Cholinergic-estrogen interaction underpins the effect of education on attenuating cognitive sex differences in a Thai healthy population

Abstract

The development of human brain is shaped by both genetic and environmental factors. Sex differences in cognitive function have been found in humans as a result of sexual dimorphism in neural information transmission. Numerous studies have reported the positive effects of education on cognitive functions. However, little work has investigated the effect of education on attenuating cognitive sex differences and the neural mechanisms behind it based on healthy population. In this study, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) was employed to examine sex differences in cognitive function in 135 Thai healthy subjects, and label-free quantitative proteomic method and bioinformatic analysis were used to study sex-specific neurotransmission-related protein expression profiles. The results showed a sex difference in two WCST sub-scores: percentage of Total corrects and Total errors in the primary education group (Bayes factor>100) with males performed better, while such differences eliminated in secondary and tertiary education level. Moreover, 11 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) between men and women (FDR<0.1) were presented in both education groups, with majority of them upregulated in females. Half of those DEPs interacted directly with nAChR3, whereas the other DEPs were indirectly connected to the cholinergic pathways through interaction with estrogen. These findings implied that Cholinergic-estrogen interaction underpins the effect of education on attenuating cognitive sex differences in a Thai healthy population.

Morphologic and morphometric bilateral analysis and sexual dimorphism in sciatic nerves of adults: an anatomic investigation of cadaveric specimens in Uganda with implications on sciatic nerve neuropathologies

“…It is possible to promote public health and avoid surgical injuries due to human error by understanding these anatomical variations of the sciatic nerve (16,20,(33)(34)(35)(36) There is still a dearth of data regarding the anatomical variations of the sciatic nerve in sub-Saharan populations like Uganda and Africa at large yet the nerve presents signi cant variations in its divisions and topography (2,25,30,33,37,38), therefore it is crucial to investigate the topography, divisions, and related anatomical variations of the nerve that pertains to its exit pattern from the pelvis, branching pattern within the thigh, termination pattern, and morphometric features among such populations. The current study is crucial since topographic and morphometric variations of the sciatic nerve differ among populations (7,38,39), and although sexual dimorphism of the sciatic nerve (33,40) and bilateral sciatic nerve variations (23) have been reported, the concept of bilaterality and sex differences in anatomical structures are not usually consistent for all structures and populations (37,(41)(42)(43). Understanding the typical and variant bilateral anatomical characteristics of the sciatic nerve in both sexes in terms of its exit, branching, termination, and morphometric patterns is important for the prevention of iatrogenic injuries and complications during surgical procedures and the successful conduction of surgical procedures involving the lower limb.…”