The Metaphysics of Intersectionality Revisited

‘Intersectionality’ is one of the rare pieces of academic jargon to make it out of the university and into the mainstream. The message is clear and well-known: your feminism had better be intersectional. But what exactly does this mean? This paper is partly an exercise in conceptual clarification, distinguishing at least six distinct types of claim found across the literature on intersectionality, and digging further into the most philosophically complex of these claims—namely the metaphysical and explanatory. It’s also partly a reply to Sara Bernstein, who argued recently that the best interpretation of the metaphysical claim is explanatory priority. We’ll argue that duly clarified, it’s far from obvious that feminism had better be intersectional. At the very least, it had better not be only intersectional

Genetic risk of obesity as a modifier of associations between neighbourhood environment and body mass index: an observational study of 335 046 UK Biobank participants.

BackgroundThere is growing recognition that recent global increases in obesity are the product of a complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors. However, in gene-environment studies of obesity, 'environment' usually refers to individual behavioural factors that influence energy balance, whereas more upstream environmental factors are overlooked. We examined gene-environment interactions between genetic risk of obesity and two neighbourhood characteristics likely to be associated with obesity (proximity to takeaway/fast-food outlets and availability of physical activity facilities).MethodsWe used data from 335 046 adults aged 40-70 in the UK Biobank cohort to conduct a population-based cross-sectional study of interactions between neighbourhood characteristics and genetic risk of obesity, in relation to body mass index (BMI). Proximity to a fast-food outlet was defined as distance from home address to nearest takeaway/fast-food outlet, and availability of physical activity facilities as the number of formal physical activity facilities within 1 km of home address. Genetic risk of obesity was operationalised by weighted Genetic Risk Scores of 91 or 69 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), and by six individual SNPs considered separately. Multivariable, mixed-effects models with product terms for the gene-environment interactions were estimated.ResultsAfter accounting for likely confounding, the association between proximity to takeaway/fast-food outlets and BMI was stronger among those at increased genetic risk of obesity, with evidence of an interaction with polygenic risk scores (p=0.018 and p=0.028 for 69-SNP and 91-SNP scores, respectively) and in particular with a SNP linked to MC4R (p=0.009), a gene known to regulate food intake. We found very little evidence of gene-environment interaction for the availability of physical activity facilities.ConclusionsIndividuals at an increased genetic risk of obesity may be more sensitive to exposure to the local fast-food environment. Ensuring that neighbourhood residential environments are designed to promote a healthy weight may be particularly important for those with greater genetic susceptibility to obesity

Does Neck Strength in Male and Female Youth Soccer Players Affect Head Velocity During Goal-Directed Heading: A Proposal

Introduction: Head impact research in soccer (e.g., during heading) has increased recently, with the intent to reduce the risk of play-related injuries such as concussions. Low neck strength and head kinematics (e.g., velocity) in players have been proposed as risk factors for concussion1. However, previous research has primarily focused on collegiate athletes1, despite the possible increased risk for youth players due to crucial neurodevelopment occurring in this group2. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine neck strength differences between male and female youth soccer players, and to quantify the relationship between heading velocities and neck strength. Methods: Participants will include male and female youth soccer players (11 - 13 years old). Neck strength will be quantified while supine during lateral flexion, cervical flexion, and extension using a prone push test with a hand-held dynamometer. Participants will also complete five headers in the lab in each of three directions: balls tossed to them from their right, left, and in front. Three retroreflective markers on each participant’s head will be recorded using five GoPro Hero 9 cameras. ProAnalyst (Xcitex) motion capture analysis software will be used to determine head velocities. Pearson correlations will be completed to assess the strength of the relationship between neck strength and head velocities, and between sex and head velocities. Expected results: Youth with lower neck strength will have increased head velocities during purposeful heading. Moreover, females will have lower neck strength, and therefore, higher head velocities in comparison to their male counterparts. Keywords: youth soccer, neck strength, head velocities, sex differences References: Dezman, Z. D., Ledet, E. H., & Kerr, H. A. (2013). Neck strength imbalance correlates with increased head acceleration in soccer heading. Sports Health, 5(4), 320-326. Patel, D. R., Shivdasani, V., & Baker, R. J. (2005). Management of sport-related concussion in young athletes. Sports Medicine, 35(8), 671-84

Feminist Separatism Revisited

Conflict over who belongs in women-only spaces is now part of mainstream political debate. Some think women-only spaces should exclude on the basis of sex, and others think they should exclude on the basis of a person’s self-determined gender identity. Many who take the latter view appear to believe that the only reason for taking the former view could be antipathy towards men who identify as women. In this paper, we’ll revisit the second-wave feminist literature on separatism, in order to uncover the reasons for women-only spaces as feminists originally conceived them. Once these reasons are understood, those participating in debates over women-only spaces will be in a better position to adjudicate on whether shifting from sex to gender identity puts any significant interests at stake

Substantial Variation in Hospital Rankings after Adjusting for Hospital-Level Predictors of Publicly-Reported Hospital-Associated Clostridium difficile

Across 366 California hospitals, we identified hospital-level characteristics predicting increased hospital-associated Clostridium difficile infection (HA-CDI) rates including more licensed beds, teaching and long-term acute care (LTAC) hospitals, and polymerase chain reaction testing. Adjustment for these characteristics impacted rankings in 24% of teaching hospitals, 13% of community hospitals, and 11% of LTAC hospitals

Maternal intake of sugar during pregnancy and childhood respiratory and atopic outcomes.

