discovered with studies in mice. However, the role of PTX3 in human fertility is unknown. Here, we... Show morePentraxin 3 (PTX3) plays an important role in innate immune responses and in female fertility, as discovered with studies in mice. However, the role of PTX3 in human fertility is unknown. Here, we report on a population-based study from a rural area of Upper East Ghana (n ¼ 4346). We studied the association between the number of children given birth by women during their lifetime and ex vivo, lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced PTX3 production (n ¼ 362). In addition, we studied the association of genetic variation in the PTX3 gene with PTX3 production (n ¼ 617) and with female fertility (n ¼ 1999). We found that ex vivo LPS-induced PTX3 production was associated with fertility (P ¼ 0.040). Furthermore, we identified genetic variants in the PTX3 gene that influence PTX3 production, and also fertility. The strongest associations were observed for the rs6788044 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). We found that carriers of this SNP had higher PTX3 production capacity (P ¼ 0.003) and higher fertility (P ¼ 0.043). The results reported here provide the first evidence, based on protein production and analysis of polymorphisms, that the long pentraxin PTX3 plays a role in female fertility in humans. Show less
Bodegom, David van; May,Linda; Kuningas, Maris; Kaptijn, Ralf; Thomése, Fleur; Meij, Hans J.; ... ; Westendorp, Rudi G.J. 2009
Socio-economic status is an important determinant of health and survival in rural Africa and necessitates a practical and valid instrument to implement in health studies. Our objective was to... Show moreSocio-economic status is an important determinant of health and survival in rural Africa and necessitates a practical and valid instrument to implement in health studies. Our objective was to investigate the validity of the rapid appraisal method to assess socio-economic status and its ability to identify individuals at risk. Among 1573 households in rural northern Ghana, we calculated the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) wealth index and conducted two rapid appraisal methods: self-reported wealth and interviewer-reported wealth. In addition we followed the 25 184 participants from these households for survival with a mean follow-up of 3.9 years, during which 885 participants died. The DHS wealth index was moderately correlated to self-reported wealth (Spearman’s 0.59, P < 0.001) and interviewer-reported wealth (Spearman’s 0.75, P < 0.001). Mortality risks were significantly higher for people with lower than average self-reported wealth [hazard ratio (HR) 1.30 (95% CI 1.11—1.51)] and lower interviewerreported wealth [HR 1.40 (95% CI 1.21—1.62)]. Mortality risks were lower for people with higher self-reported wealth [HR 0.81 (95% CI 0.32—2.03)] and higher interviewer-reported wealth [HR 0.84 (95% CI 0.58—1.21)]. Similar discriminative mortality risks were assessed when using tertiles of the DHS wealth index (Ptrend < 0.001). Show less
A central paradigm in life-history theory is the trade-off between offspring number and quality. Several studies have investigated this trade-off in humans, but data are inconclusive, perhaps... Show moreA central paradigm in life-history theory is the trade-off between offspring number and quality. Several studies have investigated this trade-off in humans, but data are inconclusive, perhaps because prosperous socio-cultural factors mask the trade-off. Therefore, we studied 2461 offspring groups in an area under adverse conditions in northern Ghana with high fertility and mortality rates. In a linear mixed model controlling for differences in age and tribe of the mother and socioeconomic status, each additional child in the offspring group resulted in a 2.3% (95% CI 1.9–2.6%, P < 0.001) lower proportional survival of the offspring. Furthermore, we made use of the polygamous population structure and compared offspring of co-wives in 388 households, thus controlling for variation in resources between compounds. Here, offspring survival decreased 2.8% (95% CI 2.3–4.0%, P < 0.001) for each increase in offspring number. We interpret these data as an apparent quality–quantity trade-off in human offspring. Show less
