Responses to political partisans are shaped by a COVID-19-sensitive disease avoidance psychology: A longitudinal investigation of functional flexibility.

How do natural changes in disease avoidance motivation shape thoughts about and behaviors toward ingroup and outgroup members? During the COVID-19 pandemic, political party affiliation has been a strong predictor in the United States of COVID-19-related opinions, attitudes, and behaviors. Using a six-wave longitudinal panel survey of representative Americans (on Prolific, N = 1,124, from April 2020 to February 2021), we explored how naturally occurring changes across time in both risks of COVID-19 infection and people's disease avoidance motivation shaped thoughts about and behaviors toward Republicans and Democrats (e.g., perceived infection threat, feelings of disgust, desires to avoid). We found a significant effect of dispositional level of motivation, over and above powerful effects of in-party favoritism/out-party derogation: Participants with a dispositionally stronger motivation to avoid disease showed greater infection management responses, especially toward Republicans; this held even for Republican participants. More importantly, we also found a significant interactive effect of within-person variability and ecological infection risk: Participants who sensitively upregulated their motivation during the rapid spread of COVID-19 perceived greater infection threat by Republicans and felt less disgust toward and desire to avoid Democrats. This finding, too, held for Republican participants. These results provide evidence of functionally flexible within-person psychological disease avoidance-a theoretically important process long presumed and now demonstrated-and suggest another mechanism contributing to U.S. political polarization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Family still matters: Human social motivation across 42 countries during a global pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused drastic social changes for many people, including separation from friends and coworkers, enforced close contact with family, and reductions in mobility. Here we assess the extent to which people's evolutionarily-relevant basic motivations and goals-fundamental social motives such as Affiliation and Kin Care-might have been affected. To address this question, we gathered data on fundamental social motives in 42 countries (N = 15,915) across two waves, including 19 countries (N = 10,907) for which data were gathered both before and during the pandemic (pre-pandemic wave: 32 countries, N = 8998; 3302 male, 5585 female; M age  = 24.43, SD = 7.91; mid-pandemic wave: 29 countries, N = 6917; 2249 male, 4218 female; M age  = 28.59, SD = 11.31). Samples include data collected online (e.g., Prolific, MTurk), at universities, and via community sampling. We found that Disease Avoidance motivation was substantially higher during the pandemic, and that most of the other fundamental social motives showed small, yet significant, differences across waves. Most sensibly, concern with caring for one's children was higher during the pandemic, and concerns with Mate Seeking and Status were lower. Earlier findings showing the prioritization of family motives over mating motives (and even over Disease Avoidance motives) were replicated during the pandemic. Finally, well-being remained positively associated with family-related motives and negatively associated with mating motives during the pandemic, as in the pre-pandemic samples. Our results provide further evidence for the robust primacy of family-related motivations even during this unique disruption of social life.

Fundamental social motives measured across forty-two cultures in two waves.

How does psychology vary across human societies? The fundamental social motives framework adopts an evolutionary approach to capture the broad range of human social goals within a taxonomy of ancestrally recurring threats and opportunities. These motives-self-protection, disease avoidance, affiliation, status, mate acquisition, mate retention, and kin care-are high in fitness relevance and everyday salience, yet understudied cross-culturally. Here, we gathered data on these motives in 42 countries (N = 15,915) in two cross-sectional waves, including 19 countries (N = 10,907) for which data were gathered in both waves. Wave 1 was collected from mid-2016 through late 2019 (32 countries, N = 8,998; 3,302 male, 5,585 female; Mage = 24.43, SD = 7.91). Wave 2 was collected from April through November 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic (29 countries, N = 6,917; 2,249 male, 4,218 female; Mage = 28.59, SD = 11.31). These data can be used to assess differences and similarities in people's fundamental social motives both across and within cultures, at different time points, and in relation to other commonly studied cultural indicators and outcomes.

Lay Beliefs About Gender and Sexual Behavior: First Evidence for a Pervasive, Robust (but Seemingly Unfounded) Stereotype.

