Understanding individual variation in fitness-related traits requires separating the environmental and genetic determinants. Telomeres are protective caps at the ends of chromosomes that are thought to be a biomarker of senescence as their length predicts mortality risk and reflect the physiological consequences of environmental conditions. The relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors to individual variation in telomere length is, however, unclear, yet important for understanding its evolutionary dynamics. In particular, the evidence for transgenerational effects, in terms of parental age at conception, on telomere length is mixed. Here, we investigate the heritability of telomere length, using the 'animal model', and parental age at conception effects on offspring telomere length in a wild population of European badgers (Meles meles). Although we found no heritability of telomere length and low evolvability ( less then 0.001), our power to detect heritability was low and a repeatability of 2% across individual lifetimes provides a low upper limit to ordinary narrow-sense heritability. However, year (32%) and cohort (3%) explained greater proportions of the phenotypic variance in telomere length, excluding qPCR plate and row variances. There was no support for cross-sectional or within-individual parental age at conception effects on offspring telomere length. Our results indicate a lack of transgenerational effects through parental age at conception and a low potential for evolutionary change in telomere length in this population. Instead, we provide evidence that individual variation in telomere length is largely driven by environmental variation in this wild mammal.Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder with a strong hereditary component that affects approximately 1% of the world's population. The disease is most likely caused by the altered expression of a number of genes that function at the level of biological pathways or gene networks. Transcription factors (TF) are indispensable regulators of gene expression. EGR3 is a TF associated with schizophrenia. In the current study, DNA microarray and ingenuity pathway analyses (IPA) demonstrated that EGR3 regulates Reelin signaling pathway in SH-SY5Y cells. ChIP and luciferase reporter studies confirmed that EGR3 directly binds to the promoter region of RELN thereby activating RELN expression. The expression of both EGR3 and RELN was decreased during neuronal differentiation induced by retinoic acid (RA) in SH-SY5Y cells, and EGR3 over-expression reduced neurite outgrowth which could be partially reversed by the knockdown of RELN. The expression levels of EGR3 and RELN in peripheral blood of subjects with schizophrenia were found to be down-regulated (compared with healthy controls), and were positively correlated. Furthermore, data mining from public databases revealed that the expression levels of EGR3 and RELN were presented a positive correlation in post-mortem brain tissue of subjects with schizophrenia. Taken together, this study suggests that EGR3 is a novel TF of the RELN gene and regulates neurite outgrowth via the Reelin signaling pathway. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the regulatory role of EGR3 in the pathophysiology and molecular mechanisms of schizophrenia, and potentially to the development of new therapies and diagnostic biomarkers for the disorder. To examine the association of gestational weight gain (GWG), categorized according to 2009 IOM guidelines as adequate, inadequate, and excessive, with symptoms of mental disorders perceived by mothers after childbearing as anhedonia, anxiety, and depression, defined by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Previous studies indicated that disorders related to GWG are associated with an increased risk of postpartum psychological distress. A prospective cohort study took place at the Policlinico Abano Terme, Italy, from May 2016 to November 2018. The sample included 1268 healthy at term puerperae, 557 (43.9%) with adequate, 388 (30.6%) with inadequate, and 323 (25.5%) with excessive GWG. Mean EPDS scores were comparable among inadequate, adequate, and excessive GWG groups. However, mean factor scores for anhedonia and anxiety were significantly higher (P=0.041 and P=0.001, ANOVA) in mothers with excessive GWG. Conversely, factor scores for depression were significantly higher (P=0.008, ANOVA) in mothers with inadequate GWG. It was found that excessive GWG across an uncomplicated pregnancy is a warning sign of symptoms of anhedonia and anxiety, whereas inadequate GWG is a significant indicator of symptoms of depression. These relationships highlight the potential for interventions directed toward psychosocial support to have beneficial effects upon GWG.It was found that excessive GWG across an uncomplicated pregnancy is a warning sign of symptoms of anhedonia and anxiety, whereas inadequate GWG is a significant indicator of symptoms of depression. These relationships highlight the potential for interventions directed toward psychosocial support to have beneficial effects upon GWG. To assess the effectiveness of hyoscine-N-butylbromide on the duration of the first stage of labor among nulliparous women. A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study among 126 nulliparous women admitted in the active phase of labor to a teaching hospital in Sagamu, Nigeria, from January to August 2018. Based on the inclusion criteria, women were recruited and randomized to the study or control group, and given intravenous hyoscine-N-butylbromide 20mg (1mL) or sterile water (1mL), respectively, during the active phase. read more Labor progress and outcomes were compared between the groups. The mean±SD duration of active phase of first stage of labor was significantly shorter in the hyoscine-N-butylbromide group (324.9±134.6min) than in the control group (392.7±119.6min) (P=0.004). The rate of cervical dilatation was 1.4±0.8cm/h in the hyoscine-N-butylbromide group and 1.0±0.5cm/h in the control group (P=0.004). There were no significant differences in fetal heart rate, maternal vital signs, or Apgar scores between the two groups.