Newham College

MendelianRandomization is a software package for the R open-source software environment that performs Mendelian randomization analyses using summarized data. The core functionality is to implement the inverse-variance weighted, MR-Egger and weighted median methods for multiple genetic variants. Several options are available to the user, such as the use of robust regression, fixed- or random-effects models and the penalization of weights for genetic variants with heterogeneous causal estimates. Extensions to these methods, such as allowing for variants to be correlated, can be chosen if appropriate. Graphical commands allow summarized data to be displayed in an interactive graph, or the plotting of causal estimates from multiple methods, for comparison. Although the main method of data entry is directly by the user, there is also an option for allowing summarized data to be incorporated from the PhenoScanner database of genotype-phenotype associations. We hope to develop this feature in future versions of the package. The R software environment is available for download from [https://www.r-project.org/]. The MendelianRandomization package can be downloaded from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN) within R, or directly from [https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/MendelianRandomization/]. Both R and the MendelianRandomization package are released under GNU General Public Licenses (GPL-2|GPL-3).

Why has autonomy been a leading idea in philosophical writing on bioethics, and why has trust been marginal? In this important book, Onora O'Neill suggests that the conceptions of individual autonomy so widely relied on in bioethics are philosophically and ethically inadequate, and that they undermine rather than support relations of trust. She shows how Kant's non-individualistic view of autonomy provides a stronger basis for an approach to medicine, science and biotechnology, and does not marginalize untrustworthiness, while also explaining why trustworthy individuals and institutions are often undeservingly mistrusted. Her arguments are illustrated with issues raised by practices such as the use of genetic information by the police or insurers, research using human tissues, uses of new reproductive technologies, and media practices for reporting on medicine, science and technology. Autonomy and Trust in Bioethics will appeal to a wide range of readers in ethics, bioethics and related disciplines.

Many accounts of informed consent in medical ethics claim that it is valuable because it supports individual autonomy. Unfortunately there are many distinct conceptions of individual autonomy, and their ethical importance varies. A better reason for taking informed consent seriously is that it provides assurance that patients and others are neither deceived nor coerced. Present debates about the relative importance of generic and specific consent (particularly in the use of human tissues for research and in secondary studies) do not address this issue squarely. Consent is a propositional attitude, so intransitive: complete, wholly specific consent is an illusion. Since the point of consent procedures is to limit deception and coercion, they should be designed to give patients and others control over the amount of information they receive and opportunity to rescind consent already given.

This paper argues that one of the functions of the Roman ritual calendar – the sequence of religious festivals as they occurred throughout the year – was to define and delineate Roman power, Roman history and Roman identity; and that it did this by evoking events from different chronological periods of the Roman past and arranging them in a meaningful sequence of time, but not a sequence defined by linear, narrative, history. I am concerned principally with the practice of Roman ritual during the late Republic and early Empire; and my argument depends on taking seriously the discussions of the various festivals preserved in the writings of contemporary Romans and Greeks – men who practised or observed the rituals. I want to stress that we should take the rituals and the preserved exegesis together – and I emphasize together – as an important part of a symbolic, religious discourse that continued to be meaningful in the complex urban society of Rome in the age of Cicero, Augustus, Seneca or Hadrian.

Participants completed measures of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI), happiness, personality, and cognitive ability. Neuroticism was negatively related to happiness, whereas Extraversion and Openness to Experience were positively related to it. Cognitive ability was not related either to happiness or to trait EI. A three-step hierarchical regression showed that trait EI explained over 50% of the total variance in happiness. The positive relationship between trait EI and happiness persisted in the presence of the Big Five. In contrast, the Big Five did not account for a significant amount of happiness variance when trait EI was partialled out.

