Strict adherence to ethics in research is essential to making societies fairer and safer for all.

Essay

Your Name: PHILOGENE Bernadin

Name of School or Institution: Tomsk State University

Human Development: Genetics, Neurosciences, and Psychology

Course Number and Name: ELSIR AND AWP

Instructor: Fatos Selita,

Date: 03/01/2022

Research is one of the main functions of research organizations or universities. However, the realization of this function, in strict respect of ethics, should contribute to the development of societies while making them fairer and safer for all. It should be a responsible act towards ourselves and others because our actions today should not negatively impact or compromise the existence of the future generation. For this, the university environment should rely on values, norms, and fundamental moral virtues constituting university ethics as a basis for research ethics in order to moralize university research. This would allow a better valorization in the diffusion of scientific and technical culture. In the meantime, the issues of research ethics are becoming increasingly important in the practice of research worldwide. However, in this essay the focus will be on genomic research, trying to cover the main ethical and legal issues related to scientific research, including data processing and protection, genetic discrimination, etc.

Since the completion of the human genome in 2003, a project that allowed us to understand the structure of the genome, gene sequencing technologies has become more efficient and less expensive. Genome sequencing, whether complete or partial, is an undeniable scientific advance that has created a new world that requires new rules and requirements.

Certainly, this field of behavioral genetics has generated a host of moral and social concerns virtually since its inception[1][2]. With the considerable increase in the speed of genome sequencing that is now called "very high throughput" sequencing. Secondly, the reduction of time and the lowering of costs for the realization of the "Human Genome" project are enormous: what had required thirteen years of work and an investment of 3 billion dollars during the process, around the year 2000, is now achievable in one hour for less than 1,000 euros. Consequently, the development of bioinformatics and of banks that store and analyze genetic data on a large scale favors the development of predictive genetics: genetic tests aimed at detecting in an individual the risk of monogenic diseases (due to the alteration of a specific gene) Thus, it has become easier to explore the genome of an individual and identify genes or sequences responsible for certain diseases.

Today, genomic data is a tremendous resource for improving people's lives, including health, education, and justice. And the value of genomic data is also being recognized by the commercial world, such as pharmaceutical, insurance, marketing, and data processing companies. The current value of the genomic data market is difficult to assess, but several indicators already suggest that it is high and growing. They have created a world where: information about an individual's past, present, and future can be extracted from DNA. This revolution heralds a new era and our entry into the digital age has brought rapid and profound changes and upheavals in many ways to our individual and collective lives. Consequently, it reveals new social challenges that we must face. For this reason, since 2015, research has begun to address the potential misuse of genetic data, such as privacy issues, including electronic health records, genetic testing in clinical settings, identification of individuals from anonymized data, and data processing and sharing. Because technologies such as human genome editing, for example, have the potential to cure serious diseases or save lives, but could also generate new forms of social inequality and discrimination in various fields such as health, education, immigration, etc., they could lead to new forms of discrimination. All this could lead to unforeseen negative consequences for humanity in the long run.

It is shared that until now our understanding of genetic inheritance has been limited, leading to erroneous views about genetic differences between groups and group discrimination. Group discrimination is based on many characteristics, including color, nationality, ethnicity, religion, class, caste, gender, and other existing or perceived differences[3]. Added to this is additional detailed personal information that is collected from many sources, such as cell phones, hospitals, bank cards; emails, videos, audio, smart devices, stock market data, financial transactions, social media, etc. forming Big Data systems. This information is shared internationally between many powerful private and state organizations, and the use of this information is a very profitable gold mine for these organizations and industries and can play a determining role in the discrimination process. You may not be hired, given a scholarship, health care, etc. based on your genetic information.

At this rate, in order to adapt to these different realities, ethics does not seem to be enough to protect the man in his private life and to prevent him from being discriminated against in any way related to his genetics. Because ethics, as a system of moral principles that define what is good or bad for the conduct of individuals in society, seems a little individualizing and reductionist. Because they are principles of self-regulation, they are not always right and are commonly shared by the community. On the other hand, the law is coercive and regulates the behavior of the individual in society. It is applicable to all.

