Sex Differences in the Human Brain

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David D. Franks
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Sex Education ◽  
Sleep Problems ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Single Sex ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Biological Differences

In this chapter, the different meanings of the terms sex and gender are discussed: Sex is biological, and gender has to do with social roles. Biological differences such as genes are discussed next, including a discussion of whether these differences should be considered as either/or distinctions or as continuums. Differences in social skills are discussed. Next, differences in the brain’s gray and white matter are explored. Various parts of the brain and the abilities they support are then presented. How sex differences in the brain complement each other is explored, as well as differences and overlaps. The implications for single-sex education are presented. Reasons to discuss brain differences and other differences follow, including sleep problems, anorexia, and bulimia. A subsection on memory and emotion follows.

scholarly journals Testosterone and the Brain: From Cognition to Autism

2021 ◽  
pp. S403-S419
Author(s):  
D OSTATNÍKOVÁ ◽  
S LAKATOŠOVÁ ◽  
J BABKOVÁ ◽  
J HODOSY ◽  
P CELEC
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Male Population ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Brain

Sex and gender matter in all aspects of life. Humans exhibit sexual dimorphism in anatomy, physiology, but also pathology. Many of the differences are due to sex chromosomes and, thus, genetics, other due to endocrine factors such as sex hormones, some are of social origin. Over the past decades, huge number of scientific studies have revealed striking sex differences of the human brain with remarkable behavioral and cognitive consequences. Prenatal and postnatal testosterone influence brain structures and functions, respectively. Cognitive sex differences include especially certain spatial and language tasks, but they also affect many other aspects of the neurotypical brain. Sex differences of the brain are also relevant for the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism spectrum disorders, which are much more prevalent in the male population. Structural dimorphism in the human brain was well-described, but recent controversies now question its importance. On the other hand, solid evidence exists regarding gender differences in several brain functions. This review tries to summarize the current understanding of the complexity of the effects of testosterone on brain with special focus on their role in the known sex differences in healthy individuals and people in the autism spectrum.

scholarly journals Sex and Gender Differences in Central Nervous System-Related Disorders

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuela Zagni ◽  
Lucia Simoni ◽  
Delia Colombo
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Brain Diseases ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Neuronal Structure ◽  
Clinical Literature ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Psychosocial Influences ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Or Genes ◽  
The Brain

There are important sex differences in the brain that seem to arise from biology as well as psychosocial influences. Sex differences in several aspects of human behavior and cognition have been reported. Gonadal sex steroids or genes found on sex chromosomes influence sex differences in neuroanatomy, neurochemistry and neuronal structure, and connectivity. There has been some resistance to accept that sex differences in the human brain exist and have biological relevance; however, a few years ago, it has been recommended by the USA National Institute of Mental Health to incorporate sex as a variable in experimental and clinical neurological and psychiatric studies. We here review the clinical literature on sex differences in pain and neurological and psychiatric diseases, with the aim to further stimulate interest in sexual dimorphisms in the brain and brain diseases, possibly encouraging more research in the field of the implications of sex differences for treating these conditions.

Sex differences in the brain–an interplay of sex steroid hormones and sex chromosomes

2016 ◽  
Vol 130 (17) ◽  
pp. 1481-1497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neza Grgurevic ◽  
Gregor Majdic
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Animal Studies ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Brain Morphology ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Sexual Characteristics ◽  
Brain Structure And Function ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Brain

Although considerable progress has been made in our understanding of brain function, many questions remain unanswered. The ultimate goal of studying the brain is to understand the connection between brain structure and function and behavioural outcomes. Since sex differences in brain morphology were first observed, subsequent studies suggest different functional organization of the male and female brains in humans. Sex and gender have been identified as being a significant factor in understanding human physiology, health and disease, and the biological differences between the sexes is not limited to the gonads and secondary sexual characteristics, but also affects the structure and, more crucially, the function of the brain and other organs. Significant variability in brain structures between individuals, in addition to between the sexes, is factor that complicates the study of sex differences in the brain. In this review, we explore the current understanding of sex differences in the brain, mostly focusing on preclinical animal studies.

scholarly journals Harnessing the Power of Sex Differences: What a Difference Ten Years Did Not Make