Journal Article S. Kuznets. Modern Economic Growth. Rate, Structure, and Spread Get access Modern Economic Growth. Rate, Structure, and Spread. By S. Kuznets. (New Haven, Connecticut and London: Yale University Press, 1966. Pp. xvii + 529. 90s.) Phyllis Deane Phyllis Deane Newnham College, Cambridge. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volume 77, Issue 308, 1 December 1967, Pages 882–883, https://doi.org/10.2307/2229582 Published: 01 December 1967

An attempt has been made to deal briefly but quantitatively with all size groups of the fauna and flora in a marine mud deposit. It has been necessary to propose the following new terminology: the Macrobenthos , which is here equivalent to the macrofauna, the Meiobenthos , under which term are included copepods, nematodes, foraminifera, etc., and the Microbenthos , comprising the rest of the protozoa, bacteria, bottom diatoms and other algae; planktonic diatoms and coloured flagellates also occur on the bottom in the region investigated but are not regarded as true microbenthos. A quantitative ecological study of the microbenthos has been started and the habitat is first described, stress being laid on points of importance to the microorganisms. The census method for bacteria was an agar-plate method and that for the protozoa and diatoms was a dilution culture method modified from that used by soil microbiologists. These methods give minimal values for the total population and may safely be used for comparative purposes. The results are still tentative. Typical figures for the minimal numbers and volumes of living protoplasm per gram of dry mud in the top ½ cm. layer are given in Tables I-IV. The surface layer is much richer in all types of organisms than is the mud deeper in the cores. There is considerable local horizontal variation in numbers of bacteria and protozoa, suggesting dense aggregations. Diatoms contribute by far the greatest bulk to the total volume of living micro-organisms; planktonic diatoms, particularly during the summer, completely outweigh the true microbenthos.

This chapter describes longitudinal findings from a socially diverse sample of 125 British children seen at ages two and four. Four models of social influence on executive function are tested, using multiple measures of family life as well as comprehensive assessments of children's executive functions. Our results confirm the importance of maternal scaffolding for young children's executive functions, but they also suggest positive effects of observational learning and adverse effects of disorganized and unpredictable family life; however, no support was found for an association between executive function and general positive characteristics of family interactions.

Journal Article The dark side of human rights Get access ONORA O'NEILL ONORA O'NEILL Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 81, Issue 2, March 2005, Pages 427–439, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2005.00459.x Published: 01 April 2005

Journal Article Growth and Income Distribution. Essays in economic theory Get access Growth and Income Distribution. Essays in economic theory. By L. L. PASINETTI. (London: Cambridge University Press, 1974. Pp. x + 151. £4-00.) Joan Robinson Joan Robinson Newnham College, Cambridge Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volume 85, Issue 338, 1 June 1975, Pages 397–399, https://doi.org/10.2307/2231006 Published: 01 June 1975

This article is intended to be read in association with that of Schofield which follows. They share a common outlook—for we both believe that an understanding of the literary form of De Divinatione is integral to an understanding of its philosophical and historical point. But in detail our approaches are rather different. My own paper is the work of an historian and is concerned principally with the intellectual and cultural context of De Divinatione . My analysis of the text, highlighting its tensions and unresolved contradictions, follows from my analysis of that broader context. Schofield, by contrast, studies De Divinatione as an example of Hellenistic philosophical argumentation and explores the ways Cicero translates this not merely into Latin, but into a specifically Roman rhetorical mode. Other differences—in particular some disagreement as to how far it is possible to identify a ‘Ciceronian position’ on religion—are signalled in the text and notes of what follows.

Aristotle's account of female nature has received mostly negative treatment, emphasising what he says females cannot do. Building on recent research, this book comprehensively revises such readings, setting out the complex and positive role played by the female in Aristotle's thought with a particular focus on the longest surviving treatise on reproduction in the ancient corpus, the Generation of Animals. It provides new interpretations of the nature of Aristotle's sexism, his theory of male and female interaction in generation, and his account of inherited features. It also discusses a range of more general issues which can and should be re-examined in light of Aristotle's account of female animals: his methodology, hylomorphism, teleology and psychology. Aristotle on Female Animals will be valuable to all those interested in Aristotle's philosophy and the history of gender.

