Why are autism spectrum conditions more prevalent in males?

Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) are much more common in males, a bias that may offer clues to the etiology of this condition. Although the cause of this bias remains a mystery, we argue that it occurs because ASC is an extreme manifestation of the male brain. The extreme male brain (EMB) theory, first proposed in 1997, is an extension of the Empathizing-Systemizing (E-S) theory of typical sex differences that proposes that females on average have a stronger drive to empathize while males on average have a stronger drive to systemize. In this first major update since 2005, we describe some of the evidence relating to the EMB theory of ASC and consider how typical sex differences in brain structure may be relevant to ASC. One possible biological mechanism to account for the male bias is the effect of fetal testosterone (fT). We also consider alternative biological theories, the X and Y chromosome theories, and the reduced autosomal penetrance theory. None of these theories has yet been fully confirmed or refuted, though the weight of evidence in favor of the fT theory is growing from converging sources (longitudinal amniocentesis studies from pregnancy to age 10 years old, current hormone studies, and genetic association studies of SNPs in the sex steroid pathways). Ultimately, as these theories are not mutually exclusive and ASC is multi-factorial, they may help explain the male prevalence of ASC.

Poverty, migration and sex work: youth transitions in Ethiopia

Despite an emerging body of work on youth transitions, research has yet to explore the often unconventional routes to adulthood for young people marginalised through poverty. By drawing on interviews with 60 young commercial sex workers in Ethiopia, this paper explores the connections between poverty, migration and sex work and demonstrates that sex work provides a risky alternative, but often successful, path to independence for some rural-urban migrants. The paper concludes by offering recommendations for policies that seek to support young sex workers by enabling them to maintain their independence while seeking different employment.

Sources of sulphur in gypsiferous sediments and crusts and pathways of gypsum redistribution in southern Tunisia

Southern Tunisia contains one of the most extensive gypsum accumulations in Africa comprising Triassic, Cretaceous, Eocene and Mio-Pliocene marine evaporites, spring deposits, playa sediments, aeolian sands and gypsum crusts. Sulphur isotope analysis (delta(34)S) of bedrock samples, groundwater, playa brines, playa sediments, and gypsiferous crusts provides insight into the sources of gypsum in the region and sheds light on the processes that lead to gypsum crust formation. Results Suggest that recycling of marine gypsum is the most likely source of the sulphate in the groundwater, playa sediments and crusts. The low PS values found in Eocene and Mio-Pliocene samples suggest that this recycling has been going on for millions of years. Though bedrock appears to be the ultimate source of the gypsum in the crusts, transport of this sulphate to playas, concentration therein, and subsequent dispersal across the landscape by aeolian processes provides the most likely pathway for surticial gypsum crust formation. Comparison of these results with those from Australia, Chile and Namibia suggests that, although the source of the sulphur varies from region to region, the processes of surficial crust formation appear to be similar. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

Promoting resilience and protective factors in the Children's Fund: supporting children and young people's pathways towards social inclusion?

As part of the broader prevention and social inclusion agenda, concepts of risk, resilience, and protective factors inform a range of U.K. Government initiatives targeted towards children and young people in England, including Sure Start, the Children's Fund, On Track, and Connexions. This paper is based on findings from a large qualitative dataset of interviews conducted with children and their parents or caregiver who accessed Children's Fund services as part of National Evaluation of the Children's Fund research.1 Drawing on the notion of young people's trajectories, the paper discusses how Children's Fund services support children's and young people's pathways towards greater social inclusion. While many services help to build resilience and protective factors for individual children, the paper considers the extent to which services also promote resilience within the domains of the family, school, and wider community and, hence, attempt to tackle the complex, multi-dimensional aspects of social exclusion affecting children, young people, and their families.

Uptake Pathways of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in White Clover

An understanding of the primary pathways of plant uptake of organic pollutants is important to enable the risks from crops grown on contaminated soils to be assessed. A series of experiments were undertaken to quantify the importance of the pathways of contamination and the Subsequent transport within the plant using white clover plants grown in solution culture. Root uptake was primarily an absorption process, but a component of the contamination was a result of the transpiration flux to the shoot for higher Solubility compounds. The root contamination can be easily predicted using a simple relationship with K-OW, although if a composition model was used based on lipid content, a significant under prediction of the contamination was observed. Shoot uptake was driven by the transpiration stream flux which was related to the solubility of the individual PAH rather than the K-OW. However, the experiment was over a short duration, 6 days, and models based on K-OW may be better for crops grown in the field where the vegetation will approach equilibrium and transpiration cannot easily be measured, A significant fraction of the shoot contamination resulted from aerial deposition derived from volatilized PAH. This pathway was more significant for compounds approaching log K-OA > 9 and log K-AW < -3. The shoot uptake pathways need further investigation to enable them to be modeled separately, There was no evidence of significant systemic transport of the PAR so transfer outside the transpiration stream is likely to be limited.