In this line, how to make societies fairer and safer for all? Aware that the world has become different from what it was three decades ago. In this respect, understanding the ethical and legal issues that are raised by these discoveries seems essential and they are equipped to face the challenges they pose. Obviously, there are many discriminations and other threats against people resulting from genetic research, with limited protection provided by the law (e.g. (Andrews et al., 2015; Furrow et al., 2013; Selita, 2019b). Because global legal systems, particularly those of countries with strong economies (USA, UK, Canada), are outdated as they are today, compared to current realities. This paradigm shift demonstrates the limitations of current laws that are unable to guarantee justice fairly. The law must evolve to ensure the protection of human beings. Because seeking to resolve issues using methods that impose or attack the integrity and very existence of man in his humanity is unethical and destructive to research.

Faced with this fact, strict respect for ethics in research is necessary to reduce and prevent abuses and discriminations linked to genetics in order to create a more equitable and safer world for all. It is time to adopt new provisions, new laws more adapted to these realities, to this new environment in order to render more equitable verdicts aiming at the protection of the human being. This will allow all humanity to obtain justice without barriers and to enjoy its benefits while mitigating the risks, strictly respecting the ethical codes of research because our actions today must not negatively impact the future of the next generation.

Reference

Andrews, L. B., Mehlman, M. J., & Rothstein, M. A., Eds. (2015). Genetics: Ethics, Law, and Policy (4th Edition). West Academy- ichttps://faculty.westacademic.com/Book/Detail?id=31475

Colleen M. Berryessa and Mildred K. Cho.2013. Ethical, Legal, Social, and Policy Implications of Behavioral Genetics. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4371728/

Fatos Selita, Marc Willers, Yulia Kovas.2020. ‘Race’ and other group discrimination in the genomic era. Legal Issues Journal.

Nuffield Counc. Bioeth Genetics and human behaviour: the ethical context. Rep., Nuffield Counc. Bioeth., London. 2002 http://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/genetics-and-behaviour.

Parens E, Chapman A, Press N. Wrestling with Behavioral Genetics: Science, Ethics, and Public Conversation. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press; Baltimore: 2005.

Fatos Selita. 2019.Improving Access to Justice: Community-based Solutions. https://doi.org/10.1177/2322005819855863

[1]Nuffield Counc. Bioeth Genetics and human behaviour: the ethical context. Rep., Nuffield Counc. Bioeth., London. 2002 http://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/genetics-and-behaviour.

[2] Parens E, Chapman A, Press N. Wrestling with Behavioral Genetics: Science, Ethics, and Public Conversation. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press; Baltimore: 2005.

[3] Fatos Selita, Marc Willers, Yulia Kovas.2020. ‘Race’ and other group discrimination in the genomic era. Legal Issues Journal.

 Do men and women differ in behavioral problems?

By 

Bernadin Philogene

According to Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, behavioral problems refer to the symptomatic expression of emotional or interpersonal maladjustment, particularly in children. They are characterized by developmental deficits that produce impairments of personal, social, academic, or occupational functioning. Behavior Disorders have been on the rise among children according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; 2013). A behavior disorder is the observable responses, actions, or activities of someone; it is a general concept referring to any type of behavioral abnormality that is functional in origin. Two types of behavior include adaptive behavior and contingent behavior. Adaptive behavior is behavior that fosters effective or successful individual interaction with the environment. Contingent behavior is an action dependent upon a specific stimulus. Behavior Disorders can include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Conduct Disorder (CD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Emotional Behavioral Disorder (EBD), and Mental Health Illnesses[1].Behavioural problems may become so severe that they threaten normal relationships between the child and others, or interfere with the child's emotional, social and intellectual development[2]. A behavior problem also has a cause or a number of causes. The way the child behaves is clear enough to suggest that he or she has a problem. This outward manifestation of the child's problem through typical behavior may not indicate the true cause(s) of his or her problem[3]. Knowing that inherited DNA differences are extremely important in shaping all aspects of our identity, including our weight, intelligence and even likelihood of having behavioral problems. While we can explain some factors that can cause behavior problems, there are still many questions to be answered, particularly about individual differences. Such as: Do men and women differ in their behavioral problems?

In fact, our understanding of behavioral problems is still quite limited. This gap seems to deserve to be clarified by evidence from studies of genetic and environmental influences that take into account the differences between people who are inherited from DNA.

The understanding of individual differences in behavioral problems is the subject of lively debates where positions sometimes clash radically. Three (3) mains approaches have been identified: biological, environmental and genetic.

