Violence, vandalism, and theft among Alberta youth : a reconceptualization of the general theory of crime

vii, 100 leaves ; 29 cm.Despite the number of studies conducted regarding violence amongst youth, there is still much to be learned. The present study was designed in an attempt to better understand the nature of delinquent adolescent behaviour. The main objectives of this study are as follows: to understand the pattern and distribution of delinquent behaviour, including violence, vandalism, and theft among Lethbridge, Alberta's high school population, to identify possible factors that may play a role in one's likelihood of engaging in such behaviours, and finally, to contribute to Micheal Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi's (G&H) 'General Theory of Crime' (1990) by reconceptuahzing the concept of self-control. The present study includes 182 youth from two Lethbridge public high schools. Of the 182 respondents, 84 are female, and 98 are male. The youth involved in this study range from 15 to 19 years of age. Through the use of a questionnaire, a number of key variables are addressed. These variables are: empathy, impulse control, social bonds, and their relationship with violence, theft, and vandalism. The results of this study show that empathy and impulse control are significant predictors of violence and vandalism, while impulsive behaviour was found to be the only statistically significant predictor of theft among the variables included in the multiple regression analysis. Although social bonds were hypothesized to be a major predictor of all three delinquent behaviours included in this study, the results did not support such an assumption. It is suggested that perhaps the concept of social bonds was inadequately measured for use in this study. Future research using a better measure of social bonds, may find it to be a significant predictor of violence, vandalism, and theft

A modifier of Huntington's disease onset at the MLH1 locus

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disease caused by an expanded CAG repeat in HTT. Many clinical characteristics of HD such as age at motor onset are determined largely by the size of HTT CAG repeat. However, emerging evidence strongly supports a role for other genetic factors in modifying the disease pathogenesis driven by mutant huntingtin. A recent genome-wide association analysis to discover genetic modifiers of HD onset age provided initial evidence for modifier loci on chromosomes 8 and 15 and suggestive evidence for a locus on chromosome 3. Here, genotyping of candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms in a cohort of 3,314 additional HD subjects yields independent confirmation of the former two loci and moves the third to genome-wide significance at MLH1, a locus whose mouse orthologue modifies CAG length-dependent phenotypes in a Htt-knock-in mouse model of HD. Both quantitative and dichotomous association analyses implicate a functional variant on 32% of chromosomes with the beneficial modifier effect that delays HD motor onset by 0.7 years/allele. Genomic DNA capture and sequencing of a modifier haplotype localize the functional variation to a 78 kb region spanning the 3’end of MLH1 and the 5’end of the neighboring LRRFIP2, and marked by an isoleucinevaline missense variant in MLH1. Analysis of expression Quantitative Trait Loci (eQTLs) provides modest support for altered regulation of MLH1 and LRRFIP2, raising the possibility that the modifier affects regulation of both genes. Finally, polygenic modification score and heritability analyses suggest the existence of additional genetic modifiers, supporting expanded, comprehensive genetic analysis of larger HD datasets

Haplotype-based stratification of Huntington's disease

Huntington’s disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease caused by expansion of a CAG trinucleotide repeat in HTT, resulting in an extended polyglutamine tract in huntingtin. We and others have previously determined that the HD-causing expansion occurs on multiple different haplotype backbones, reflecting more than one ancestral origin of the same type of mutation. In view of the therapeutic potential of mutant allele-specific gene silencing, we have compared and integrated two major systems of HTT haplotype definition, combining data from 74 sequence variants to identify the most frequent disease-associated and control chromosome backbones and revealing that there is potential for additional resolution of HD haplotypes. We have used the large collection of 4078 heterozygous HD subjects analyzed in our recent genome-wide association study of HD age at onset to estimate the frequency of these haplotypes in European subjects, finding that common genetic variation at HTT can distinguish the normal and CAG-expanded chromosomes for more than 95% of European HD individuals. As a resource for the HD research community, we have also determined the haplotypes present in a series of publicly available HD subject-derived fibroblasts, induced pluripotent cells, and embryonic stem cells in order to facilitate efforts to develop inclusive methods of allele-specific HTT silencing applicable to most HD patients. Our data providing genetic guidance for therapeutic gene-based targeting will significantly contribute to the developments of rational treatments and implementation of precision medicine in HD

Haplotype-based stratification of Huntington's disease

Huntington’s disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease caused by expansion of a CAG trinucleotide repeat in HTT, resulting in an extended polyglutamine tract in huntingtin. We and others have previously determined that the HD-causing expansion occurs on multiple different haplotype backbones, reflecting more than one ancestral origin of the same type of mutation. In view of the therapeutic potential of mutant allele-specific gene silencing, we have compared and integrated two major systems of HTT haplotype definition, combining data from 74 sequence variants to identify the most frequent disease-associated and control chromosome backbones and revealing that there is potential for additional resolution of HD haplotypes. We have used the large collection of 4078 heterozygous HD subjects analyzed in our recent genome-wide association study of HD age at onset to estimate the frequency of these haplotypes in European subjects, finding that common genetic variation at HTT can distinguish the normal and CAG-expanded chromosomes for more than 95% of European HD individuals. As a resource for the HD research community, we have also determined the haplotypes present in a series of publicly available HD subject-derived fibroblasts, induced pluripotent cells, and embryonic stem cells in order to facilitate efforts to develop inclusive methods of allele-specific HTT silencing applicable to most HD patients. Our data providing genetic guidance for therapeutic gene-based targeting will significantly contribute to the developments of rational treatments and implementation of precision medicine in HD

