Gender crime convergence over twenty years

Men have typically been responsible for the majority of criminal activity and dominate prison populations around the globe. The twentieth century witnessed significant male-female convergence in a myriad of positive dimensions including human capital acquisition, labour force participation and wages. This has prompted the question, to what extent are women ‘looking more like men’? In this paper we examine whether similar forces are at play in the context of criminality. We study the pattern of gender convergence in crime using rich administrative data on the population of young people in Queensland, Australia. We present evidence of significant narrowing of the gender gap in criminal activity over the course of the last twenty years. Crime convergence occurs for broad aggregates of both property and violent crime, as well as for almost all sub-component categories. Convergence occurs largely because crime has fallen significantly for men, combined with much less of a downward trend for women. Results are supported by aggregate analysis of rates of offending in police force districts matched to census data by gender between 2001 and 2016

Gender crime convergence over twenty years: evidence from Australia

Historically men have been responsible for the majority of criminal activity and dominate prison populations around the globe. The twentieth century witnessed significant male–female convergence in a myriad of positive dimensions including human capital acquisition, labour force participation and wages. This has prompted the question, to what extent are women ‘looking more like men’? In this paper we examine whether similar forces are at play in the context of criminality. We study the pattern of gender convergence in crime using rich administrative data on the population of young people in Queensland, Australia. The evidence points to a significant narrowing of the gender gap in criminal activity over the course of the last twenty years. Crime convergence occurs for broad aggregates of both property and violent crime, as well as for almost all sub-component categories. Convergence occurs largely because crime has fallen significantly for men, combined with no downward trend for women. This is confirmed by aggregate analysis of rates of offending in police force districts matched to Census data by gender between 2001 and 201

Larrikin youth: new evidence on crime and schooling

This paper reports new evidence on the causal link between education and male youth crime using individual level state-wide administrative data for Queensland, Australia. Enactment of the Earning or Learning education reform of 2006, with a mandatory increase in minimum school leaving age, is used to identify a causal impact of schooling on male youth crime. The richness of the matched (across agency) individual level panel data enables the analysis to shed significant light on the extent to which the causal impact reflects incapacitation, or whether more schooling acts to reduce crime after youths have left compulsory schooling. The empirical analysis uncovers a significant incapacitation effect, as remaining in school for longer reduces crime whilst in school, but also a sizeable crime reducing impact of education for young men in their late teens and early twenties. We also carry out analysis by major crime type and differentiate between single and multiple offending behaviour. Crime reduction effects are concentrated in property crime and single crime incidence, rather than altering the behaviour of the recalcitrant persistent offende

Larrikin youth: crime and Queensland's earning or learning reform

This paper analyses the impact of the introduction of an Earning or Learning reform on youth crime in Queensland, Australia. The 2006 reform increased learning and reduced earning as school participation rose post-reform, while teen employment fell. Empirical analysis of detailed administrative data reveals that criminal offending fell significantly after enactment of the reform. For males, violent, property and drug crime all declined, while the main effect for females was a significant fall in property crime. The property and drug crime falls are underpinned by a significant incapacitation effect, with some evidence of a persistent crime reduction for young men and women at later ages. Crime reduction resulting from the reform is concentrated in significant falls in the likelihood of ever offending by marginal individuals, rather than lower criminality of recalcitrant persistent offenders

A pneumococcal MerR-like regulator and S-nitrosoglutathione reductase are required for systemic virulence

Copyright © 2007 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.A transcriptional regulator, NmlR(sp), has been identified in Streptococcus pneumoniae that is required for defense against nitric oxide (NO) stress. The nmlR(sp) gene is cotranscribed with adhC, which encodes an alcohol dehydrogenase that is able to reduce S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) with NADH as reductant. nmlR(sp) and adhC mutants exhibited a reduced level of NADH-GSNO oxidoreductase activity and were more susceptible to killing by NO than were wild-type cells. Comparison of the virulence of wild-type and mutant strains by use of a mouse model system showed that NmlR(sp) and AdhC do not play a key role in the adherence of pneumococci to the nasopharynx in vivo. An intraperitoneal challenge experiment revealed that both NmlR(sp) and AdhC were required for survival in blood. These data identify novel components of a NO defense system in pneumococci that are required for systemic infection.Uwe H. Stroeher, Robert S. Kidd, Sian L. Stafford, Michael P. Jennings, James C. Paton and Alastair G. McEwa

Development and Assessment of a Diagnostic DNA Oligonucleotide Microarray for Detection and Typing of Meningitis-Associated Bacterial Species.