Analysis of water-level response to rainfall and implications for recharge pathways in the Chalk aquifer, SE England

Water table response to rainfall was investigated at six sites in the Upper, Middle and Lower Chalk of southern England. Daily time series of rainfall and borehole water level were cross-corretated to investigate seasonal variations in groundwater-level response times, based on periods of 3-month duration. The time tags (in days) yielding significant correlations were compared with the average unsaturated zone thickness during each 3-month period. In general, for cases when the unsaturated zone was greater than 18 m thick, the time tag for a significant water-level response increased rapidly once the depth to the water table exceeded a critical value, which varied from site to site. For shallower water tables, a linear relationship between the depth to the water table and the water-level response time was evident. The observed variations in response time can only be partially accounted for using a diffusive model for propagation through the unsaturated matrix, suggesting that some fissure flow was occurring. The majority of rapid responses were observed during the winter/spring recharge period, when the unsaturated zone is thinnest and the unsaturated zone moisture content is highest, and were more likely to occur when the rainfall intensity exceeded 5 mm/day. At some sites, a very rapid response within 24 h of rainfall was observed in addition to the longer term responses even when the unsaturated zone was up to 64 m thick. This response was generally associated with the autumn period. The results of the cross-correlation analysis provide statistical support for the presence of fissure flow and for the contribution of multiple pathways through the unsaturated zone to groundwater recharge. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

AIDS, mobility and commercial sex in Ethiopia: Implications for policy

Since the emergence of the AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa, male mobility has been highlighted as one of the reasons for the spread of the disease with men employing the services of commercial sex workers while away from home. However, sex workers' mobility and the implications of this for their access to prevention services, has largely been ignored. This paper, based on multi-method qualitative research with 60 young sex workers in two Ethiopian towns, reveals that sex workers are highly mobile, moving in order to attract a wider or different client base, for adventure and to conceal illnesses which might be associated with AIDS. In addition, sex workers are affected by restrictions on their movements, with girls working in bars and red-light areas having little free time to access projects. This paper advocates that policy approaches need to take account of this mobility in three ways: first, by exploring ways for girls to access information and maintain contact with support structures while moving between places of work; second, by building the capacity of sex workers to take greater control over decision-making in their day-to-day lives and third, by developing outreach strategies for taking services into bars and red-light areas.

Poverty, migration and sex work: youth transitions in Ethiopia

Despite an emerging body of work on youth transitions, research has yet to explore the often unconventional routes to adulthood for young people marginalised through poverty. By drawing on interviews with 60 young commercial sex workers in Ethiopia, this paper explores the connections between poverty, migration and sex work and demonstrates that sex work provides a risky alternative, but often successful, path to independence for some rural-urban migrants. The paper concludes by offering recommendations for policies that seek to support young sex workers by enabling them to maintain their independence while seeking different employment.

Sex-dependent age modulation of frontostriatal and temporo-parietal activation during cognitive control

Developmental functional imaging studies of cognitive control show progressive age-related increase in task-relevant fronto-striatal activation in male development from childhood to adulthood. Little is known, however, about how gender affects this functional development. In this study, we used event related functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine effects of sex, age, and their interaction on brain activation during attentional switching and interference inhibition, in 63 male and female adolescents and adults, aged 13 to 38. Linear age correlations were observed across all subjects in task-specific frontal, striatal and temporo-parietal activation. Gender analysis revealed increased activation in females relative to males in fronto-striatal areas during the Switch task, and laterality effects in the Simon task, with females showing increased left inferior prefrontal and temporal activation, and males showing increased right inferior prefrontal and parietal activation. Increased prefrontal activation clusters in females and increased parietal activation clusters in males furthermore overlapped with clusters that were age-correlated across the whole group, potentially reflecting more mature prefrontal brain activation patterns for females, and more mature parietal activation patterns for males. Gender by age interactions further supported this dissociation, revealing exclusive female-specific age correlations in inferior and medial prefrontal brain regions during both tasks, and exclusive male-specific age correlations in superior parietal (Switch task) and temporal regions (Simon task). These findings show increased recruitment of age-correlated prefrontal activation in females, and of age-correlated parietal activation in males, during tasks of cognitive control. Gender differences in frontal and parietal recruitment may thus be related to gender differences in the neurofunctional maturation of these brain regions.

Genes related to sex steroids, neural growth, and social-emotional behavior are associated with autistic traits, empathy, and Asperger syndrome

Genetic studies of autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have mostly focused on the "low functioning" severe clinical subgroup, treating it as a rare disorder. However, ASC is now thought to be relatively common ( approximately 1%), and representing one end of a quasi-normal distribution of autistic traits in the general population. Here we report a study of common genetic variation in candidate genes associated with autistic traits and Asperger syndrome (AS). We tested single nucleotide polymorphisms in 68 candidate genes in three functional groups (sex steroid synthesis/transport, neural connectivity, and social-emotional responsivity) in two experiments. These were (a) an association study of relevant behavioral traits (the Empathy Quotient (EQ), the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ)) in a population sample (n=349); and (b) a case-control association study on a sample of people with AS, a "high-functioning" subgroup of ASC (n=174). 27 genes showed a nominally significant association with autistic traits and/or ASC diagnosis. Of these, 19 genes showed nominally significant association with AQ/EQ. In the sex steroid group, this included ESR2 and CYP11B1. In the neural connectivity group, this included HOXA1, NTRK1, and NLGN4X. In the socio-responsivity behavior group, this included MAOB, AVPR1B, and WFS1. Fourteen genes showed nominally significant association with AS. In the sex steroid group, this included CYP17A1 and CYP19A1. In the socio-emotional behavior group, this included OXT. Six genes were nominally associated in both experiments, providing a partial replication. Eleven genes survived family wise error rate (FWER) correction using permutations across both experiments, which is greater than would be expected by chance. CYP11B1 and NTRK1 emerged as significantly associated genes in both experiments, after FWER correction (P<0.05). This is the first candidate-gene association study of AS and of autistic traits. The most promising candidate genes require independent replication and fine mapping.