Tag: gender

Categories : Gender GeneticsTags :

Health Conditions Driven By Evolution and Genetic Sex Differences

On By ModernMedia

A new study shows that the human genome has been subject to selection pressures favouring different characteristics in females and males, which makes males more susceptible to a variety of health conditions.

Genetic sex differences have long been known to have an impact on health. On balance, while females have certain conditions unique to them (eg, cervical cancer), or are more prone to (eg, multiple sclerosis), males are more prone to certain medical conditions, bringing down their average life expectancy compared to women.

Their research adds to a body of knowledge on genomic influences on health, which can map hereditary traits onto individuals and populations to guide healthcare. Looking at health conditions through the lens of genomics can help clinicians to better understand them and guide development of new treatments.  

“Our cells have memories and they carry the accumulation of all the changes our ancestors have experienced over millions of years,” said Rama Singh, a McMaster biology professor who wrote the paper with his son, Karun Singh, an associate professor of neuropathology at the University of Toronto, and Shiva Singh (no relation), a biology professor at Western University.

The researchers focussed on autism, which is a good example of the way men and women develop medical conditions differently; though they inherit the same sets of genes from the parents, the expression of those genes differs greatly by sex.

Though human behaviour regarding mate selection has changed, those genetic characteristics remain and continue to be expressed in the health and development of modern men.

The male genome has been shaped over millions of years, and favours reproduction in the early years of male maturity to pass on genes, at the expense of genetic well-being in the long term.

Women are less vulnerable to most health conditions, living longer than men because their genomes have evolved to protect against unhealthy traits in the male genome, resulting in better immunity and more longevity.

The same forces shaping human selection also apply to mental health, even though it is complex. Women are more prone to anxiety and depression, while men are more prone to anti-social disorders.

“If women and men were any more different, they would be different species,” joked corresponding author, Prof Karun Singh.

Male-female imbalance is especially pronounced in autism, with being up to four times more likely to have some form of autism, and are also more likely to have severe symptoms. Evolution has resulted in a higher threshold, protecting females from developing the condition.

Although autism is not solely the result of inherited characteristics, it does appear that boys are more likely to develop it as a result of other inhertied characteristics rendering them more vulnerable to environmental, developmental and other factors that give rise to autism.

“One of the reasons I think this is interesting is that it offers a perspective that is not well represented in the medical literature. This is a really good example of the perspective that geneticists and evolutionary biologists can add to health research,” said Prof Karun Singh.

Source: News-Medical.Net

Journal information: Singh, R. S., et al. (2021) Origin of Sex-Biased Mental Disorders: An Evolutionary Perspective. Journal of Molecular Evolution. doi.org/10.1007/s00239-021-09999-9.

Categories : Gender Mental Health NeurologyTags :

Women are Better ‘Mind Readers’ Than Men, Study Finds

On By ModernMedia

Women are better at ‘reading minds’ than men, finds a new study aimed at better understanding social interaction and the challenges faced by people with autism. 

Sometimes known in the field of psychology as ‘mentalising‘, the process is when people try to ascertain what others are really thinking, for example when they are sarcastic or even lying. Mind-reading has some basis in neuroscience: for example, some research indicates that sensitivity to social interactions is associated with the posterior superior temporal sulcus, an area of the brain which is also known to process biological motion. Everybody has some proficiency with mind reading, and some are inherently better than others. However, some lack the ability to a point where it becomes difficult to function in society, for example in autism.

The study made use of a self-report questionnaire asking participants to rate how well, for example, they could relate to others. It used four questions, each with ratings from one to four, giving a maximum total score of 16. The researchers determined that women scored higher than men on the questionnaire, and also confirmed the challenges reported by those with autism. 

Senior author Dr Punit Shah, at the University of Bath’s Department of Psychology explained: “We will all undoubtedly have had experiences where we have felt we have not connected with other people we are talking to, where we’ve perceived that they have failed to understand us, or where things we’ve said have been taken the wrong way. Much of how we communicate relies on our understanding of what others are thinking, yet this is a surprisingly complex process that not everyone can do.”

Dr Shah emphasised that there is a different between mind-reading and empathy, saying: “Mind-reading refers to understanding what other people are thinking, whereas empathy is all about understanding what others are feeling. The difference might seem subtle but is critically important and involves very different brain networks. By focussing carefully on measuring mind-reading, without confusing it with empathy, we are confident that we have just measured mind-reading. And, when doing this, we consistently find that females reported greater mind-reading abilities than their male counterparts.”

Lead researcher, Rachel Clutterbuck, emphasised the clinical importance of the questionnaire. She said: “This new test, which takes under a minute to complete, has important utility in clinical settings. It is not always obvious if someone is experiencing difficulties understanding and responding to others—and many people have learnt techniques which can reduce the appearance of social difficulties, even though these remain.

“This work has great potential to better understand the lived experience of people with mind-reading difficulties, such as those with autism, whilst producing a precise quantitative score that may be used by clinicians to identify individuals who may benefit from interventions.”

Dr Shah added that this study was about helping to understand mind-reading capabilities, and had created a freely available questionnaire for other efforts in this regard.

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: Rachel A. Clutterbuck et al, Development and validation of the Four-Item Mentalising Index., Psychological Assessment (2021). DOI: 10.1037/pas0001004

Categories : Cardiovascular Disease GenderTags :

Heart Attack Deaths are Increasing in Young Women

On By ModernMedia

Fatal heart attacks are increasing among young women in the US, a study has found.

The increase has reversed a trend from 1999 to 2010 of falling heart disease deaths in young women. Cancer deaths meanwhile have been consistently falling over the period 2010 to 2018. 

