Community Violence Exposure and Conduct Problems in Children and Adolescents with Conduct Disorder and Healthy Controls

Exposure to community violence through witnessing or being directly victimized has been associated with conduct problems in a range of studies. However, the relationship between community violence exposure (CVE) and conduct problems has never been studied separately in healthy individuals and individuals with conduct disorder (CD). Therefore, it is not clear whether the association between CVE and conduct problems is due to confounding factors, because those with high conduct problems also tend to live in more violent neighborhoods, i.e., an ecological fallacy. Hence, the aim of the present study was: (1) to investigate whether the association between recent CVE and current conduct problems holds true for healthy controls as well as adolescents with a diagnosis of CD; (2) to examine whether the association is stable in both groups when including effects of aggression subtypes (proactive/reactive aggression), age, gender, site and socioeconomic status (SES); and (3) to test whether proactive or reactive aggression mediate the link between CVE and conduct problems. Data from 1178 children and adolescents (62% female; 44% CD) aged between 9 years and 18 years from seven European countries were analyzed. Conduct problems were assessed using the Kiddie-Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia diagnostic interview. Information about CVE and aggression subtypes was obtained using self-report questionnaires (Social and Health Assessment and Reactive-Proactive aggression Questionnaire (RPQ), respectively). The association between witnessing community violence and conduct problems was significant in both groups (adolescents with CD and healthy controls). The association was also stable after examining the mediating effects of aggression subtypes while including moderating effects of age, gender and SES and controlling for effects of site in both groups. There were no clear differences between the groups in the strength of the association between witnessing violence and conduct problems. However, we found evidence for a ceiling effect, i.e., individuals with very high levels of conduct problems could not show a further increase if exposed to CVE and vice versa. Results indicate that there was no evidence for an ecological fallacy being the primary cause of the association, i.e., CVE must be considered a valid risk factor in the etiology of CD

Genetic mechanisms of critical illness in COVID-19.

Host-mediated lung inflammation is present1, and drives mortality2, in the critical illness caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Host genetic variants associated with critical illness may identify mechanistic targets for therapeutic development3. Here we report the results of the GenOMICC (Genetics Of Mortality In Critical Care) genome-wide association study in 2,244 critically ill patients with COVID-19 from 208 UK intensive care units. We have identified and replicated the following new genome-wide significant associations: on chromosome 12q24.13 (rs10735079, P = 1.65 × 10-8) in a gene cluster that encodes antiviral restriction enzyme activators (OAS1, OAS2 and OAS3); on chromosome 19p13.2 (rs74956615, P = 2.3 × 10-8) near the gene that encodes tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2); on chromosome 19p13.3 (rs2109069, P = 3.98 ×  10-12) within the gene that encodes dipeptidyl peptidase 9 (DPP9); and on chromosome 21q22.1 (rs2236757, P = 4.99 × 10-8) in the interferon receptor gene IFNAR2. We identified potential targets for repurposing of licensed medications: using Mendelian randomization, we found evidence that low expression of IFNAR2, or high expression of TYK2, are associated with life-threatening disease; and transcriptome-wide association in lung tissue revealed that high expression of the monocyte-macrophage chemotactic receptor CCR2 is associated with severe COVID-19. Our results identify robust genetic signals relating to key host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage in COVID-19. Both mechanisms may be amenable to targeted treatment with existing drugs. However, large-scale randomized clinical trials will be essential before any change to clinical practice

Trans-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of prostate cancer identifies new susceptibility loci and informs genetic risk prediction.

Prostate cancer is a highly heritable disease with large disparities in incidence rates across ancestry populations. We conducted a multiancestry meta-analysis of prostate cancer genome-wide association studies (107,247 cases and 127,006 controls) and identified 86 new genetic risk variants independently associated with prostate cancer risk, bringing the total to 269 known risk variants. The top genetic risk score (GRS) decile was associated with odds ratios that ranged from 5.06 (95% confidence interval (CI), 4.84-5.29) for men of European ancestry to 3.74 (95% CI, 3.36-4.17) for men of African ancestry. Men of African ancestry were estimated to have a mean GRS that was 2.18-times higher (95% CI, 2.14-2.22), and men of East Asian ancestry 0.73-times lower (95% CI, 0.71-0.76), than men of European ancestry. These findings support the role of germline variation contributing to population differences in prostate cancer risk, with the GRS offering an approach for personalized risk prediction

