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More than walls: Fear of crime in neighbourhoods bordering gated communities. The Greater Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica
(2024-11) Barrantes Chaves, Karla
Urbanisation patterns in Central America have rapidly changed from open neighbourhoods to gated communities. Fear of crime is one of the leading motivations for gating; a common assumption is that residents protect themselves from the outside. This research argues that gated communities also affect those living outside their gates in the adjacent neighbourhoods. This qualitative research examines the Greater Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica through eight case studies, open neighbourhoods from extreme to zero poverty located next to gated communities. Data were collected through walks, focus groups, in-depth interviews and observations; a comparative structure of the eight case studies was done through thematic analysis. The findings suggest that physical and symbolic barriers exacerbate fear of crime for those outside the gate; non-porous edges affect mainly neighbourhoods in serious, moderate and mild poverty; however, effects of intangible boundaries such as exclusion are more substantial in those in extreme, serious and moderate poverty. This work concludes that local planning policies normalise gating, resulting in disparities in infrastructure and fear of others. Furthermore, gated communities help to fuel the feedback loop of fear of crime, as they might intensify fear towards the outside but receive nurture from it simultaneously.
A novel missense mutation in the transmembrane domain of neuregulin 1 is associated with schizophrenia
(2006-05-30) Walss Bass, Consuelo; Liu, Wei; Lew, Debbie Fay; Villegas Palma, Ramón; Montero Vega, Ana Patricia; Dassori, Albana; Leach, Robin Jean; Almasy, Laura; Escamilla, Michael A.; Raventós Vorst, Henriette
Background. Although genetic factors are known to play an important role in schizophrenia, the identification of genes involved in this disorder has remained elusive. The neuregulin 1 gene is among the few candidate genes to have been implicated in schizophrenia susceptibility in several populations. However, no causal mutations within this gene have been identified. Methods. In attempts to identify polymorphisms within the neuregulin 1 gene, we performed DNA sequencing using 12 subjects with a history of psychosis from the Central Valley of Costa Rica. DNA genotyping and association studies were then performed in an extended cohort of 142 affected individuals and their relatives from the same population. Results. We identified a novel missense mutation (Val to Leu) in exon 11, which codes for the transmembrane region of the neuregulin 1 protein. Association analysis by the Family Based Association Test (FBAT) revealed that this mutation is associated with psychosis (p = .0049) and schizophrenia (p = .0191) in this population. Conclusions. We report the finding of a missense mutation in the neuregulin 1 gene associated with schizophrenia. Additional analyses of an independent sample as well as detailed functional studies should be performed to determine the relevance of this novel polymorphism to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.
Nuevos conocimientos y tecnologías, nuevos dilemas éticos
(1998-06-01) Raventós Vorst, Henriette
El desarrollo de la Medicina. especialmente a partir de la década de los 50s. ha significado la aparición de nuevos conocimiento y tecnologías para bienestar de los seres humanos pero que a la vez enfrentan al clínico y al investigador ante nuevo dilemas éticos antes inexistentes y muchas veces sin respuesta clara. La ciencia no nos da la respuesta de cómo utilizar este conocimiento por lo que diferentes sociedades han establecido mecanismos diferentes para guiar su uso a través de leyes, decretos o reglamentos o a través de lineamientos establecidos por instituciones académicas, científicas o profesionales.
Diagnostic reliability in a study of schizophrenic (SC) subjects from Costa Rica
(2001-10) Medina, Reyshel; Escamilla, Michael A.; Armas, Regina; Levinson, Douglas F.; Dassori, Albana Maria; Contreras, Sylvia; Raventós Vorst, Henriette
Diagnostic reliability is particularly relevant in psychiatric genetics research. We report here the final diagnoses of 129 patients recruited for a genetic study of SC in the Costa Rican population. Subjects had discharge diagnoses of SC in the years 1994-2001 and were interviewed by a trained psychiatrist using the DIGS. DIGS, FIGS and medical records were reviewed by two best estimators who arrived at individual and consensus diagnoses using the DSMIIIR, RDC and DSMIV. Diagnostic differences between DSMIIIR and DSMIV were minimal. Major differences were observed between DSMIIIR and RDC systems. Using DSMIIIR, 61% of subjects received a consensus diagnosis of SC, but only 28% were SC by RDC. By RDC, 61% were diagnosed as schizoaffective (SA), versus 18% by DSMIIIR. DSMIIIR Inter-rater reliability (IRR) was highest for diagnosis of bipolar disorder (k = 0.85) and lowest for SA bipolar (k = 0.56), while RDC IRR was the highest for SC (k = 0.65) and lowest for SA bipolar (k = 0.54). Optimal IRR when using the DSMIIIR system was shown when SC and SA were combined into one category (k = 0.81 for SC/SA, 0.85 for bipolar). This most likely reflects the ambiguity in determining overall time course of affective and psychotic symptoms in persons who have had periods of affective and non-affective psychosis. DSMIIIR reliability was very good in distinguishing persons who had had non-affective psychoses from persons who only had affective psychoses.
Association analyses of the neuregulin 1 gene with schizophrenia and manic psychosis in a Hispanic population
(2005-10-06) Walss Bass, Consuelo; Raventós Vorst, Henriette; Montero Vega, Ana Patricia; Armas, Regina; Dassori, Albana Maria; Contreras, Salvador A.; Liu, Wei; Medina, Rolando; Levinson, Douglas F.; Pereira Castro, Mariana; Leach, Robin Jean; Almasy, Laura; Escamilla, Michael A.
Objective: This study used the population of the Central Valley of Costa Rica (CVCR) and phenotyping strategies alternative to DSMIV classifications to investigate the association of neuregulin 1 with schizophrenia. Method: Using 134 family trios with a history of psychosis, we genotyped six of the seven markers originally identified to be associated with schizophrenia in Iceland. Results: The neuregulin Icelandic haplotype was not associated with schizophrenia in the CVCR population. However, a novel haplotype was found to be overrepresented in subjects with functional psychosis (global P-value > 0.05). Stratification of the sample by history of mania suggests that this haplotype may be preferentially over-transmitted to persons with a history of manic psychosis. Conclusion: These results suggest that the neuregulin 1 gene is unlikely to play a major role in predisposing to schizophrenia in the CVCR. Further studies in the CVCR and other Latin American populations should be performed in order to corroborate these findings.