A global call for action to include gender in research impact assessment

Global investment in biomedical research has grown significantly over the last decades, reaching approximately a quarter of a trillion US dollars in 2010. However, not all of this investment is distributed evenly by gender. It follows, arguably, that scarce research resources may not be optimally invested (by either not supporting the best science or by failing to investigate topics that benefit women and men equitably). Women across the world tend to be significantly underrepresented in research both as researchers and research participants, receive less research funding, and appear less frequently than men as authors on research publications. There is also some evidence that women are relatively disadvantaged as the beneficiaries of research, in terms of its health, societal, and economic impacts. Historical gender biases may have created a path dependency that means that the research system and the impacts of research are biased towards male researchers and male beneficiaries, making it inherently difficult (though not impossible) to eliminate gender bias. In this commentary, we – a group of scholars and practitioners from Africa, America, Asia, and Europe– argue that gender-sensitive research impact assessment could become a force for good in moving science policy and practice towards gender equity. Research impact assessment is the multidisciplinary field of scientific inquiry that examines the research process to maximise scientific, societal, and economic returns on investment in research. It encompasses many theoretical and methodological approaches that can be used to investigate gender bias and recommend actions for change to maximise research impact. We offer a set of recommendations to research funders, research institutions, and research evaluators who conduct impact assessment on how to include and strengthen analysis of gender equity in research impact assessment and issue a global call for action

Large-scale phenomic and genomic analysis of brain asymmetrical skew

Brain torque has been claimed to be human-specific. However, the functional significance and developmental mechanisms are unknown. Here we carried out the largest-ever analysis of global brain asymmetry in magnetic resonance imaging data. Three population datasets were used, the UK Biobank (N = 39,678), Human Connectome Project (N = 1,113) and BIL&GIN (N = 453). At the population level, there was an anterior and dorsal skew of the right hemisphere, relative to the left. Both skews were associated independently with handedness, and various regional grey and white matter metrics oppositely in the two hemispheres, as well as other variables related to cognitive functions, sociodemographic factors, and physical and mental health. The two skews showed SNP-based heritabilities of 4-13%, but also substantial polygenicity in causal mixture model analysis, and no individually significant loci were found in GWAS for either skew. Gene-based association analysis identified three genes tentatively associated with vertical skew, including PLEC which encodes a large cytoskeleton-linked protein. There was evidence for a significant genetic correlation (rg=-0.40, p=0.0075) between horizontal brain skew and Autism Spectrum Disorder. These results provide the first large-scale description of population-average brain skews and their inter-individual variations, their replicable associations with handedness, and insights into biological and other factors which associate with brain asymmetry

Influence of the Fiber Coating Type on the Strain

We report on the effect of the fiber coating on the radiation sensitivity of Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG). For the first time this type of study has been carried out using a 13.5 MeV proton beam up to a fluence of 3.3 x 10¹⁵ protons/cm (total absorbed dose of 15 MGy).We observed a clear dependence of the radiation sensitivity on the coating, in particular, we have investigated the irradiation induced changes on the strain sensitivity; FBG strain coefficient remains stable for all the fiber within a 5%. This result demonstrates the suitability of FBGs as structural health and deformation monitors in the very hostile environment of the new generation of high-intensity particle physics proton colliders