Taking stock of accounting ethics scholarship: a review of the journal literature

The proportion of business ethics literature devoted to accounting and the proportion of academic accounting literature devoted to ethical issues are both small, yet over the past two decades there has been a steady accumulation of research devoted to ethical issues in accounting. Based on a database of more than 500 articles gathered from a wide range of accounting and business ethics academic journals, this paper describes and analyses the characteristics of what has been published in the past twenty years or so. It identifies and explores patterns and trends in publication outlets and the type of research conducted. Furthermore, through a comparison with issues that have been raised in the general business ethics literature, it offers guidance to researchers who intend to take the field of accounting ethics forward using empirical methods

Barocco padano 7, Atti del XV convegno internazionale sulla musica italiana nei secoli XVII-XVIII (Milano, 14-16 luglio 2009)

Barocco Padano 7 \u2013 in linea di continuit\ue0 con i volumi precedenti \u2013 propone una serie di indagini volte a chiarire alcuni aspetti fondamentali della musica sacra padana in et\ue0 barocca. I contributi si muovono in diverse direzioni. Le tematiche affrontate, infatti, si collocano in un ambito non solo musicologico, ma inquadrano prospettive interdisciplinari di grande interesse per la storiografia musicale. Un\u2019attenta lettura di questi Atti evidenzia come il lavoro di ricerca sia ben lontano dall\u2019essere concluso. Questo in ragione anche della complessit\ue0 di un universo, qual \ue8 quello padano, che non \ue8 circoscrivibile nel Nord Italia, ma si irradia prepotentemente in tutto il continente come dimostrano i documentati interventi di Tomasz Je\u17c , Metoda Kokole e Stanislav Tuksar. Rispetto ai volumi precedenti, Barocco Padano 7 propone un versante \u2013 per certi versi \u2013 inedito, rappresentato dalla musica nel mondo dei devoti. Una efficace testimonianza ci \ue8 offerta dal penetrante studio di Christine Getz sulle confraternite milanesi del Rosario, nelle quali (lo accerta patentemente Santa Maria della Rosa) il canto polifonico unito alla preghiera ebbe un ruolo determinante nel diffondere il culto mariano. Sempre con riferimento al mondo dei devoti, illuminante riesce pure l\u2019intervento di Danilo Zardin che mette bene a fuoco le interrelazioni \uabtra i canali di circolazione della cultura religiosa e il mondo delle arti musicali\ubb. Sul piano metodologico, mette conto segnalare il contributo di Linda Maria Koldau che denuncia i limiti di impostazioni storiografiche portate, ancora oggi, a distinguere la produzione sacra da quella profana, negando quindi l\u2019individuazione di nessi stilistici imprescindibili tra i due generi.In accordance with the preceding volumes, Barocco Padano 7 offers a series of scholarly investigations aimed at clarifying several fundamental aspects of sacred music from the Po Valley during the Baroque era. The main themes confronted, in fact, are not only placed in a musicological sphere, but frame interdisciplinary perspectives of great interest to musical historiography. An attentive reading of these Atti demonstrates that the work of carrying out such research is still far from concluded. It is affected by the complexity of a universe, that of the Po Valley, which is not limited to Northern Italy, but exceedingly dominant across the entire continent, as is shown in the documented participation of Tomasz Je\u17c, Metoda Kokole and Stanislav Tuksar. With respect to the preceding volumes, Barocco Padano 7, proposes a direction-in certain ways-not previously taken, which is represented by music in the world of the worshippers. An efficacious testimony is offered here in the penetrating study of Christine Getz on the Milanese confraternity of the Rosary, in which (as can be ascertained from the evidence at Santa Maria della Rosa) polyphony, unified with prayer, had a defining role in spreading the Marian cult. Also with reference to the world of the worshippers is the equally illuminating essay of Danilo Zardin, which focuses largely on the interrelations \u201cbetween the channels of circulation of the religious culture and the world of the musical arts\u201d. On the methodological level, it is important to note the contribution of Linda Maria Koldau, which denounces the limits of historical boundaries brought to bear, still today, in distinguishing sacred production from the secular, negating thereby the individualization of inexorable stylistic connections between the two genres