Although casual sex is increasingly socially acceptable, negative stereotypes toward women who pursue casual sex remain pervasive. For example, a common trope in television, film, and other media is that women who engage in casual sex have low self-esteem. Despite robust work on prejudice against women who engage in casual sex, little empirical work has focused on the lay theories individuals hold about them. Across six experiments with U.S. adults (N = 1,469), we found that both men and women stereotype women (but not men) who engage in casual sex as having low self-esteem. This stereotype is held explicitly and semi-implicitly; is not driven by individual differences in religiosity, conservatism, or sexism; and is mediated by inferences that women who have casual sex are unsatisfied with their mating strategy-yet the stereotype persists when women are explicitly described as choosing to have casual sex. Finally, the stereotype appears to be unfounded; across experiments, the same participants' sexual behavior was not significantly correlated with their self-esteem.

Family Matters: Rethinking the Psychology of Human Social Motivation.

What motives do people prioritize in their social lives? Historically, social psychologists, especially those adopting an evolutionary perspective, have devoted a great deal of research attention to sexual attraction and romantic-partner choice (mate seeking). Research on long-term familial bonds (mate retention and kin care) has been less thoroughly connected to relevant comparative and evolutionary work on other species, and in the case of kin care, these bonds have been less well researched. Examining varied sources of data from 27 societies around the world, we found that people generally view familial motives as primary in importance and mate-seeking motives as relatively low in importance. Compared with other groups, college students, single people, and men place relatively higher emphasis on mate seeking, but even those samples rated kin-care motives as more important. Furthermore, motives linked to long-term familial bonds are positively associated with psychological well-being, but mate-seeking motives are associated with anxiety and depression. We address theoretical and empirical reasons why there has been extensive research on mate seeking and why people prioritize goals related to long-term familial bonds over mating goals. Reallocating relatively greater research effort toward long-term familial relationships would likely yield many interesting new findings relevant to everyday people's highest social priorities.

Angry faces hold attention: Evidence of attentional adhesion in two paradigms.

Growing evidence suggests that angry faces do not "pop-out" of crowds, and that the evidence for such effects has tended to arise from methodological issues and stimulus confounds. In contrast, evidence that angry faces exert special influence at later stages of information processing is accumulating. Here we use two common paradigms to show that participants have difficulty disengaging attention from angry faces relative to happy faces. Experiment 1 used a visual search task to show that angry crowds took longer to search. Experiment 2 used an exogenous cueing paradigm to show that brief onset angry faces held attention and delayed responses on a primary task. This suggests that when seen, they engage attention for longer time, but they do not have the preattentive features that would allow them to pop-out. Together, these two different experimental paradigms and realistic stimulus sets suggest that angry faces resist attentional disengagement.

Association of urinary acrylamide concentration with lifestyle and demographic factors in a population of South Korean children and adolescents.

Acrylamide (AA) has been identified as probably carcinogenic to humans and thus represents a potential public health threat. This study aimed to determine the urinary concentrations of AA and N-acetyl-S-(2-carbamoylethyl)-L-cysteine (AAMA) in a nationally representative sample (n = 1025) of children and adolescents (age range 3-18 years) in South Korea. The AA and AAMA detection rates and geometric mean concentrations were 97%, 19.1 ng/mL, and 98.7%, 26.4 ng/mL, respectively. Although urinary AA levels did not vary widely by age (17.2 ng/mL at 3-6 years, 19.9 ng/mL at 7-18 years), the urinary concentration of AAMA increased with age (18.3 ng/mL at 3-6 years, 30.4 ng/mL at 7-18 years). A multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the urinary levels of AA and AAMA varied significantly by sex, with the adjusted proportional changes indicating rates of 1.47- to 1.48-fold higher at 3-6 years and 1.36- to 1.68-fold higher at 7-18 years among males relative to females. Furthermore, the urinary levels of AA and AAMA correlated with the consumption of certain foods (doughnuts, hotdogs, popcorn, and nachos) among male subjects aged 7-18 years. The urinary concentrations of AA and AAMA increased significantly with the smoking status and passive smoking exposure, with adjusted proportional changes of 1.51 to 1.71-fold higher among smokers relative to non-smokers in the age range of 7-18 years. Exposure to smoking for > 30 min led to adjusted proportional increases in AA and AAMA of 1.51 and 1.77 times in the non-smoking group aged 3-6 years and a 1.52-fold increase in AAMA in the non-smoking group aged 7-18 years. In conclusion, the urinary levels of AA and AAMA were found to associate with age, sex, smoking, and food consumption in a population of Korean children and adolescents.

