The genetic architecture of the human cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex underlies our complex cognitive capabilities, yet little is known about the specific genetic loci that influence human cortical structure. To identify genetic variants that affect cortical structure, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of brain magnetic resonance imaging data from 51,665 individuals. We analyzed the surface area and average thickness of the whole cortex and 34 regions with known functional specializations. We identified 199 significant loci and found significant enrichment for loci influencing total surface area within regulatory elements that are active during prenatal cortical development, supporting the radial unit hypothesis. Loci that affect regional surface area cluster near genes in Wnt signaling pathways, which influence progenitor expansion and areal identity. Variation in cortical structure is genetically correlated with cognitive function, Parkinson's disease, insomnia, depression, neuroticism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Social and Demographic Factors Affecting Changes in Subjective Class Identification From 1952 to 1972

150 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1976.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD

A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality

Since the mid-1 980s, scholarship and college courses that address multi-ple dimensions of inequality under the rubric of race, class, gender, and (recently) sexuality studies have grown rapidly. Most courses now employ a set of readings, many of which are drawn from a growing number of anthologies. A strength of this approach is its presentation of the diversity of human experiences and the multiplicity of critical perspectives. A weakness is its failure to convey the commonalities in race, class, gender, and sexuality analyses of social reality. To aid in teaching and research on race, class, gender, and sexuality, this article presents six common themes that characterize this scholarship. Race, class, gender, and sexuality are historically and globally specific, socially constructed power relations that simultaneously operate at both the macro (societal) and micro (individual) levels of society. Scholarship in this tradition emphasizes the interdependence of knowledge and ac-tivism. People’s real l i fe experiences have never fit neatly into the boundaries created by academic disciplines: Lives are much more complex and far reaching. Just as the social, political, economic, and psychological dmensions o f everyday l i fe are intertwined and mutually dependent, so too are the systems o f inequality-race, class, gender, and sexuality-that limit and restrict some people while privileging others. Increasingly, interdsciplinary studies, including Women’s Studies and multicultural studies, are extending the range of the curriculum; such programs are critical sites for the development o f meaningful commentar