Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27574542›Full record

ArticleCommunicative & integrative biology

Why so many sperm cells? Not only a possible means of mitigating the hazards inherent to human reproduction but also an indicator of an exaptation.

Peter W Barlow

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communicative & integrative biology. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Distribution of extreme first passage times of diffusion.Journal of mathematical biology · 2020
    Article
  2. Review
  3. Review
  4. The botanical multiverse of Peter Barlow.Communicative & integrative biology · 2019
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Peter W BarlowSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol , Bristol, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Redundancy-the excess of supply over necessity-has recently been proposed for human sperm cells. However, the apparent superfluity of cell numbers may be necessary in order to circumvent the hazards, many of which can be quantified, that can occur during the transition from gametogenesis within the testes to zygosis within the female reproductive tract. Sperm cell numbers are directly related to testicular volume, and it is owing to a redundancy, and the possible exaptation, of this latter parameter that a putative excess of sperm cells is perceived.

Indexed as

exaptationhuman reproductionsperm cell numberstestis volume

Identifiers

PMID27574542
PMCPMC4988455

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.