Meningitis is commonly caused by infection with a variety of bacterial or viral pathogens. Acute bacterial meningitis (ABM) can cause severe disease, which can progress rapidly to a critical life-threatening condition. Rapid diagnosis of ABM is critical, as this is most commonly associated with severe sequelae with associated high mortality and morbidity rates compared to viral meningitis, which is less severe and self-limiting. We have designed a microarray for detection and diagnosis of ABM. This has been validated using randomly amplified DNA targets (RADT), comparing buffers with or without formamide, in glass slide format or on the Alere ArrayTubeTM (Alere Technologies GmbH) microarray platform. Pathogen-specific signals were observed using purified bacterial nucleic acids and to a lesser extent using patient cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) samples, with some technical issues observed using RADT and glass slides. Repurposing the array onto the Alere ArrayTubeTM platform and using a targeted amplification system increased specific and reduced nonspecific hybridization signals using both pathogen nucleic and patient CSF DNA targets, better revealing pathogen-specific signals although sensitivity was still reduced in the latter. This diagnostic microarray is useful as a laboratory diagnostic tool for species and strain designation for ABM, rather than for primary diagnosis

Effect of a high crude protein content diet during energy restriction and re-alimentation on animal performance, skeletal growth and metabolism of bone tissue in two genotypes of cattle

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of diet crude protein (CP) content and metabolisable energy (ME) intake on skeletal growth and associated parameters of growing steers prior to and during compensatory growth in weight and catch-up growth in skeletal elongation. The experiment was a factorial design with two cattle genotypes [Brahman crossbred (BX, 178 ± 6 kg) and Holstein-Friesian (HF, 230 ± 34 kg)] and three nutritional treatments; high CP content and high ME intake (HCP-HME), high CP content and low ME intake (HCP-LME) and low CP content and low ME intake (LCP-LME) with the ME intake of HCP-LME matched to that of LCP-LME. Nutritional treatments were imposed over a 103 d period (Phase 1), and after this, all steers were offered ad libitum access to the HCP-HME nutritional treatment for 100 d (Phase 2). Steers fed the high CP content treatment with a low ME intake, showed higher hip height gain (P = 0.04), larger terminal hypertrophic chondrocytes (P = 0.02) and a higher concentration of total triiodothyronine in plasma (P = 0.01) than steers with the same ME intake of the low CP content treatment. In addition, the low CP treatment resulted in significant decreases in bone volume (P = 0.03), bone surface area (P = 0.03) and the concentration of bone-specific alkaline phosphatase in plasma (P P = 0.05) than BX steers. All steers with a restricted ME intake during Phase 1 demonstrated compensatory growth during Phase 2. However, HF steers fed the LCP treatment during Phase 1 showed a tendency (P = 0.07) for a greater LWG during Phase 2 without any increase in dry matter intake. Results observed at the growth plate and hip height growth suggest that catch-up growth in cattle may also be explained by the growth plate senescence hypothesis. Contrary to our initial hypothesis, the results demonstrate that greater CP intake during ME restriction does not increase compensatory gain in cattle during re-alimentation

Paracetamol reduces influenza-induced immunopathology in a mouse model of infection without compromising virus clearance or the generation of protective immunity

Background: Seasonal influenza A infection affects a significant cohort of the global population annually, resulting in considerable morbidity and mortality. Therapeutic strategies are of limited efficacy, and during a pandemic outbreak would only be available to a minority of the global population. Over-the-counter medicines are routinely taken by individuals suffering from influenza, but few studies have been conducted to determine their effectiveness in reducing pulmonary immunopathology or the influence they exert upon the generation of protective immunity. Methods: A mouse model of influenza infection was utilised to assess the efficacy of paracetamol (acetaminophen) in reducing influenza-induced pathology and to examine whether paracetamol affects generation of protective immunity. Results: Administration (intraperitoneal) of paracetamol significantly decreased the infiltration of inflammatory cells into the airway spaces, reduced pulmonary immunopathology associated with acute infection and improved the overall lung function of mice, without adversely affecting the induction of virus-specific adaptive responses. Mice treated with paracetamol exhibited an ability to resist a second infection with heterologous virus comparable with that of untreated mice. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that paracetamol dramatically reduces the morbidity associated with influenza but does not compromise the development of adaptive immune responses. Overall, these data support the utility of paracetamol for reducing the clinical symptoms associated with influenza virus infection

Whole Genome Sequence Analysis of Cryptococcus gattii from the Pacific Northwest Reveals Unexpected Diversity

A recent emergence of Cryptococcus gattii in the Pacific Northwest involves strains that fall into three primarily clonal molecular subtypes: VGIIa, VGIIb and VGIIc. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and variable number tandem repeat analysis appear to identify little diversity within these molecular subtypes. Given the apparent expansion of these subtypes into new geographic areas and their ability to cause disease in immunocompetent individuals, differentiation of isolates belonging to these subtypes could be very important from a public health perspective. We used whole genome sequence typing (WGST) to perform fine-scale phylogenetic analysis on 20 C. gattii isolates, 18 of which are from the VGII molecular type largely responsible for the Pacific Northwest emergence. Analysis both including and excluding (289,586 SNPs and 56,845 SNPs, respectively) molecular types VGI and VGIII isolates resulted in phylogenetic reconstructions consistent, for the most part, with MLST analysis but with far greater resolution among isolates. The WGST analysis presented here resulted in identification of over 100 SNPs among eight VGIIc isolates as well as unique genotypes for each of the VGIIa, VGIIb and VGIIc isolates. Similar levels of genetic diversity were found within each of the molecular subtype isolates, despite the fact that the VGIIb clade is thought to have emerged much earlier. The analysis presented here is the first multi-genome WGST study to focus on the C. gattii molecular subtypes involved in the Pacific Northwest emergence and describes the tools that will further our understanding of this emerging pathogen