Genetic and environmental risk factors for sexual distress and its association with female sexual dysfunction

A. Burri, Q. Rahman and T. Spector (2011). Genetic and environmental risk factors for sexual distress and its association with female sexual dysfunction. Psychological Medicine, 41, pp 2435-2445. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S003329171100049

A quantitative analysis of the impact of a computerised information system on nurses' clinical practice using a realistic evaluation framework

Objective: To explore nurses' perceptions of the impact on clinical practice of the use of a computerised hospital information system. Design: A realistic evaluation design based on Pawson and Tilley's work has been used across all the phases of the study. This is a theory-driven approach and focuses evaluation on the study of what works, for whom and in what circumstances. These relationships are constructed as context-mechanisms-outcomes (CMO) configurations. Measurements: A questionnaire was distributed to all nurses working in in-patient units of a university hospital in Spain (n = 227). Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS 13.0. Descriptive statistics were used for an overall overview of nurses' perception. Inferential analysis, including both bivariate and multivariate methods (path analysis), was used for cross-tabulation of variables searching for CMO relationships. Results: Nurses (n = 179) participated in the study (78.8% response rate). Overall satisfaction with the IT system was positive. Comparisons with context variables show how nursing units' context had greater influence on perceptions than users' characteristics. Path analysis illustrated that the influence of unit context variables are on outcomes and not on mechanisms. Conclusion: Results from the study looking at subtle variations in users and units provide insight into how important professional culture and working practices could be in IT (information technology) implementation. The socio-technical approach on IT systems evaluation suggested in the recent literature appears to be an adequate theoretical underpinning for IT evaluation research. Realistic evaluation has proven to be an adequate method for IT evaluation. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Measuring poverty in Britain as a multi-dimensional concept, 1991 to 2003

While poverty is widely accepted to be an inherently multi-dimensional concept, it has proved very difficult to develop measures that both capture this multi-dimensionality and facilitate comparison of trends over time. Structural equation modelling appears to offer a solution to this conundrum and is used to exploit the British Household Panel Study to create a multi-dimensional measure of poverty. The analysis reveals that the decline in poverty in Britain between 1991 and 2003 was driven by falls in material deprivation, but more especially by reduced financial stress, particularly during the early 1990s. The limitations and potential of the new approach are critically discussed. © 2008 Cambridge University Press

Language and traits of autism spectrum conditions: evidence of limited phenotypic and etiological overlap

Language difficulties have historically been viewed as integral to autism spectrum conditions (ASC), leading molecular genetic studies to consider whether ASC and language difficulties have overlapping genetic bases. The extent of genetic, and also environmental, overlap between ASC and language is, however, unclear. We hence conducted a twin study of the concurrent association between autistic traits and receptive language abilities. Internet-based language tests were completed by ∼3,000 pairs of twins, while autistic traits were assessed via parent ratings. Twin model fitting explored the association between these measures in the full sample, while DeFries-Fulker analysis tested these associations at the extremes of the sample. Phenotypic associations between language ability and autistic traits were modest and negative. The degree of genetic overlap was also negative, indicating that genetic influences on autistic traits lowered language scores in the full sample (mean genetic correlation = −0.13). Genetic overlap was also low at the extremes of the sample (mean genetic correlation = 0.14), indicating that genetic influences on quantitatively defined language difficulties were largely distinct from those on extreme autistic traits. Variation in language ability and autistic traits were also associated with largely different nonshared environmental influences. Language and autistic traits are influenced by largely distinct etiological factors. This has implications for molecular genetic studies of ASC and understanding the etiology of ASC. Additionally, these findings lend support to forthcoming DSM-5 changes to ASC diagnostic criteria that will see language difficulties separated from the core ASC communication symptoms, and instead listed as a clinical specifier. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Hyperfine Structure

Contains reports on six research projects

What contributes to individual differences in brain structure?

Individual differences in adult human brain structure have been found to reveal a great deal of information about variability in behaviors, cognitive abilities and mental and physical health. Driven by such evidence, what contributes to individual variation in brain structure has gained accelerated attention as a research question. Findings thus far appear to support the notion that an individual’s brain architecture is determined largely by genetic and environmental influences. This review aims to evaluate the empirical literature on whether and how genes and the environment contribute to individual differences in brain structure. It first considers how genetic and environmental effects may separately contribute to brain morphology, by examining evidence from twin, genome-wide association, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Next, evidence for the influence of the complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors, characterized as gene-environment interactions and correlations, is reviewed. In evaluating the extant literature, this review will conclude that both genetic and environmental factors play critical roles in contributing to individual variability in brain structure

Males do not reduce the fitness of their female co-twins in contemporary samples.

Lummaa et al. (2007) presented historical data collected from twins born in Finland between 1734 and 1888 which suggested that females (N = 31) born as part of an opposite sex (OS) twin pair were 25% less likely to reproduce than female twins (N = 35) born as part of a same sex (SS) pair. They hypothesized that this reduction in fitness was due to masculinization of the female fetus via prenatal effects of the hormones of a male fetus. Because such masculinization would presumably take place in modern populations as well, it would seem important to establish to what degree it does so, and if so, whether reproduction is affected. We therefore address the question of reproduction differences in individual female twins from same-sex (N = 1979) and opposite-sex (N = 913) dizygotic pairs in studies carried out in Australia, the Netherlands, and the United States. In all three samples, there were no differences in the number of children or age of first pregnancies in women from same sex pairs compared to those from opposite sex pairs. Similarly, there were no differences in psychological femininity between women from pairs of the same or opposite sex

A Multivariate Genetic Analysis of Sensation Seeking

The genetic architecture of sensation seeking was analyzed in 1591 adolescent twin pairs. Individual differences in sensation seeking were best explained by a simple additive genetic model. Between 48 and 63 % of the total variance in sensation seeking subscales was attributable to genetic factors. There were no sex differences in the magnitude of the genetic and environmental effects. The different dimensions of sensation seeking were moderately correlated. The strongest correlations were between the subscales Thrill and Adventure Seeking and Experience Seeking (r = 0.4) and between Boredom Susceptibility and Disinhibition (r = 0.4 in males, r = 0.5 in females). A triangular decomposition showed that the correlations between the sensation seeking subscales were induced mainly by correlated genetic factors and, to a smaller extent, by correlated unique enviromnental factors. The genetic and environmental correlation structures differed between males and females. For females, higher genetic correlations for Experience Seeking with Boredom Susceptibility and Disinhibition and higher correlations among the unique environmental factors were found. There was no evidence that sex-specific genes influenced sensation seeking behavior in males and females. KEY WORDS: Sensation seeking; adolescent twins; multivariate genetic analysis