Mismatch Repair Genes Mlh1 and Mlh3 Modify CAG Instability in Huntington's Disease Mice: Genome-Wide and Candidate Approaches

The Huntington's disease gene (HTT) CAG repeat mutation undergoes somatic expansion that correlates with pathogenesis. Modifiers of somatic expansion may therefore provide routes for therapies targeting the underlying mutation, an approach that is likely applicable to other trinucleotide repeat diseases. Huntington's disease HdhQ111 mice exhibit higher levels of somatic HTT CAG expansion on a C57BL/6 genetic background (B6.HdhQ111) than on a 129 background (129.HdhQ111). Linkage mapping in (B6x129).HdhQ111 F2 intercross animals identified a single quantitative trait locus underlying the strain-specific difference in expansion in the striatum, implicating mismatch repair (MMR) gene Mlh1 as the most likely candidate modifier. Crossing B6.HdhQ111 mice onto an Mlh1 null background demonstrated that Mlh1 is essential for somatic CAG expansions and that it is an enhancer of nuclear huntingtin accumulation in striatal neurons. HdhQ111 somatic expansion was also abolished in mice deficient in the Mlh3 gene, implicating MutLγ (MLH1–MLH3) complex as a key driver of somatic expansion. Strikingly, Mlh1 and Mlh3 genes encoding MMR effector proteins were as critical to somatic expansion as Msh2 and Msh3 genes encoding DNA mismatch recognition complex MutSβ (MSH2–MSH3). The Mlh1 locus is highly polymorphic between B6 and 129 strains. While we were unable to detect any difference in base-base mismatch or short slipped-repeat repair activity between B6 and 129 MLH1 variants, repair efficiency was MLH1 dose-dependent. MLH1 mRNA and protein levels were significantly decreased in 129 mice compared to B6 mice, consistent with a dose-sensitive MLH1-dependent DNA repair mechanism underlying the somatic expansion difference between these strains. Together, these data identify Mlh1 and Mlh3 as novel critical genetic modifiers of HTT CAG instability, point to Mlh1 genetic variation as the likely source of the instability difference in B6 and 129 strains and suggest that MLH1 protein levels play an important role in driving of the efficiency of somatic expansions

Mismatch Repair Genes Mlh1 and Mlh3 Modify CAG Instability in Huntington\u27s Disease Mice: Genome-Wide and Candidate Approaches

The Huntington\u27s disease gene (HTT) CAG repeat mutation undergoes somatic expansion that correlates with pathogenesis. Modifiers of somatic expansion may therefore provide routes for therapies targeting the underlying mutation, an approach that is likely applicable to other trinucleotide repeat diseases. Huntington\u27s disease Hdh(Q111) mice exhibit higher levels of somatic HTT CAG expansion on a C57BL/6 genetic background (B6.Hdh(Q111) ) than on a 129 background (129.Hdh(Q111) ). Linkage mapping in (B6x129).Hdh(Q111) F2 intercross animals identified a single quantitative trait locus underlying the strain-specific difference in expansion in the striatum, implicating mismatch repair (MMR) gene Mlh1 as the most likely candidate modifier. Crossing B6.Hdh(Q111) mice onto an Mlh1 null background demonstrated that Mlh1 is essential for somatic CAG expansions and that it is an enhancer of nuclear huntingtin accumulation in striatal neurons. Hdh(Q111) somatic expansion was also abolished in mice deficient in the Mlh3 gene, implicating MutLγ (MLH1-MLH3) complex as a key driver of somatic expansion. Strikingly, Mlh1 and Mlh3 genes encoding MMR effector proteins were as critical to somatic expansion as Msh2 and Msh3 genes encoding DNA mismatch recognition complex MutSβ (MSH2-MSH3). The Mlh1 locus is highly polymorphic between B6 and 129 strains. While we were unable to detect any difference in base-base mismatch or short slipped-repeat repair activity between B6 and 129 MLH1 variants, repair efficiency was MLH1 dose-dependent. MLH1 mRNA and protein levels were significantly decreased in 129 mice compared to B6 mice, consistent with a dose-sensitive MLH1-dependent DNA repair mechanism underlying the somatic expansion difference between these strains. Together, these data identify Mlh1 and Mlh3 as novel critical genetic modifiers of HTT CAG instability, point to Mlh1 genetic variation as the likely source of the instability difference in B6 and 129 strains and suggest that MLH1 protein levels play an important role in driving of the efficiency of somatic expansions