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca K Rechlin ◽  
Tallinn FL Splinter ◽  
Travis E Hodges ◽  
Arianne Albert ◽  
Liisa Galea
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Sample Sizes ◽  
Balanced Design ◽  
Single Sex ◽  
Detailed Assessment ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
And Gender

Sex differences exist in a variety of neurological and psychiatric diseases in terms of prevalence, manifestation, and treatment but most past research has been conducted in males. Multiple mandates have been initiated across funding agencies (National Institute of Health, Horizon Europe, Canadian Institute for Health Research) and scientific publishers (Sex and Gender Equity in Research) for biomedical and clinical research to include both males and females in research and reporting. Although more studies are including males and females in their research there are issues in how studies are incorporating males and females in their experiments, as about a third of studies that use males and females do not report sample size and only half are conducting any analysis by sex. Furthermore, what has been lacking in the literature is a detailed assessment of not only how sex is reported in papers (e.g. sample sizes disclosed, balanced design, sex used consistently throughout the experiments) but also how the variable sex is included in any analyses (e.g. covariate). Here we investigated all papers in 2009 and 2019 in three high ranking journals for each of Neuroscience and Psychiatry. We found that there was a 30% increase in the percentage of papers that included both sexes from 2009 to 2019 such that 68% of studies in Neuroscience and Psychiatry used both males and females in 2019. Despite this increase, in 2019 only 19% of all studies used an optimal design for discovery of possible sex differences and only 5% analyzed with sex as a discovery variable. Of the studies that used males and females - 25% of studies do not disclose sample sizes, 36% of studies used an unbalanced design, and 15% of studies did not use both sexes consistently throughout the paper. The percentage of single sex papers remains unchanged across the ten years at 3% for female-only studies compared to 27% for male-only studies across both disciplines. Neuroscience had fewer papers that analyzed by sex at 20% compared to 61% of Psychiatry papers. We hope that these data will make it evident that more needs to be done to improve the inclusion of males and females in future studies to improve the health of men and women.

scholarly journals Elucidating the Relationship Between Insomnia, Sex, and Cardiovascular Disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 247028972098001
Author(s):  
Rebecca Leeds ◽  
Ari Shechter ◽  
Carmela Alcantara ◽  
Brooke Aggarwal ◽  
John Usseglio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Cardiovascular Health ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Sex Research ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cvd Mortality

Sex differences in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality have been attributed to differences in pathophysiology between men and women and to disparities in CVD management that disproportionately affect women compared to men. Similarly, there has been investigation of differences in the prevalence and presentation of insomnia attributable to sex. Few studies have examined how sex and insomnia interact to influence CVD outcomes, however. In this review, we summarize the literature on sex-specific differences in the prevalence and presentation of insomnia as well as existing research regarding the relationship between insomnia and CVD outcomes as it pertains to sex. Research to date indicate that women are more likely to have insomnia than men, and there appear to be differential associations in the relation between insomnia and CVD by sex. We posit potential mechanisms of the relationship between sex, insomnia and CVD, discuss gaps in the existing literature, and provide commentary on future research needed in this area. Unraveling the complex relations between sex, insomnia, and CVD may help to explain sex-specific differences in CVD, and identify sex-specific strategies for promotion of cardiovascular health. Throughout this review, terms “men” and “women” are used as they are in the source literature, which does not differentiate between sex and gender. The implications of this are also discussed.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex Differences, but Were Afraid to Be Perceived as Politically Incorrect: Brain Gender, by M. Hines. 2004. New York: Oxford University Press. 307 pp., $49.50.

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1026-1027
Author(s):  
Jeannette McGlone
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Oxford University Press

Hines finds it impossible to make distinctions between the terms “sex” and “gender,” hence their refreshing, non-political interchangeability in her new book. After examining hormonal and brain-based data, Hines concludes that science cannot yet inform us which differences are determined biologically, socially, and/or both.

scholarly journals The puzzle of sex, gender and Alzheimer’s disease: Why are women more often affected than men?

