Age at first birth in women is genetically associated with increased risk of schizophrenia

Prof. Paunio on PGC:n jäsenPrevious studies have shown an increased risk for mental health problems in children born to both younger and older parents compared to children of average-aged parents. We previously used a novel design to reveal a latent mechanism of genetic association between schizophrenia and age at first birth in women (AFB). Here, we use independent data from the UK Biobank (N = 38,892) to replicate the finding of an association between predicted genetic risk of schizophrenia and AFB in women, and to estimate the genetic correlation between schizophrenia and AFB in women stratified into younger and older groups. We find evidence for an association between predicted genetic risk of schizophrenia and AFB in women (P-value = 1.12E-05), and we show genetic heterogeneity between younger and older AFB groups (P-value = 3.45E-03). The genetic correlation between schizophrenia and AFB in the younger AFB group is -0.16 (SE = 0.04) while that between schizophrenia and AFB in the older AFB group is 0.14 (SE = 0.08). Our results suggest that early, and perhaps also late, age at first birth in women is associated with increased genetic risk for schizophrenia in the UK Biobank sample. These findings contribute new insights into factors contributing to the complex bio-social risk architecture underpinning the association between parental age and offspring mental health.Peer reviewe

Data from: Leopard distribution and abundance is unaffected by interference competition with lions

Competition can have profound impacts on the structure and function of ecological communities. Despite this, the population-level effects of intraguild competition on large carnivores remain largely unknown, due to a paucity of long-term studies that focus simultaneously on competing species. Here, we comprehensively examine competitive interactions, including their demographic consequences, between 2 top predators, lions Panthera leo and leopards P. pardus. We tested the hypothesis that lions, as the dominant competitor, limit the distribution and abundance of leopards, using dietary, spatial, and life-history data collected concurrently on the 2 species. Dietary overlap between lions and leopards was limited, with lions targeting large- to very large-sized prey and leopards small- to medium-sized prey. Leopards did not actively avoid lions, either predictively or reactively, except in riparian woodland where the likelihood of encountering lions was highest. Lions accounted for more than 20% of leopard mortality, but this appeared to be compensatory. Observed and modeled population growth was similar between the 2 species, with both exhibiting net emigration. Our findings suggest that lions do not suppress leopard populations or limit their distribution, at least in our study area. Adequate availability of suitably-sized prey apparently enabled resource partitioning between lions and leopards, facilitating their coexistence. The potential for competition increases in areas devoid of large prey and should be considered in recovery efforts for the 2 species. Our study provides novel empirical evidence that intraguild competition does not always have population-level consequences for subordinates, even if they suffer from strong inference competition with dominant competitors

Strategy as Discourse in a Global Retailer: A Supplement to Rationalist and Interpretive Accounts

The paper contributes to a developing interest in discourse in management and organization studies. Strategizing activity is studied as an example of organizing conceived as a discursive practice. Material drawn from an intensive case study of 'StitchCo', a global retailing and manufacturing company, is deployed to analyse how strategy activity was articulated, mobilized and enacted; and, in particular, to explore how accounting practices became discursively imbued with strategic significance in ways that contributed to what the strategy discourse contrived to invoke and prescribe. Grounded in a Foucauldian power/knowledge framework, this approach is seen to offer an innovative and challenging supplement to established analyses of (strategic) management