The biological viewpoint, on the other hand, would involve looking at the biological roots that lie behind aggressive behaviors and tends to stress the importance of nature[4]. This approach believes behavior problems to be as a consequence of our genetics and physiology. Thus, it examines the relationship between mind and body, neural mechanisms, and the influence of heredity on behavior. This perspective used three ways to study the behavior problems: 1) Brain physiology; 2) Comparative method; 3) Investigation of inheritance [5].Someone who takes the biological perspective might consider how certain types of brain injury might lead to aggressive actions. The studies of cortical ablation and subcortical lesions in animals and clinical studies of brain-damaged children and adults have shown a correlation between cerebral lesions with the symptoms of hyperkinesia, distractibility, and inattention[6].

In fact, children whose families have suffered from Behavioural or learning disorders, anxiety, depression or bipolar psychosis may be at greater risk of developing conduct disorders[7].  Furthermore, certain genetic factors that can contribute to such displays of behavior problem[8]. The possible roles of heredity, teratogens, family, peers, parent-child relationship and child temperament have been documented in several studies (Wolfe, Crooks, Lee, McIntyre-Smith, & Jaffe, 2003). Therefore, the assumption that boys are more apt to have behavioral problems than women find its source in this approach.

However, the genetic theory does not take into account neurological factors. Hence its limitations and the fact that it has been supplanted by neurological theory which instead emphasizes the effect of hormonal activities in the brain. According to the proponents of the neurological[9] current, behavioral problems are linked to a disturbance of the limbic system (seat of the emotions). There is growing evidence indicating childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the most common cause of disability and death in young people (Kolk, Ennok, Lougesaar, Kaldoja, & Talvik, 2011). In addition, dopaminergic dysfunctions of the mesocortical, mesolimbic and nigrostriatal pathways[10] .Frank Elliot, an American psychiatrist, one of the most convinced proponents of this school of thought, believes that violence is caused by an uncontrolled electric shock in the temporal lobe. It could have its origins in early trauma to the brain, such as temporary asphyxiation during childbirth or early childhood. He also believes that metabolic disorders like hypoglycemia can also trigger behavioral problems. In several studies, alcohol, tobacco and drug use during pregnancy has been linked to the occurrence of behavior problem, both in infancy, school age and adolescence. A recent review of the literature reports the results of research that investigated the link between teratogens and ADHD symptoms in children. The strongest associations are those involving prenatal exposure to tobacco and alcohol and postnatal lead exposure (Yolton et al., 2014). In addition, significant associations are found to a lesser extent for exposure to cocaine, heroin and organochlorine pesticides. If a traumatic brain injury is left untreated, issues may persist into childhood, adolescence, and adulthood predisposing individuals to violent crimes, or mental health disorders, or other consequences later in life (Li & Liu, 2013).

However, if congenital or hormonal notions are implicated in the perpetuation of behavioral problems, they are far from substantiating the full magnitude of the question. On the one hand, human beings are not at the mercy of biological and hormonal mechanisms like animals, especially, knowing that many children are only violent with their loved ones. Rather, it is the interweaving of a whole multidimensional process. On the other hand, the multiple facets of man do not allow the question to be approached only from a biological angle. Other factors such as environmental factors would have their explanatory weight.

The environmental perspective highlights the importance of family and environmental factors in the development of behavior problem in children. Several environmental factors contribute to a child’s needs including separated or divorced parents, substance abuse in the home, depression, mental health, and physical and verbal abuse (CDC, 2013).The role of family and home plays a crucial part in children’s well-being. Parent’s temperament and family environment are linked to parenting practices that might promote (or inhibit) children’s effort control. The parent’s style of parenting is a large component of how children display positive or negative behaviors[11]. Many children suffer from failures in the family environment such as conflict, little family support, negative parenting style, poor parent and sibling relationships, uninvolved parents, or parents who show little interest in their child. Often, parents use negative consequences and stress levels are elevated, which leads to more issues occurring. Sometimes when parents are present, they do not use the best form of discipline or have negative consequences that do not address the issue at hand (Rallis, Esposito-Smythers & Mehlenbeck, 2015). If early behavioral disorders do indeed appear to be multi-factorial, family and environmental risk factors retain a significant and specific weight in their explanation and in their development, as in therapeutic and preventive intervention (Greenberg, 1999; Rutter, 2001). It is clear, in fact, that parent /child relationships play a major role in the development of behavioral problems, through the experience and the type of emotional regulation they allow (Campbell, 1995; Kazdin, 1995; Shaw and Bell, 1993; Rutter, 1995). Other studies using different measures, methods, and raters consistently support the idea that substantial genetic and small non-shared environmental influences contribute to the overlap among ADHD, ODD, and CD (Taylor et al., 2012). In addition, a study of nearly 40,000 Australian children aged 4 to 7 found that disadvantaged economic status was the strongest predictor of behavioral and emotional difficulties measured using the SDQ (Steele et al., 2015).

