Crimen y violencia urbana. Aportes de la ecología del delito al diseño de políticas públicas

Este artículo presenta la investigación, con el mismo título de este artículo, adjudicada en el II Concurso de Anillos de Investigación en Ciencias Sociales, en marzo del 2008, por CONICYT. La pregunta que da inicio a la investigación es ¿Cómo abordar el fenómeno del crimen y violencia urbana? Para responder la pregunta la investigación se ha centrado en el marco conceptual provisto por la Teoría Ecológica del Delito y el concepto de "eficacia colectiva del barrio". La investigación espera producir conocimiento relevante en el área, basado en evidencia empírica, que permita contribuir significativamente al diseño de políticas públicas integrales que aborden los variados aspectos que concurren a la seguridad ciudadana

Crimen y violencia urbana. Aportes de la ecología del delito al diseño de políticas públicas

This article is about the research with the same name than this paper, granted by the II Investigation Ring in Social Science in March 2008 by CONICYT. The research question is How to approach urban crime and violence phenomena? To answer the research question we focus on the conceptual framework provided by Ecological Theory of Crime and the “neighborhood collective efficiency” concept. The research expects to produce relevant knowledge about the subject based on empirical evidence that would significantly allow contributing to integral public policies design that deal with varied aspects that are part of citizen security.Este artículo presenta la investigación, con el mismo título de este artículo, adjudicada en el II Concurso de Anillos de Investigación en Ciencias Sociales, en marzo del 2008, por CONICYT. La pregunta que da inicio a la investigación es ¿Cómo abordar el fenómeno del crimen y violencia urbana? Para responder la pregunta la investigación se ha centrado en el marco conceptual provisto por la Teoría Ecológica del Delito y el concepto de “eficacia colectiva del barrio”. La investigación espera producir conocimiento relevante en el área, basado en evidencia empírica, que permita contribuir significativamente al diseño de políticas públicas integrales que aborden los variados aspectos que concurren a la seguridad ciudadana

Familial and environmental influences on brain volumes in twins with schizophrenia

Esquizofrènia; Volum cerebral; Imatges per ressonància magnèticaEsquizofrenia; Volumen cerebral; Imagen de resonancia magnéticaSchizophrenia; Brain volume; Magnetic Resonance ImagingReductions in whole brain and grey matter volumes are robust features of schizophrenia, yet their etiological influences are unclear. We investigated the association between the genetic and environmental risk for schizophrenia and brain volumes. Whole brain, grey matter and white matter volumes were established from structural MRIs from twins varying in their zygosity and concordance for schizophrenia. Hippocampal volumes were measured manually. We conducted between-group testing and full genetic modelling. Results: We included 168 twins in our study. Whole brain, grey matter, white matter and right hippocampal volumes were smaller in twins with schizophrenia. Twin correlations were larger for whole brain, grey matter and white matter volumes in monozygotic than dizygotic twins and were significantly heritable, whereas hippocampal volume was the most environmentally sensitive. There was a significant phenotypic correlation between schizophrenia and reductions in all the brain volumes except for that of the left hippocampus. For whole brain, grey matter and the right hippocampus the etiological links with schizophrenia were principally associated with the shared familial environment. Lower birth weight and perinatal hypoxia were both associated with lower whole brain volume and with lower white matter and grey matter volumes, respectively. Scan data were collected across 2 sites, and some groups were modest in size. Whole brain, grey matter and right hippocampal volume reductions are linked to schizophrenia through correlated familial risk (i.e., the shared familial environment). The degree of influence of etiological factors varies between brain structures, leading to the possibility of a neuroanatomically specific etiological imprint.The study was in part funded by a Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellowship to M. Picchioni (064971), a NARSAD Young Investigator Award to T. Toulopoulou and by the European Community’s Sixth Framework Programme through a Marie Curie Training Network called the European Twin Study Network on Schizophrenia (EUTwinsS). U. Ettinger was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (ET 31/2-1)

The Genetic and Environmental Determinants of the Association Between Brain Abnormalities and Schizophrenia: The Schizophrenia Twins and Relatives Consortium

Background: Structural brain abnormalities are consistently found in schizophrenia (Sz) and have been associated with the familial risk for the disorder. We aim to define the relative contributions of genetic and nongenetic factors to the association between structural brain abnormalities and Sz in a uniquely powered cohort (Schizophrenia Twins and Relatives consortium). Methods: An international multicenter magnetic resonance imaging collaboration was set up to pool magnetic resonance imaging scans from twin pairs in Utrecht (The Netherlands), Helsinki (Finland), London (United Kingdom), and Jena (Germany). A sample of 684 subjects took part, consisting of monozygotic twins (n = 410, with 51 patients from concordant and 52 from discordant pairs) and dizygotic twins (n = 274, with 39 patients from discordant pairs). The additive genetic, common, and unique environmental contributions to the association between brain volumes and risk for Sz were estimated by structural equation modeling. Results: The heritabilities of most brain volumes were significant and ranged between 52% (temporal cortical gray matter) and 76% (cerebrum). Heritability of cerebral gray matter did not reach significance (34%). Significant phenotypic correlations were found between Sz and reduced volumes of the cerebrum (-.22 [-.30/-.14]) and white matter (-.17 [-.25/-.09]) and increased volume of the third ventricle (.18 [.08/.28]). These were predominantly due to overlapping genetic effects (77%, 94%, and 83%, respectively). Conclusions: Some of the genes that transmit the risk for Sz also influence cerebral (white matter) volume. © 2012 Society of Biological Psychiatry.link_to_OA_fulltex