Maternal Depressive Symptoms, Adolescent Daughters' Substance Use, and Father Residence in Minority Families.

Background: Maternal depression has been linked to substance use in adolescents, but the mechanisms of the relationship between maternal depression and adolescent substance use are less clear. Specifically, previous literature has overlooked the role of fathers as a potential protective or exacerbating factor in buffering this relationship. Objectives: The goal of this study was to investigate the association between maternal depressive symptoms and adolescent substance use, exploring father's residential status as a moderator for adolescents living with a mother with depressive symptoms. Method: Paper-and-pencil surveys were administered to a sample of 176 mothers and their adolescent daughters aged 14-18, predominantly identifying as African American/Black. Participants included a subset of mothers with HIV. Results: The results revealed that maternal depressive symptoms were not directly associated with adolescent substance use. However, father's residential status was found to be a significant moderator in the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and adolescent substance use. Specifically, when fathers were involved in the daughter's life (residential or non-resident), substance use was higher in adolescents of mothers with high depressive symptoms than in those of mothers with low depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The results suggest that varied family dynamics are critical to understanding engagement in substance use among adolescent girls, including the influence of both mothers and fathers.

Stress, Psychological Resources, and HPA and Inflammatory Reactivity During Late Adolescence.

Psychosocial stress during childhood and adolescence is associated with alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and with heightened inflammation, both of which are implicated in poor health; however, factors that may protect against these effects relatively early in life are not well understood. Thus, we examined whether psychosocial resources protect against stress-related alterations in the HPA axis and heightened inflammation in a sample of 91 late adolescents. Participants completed measures of various stressors (major life events, daily interpersonal stress, early adversity), and psychosocial resources (mastery, optimism, self-esteem, and positive reappraisal). They also completed the Trier Social Stress Test and provided saliva and blood samples for the assessment of cortisol and interleukin-6 reactivity. Each of the stressors was associated with lower cortisol reactivity. Additionally, associations with major life events and daily stress were moderated by psychological resources, such that more life events and daily stress were associated with decreased HPA reactivity among adolescents with lower levels of psychological resources, but not among those with higher levels of psychological resources. This pattern of findings was observed only for cortisol reactivity and not for interleukin-6 reactivity. Findings suggest that psychological resources may counteract the effects of certain adversity-related decreases in cortisol reactivity.

The efficacy of intracerebroventricular idursulfase-beta enzyme replacement therapy in mucopolysaccharidosis II murine model: heparan sulfate in cerebrospinal fluid as a clinical biomarker of neuropathology.

Mucopolysaccharidosis II (MPS II) is caused by a deficiency of iduronate-2-sulfatase that results in accumulation of glycosaminoglycans (GAG), including heparan sulfate (HS), which is considered to contribute to neuropathology. We examined the efficacy of intracerebroventricular (ICV) enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) of idursulfase-beta (IDS-ß) and evaluated the usefulness of HS as a biomarker for neuropathology in MPS II mice. We first examined the efficacy of three different doses (3, 10, and 30 µg) of single ICV injections of IDS-ß in MPS II mice. After the single-injection study, its long-term efficacy was elucidated with 30 µg of IDS-ß ICV injections repeated every 4 weeks for 24 weeks. The efficacy was assessed by the HS content in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and the brain of the animals along with histologic examinations and behavioral tests. In the single-injection study, the 30 µg of IDS-ß ICV injection showed significant reductions of HS content in brain and CSF that were maintained for 28 days. Furthermore, HS content in CSF was significantly correlated with HS content in brain. In the long-term repeated-injection study, the HS content in the brain and CSF was also significantly reduced and correlated. The histologic examinations showed a reduction in lysosomal storage. A significant improvement in memory/learning function was observed in open-field and fear-conditioning tests. ICV ERT with 30 µg of IDS-ß produced significant improvements in biochemical, histological, and functional parameters in MPS II mice. Furthermore, we demonstrate for the first time that the HS in the CSF had significant positive correlation with brain tissue HS and GAG levels, suggesting HS in CSF as a useful clinical biomarker for neuropathology.

A Liquid Chromatography-Quadrupole-Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometric Assay for the Quantification of Fabry Disease Biomarker Globotriaosylceramide (GB3) in Fabry Model Mouse.