“Young women in the US are becoming less healthy, which is now reversing prior improvements in heart disease deaths,” said senior author Dr Erin Michos, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “With worsening epidemics of diabetes and obesity across developed countries, our findings are a warning sign that we need to pay more attention to the health of young women.”

“Women frequently put others’ health and needs before their own, often caring for children and parents and working full-time,” continued Dr Michos. “But if they have a fatal heart attack, they won’t be there for loved ones. Women must prioritise their own health, especially since heart disease is largely preventable.”

From 1999 to 2018, the respective age-adjusted mortality rates for cancer and heart disease were 52.6 and 24.0 per 100 000. Ischaemic heart disease (56%) was the most common cause of heart disease death. Respiratory tract/lung cancer (23%) was the leading cause of cancer death.

Across the 19 year study period, age-adjusted mortality rates decreased for both cancer and heart disease. However, while cancer death rates experienced a consistent decline, heart disease death rates initially fell and then increased between 2010 and 2018. This resulted in the absolute mortality gap between cancer and heart disease significantly decreasing from 32.7 to 23.0 per 100 000 per year.

The authors urged “extreme public health measures” should be taken, stressing that most heart disease was preventable, and urgent action was needed to reverse this upward trend.
“There is a misconception that women are not at risk for heart disease before the menopause, yet one-third of their cardiovascular problems occur before 65,” said Dr Michos. “Studies of young heart attack patients show that compared to men, women were less likely than to have been told they were at risk for heart disease before the attack and less often received stents and medications.”

“Most heart disease can be avoided with a healthy balanced diet, physical activity, not smoking, and maintaining healthy blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol level, and body weight. Just because a woman is before menopause does not mean she is not at risk. Unfortunately, the first attack can be fatal, so we need to do better with prevention,” she concluded.

Source: Medical-News.Net

Journal information: Khan, S. U., et al. (2021) A comparative analysis of premature heart disease- and cancer-related mortality in women in the USA, 1999–2018. European Heart Journal – Quality of Care and Clinical Outcomes. doi.org/10.1093/ehjqcco/qcaa099.

Categories : Gender Mental HealthTags :

Protein ‘Flavours’ Cause Gender Difference in Psychiatric Drug Responses

On By ModernMedia

A new study has shown that different isoforms or ‘flavours’ of key proteins have different effects in males and females, causing psychiatric drugs to function well in one gender and in others to be ineffective or a have host of side effects.

“The ultimate goal is to find the kink in the armor of mental illness—the proteins in the brain that we can specifically target without impacting other organs and causing side effects,” explained Charles Hoeffer, an assistant professor of integrative physiology at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics. “Personalisation is also key. We need to stop hitting every mental illness with the same hammer.

AKT was discovered in the 1970s and known as a gene which resulted in cancer when mutation was present. It is now known to play a role in “synaptic plasticity”, where synaptic connections between neurons are strengthened to encode memories.

“Let’s say you see a shark and you’re scared and your brain wants to form a memory. You have to make new proteins to encode that memory,” explained Hoeffer.

Different isoforms have different functions in the brain; AKT1 together with AKT2 in the prefrontal cortex is important for making new memories.
“These subtle differences could be really important if you wanted to personalise treatments for people,” explained Marissa Ehringer, an associate professor of integrative physiology who partnered with Hoeffer on some of the research.

The researchers spent six years examining the brains of male and female animals, and the role the loss of AKT played. For example, male mice with functioning AKT1 were much better than those without AKT1 when it came to “extinction learning”—replacing an old memory, or association that is no longer needed. However, in female mice, not having AKT1 did not make much difference.

“We found the difference between males and females to be so great it became the focus of our work,” Hoeffer said. “It was like night and day.”

Although there is much still to be learned, Hoeffer suspects that there are many other such key proteins having different effects or purposes in males and females.  

“To help more people suffering from mental illness we need much more knowledge about the difference between male and female brains and how they could be treated differently,” Hoeffer said. “This study is an important step in that direction.”

Source:Medical Xpress
Journal information: Helen Wong et al. Isoform-specific roles for AKT in affective behavior, spatial memory, and extinction related to psychiatric disorders, eLife (2020). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.56630

Categories : Cardiovascular Disease GenderTags :

Women’s Heart Attack Death Risk Higher than Men’s

On By ModernMedia

Compared to men, women have a 20% higher risk of death or heart failure after their first serious heart attack, according to an article in the journal Circulation. Prior research was unclear as to the difference in vulnerabilities to heart attack between the sexes.

The research focused on two types of heart attack; ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and a less serious but more common type referred to as Non-STEMI or NSTEMI. Women were found to be at greater risk of death after either STEMI or NSTEMI attacks, although accounting for confounding variables narrowed this difference.

Women tended to be older (72) than men (61) at the age of their first serious heart attack, and had more complicated medical histories.

In the hospital setting, women were seen less frequently by a cardiovascular specialist (72.8%, versus 84% for men), prescribed fewer drugs and had fewer surgical procedures.

Lead author Justin A Ezekowitz, MBBCh, MSc, cardiologist and co-director of the Canadian VIGOUR Centre at the University of Alberta in Canada said, “Identifying when and how women may be at higher risk for heart failure after a heart attack can help providers develop more effective approaches for prevention. Better adherence to reducing cholesterol, controlling high blood pressure, getting more exercise, eating a healthy diet and stopping smoking, combined with recognition of these problems earlier in life would save thousands of lives of women—and men.”

Padma Kaul, PhD, co-director of the Canadian VIGOUR Centre, said that the next step is to address inequalities in provision of care: “Close enough is not good enough. There are gaps across diagnosis, access, quality of care and follow-up for all patients, so we need to be vigilant, pay attention to our own biases and to those most vulnerable to ensure that we have done everything possible in providing the best treatment.”

Source: Medical Xpress