Sex, crime and society

1970 ◽  
Vol 2 (S2) ◽  
pp. 129-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances Heidensohn

The relation between sex and crime is an important and significant one. Broadly speaking, recorded criminality varies notably according to sex, being at a much higher level among males than females. It is men who are largely responsible for the planning and execution of large-scale crimes such as robberies. Serious recidivism, which presents such a problem in terms of penal care and treatment, is almost exclusively a masculine phenomenon—in a recent survey of crime in the UK, the incidence of serious recidivism amongst women is not even calculated (McClintock & Avison, 1968). The study of sex differences in criminality should, then, illuminate our knowledge of crime and its aetiology; it should also tell us something about sex differences in society in general.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Salminen ◽  
Meral Tubi ◽  
Joanna Bright ◽  
Paul Thompson

Sex differences are found in the incidence and expression of psychiatric and neurodegenerative conditions, and many studies suggest these differences are influenced by innate biological differences between males and females and risk factors that interact with these differences. However, few studies have used neuroimaging to examine brain signatures of disease separately by sex, and many studies of sex differences have been based on small samples and their findings have not been replicated in larger cohorts. Large-scale neuroimaging initiatives such as the Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analyses (ENIGMA) consortium, the UK Biobank, Human Connectome Project, and others offer an unprecedented source of power to address important questions about the role of sex as a risk or protective factor for suboptimal brain health, as well as sex-specific neuroimaging phenotypes in brain-related illnesses. Here we review the existing neuroimaging literature on sex differences in the human brain in healthy adults and those with the most common and debilitating psychiatric and age-related neurodegenerative conditions. Finally, we discuss key gaps in this literature and opportunities of large-scale collaborative efforts to identify, characterize, and explain how biological sex influences the humanbrain in health and disease.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille WILLIAMS ◽  
Hugo Peyre ◽  
Roberto Toro ◽  
Franck Ramus

Few neuroimaging studies are sufficiently large to adequately describe population-wide variations. This study's primary aim was to generate neuroanatomical norms and individual markers that consider age, sex, and brain size, from 629 cerebral measures in the UK Biobank (N = 40 028). The secondary aim was to examine the effects and interactions of sex, age, and brain allometry - the non-linear scaling relationship between a region and brain size (e.g., Total Brain Volume) across cerebral measures. Allometry was a common property of brain volumes, thicknesses, and surface areas (83%) and was largely stable across age and sex. Sex differences occurred in 67% of cerebral measures (median |std. beta|= 0.13): 37% of regions were larger in males and 30% in females. Brain measures (49%) generally decreased with age, although aging effects varied across regions and sexes. While models with an allometric or linear covariate adjustment for brain size yielded similar significant effects, omitting brain allometry influenced reported sex differences in variance. This large scale-study advances our understanding of age, sex, and brain allometry's impact on brain structure and provides data for future UK Biobank studies to identify the cerebral regions that covary with specific phenotypes, independently of sex, age, and brain size.


2019 ◽  
Vol 89 (10) ◽  
pp. 1055-1073 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolaas Molenaar ◽  
Marita Felder

ABSTRACT Dolomite is a common and volumetrically important mineral in many siliciclastic sandstones, including Permian Rotliegend sandstones (the Slochteren Formation). These sandstones form extensive gas reservoirs in the Southern Permian Basin in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and the UK. The reservoir quality of these sandstones is negatively influenced by the content and distribution of dolomite. The origin and the stratigraphic distribution of the dolomite is not yet fully understood. The aim of this study is to identify the origin of carbonate. The main methods used to achieve those aims are a combination of thin-section petrography, scanning electron microscopy (SEM and EDX), and XRD analyses. The present study shows that the typical dispersed occurrence of the dolomite is a consequence of dispersed detrital carbonate grains that served both as nuclei and source for authigenic dolomite cement. The dolomite cement formed syntaxial outgrowths and overgrowths around detrital carbonate grains. The study also shows that dolomite cement, often in combination with ankerite and siderite, precipitated during burial after mechanical compaction. Most of the carbonate grains consisted of dolomite before deposition. The carbonate grains were affected by compaction and pressure dissolution, and commonly have no well-defined outlines anymore. The distribution of dolomite cement in the Rotliegend sandstones was controlled by the presence of stable carbonate grains. Due to the restricted and variable content of carbonate grains and their dispersed occurrence, the cement is also dispersed and the degree of cementation heterogeneous. Our findings have important implications on diagenesis modeling. The presence of detrital carbonate excludes the need for external supply by any large-scale advective flow of diagenetic fluids. By knowing that the carbonate source is local and related to detrital grains instead of being externally derived from an unknown source, the presence of carbonate cement can be linked to a paleogeographic and sedimentological model.