Fabry disease is a rare lysosomal storage disorder resulting from the lack of α-Gal A gene activity. Globotriaosylceramide (GB3, ceramide trihexoside) is a novel endogenous biomarker which predicts the incidence of Fabry disease. At the early stage efficacy/biomarker study, a rapid method to determine this biomarker in plasma and in all relevant tissues related to this disease simultaneously is required. However, the limited sample volume, as well as the various levels of GB3 in different matrices makes the GB3 quantitation very challenging. Hereby we developed a rapid method to identify GB3 in mouse plasma and various tissues. Preliminary stability tests were also performed in three different conditions: short-term, freeze-thaw, long-term. The calibration curve was well fitted over the concentration range of 0.042⁻10 µg/mL for GB3 in plasma and 0.082⁻20 µg/g for GB3 in various tissues. This method was successfully applied for the comparison of GB3 levels in Fabry model mice (B6;129-Glatm1Kul/J), which has not been performed previously to the best of our knowledge.

Urinary benzophenone concentrations and their association with demographic factors in a South Korean population.

Benzophenone (BP) and its derivatives are widely used in various cosmetics, personal care products, and food packaging ink. The use of BP has raised concerns about the potential health risks associated with its endocrine-disrupting effects. This study evaluated urinary concentrations of BP derivatives in a national sample of the South Koreans population aged 6-89 years. From July to September in each 2010 and 2011, 1576 urine samples were collected. Urinary concentrations of benzophenone-1 (BP-1), benzophenone-2 (BP-2), benzophenone-3 (BP-3), benzophenone-4 (BP-4), benzophenone-8 (BP-8), and 4-hydroxybenzophenone (4-OH-BP) were analyzed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The detection rate for BP-1 and 4-OH-BP were 56% [limit of detection (LOD) 0.59ng/mL] and 88% (LOD 0.04ng/mL), respectively, whereas those for BP-2, BP-3, BP-4, and BP-8 were all below 25%. The geometric means of urinary BP-1 and 4-OH-BP concentrations were 1.24ng/mL and 0.45ng/mL, respectively. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that concentrations of BP-1 in and of 4-OH-BP in adults were associated with sex and age. The BP-1 and 4-OH-BP concentration of children and adolescents was associated with sex, age, income, and current area of residence. The correlation was observed between urinary concentrations of BP derivatives, which is an important indication of exposure biomarkers and the metabolic pathways from BP-3. This is the first national study to evaluate the presence of BP derivatives in urine samples from the South Korean population, stratified by demographic factors.

BGN Mutations in X-Linked Spondyloepimetaphyseal Dysplasia.

Spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasias (SEMDs) comprise a heterogeneous group of autosomal-dominant and autosomal-recessive disorders. An apparent X-linked recessive (XLR) form of SEMD in a single Italian family was previously reported. We have been able to restudy this family together with a second family from Korea by segregating a severe SEMD in an X-linked pattern. Exome sequencing showed missense mutations in BGN c.439A>G (p.Lys147Glu) in the Korean family and c.776G>T (p.Gly259Val) in the Italian family; the c.439A>G (p.Lys147Glu) mutation was also identified in a further simplex SEMD case from India. Biglycan is an extracellular matrix proteoglycan that can bind transforming growth factor beta (TGF-ß) and thus regulate its free concentration. In 3-dimensional simulation, both altered residues localized to the concave arc of leucine-rich repeat domains of biglycan that interact with TGF-ß. The observation of recurrent BGN mutations in XLR SEMD individuals from different ethnic backgrounds allows us to define "XLR SEMD, BGN type" as a nosologic entity.