Anyone who has read Plato’s Republic knows it has a lot to say about mathematics. But why? I shall not be satisfied with the answer that the future rulers of the ideal city are to be educated in mathematics, so Plato is bound to give some space to the subject. I want to know why the rulers are to be educated in mathematics. More pointedly, why are they required to study so much mathematics, for so long?

Anachronism-hunting has been out of fashion with scholars in recent times, for the good reason that it can easily seem like a rather trivial sort of parlour game. But given that Greek tragedy draws so heavily on the past, a close look at some examples may perhaps throw light on a far from trivial subject, the dramatists' perception of the heroic world. So long as anachronism was treated as an artistic failing the debate was bound to be unproductive; one can symphathise with Jebb's view (on Soph. El. 48 ff.) that Attic tragedy was ‘wholly indifferent’ to it. And one can see why later scholars have objected to the very idea of anachronism as irrelevant and misleading. Ehrenberg, for example, wrote in 1954: ‘It is entirely mistaken to distinguish between mythical and thus quasi-historical features on the one hand and contemporary and thus anachronistic on the other. There is always the unity of the one poem or play, displaying the ancient myth, although shaped in the spirit of the poet's mind and time.’

Journal Article LATSIS (S.), (Ed.). Method and Appraisal in Economics Get access Method and Appraisal in Economics. Edited by S. Latsis. (London: Cambridge University Press, 1976. Pp. viii + 230. £7.50.) Phyllis Deane Phyllis Deane Newnham College Cambridge Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volume 87, Issue 345, 1 March 1977, Pages 148–150, https://doi.org/10.2307/2231843 Published: 01 March 1977

BACKGROUND: Down syndrome (DS) is associated with variable intellectual disability and multiple health and psychiatric comorbidities. The impact of such comorbidities on cognitive outcomes is unknown. We aimed to describe patterns of physical health and psychiatric comorbidity prevalence, and receptive language ability, in DS across the lifespan, and determine relationships with cognitive outcomes. METHODS: Detailed medical histories were collected and cognitive abilities measured using standardised tests for 602 individuals with DS from England and Wales (age range 3 months to 73 years). Differences in prevalence rates between age groups and between males and females were determined using chi-squared or Fisher's exact tests. In adults, rates for psychiatric comorbidities were compared to expected population rates using standardised morbidity ratios (SMRs). Adapted ANCOVA functions were constructed to explore age and sex associations with receptive language ability across the lifespan, and regression analyses were performed to determine whether the presence of health comorbidities or physical phenotypes predicted cognitive abilities. RESULTS: Multiple comorbidities showed prevalence differences across the lifespan, though there were few sex differences. In adults, SMRs were increased in males and decreased in females with DS for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and anxiety. Further, SMRs were increased in both males and females with DS for dementia, autism, ADHD, and depression, with differences more pronounced in females for dementia and autism, and in males for depression. Across the lifespan, receptive language abilities increasingly deviated from age-typical levels, and males scored poorer than females. Only autism and epilepsy were associated with poorer cognitive ability in those aged 16-35 years, with no relationships for physical health comorbidities, including congenital heart defects. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate the prevalence of multiple comorbidities varies across the lifespan in DS, and in adults, rates for psychiatric comorbidities show different patterns for males and females relative to expected population rates. Further, most health comorbidities are not associated with poorer cognitive outcomes in DS, apart from autism and epilepsy. It is essential for clinicians to consider such differences to provide appropriate care and treatment for those with DS and to provide prognostic information relating to cognitive outcomes in those with comorbidities.