Overall, a mean worldwide prevalence of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or hyperkinetic disorder (HKD), of ~2.2% overall (range, 0.1–8.1%) has been estimated in children and adolescents (aged <18 years). The mean prevalence of ADHD in adults (aged 18–44 years) from a range of countries in Asia, Europe, the Americas and the Middle East was reported as ~2.8% overall (range, 0.6–7.3%)[12]. Furthermore, the prevalence of ADHD in children and adolescents differ across the world. Few studies exist regarding ADHD prevalence rates in pre-school children (aged ≤6 years); however, prevalence rates in Norway, Germany and Spain have been estimated to be 1.9%, 1.8% and 5.4%, respectively.2-4. An epidemiological study of 20 countries from the World Health Organization that across high-, upper-middle-, and low-/lower-middle-income countries, prevalence rates of ADHD in children and adolescents were highest in the USA (8.1%) and lowest in Iraq (0.1%), Poland (0.3%) and Romania (0.4%)[13]. Gender ratios varied by country ranging from 1:3 to 1:16 in females: males[14].ADHD was more commonly diagnosed in adult males compared with adult females. A worldwide meta-regression analysis of 11 studies of adults with ADHD found that although the ratio of males to females with ADHD decreased with age, a gender ratio of 1 to 1.6 (females to males) was still present in adults aged ≥19 years[15].In addition, a few recent longitudinal studies are particularly important for understanding family and environmental factors that play a role in the origin, onset and persistence of behavioral disorders. This is in particular that of Moffitt et al. (2002), known as Dunedin, in New Zealand, that of Fergusson et al. (1993, 2002) in Christchurch, also in New Zealand, that of Nagin and Tremblay (2001) in Montreal, and that of Loeber et al. (2001) in Pennsylvania and Georgia (Developemental Training Study, DTS)[16].

However, research on genetic and environmental influences on behavior has shown that individual differences in behavior are associated with differences in genetic factors. This amounts to saying that human behavioral traits are determined by biological, environmental / social and genetic factors.

Speaking of genetics here, and following the normal curve of variation, no reference has been made to the environmental extremes of abuse or the genetic extremes of single gene mutations that can have devastating effects. Referring to Mendel's genetics, these are deterministic effects wired to a single gene. But it is about the common traits that are influenced by many low effect genes and the effects are probabilistic. Everything is a matter of differences and it is quite an important notion for the understanding of the human in his temporal space: past, present and future.

From this perspective, the emphasis is on that concept of genetics called heritability which is the extent to which differences in inherited DNA explain differences in behavior. It is shared by the scientific community that in a studied population 99% of the DNA presents a similarity that constitutes our basis of humanity. Which explains that 1% of our 3 billion DNA base pairs make us different and to what extent do they explain the differences in behavioral problems?

In fact, behavior problems can be influenced by many factors including biological and neurological, family income, mother's age level, school environment, and childhood problems, etc. All of these factors have genetic and environmental predispositions. And even if we put people in a similar environment and treat them equally, genes will continue to make them different. In addition, studies[17] on twins have shown that monozygotic twins with identical DNA and a similar environment often exhibit different behaviors. Although twins are more similar than other people, they are still different due to their personal experiences. If twins who share the same genes and the same environment report differences in their behavior, what can we conclude for the others?

By this observation, it was understood that the environmental effects are not systemic, what looks like the systemic effects of the environment is genetically disguised. Of course, they have a role to play, but it is not the systemic influence of biological, family or social factors that can determine a child's behavioral problems. Rather, it is the important environmental influences that are called unshared, that is, what really makes a unique person, different from others.

In fact, Since the completion of the human genome project in 2003, it’s possible to understand the structure of the genome. At this point, it’s shared that inherited DNA differences are the primary systemic source that makes us who we really are as individuals. From this DNA revolution, genetics became important and unavoidable in the study and psychopathology of human behavioral problems.

Finally, molecular research suggests that human traits may be regulated by genes[18]. For these considerations, molecular and genomic approaches today constitute the best avenues of research in understanding the differences in behavioral problems because DNA is the main systemic force that makes us, in our children, what they are.

 

Reference

1-      Atam Vetta, Daniel Courgeau. 2003.Demographic Behaviors and Behavioral Genetics.Cairn.info.

2-      Antoine Guédeney, Romain Dugravier,2006. Family and environmental risk factors for behavioral disorders in young children: a review of the Anglo-Saxon scientific literature.

3-      Fayyad J, Sampson NA, Hwang I, et al. The descriptive epidemiology of DSM-IV Adult ADHD in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys. Atten Defic Hyperact Disord 2017.

4-      FISCHER, G-N. 2003. Psychologie des Violences Sociales. éd. Dunod, Paris.

5-      Ibberson, Crystal L., (2017). Environmental Factors Among Young Children Contributing to the Onset of Behavior Disorders. Culminating Projects in Special Education.

6-        Kendra Cherry, 2021. The Role of the Biological Perspective in Psychology. Verywell Mind.

7-        Mehta, T.R., Monegro, A., Nene, Y. et al. Neurobiology of ADHD: A Review. Curr Dev Disord Rep 6, 235–240 (2019).

8-      Nøvik TS, Hervas A, Ralston SJ, et a.l2006. Influence of gender on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Europe–ADORE. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry.

9-       Stephen Brian Sulkes, 2020. Présentation des problèmes comportementaux chez l’enfant. Les Manuels MSD

10-   Saul McLeod, 2015. Biological Approach

11-    S E Young, et al. 2000. Genetic and environmental influences on behavioral disinhibition. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11054778/

12-    Willcutt EG. The prevalence of DSM-IV attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analytic review. Neurotherapeutics 2012

 

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[1] Ibberson, Crystal L., (2017). "Environmental Factors Among Young Children Contributing to the Onset of Behavior Disorders" Culminating Projects in Special Education.

[2] Stephen Brian Sulkes, 2020. Présentation des problèmes comportementaux chez l’enfant. Les Manuels MSD

[3] What is “Behavior Problem”?2017. Educational Psychology. http://www.edugyan.in/2017/03/what-is-behavior-problem.html

[4] https://ryansblog284926577.wordpress.com/2018/06/29/applying-biological-analysis-to-the-real-life-behaviours/

[5] Saul McLeod, 2015. Biological Approach. https://www.simplypsychology.org/gender-biology.html

[6] https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/bipolar-disorder-in-children-and-teens

[7] Idem

[8] Kendra Cherry, 2021. The Role of the Biological Perspective in Psychology. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-biological-perspective-2794878

[9] FISCHER, G-N. 2003. Psychologie des Violences Sociales. éd. Dunod, Paris,

[10] Mehta, T.R., Monegro, A., Nene, Y. et al. Neurobiology of ADHD: A Review. Curr Dev Disord Rep 6, 235–240 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40474-019-00182-w

[11] bberson, Crystal L., "Environmental Factors Among Young Children Contributing to the Onset of Behavior Disorders" (2017). Culminating Projects in Special Education. 46. https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/sped_etds/46

[12] Fayyad J, Sampson NA, Hwang I, et al. The descriptive epidemiology of DSM-IV Adult ADHD in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys. Atten Defic Hyperact Disord 2017.

[13] Fayyad J, Sampson NA, Hwang I, et al. 2017.The descriptive epidemiology of DSM-IV Adult ADHD in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys. Atten Defic Hyperact Disord. https://adhd-institute.com/burden-of-adhd/epidemiology/

[14] Nøvik TS, Hervas A, Ralston SJ, et a.l2006. Influence of gender on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Europe–ADORE. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry.

[15] Willcutt EG. The prevalence of DSM-IV attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analytic review. Neurotherapeutics 2012

[16] Antoine Guédeney, Romain Dugravier,2006. Family and environmental risk factors for behavioral disorders in young children: a review of the Anglo-Saxon scientific literature. https://www.cairn.info/revue-la-psychiatrie-de-l-enfant-2006-1-page-227.htm

[17] S E Young, et al. 2000. Genetic and environmental influences on behavioral disinhibition. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11054778/

[18] Atam Vetta, Daniel Courgeau. 2003.Demographic Behaviors and Behavioral Genetics.Cairn.info

https://doi.org/10.3917/popu.304.0457