Risk assessment based on urinary bisphenol A levels in the general Korean population.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a high-volume industrial chemical used in the global production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, which are used in food and drink containers, such as tableware (plates and mugs). Due to its broad applications, BPA has been detected in human blood, urine and breast milk as well as environmental substances, including water, indoor and outdoor air, and dust. Indeed, exposure to high concentrations of BPA can result in a variety of harmful effects, including reproductive toxicity, through a mechanism of endocrine disruption. Our comparison of reported BPA urinary concentrations among different countries revealed that exposures in Korea may be higher than those in other Asian countries and North America, but lower than or similar to those in European countries. The current study included a total of 2044 eligible subjects of all ages. The subjects were evenly divided between males and females (48.58% and 51.42%, respectively). The geometric mean (GM) of pre-adjusted (adjusted) urinary BPA concentrations was 1.83µg/L (2.01µg/g creatinine) for subjects of all ages, and there was no statistically difference in BPA concentrations between males (1.90µg/L, 1.87µg/g creatinine) and females (1.76µg/L, 2.16µg/g creatinine). Multiple regression analysis revealed only one positive association between creatinine pre-adjusted urinary BPA concentration and age (ß=-0.0868, p<0.001). The 95th percentile levels of 24-hour recall (HR), food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) and estimated daily intake (EDI) through urinary BPA concentrations were 0.14, 0.13, and 0.22µg/kg bw/day, respectively. According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), a tolerable daily intake (tDI) of 20µg/kg bw/day was established for BPA from the available toxicological data. Recently, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) established a temporary TDI of 4µg/kg bw/day based on current toxicological data. By comparing these TDIs with subjects' exposure, we conclude that there are no health concerns for any age group as a result of current levels of dietary exposure to BPA.

AAV8-mediated expression of N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphate transferase attenuates bone loss in a mouse model of mucolipidosis II.

Mucolipidoses II and III (ML II and ML III) are lysosomal disorders in which the mannose 6-phosphate recognition marker is absent from lysosomal hydrolases and other glycoproteins due to mutations in GNPTAB, which encodes two of three subunits of the heterohexameric enzyme, N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphotransferase. Both disorders are caused by the same gene, but ML II represents the more severe phenotype. Bone manifestations of ML II include hip dysplasia, scoliosis, rickets and osteogenesis imperfecta. In this study, we sought to determine whether a recombinant adeno-associated viral vector (AAV2/8-GNPTAB) could confer high and prolonged gene expression of GNPTAB and thereby influence the pathology in the cartilage and bone tissue of a GNPTAB knock out (KO) mouse model. The results demonstrated significant increases in bone mineral density and content in AAV2/8-GNPTAB-treated as compared to non-treated KO mice. We also showed that IL-6 (interleukin-6) expression in articular cartilage was reduced in AAV2/8-GNPTAB treated ML II mice. Together, these data suggest that AAV-mediated expression of GNPTAB in ML II mice can attenuate bone loss via inhibition of IL-6 production. This study emphasizes the value of the MLII KO mouse to recapitulate the clinical manifestations of the disease and highlights its amenability to therapy.

Urinary concentrations of parabens and their association with demographic factors: A population-based cross-sectional study.

Parabens are broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents used in a range of consumer products, including personal care products, cosmetics, and food. Recently, the widespread use of parabens has raised concerns about the potential health risks associated with their endocrine-disrupting effect. In the present study, 2541 urine samples were collected and analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for the determination of the concentrations of methyl paraben (MeP), ethyl paraben (EtP), propyl paraben (PrP) and butyl paraben (BuP). The detection rate and geometric mean concentrations of parabens in the general population followed the order MeP (97.7%; 116ng/mL)>EtP (97.2%; 24.7ng/mL)>PrP (96.7%; 11.0ng/mL)>BuP (83.5%; 1.13ng/mL). The composition profiles showed that MeP and EtP accounted for >90% of the urinary paraben concentration. We performed statistical analysis in order to evaluate differences between demographic variables and urinary concentrations. Our results showed that adjusted proportional change of MeP, PrP, and BuP in adults were 2.67-6.13 times higher in females than in males. The urinary concentrations of PrP in adults increased significantly with age. The adjusted proportional changes of MeP and PrP in adults were associated with increased body mass index (BMI). The adjusted proportional changes of BuP and PrP in children and adolescents were 1.44 and 1.69 times higher in females than in males. However, there was no clear association between paraben concentrations and demographic variables in the children and adolescents groups. The estimated daily intake (EDIurine) of MeP and EtP in adults were 301µg/kg bw/day, which is lower than the acceptable daily intake (ADI; 10mg/kg bw/day). In summary, our results revealed that the general population in Korea was exposed to parabens during 2009-2010, and most Koreans are exposed to parabens. The urinary levels of parabens varied by age group with demographic factors in the Korean population. The results of study may be used to establish a nationally representative baseline of exposure to parabens in risk assessment.