The possible role of maternal consumption of free sugar during pregnancy in the inception of respiratory and atopic diseases has not been studied. We aimed to study the relationship between maternal intake of free sugar during pregnancy and respiratory and atopic outcomes in the offspring in a population-based birth cohort, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.We analysed associations between maternal intake of free sugar in pregnancy (estimated by a food frequency questionnaire), and current doctor-diagnosed asthma, wheezing, hay fever, eczema, atopy, serum total IgE and lung function in children aged 7-9 years (n=8956 with information on maternal diet in pregnancy and at least one outcome of interest).After controlling for potential confounders, maternal intake of free sugar was positively associated with atopy (OR for highest versus lowest quintile of sugar intake 1.38, 95% CI 1.06-1.78; per quintile p-trend=0.006) and atopic asthma (OR 2.01, 95% CI 1.23-3.29; per quintile p-trend=0.004). These associations were not confounded by intake of sugar in early childhood, which was unrelated to these outcomes.Our results suggest that a higher maternal intake of free sugar during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of atopy and atopic asthma in the offspring, independently of sugar intake in early childhood.The UK Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust (Grant 102215/2/13/2) and the University of Bristol currently provide core support for the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. A. Bédard is funded by a European Respiratory Society Long-Term Research Fellowship (LTRF 2015-5838). K. Northstone is supported by the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care West at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. Funding information for this article has been deposited with the Crossref Funder Registr

Exploring inequities in child welfare and child protection services: explaining the 'inverse intervention law'

Attempts to record, understand and respond to variations in child welfare and protection reporting, service patterns and outcomes are international, numerous and longstanding. Reframing such variations as an issue of inequity between children and between families opens the way to a new approach to explaining the profound difference in intervention rates between and within countries and administrative districts. Recent accounts of variation have frequently been based on the idea that there is a binary division between bias and risk (or need). Here we propose seeing supply (bias) and demand (risk) factors as two aspects of a single system, both framed, in part, by social structures. A recent finding from a study of intervention rates in England, the 'inverse intervention law', is used to illustrate the complex ways in which a range of factors interact to produce intervention rates. In turn, this analysis raises profound moral, policy, practice and research questions about current child welfare and child protection services

Functional Analysis and Fine Mapping of the 9p22.2 Ovarian Cancer Susceptibility Locus.

Genome-wide association studies have identified 40 ovarian cancer risk loci. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations remain elusive. In this study, we conducted a two-pronged approach to identify candidate causal SNPs and assess underlying biological mechanisms at chromosome 9p22.2, the first and most statistically significant associated locus for ovarian cancer susceptibility. Three transcriptional regulatory elements with allele-specific effects and a scaffold/matrix attachment region were characterized and, through physical DNA interactions, BNC2 was established as the most likely target gene. We determined the consensus binding sequence for BNC2 in vitro, verified its enrichment in BNC2 ChIP-seq regions, and validated a set of its downstream target genes. Fine-mapping by dense regional genotyping in over 15,000 ovarian cancer cases and 30,000 controls identified SNPs in the scaffold/matrix attachment region as among the most likely causal variants. This study reveals a comprehensive regulatory landscape at 9p22.2 and proposes a likely mechanism of susceptibility to ovarian cancer. SIGNIFICANCE: Mapping the 9p22.2 ovarian cancer risk locus identifies BNC2 as an ovarian cancer risk gene.See related commentary by Choi and Brown, p. 439

Enrichment of putative PAX8 target genes at serous epithelial ovarian cancer susceptibility loci

Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 18 loci associated with serous ovarian cancer (SOC) susceptibility but the biological mechanisms driving these findings remain poorly characterised. Germline cancer risk loci may be enriched for target genes of transcription factors (TFs) critical to somatic tumorigenesis. Methods: All 615 TF-target sets from the Molecular Signatures Database were evaluated using gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and three GWAS for SOC risk: discovery (2196 cases/4396 controls), replication (7035 cases/21 693 controls; independent from discovery), and combined (9627 cases/30 845 controls; including additional individuals). Results: The PAX8-target gene set was ranked 1/615 in the discovery (PGSEA<0.001; FDR=0.21), 7/615 in the replication (PGSEA=0.004; FDR=0.37), and 1/615 in the combined (PGSEA<0.001; FDR=0.21) studies. Adding other genes reported to interact with PAX8 in the literature to the PAX8-target set and applying an alternative to GSEA, interval enrichment, further confirmed this association (P=0.006). Fifteen of the 157 genes from this expanded PAX8 pathway were near eight loci associated with SOC risk at P<10−5 (including six with P<5 × 10−8). The pathway was also associated with differential gene expression after shRNA-mediated silencing of PAX8 in HeyA8 (PGSEA=0.025) and IGROV1 (PGSEA=0.004) SOC cells and several PAX8 targets near SOC risk loci demonstrated in vitro transcriptomic perturbation. Conclusions: Putative PAX8 target genes are enriched for common SOC risk variants. This finding from our agnostic evaluation is of particular interest given that PAX8 is well-established as a specific marker for the cell of origin of SOC