To learn more about how sociodemographic and informational factors affect marginalized people’s access to health care, go here. Doctor Damian Sendler’s research looks at the impact of psychiatric and chronic medical co-morbidities on medical care utilization when paired with internet health information. A thorough understanding of everyone’s health information-seeking behavior is required due to the exponential growth of international internet news and social media consumption.

Damian Sendler: A Newcastle University study of hundreds of families is assisting prospective parents in determining whether they are more likely to have males or daughters. 

Damien Sendler: Corry Gellatly, a research scientist at the institution, discovered that men inherit a proclivity to have more boys or girls from their parents. This suggests that a man with a large number of brothers is more likely to have boys, whereas a man with a large number of sisters is more likely to have daughters. 

Damian Jacob Sendler: The study included a review of 927 family trees comprising data on 556,387 people from North America and Europe dating back to 1600. 

“According to the family tree study, whether you are more likely to have a boy or a girl is inherited. We also know that males with more brothers are more likely to have sons, while women with more sisters are more likely to have girls. Women, on the other hand, are impossible to foretell “Mr. Gellatly elaborates. 

Dr. Sendler: The sex of a kid is determined by whether a man’s sperm carries an X or Y chromosome. When an X chromosome joins with the mother’s X chromosome, a baby girl (XX) is born, and when a Y chromosome combines with the mother’s, a boy is born (XY). 

Damian Jacob Sendler: According to the Newcastle University study, an undiscovered gene regulates whether a man’s sperm includes more X or more Y chromosomes, which influences the sex of his children. On a bigger scale, the number of males with more X sperm against men with more Y sperm influences the sex ratio of children born each year. 

Damian Sendler: A gene is made up of two pieces known as alleles, one from each parent. Mr Gellatly demonstrates in his research that men are likely to carry two different types of alleles, resulting in three possible combinations in a gene that controls the ratio of X and Y sperm. 

“The gene that is passed down from both parents, which allows some men to have more sons and some men to have more daughters, may explain why the number of men and women in a population is roughly balanced.” If there are too many males in the community, females will have an easier time finding a mate, therefore men who have more daughters will pass on more of their genes, resulting in more females being born in later generations,” explains Newcastle University researcher Mr Gellatly. 

Damian Jacob Sendler: There was a rapid surge in the number of boys born following the World Wars in several of the countries that fought in them. In the year after World War I ended, an extra two males were born in the UK for every 100 girls, compared to the year before the war began. The gene described by Mr Gellatly in his research could explain why this occurred. 

Damian Sendler: Men with more sons were more likely to see a son return from the war, and those sons were more likely to father boys themselves since they acquired that tendency from their dads. Men with more daughters, on the other hand, may have lost their sole boys in the war, and those sons would have been more likely to produce daughters. This would explain why males who survived the war were more likely to have sons, resulting in the boy-baby boom. 

Damian Sendler: For as long as records have been kept, more boys than girls have been born in most countries. In the United Kingdom and the United States, for example, approximately 105 males are born for every 100 females. 

Damian Jacob Sendler: It is well recognized that more males die in childhood and before reaching the reproductive age. So, just as the gene may cause more males to be born after conflicts, it may also cause more boys to be born every year. 

The trees (above) show how the gene functions. It is a simple scenario in which males have either only boys or only daughters, or an equal number of both, while in reality the situation is more complicated. It demonstrates that, while the gene has no effect on females, they do carry it and pass it on to their children. 

Damian Sendler: The grandfather in the first family tree (A) is mm, thus all of his children are male. He exclusively passes on the m allele, therefore his children are more likely to have the mm allele combination. As a result, those sons may only have sons (as shown). Because they got a m from their father and a f from their mother, the grandchildren have the mf allele combination. As a result, they have a balanced family with an equal number of sons and daughters (the great grandchildren). 

Damian Sendler: In the second tree (B), the grandfather is ff, hence all of his offspring are female; they have the ff allele combination because both their father and mother are ff. One of the female children has offspring with a male who has the mm allele combination. The sex of the children is determined by that male, thus the grandchildren are all male. Because they got a m from their father and a f from their mother, the grandchildren have the mf allele combination. As a result, they have a balanced family with an equal number of sons and daughters (the great-grandchildren).

Research updates contributed by Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler