University of Westminster

About: University of Westminster is a education organization based out in London, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 2944 authors who have published 8426 publications receiving 200236 citations. The organization is also known as: Westminster University & Royal Polytechnic Institution.

Heritability of macular pigment: a twin study.

Abstract: PURPOSE: Several studies have reported higher levels of macular pigment (MP) in association with reduced risk for age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), a disease to which there is a genetic predisposition. A classic twin study was performed to determine the heritability of MP in the healthy eye. METHODS: One hundred fifty twin pairs (76 monozygotic [MZ] and 74 dizygotic [DZ]), aged 18 to 50 years, participated. MP optical density was measured psychophysically with heterochromatic flicker photometry (HFP) and also with an imaging method involving fundus autofluorescence (AF). The covariance of MP within MZ and DZ twin pairs was compared, and genetic modeling techniques were used to determine the relative contributions of genes and environment to the variation in MP. RESULTS: The mean MP optical density, measured using HFP, was 0.43 +/- 0.21. Using AF, the mean MP optical density, measured at 1 degrees eccentricity, was 0.28 +/- 0.11. MP optical densities correlated more highly in MZ twins than in DZ twins, according to both HFP (MZ: 0.65; DZ: 0.24) and AF (MZ: 0.83; DZ: 0.50). A model combining additive genetic and unique environmental effects provided the best fit and resulted in MP heritability estimates of 0.67 (95% CI, 0.52-0.77) and 0.85 (95% CI, 0.78-0.90) for HFP and AF readings, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This classic twin study demonstrates that genetic background is an important determinant of MP optical density, reflected in heritability estimates of 0.67 and 0.85 for HFP and AF measures, respectively.

Welfare Regimes, Welfare Systems and Housing in Southern Europe

Abstract: Are housing provision systems in southern Europe (Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece) different from those in northern Europe? Answering this question requires a way of theorizing housing systems, which locates them within their broader societal contexts. After setting out some of the key empirical differences between northern and southern, the paper reanalyses Esping-Andersen's work on welfare regimes and reviews housing-specific work using these ideas as a basis for identifying differences between northern and southern European welfare and housing systems. Three key factors emerge from this analysis: the capacity of civil administration, the linkages between formal and informal segments in the labour market, and the operation of extended familial networks in welfare distribution. On this basis, the paper presents a more institutionally robust analysis of the relationships between welfare and housing provision systems in southern Europe. The conclusions address the problems of using welfare regime theory to analyse housing provision as well as some of the specific housing problems associated with socio-economic change in southern Europe.