Sequence-Level Analysis of the Major European Huntington Disease Haplotype

Huntington disease (HD) reflects the dominant consequences of a CAG-repeat expansion in HTT. Analysis of common SNP-based haplotypes has revealed that most European HD subjects have distinguishable HTT haplotypes on their normal and disease chromosomes and that ∼50% of the latter share the same major HD haplotype. We reasoned that sequence-level investigation of this founder haplotype could provide significant insights into the history of HD and valuable information for gene-targeting approaches. Consequently, we performed whole-genome sequencing of HD and control subjects from four independent families in whom the major European HD haplotype segregates with the disease. Analysis of the full-sequence-based HTT haplotype indicated that these four families share a common ancestor sufficiently distant to have permitted the accumulation of family-specific variants. Confirmation of new CAG-expansion mutations on this haplotype suggests that unlike most founders of human disease, the common ancestor of HD-affected families with the major haplotype most likely did not have HD. Further, availability of the full sequence data validated the use of SNP imputation to predict the optimal variants for capturing heterozygosity in personalized allele-specific gene-silencing approaches. As few as ten SNPs are capable of revealing heterozygosity in more than 97% of European HD subjects. Extension of allele-specific silencing strategies to the few remaining homozygous individuals is likely to be achievable through additional known SNPs and discovery of private variants by complete sequencing of HTT. These data suggest that the current development of gene-based targeting for HD could be extended to personalized allele-specific approaches in essentially all HD individuals of European ancestry

High resolution time-course mapping of early transcriptomic, molecular and cellular phenotypes in Huntington\u27s disease CAG knock-in mice across multiple genetic backgrounds.

Huntington\u27s disease is a dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disease caused by the expansion of a CAG repeat in the HTT gene. In addition to the length of the CAG expansion, factors such as genetic background have been shown to contribute to the age at onset of neurological symptoms. A central challenge in understanding the disease progression that leads from the HD mutation to massive cell death in the striatum is the ability to characterize the subtle and early functional consequences of the CAG expansion longitudinally. We used dense time course sampling between 4 and 20 postnatal weeks to characterize early transcriptomic, molecular and cellular phenotypes in the striatum of six distinct knock-in mouse models of the HD mutation. We studied the effects of the HttQ111 allele on the C57BL/6J, CD-1, FVB/NCr1, and 129S2/SvPasCrl genetic backgrounds, and of two additional alleles, HttQ92 and HttQ50, on the C57BL/6J background. We describe the emergence of a transcriptomic signature in HttQ111/+  mice involving hundreds of differentially expressed genes and changes in diverse molecular pathways. We also show that this time course spanned the onset of mutant huntingtin nuclear localization phenotypes and somatic CAG-length instability in the striatum. Genetic background strongly influenced the magnitude and age at onset of these effects. This work provides a foundation for understanding the earliest transcriptional and molecular changes contributing to HD pathogenesis

Be prepared: communism and the politics of scouting in 1950s Britain

This article examines the exposure, and in some cases dismissal, of Boy Scouts who belonged or sympathised with the Young Communist League in Britain during the early 1950s. A focus on the rationale and repercussions of the organisation's approach and attitudes towards ‘Red Scouts’ found within their ‘ranks’ extends our understanding of youth movements and their often complex and conflicting ideological foundations. In particular, the post-World War Two period presented significant challenges to these spaces of youth work in terms of broader social and political change in Britain. An analysis of the politics of scouting in relation to Red Scouts questions not only the assertion that British McCarthyism was ‘silent’, but also brings young people firmly into focus as part of a more everyday politics of communism in British society

A Broad Phenotypic Screen Identifies Novel Phenotypes Driven by a Single Mutant Allele in Huntington’s Disease CAG Knock-In Mice

Huntington’s disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by the expansion of a CAG trinucleotide repeat in the HTT gene encoding huntingtin. The disease has an insidious course, typically progressing over 10-15 years until death. Currently there is no effective disease-modifying therapy. To better understand the HD pathogenic process we have developed genetic HTT CAG knock-in mouse models that accurately recapitulate the HD mutation in man. Here, we describe results of a broad, standardized phenotypic screen in 10-46 week old heterozygous HdhQ111 knock-in mice, probing a wide range of physiological systems. The results of this screen revealed a number of behavioral abnormalities in HdhQ111/+ mice that include hypoactivity, decreased anxiety, motor learning and coordination deficits, and impaired olfactory discrimination. The screen also provided evidence supporting subtle cardiovascular, lung, and plasma metabolite alterations. Importantly, our results reveal that a single mutant HTT allele in the mouse is sufficient to elicit multiple phenotypic abnormalities, consistent with a dominant disease process in patients. These data provide a starting point for further investigation of several organ systems in HD, for the dissection of underlying pathogenic mechanisms and for the identification of reliable phenotypic endpoints for therapeutic testing