The Association Between Urinary Benzophenone Concentrations and Personal Care Product Use in Korean Adults.

Benzophenone (BP) derivatives are widely used in personal care products (PCPs) for protection from ultraviolet radiation. Because of their broad applications, BP derivatives have been found in various human bodily fluids. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between urinary concentrations of BP derivatives and PCP use in Korean adults. A urinary BP biomonitoring survey was conducted in Korea by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2014. BP derivatives (BP-1, BP-3, and 4-OH-BP) were measured in urine samples from 168 Korean adults (mean age, 43.2 ± 15.4 years) by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry. Information about the use of PCPs in the past 7 days was obtained by direct interviews. The mean levels of BP-1, BP-3, and 4-OH-BP were 0.87, 5.87, and 0.13 ng/g creatinine, respectively. The geometric mean levels of BP-1, BP-3, and 4-OH-BP were significantly higher in female than those in male. The medians of the urinary concentration of BP derivatives were significantly higher among users of the following PCPs than those in non-users; the PCPs included sunscreen, skin care products, functional cosmetics, makeup base, makeup, lip cosmetics, eye cosmetics, color cosmetics, perfume products, and nail products. A regression analysis revealed a significant linear association between urinary BP-3 concentrations and the number of additional cosmetic products used. These findings provide evidence of a positive association between exposure to PCPs and urinary BP derivative concentrations in Korean adults.

Effect of systemic high dose enzyme replacement therapy on the improvement of CNS defects in a mouse model of mucopolysaccharidosis type II.

BACKGROUND: Mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II, Hunter syndrome), is caused by a deficiency of iduronate-2-sulfatase (IDS). Despite the therapeutic effect of intravenous enzyme replacement therapy (ERT), the central nervous system (CNS) defects persist because the enzyme cannot cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). There have been several trials of direct infusion to the cerebrospinal space showing promising results; however, this approach may have limitations in clinical situations such as CNS infection. The objective of this study was to improve the CNS defect with systemic high-dose ERT. METHODS: Systemic ERT was performed using three doses (1, 5, and 10 mg/kg weekly) of IDS for three different durations (1, 3, and 6 months) in IDS knock out (KO) mice of two age groups (2 months, 8 months). GAG measurement in tissues, brain pathology, and behavioral assessment were analyzed. RESULTS: Brain IDS activities increased in parallel with the concentrations of IDS injected. The glycosaminoglycan (GAG) level and histopathology in the brains of the young mice improved in a dose- and duration-dependent manner; however, those were not improved in the old mice, even at higher doses of IDS. The spontaneous alternation behavior was recovered in young KO mice treated with ≥ 5 mg/kg IDS; however, no significant improvement was observed in old KO mice. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that high-dose ERT given to mice of earlier ages may play a role in preventing GAG accumulation and preventing CNS damage in IDS KO mice. Therefore, ERT above the present standard dose, starting in early childhood, could be a promising treatment regimen for reducing neurological impairment in Hunter syndrome.

Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics, and Efficacy of a Novel Long-Acting Human Growth Hormone: Fc Fusion Protein.

The current recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) therapy requires daily subcutaneous (sc) injections, which results in poor patient compliance, especially in young children. To reduce the dosing frequency, we generated a chimeric protein of rhGH and the Fc-domain of immunoglobulin G (IgG) (rhGH-Fc). The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of sc-injected rhGH-Fc were assessed in male Sprague-Dawley rats and hypophysectomized rats, respectively. A single sc injection of rhGH-Fc at a dose of 0.2 mg/kg slowly reached a Cmax of 16.80 ng/mL and remained for 7 days with a half-life of 51.1 h. Conversely, a single sc injection of rhGH 0.2 mg/kg rapidly reached a Cmax of 46.88 ng/mL and declined with a half-life of 0.55 h to baseline values in 4 h. In the efficacy study, the sc-injected rhGH-Fc induced rapid weight gain and tibial width growth at a dose of 240 µg/animal. The effect of two injections of rhGH-Fc separated by 1 week was comparable to that of the same dose of 14 daily injections of rhGH. The rhGH-Fc is a novel candidate for long-acting rhGH therapy with more convenient weekly administration, as it reduces glomerular filtration and receptor-mediated clearance while allowing for the rapid reversal of potential adverse events.