Difference between Sexes in Dispersion of Intelligence

Gender differences in erotic plasticity: the female sex drive as socially flexible and responsive

Responding to controversies about the balance between nature and culture in determining human sexuality, the author proposes that the female sex drive is more malleable than the male in response to sociocultural and situational factors. A large assortment of evidence supports 3 predictions based on the hypothesis of female erotic plasticity: (a) Individual women will exhibit more variation across time than men in sexual behavior, (b) female sexuality will exhibit larger effects than male in response to most specific sociocultural variables, and (c) sexual attitude-behavior consistency will be lower for women than men. Several possible explanations for female erotic plasticity are reviewed, including adaptation to superior male political and physical power, the centrality of female change (from no to yes) as a prerequisite for intercourse, and the idea that women have a milder sex drive than men.

Analysis of the involvement of ocs-like bZip-binding elements in the differential strength of the bidirectional mas1'2' promoter

The ocs-like elements of the bidirectional mas1'2' promoter of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, mas1' and mas2', were analyzed to elucidate their role in the expression conferred by this promoter. Tetramers of the elements were cloned upstream of the beta-glucuronidase-coding region linked to the 35S promoter deleted at -54. Transient expression assays with tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and potato (Solanum tuberosum) protoplasts showed that tetramers of the mas1' element had 3- to 8-fold enhancing activity, respectively. Enhancement obtained by tetramers of the mas2' element was higher, suggesting that this element plays a role in the stronger promoter activity from the 2' side. Three cDNA clones with higher homology to the tobacco transcription factor TGA1a were isolated from a potato root expression library. Overexpression of the proteins encoded by these cDNA clones in Escherichia coli and analysis of DNA-binding activity in bacterial extracts showed that all three factors could bind strongly to the mas1' ocs-like element. In contrast, only two of the mas-binding factors exhibited significant binding to the mas2' element. Southern analysis revealed the presence of a small, multigene family encoding the mas-binding factors in potato.

Psychiatric illness among the mentally retarded. A swedish population study

Object--The aim of this investigation was in the first place to study the relation between mental retardation and other mental disturbances. The second aim was to study the frequency of severe and mild mental retardation in an adult Swedish population and to throw some light on the socio-medical situation of the adult mentally retarded. Methods--A primary sample, stratified with respect to population density, was extracted from the population in the age group 20-60 years, resident in Kopparberg County, Sweden, on 1 July 1977. The mildly and severely mentally retarded in this sample were identified. Enquiry was made into the presence of additional handicaps in the mentally retarded. Social conditions including alcohol consumption and the occurrence of abuse and criminality were studied in the two retarded groups and a control group representing the rest of the population. The three groups were compared by rating with the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale (CPRS), by classification of any mental illness present according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) and by determining their intake of psychotropic drugs and anti-epileptics. The mildly mentally retarded and the control group were also compared with respect to neuroticism and extraversion-introversion by rating with the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI). Results--The study revealed a prevalence of 0.27% for severe (IQ less than 53) and 0.32% for mild (IQ 53-73.7) mental retardation in the age group 20-60 years. All the severely retarded, but only just over half the mildly retarded, were known to the care authority. The majority of the former were living in some form of institution, whereas this applied to only 15% of the mildly retarded. Nineteen per cent of the severely retarded and 4% of the mildly retarded had manifest epilepsy. Defects of movement and of hearing were most prominent among the mildly retarded, while the frequency of specific speech disturbances was greater among the severely retarded, approximately 10% of whom had no power of verbal communication. Visual defects were recorded in about one-third of both groups. The study showed that alcohol intake was lower among both the severely and mildly mentally retarded than among the persons in the control group and that the frequency of abuse and criminality was as high among persons of higher intelligence as among the mentally retarded. The severely retarded, particularly the men, showed a raised psychiatric morbidity as compared with the mildly retarded and the control group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)