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 174550651881799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa K Andrew ◽  
Mary C Tierney
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Gender Differences ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Dementia Research ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender Influences ◽  
Sex And Gender Differences ◽  
Biological Differences

Objective: There are impressive differences in the incidence, prevalence and experience of women and men with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Notably, two-thirds of those with AD, the most common form of dementia, are women. Our objective was to provide a literature-based framework to understand these sex and gender differences in AD. Methods: We conducted a narrative review to examine sex and gender influences on AD. Results: We present a framework to understanding why these sex and gender differences exist in AD. This includes the influence of longevity (women live longer than men), biological differences (hormonal differences, epigenetics and frailty), differences in cognitive performance (women and men tend to perform differently on some cognitive tests), and gendered social roles and opportunities (educational and occupational opportunities, functional roles post-retirement). Our review clearly indicates the complex interaction of these sex and gender differences and variability within each. Conclusions: Given these important sex and gender differences in AD, we provide recommendations and steps forward describing how both sex and gender should be considered in dementia diagnosis and management and in the design and implementation of dementia research, including studies of caregiving interventions and models of dementia care.

Microstructural Hyperelastic Characterization of Brain White Matter in Tension

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammadreza Ramzanpour ◽  
Mohammad Hosseini-Farid ◽  
Mariusz Ziejewski ◽  
Ghodrat Karami
Keyword(s):  
Finite Element ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Fibrous Composite ◽  
Diffuse Axonal Injury ◽  
Stiffness Ratio ◽  
Fibrous Composite Material ◽  
Brain White Matter ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Axons as microstructural constituent elements of brain white matter are highly oriented in extracellular matrix (ECM) in one direction. Therefore, it is possible to model the human brain white matter as a unidirectional fibrous composite material. A micromechanical finite element model of the brain white matter is developed to indirectly measure the brain white matter constituents’ properties including axon and ECM under tensile loading. Experimental tension test on corona radiata conducted by Budday et al. 2017 [1] is used in this study and one-term Ogden hyperelastic constitutive model is applied to characterize its behavior. By the application of genetic algorithm (GA) as a black box optimization method, the Ogden hyperelastic parameters of axon and ECM minimizing the error between numerical finite element simulation and experimental results are measured. Inverse analysis is conducted on the resultant optimized parameters shows high correlation of coefficient (>99%) between the numerical and experimental data which verifies the accuracy of the optimization procedure. The volume fraction of axons in porcine brain white matter is taken to be 52.7% and the stiffness ratio of axon to ECM is perceived to be 3.0. As these values are not accurately known for human brain white matter, we study the material properties of axon and ECM for different stiffness ratio and axon volume fraction values. The results of this study helps to better understand the micromechanical structure of the brain and micro-level injuries such as diffuse axonal injury.

scholarly journals Intersectional observations of the Human Brain Project’s approach to sex and gender

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-144
Author(s):  
B. Tyr Fothergill ◽  
William Knight ◽  
Bernd Carsten Stahl ◽  
Inga Ulnicane
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Discursive Space ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Horizon 2020 ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
And Gender

Purpose This paper aims to critically assess approaches to sex and gender in the Human Brain Project (HBP) as a large information and communication technology (ICT) project case study using intersectionality. Design/methodology/approach The strategy of the HBP is contextualised within the wider context of the representation of women in ICT, and critically reflected upon from an intersectional standpoint. Findings The policy underpinning the approach deployed by the HBP in response to these issues parallels Horizon 2020 wording and emphasises economic outcomes, productivity and value, which aligns with other “equality” initiatives influenced by neoliberalised versions of feminism. Research limitations/implications Limitations include focussing on a single case study, the authors being funded as part of the Ethics and Society Subproject of the HBP, and the limited temporal period under consideration. Social implications The frameworks underpinning the HBP approach to sex and gender issues present risks with regard to the further entrenchment of present disparities in the ICT sector, may fail to acknowledge systemic inequalities and biases and ignore the importance of intersectionality. Shortcomings of the approach employed by the HBP up to March, 2018 included aspects of each of these risks, and replicated problematic understandings of sex, gender and diversity. Originality/value This paper is the first to use an intersectional approach to issues of sex and gender in the context of large-scale ICT research. Its value lies in raising awareness, opening a discursive space and presenting opportunities to consider and reflect upon potential, contextualised intersectional solutions to such issues.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document