BACKGROUND: With the rise in popularity of plastic surgery, it is useful to consider those factors that may increase the likelihood of undergoing cosmetic surgery in a nonpatient population. OBJECTIVES: A study was conducted to determine those factors that might motivate a nonclinical, nonpatient population to undergo cosmetic surgery. METHODS: A sample of 119 women and 89 men, ages 18 to 59, was recruited from public spaces and asked to complete a questionnaire measuring how likely they were to consider undergoing the most common cosmetic procedures. RESULTS: Women reported greater likelihood of undergoing cosmetic surgery than men, older men expressed less desire to undergo cosmetic surgery than younger men, and lower self-ratings of physical attractiveness predicted higher likelihood of undergoing cosmetic surgery. The vicarious experience of cosmetic surgery (via family and friends) increased the likelihood of undergoing cosmetic surgery for women, but not for men. Media exposure did not influence likelihood for either sex. CONCLUSIONS: Factors that affect the likelihood of undergoing cosmetic surgery vary with procedure; thus it would be valuable for future studies to use a scale that measures responses separately for different procedures. Lower self-ratings of physical attractiveness lead to consideration of cosmetic surgery; future studies may explore satisfaction levels of those who have undergone surgery.

Abstract. 1. The harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis , has recently arrived in Britain. 2. This species has been introduced from Asia into many parts of the world for biological control purposes. 3. In many parts of North America it has become the predominant aphidophagous coccinellid in less than 20 years, and in north‐western Europe it is spreading and increasing in number rapidly. 4. Since establishment in North America and continental Europe, reports of its effectiveness as a biological control agent of aphids and coccids have been accompanied by accounts of negative effects on other aphidophagous species and humans. 5. Here the potential impacts of the arrival of the harlequin ladybird in Britain are assessed.

Early adulthood is a time when individuals go through important life transitions, such as moving from high school into higher education or employment, but the impact of these life transitions on changes in body weight, diet, and physical activity is not known. We searched six electronic databases to July 2019 for longitudinal observational studies providing data on adiposity, diet, and/or physical activity across education or employment transitions in young people aged between 15 and 35 years. We found 19 studies, of which 17 assessed changes in physical activity, three body weight, and five diet or eating behaviours. Meta-analysis (n=9) found that leaving high school was associated with a decrease of -7.04 (95% CI, -11.26, -2.82) min/day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Three studies reported increases in body weight on leaving high school. A small number of studies suggested decreases in diet quality on leaving high school (n=2/4 papers) and leaving university (n=1) but not on starting employment (n=1). Studies suggested no change in physical activity on leaving university (n=4) but decreases in physical activity on starting employment (n=2/3). The transition of leaving high school is an important time to support individuals to prevent decreases in physical activity and gains in body weight.

What is a fictional character? Nothing, according to Mark Sainsbury. Yet it is true to say that there are fictional characters. How? Because there are fictions according to which there are specific individuals. And it can be true to say that Anna Karenina is more intelligent than Emma Bovary. How? Because the truth-value of the sentence is to be assessed under the (false) presupposition that there are such people as Emma and Anna. And it is true to say that Conan Doyle's novels represent Sherlock Holmes, that I have been thinking about Holmes, and that Holmes is a famous character. How? Because such sentences either involve, or can be explained in terms of, intensional verbs or operators, and intensional contexts do not require that something be the thing which is represented, or thought about, or regarded in such a way as to make it famous. Sainsbury offers these strategies as ways for an irrealist—somebody who denies that explaining the nature of fiction requires us to believe in objects which are the characters of fictions—to explain away certain sentences which appear to require exactly such objects to make them true. These irrealist explanations are designed to defuse certain motivations for realism: namely, the apparent commitments of certain sentences to an ontology of fictional characters. Sainsbury's arguments for the adequacy of irrealism are complemented by arguments for the inadequacy of realism, targeted at three major realist views: that fictional characters are abstract things (unlike you and me, who are concrete); that they are occupants of other possible worlds (unlike you and me, who live in the actual world); and that they are non-existent things (capable of being referred to and quantified over as we are, but nevertheless things of a different ontological status).