BMC Medicine ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Gong ◽  
Katie Harris ◽  
Sanne A. E. Peters ◽  
Mark Woodward

Abstract Background Sex differences in major cardiovascular risk factors for incident (fatal or non-fatal) all-cause dementia were assessed in the UK Biobank. The effects of these risk factors on all-cause dementia were explored by age and socioeconomic status (SES). Methods Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and women-to-men ratio of HRs (RHR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), smoking, diabetes, adiposity, stroke, SES and lipids with dementia. Poisson regression was used to estimate the sex-specific incidence rate of dementia for these risk factors. Results 502,226 individuals in midlife (54.4% women, mean age 56.5 years) with no prevalent dementia were included in the analyses. Over 11.8 years (median), 4068 participants (45.9% women) developed dementia. The crude incidence rates were 5.88 [95% CI 5.62–6.16] for women and 8.42 [8.07–8.78] for men, per 10,000 person-years. Sex was associated with the risk of dementia, where the risk was lower in women than men (HR = 0.83 [0.77–0.89]). Current smoking, diabetes, high adiposity, prior stroke and low SES were associated with a greater risk of dementia, similarly in women and men. The relationship between blood pressure (BP) and dementia was U-shaped in men but had a dose-response relationship in women: the HR for SBP per 20 mmHg was 1.08 [1.02–1.13] in women and 0.98 [0.93–1.03] in men. This sex difference was not affected by the use of antihypertensive medication at baseline. The sex difference in the effect of raised BP was consistent for dementia subtypes (vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease). Conclusions Several mid-life cardiovascular risk factors were associated with dementia similarly in women and men, but not raised BP. Future bespoke BP-lowering trials are necessary to understand its role in restricting cognitive decline and to clarify any sex difference.


Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. eabf2946
Author(s):  
Louis du Plessis ◽  
John T. McCrone ◽  
Alexander E. Zarebski ◽  
Verity Hill ◽  
Christopher Ruis ◽  
...  

The UK’s COVID-19 epidemic during early 2020 was one of world’s largest and unusually well represented by virus genomic sampling. Here we reveal the fine-scale genetic lineage structure of this epidemic through analysis of 50,887 SARS-CoV-2 genomes, including 26,181 from the UK sampled throughout the country’s first wave of infection. Using large-scale phylogenetic analyses, combined with epidemiological and travel data, we quantify the size, spatio-temporal origins and persistence of genetically-distinct UK transmission lineages. Rapid fluctuations in virus importation rates resulted in >1000 lineages; those introduced prior to national lockdown tended to be larger and more dispersed. Lineage importation and regional lineage diversity declined after lockdown, while lineage elimination was size-dependent. We discuss the implications of our genetic perspective on transmission dynamics for COVID-19 epidemiology and control.


Author(s):  
Prasad Nagakumar ◽  
Ceri-Louise Chadwick ◽  
Andrew Bush ◽  
Atul Gupta

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-COV-2 virus fortunately resulted in few children suffering from severe disease. However, the collateral effects on the COVID-19 pandemic appear to have had significant detrimental effects on children affected and young people. There are also some positive impacts in the form of reduced prevalence of viral bronchiolitis. The new strain of SARS-COV-2 identified recently in the UK appears to have increased transmissibility to children. However, there are no large vaccine trials set up in children to evaluate safety and efficacy. In this short communication, we review the collateral effects of COVID-19 pandemic in children and young people. We highlight the need for urgent strategies to mitigate the risks to children due to the COVID-19 pandemic. What is Known:• Children and young people account for <2% of all COVID-19 hospital admissions• The collateral impact of COVID-19 pandemic on children and young people is devastating• Significant reduction in influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in the southern hemisphere What is New:• The public health measures to reduce COVID-19 infection may have also resulted in near elimination of influenza and RSV infections across the globe• A COVID-19 vaccine has been licensed for adults. However, large scale vaccine studies are yet to be initiated although there is emerging evidence of the new SARS-COV-2 strain spreading more rapidly though young people.• Children and young people continue to bear the collateral effects of COVID-19 pandemic


2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
William M. Adams ◽  
Ian D. Hodge ◽  
Nicholas A. Macgregor ◽  
Lindsey C. Sandbrook
Keyword(s):  

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Fowler ◽  
R. Rollinson ◽  
P. French

All good quality trials of psychological interventions need to check formally that therapists have used the techniques prescribed in the published therapy manuals, and that the therapy has been carried out competently. This paper reviews methods of assessing adherence and competence used in recent large-scale trials of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) for psychosis in the UK carried out by our research groups. A combination of the Cognitive Therapy Rating Scale and specific versions of the Cognitive Therapy for Psychosis Adherence Scales provides an optimal assessment of adherence and competence. Careful assessment of the competence and adherence can help identify the procedures actually carried out with individuals within trials. The basic use of such assessments is to provide an external check on treatment fidelity on a sample of sessions. Such assessment can also provide the first step towards moving research towards making sense of CBT for psychosis as a complex intervention and identifying which techniques work for which problems of people with psychosis, at which stages of disorder?


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