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nest building

a form of parental behavior, observed mainly in fish, birds, and nonhuman mammals, that involves finding and preparing a site for laying eggs or giving birth to young. The forms of nest building vary widely, but generally all are associated with hormonal activity induced in the female by changes in day length, temperature, courtship with a male, or the presence of offspring. In species with biparental care, such as many monogamous birds and rodents, nest building may be done by both sexes. In some fish, males are the exclusive nest builders. Nest building in nonpregnant female mammals can be induced by exposure to young animals (see concaveation).

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Psychology term of the day

January 11th 2025

polypharmacy

polypharmacy

n. the simultaneous use of a variety of drugs of the same or different classes with the intent of producing a more robust therapeutic response. Polypharmacy for mental disorders may, for example, involve the administration of two or more antidepressants in the hope that agents with different mechanisms of action will produce greater clinical improvement than that seen with any one drug alone. Polypharmacy is often criticized because of the lack of well-controlled studies supporting its use and the greater likelihood of adverse drug interactions when two or more drugs are used simultaneously. However, for those individuals unsuccessfully treated with several trials of monotherapy, or for whom monotherapy achieves suboptimal results, polypharmacy may be therapeutically indicated and appropriately managed.