'Biologizing' Psychopathy: Ethical, Legal, and Research Implications at the Interface of Epigenetics and Chronic Antisocial Conduct

Biological Aging Acceleration Due to Environmental Exposures: An Exciting New Direction in Toxicogenomics Research

Biological clock technologies are designed to assess the acceleration of biological age (B-age) in diverse cell types, offering a distinctive opportunity in toxicogenomic research to explore the impact of environmental stressors, social challenges, and unhealthy lifestyles on health impairment. These clocks also play a role in identifying factors that can hinder aging and promote a healthy lifestyle. Over the past decade, researchers in epigenetics have developed testing methods that predict the chronological and biological age of organisms. These methods rely on assessing DNA methylation (DNAm) levels at specific CpG sites, RNA levels, and various biomolecules across multiple cell types, tissues, and entire organisms. Commonly known as 'biological clocks' (B-clocks), these estimators hold promise for gaining deeper insights into the pathways contributing to the development of age-related disorders. They also provide a foundation for devising biomedical or social interventions to prevent, reverse, or mitigate these disorders. This review article provides a concise overview of various epigenetic clocks and explores their susceptibility to environmental stressors.

The ethical aspects of exposome research: a systematic review

In recent years, exposome research has been put forward as the next frontier for the study of human health and disease. Exposome research entails the analysis of the totality of environmental exposures and their corresponding biological responses within the human body. Increasingly, this is operationalized by big-data approaches to map the effects of internal as well as external exposures using smart sensors and multiomics technologies. However, the ethical implications of exposome research are still only rarely discussed in the literature. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of the academic literature regarding both the exposome and underlying research fields and approaches, to map the ethical aspects that are relevant to exposome research. We identify five ethical themes that are prominent in ethics discussions: the goals of exposome research, its standards, its tools, how it relates to study participants, and the consequences of its products. Furthermore, we provide a number of general principles for how future ethics research can best make use of our comprehensive overview of the ethical aspects of exposome research. Lastly, we highlight three aspects of exposome research that are most in need of ethical reflection: the actionability of its findings, the epidemiological or clinical norms applicable to exposome research, and the meaning and action-implications of bias.

The end of the 'Bad seed' Era? Epigenetics' contribution to violence prevention initiatives in public health

Despite numerous initiatives and significant resource investment, violence remains a pervasive threat to public health. The burgeoning field of epigenetics may offer an exciting new possibility for violence prevention efforts by illuminating the mechanisms of gene-environment interactions. In particular, it may improve our ability to design more effective primary interventions, facilitate improved intervention tailoring, and better position communities to be active agents in their well-being. However, without attention to the distinction between awareness, self-efficacy, and agency, it risks encouraging a false sense of individual accountability for violence, a perception that may perpetuate or increase existing inequities. Thus, embracing epigenetic insights in public health raises new opportunities but also new concerns. Ultimately, I argue public health should embrace epigenetics' potential, but only with an equal commitment to state responsibility and systemic justice.

Childhood trauma, psychiatric disorders, and criminality in women: Associations with serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor

Psychiatric disorders and childhood trauma are highly prevalent in female inmates. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a number of roles in neuronal survival, structure, and function. Data in the literature suggest that it is a neurobiological substrate that moderates the impact of childhood adversities on the late expression of psychiatric disorders. The aim of this study was to determine whether five childhood trauma subtypes-physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical neglect, and emotional neglect-are associated with adult psychiatric disorders, BDNF levels, and criminality among incarcerated women. This was a cross-sectional study involving a consecutive sample of 110 women, divided into three groups of women (forensic - mentally ill who committed crimes, clinical psychiatric inpatients and healthy controls). The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview-Plus were applied in the whole sample, and BDNF levels were measured in a sub-sample of 54 women. The rates of mental illness and childhood trauma were high in the forensic group. Emotional abuse was higher in the clinical and forensic groups than in the healthy control group. Lower BDNF levels were associated with emotional abuse in the forensic group as well as with sexual abuse in the healthy control group. After multinomial logistic regression, lower levels of BDNF, higher levels of emotional abuse and the presence of familial offense were considered factors related to clinical psychiatric group. The results of this study underscore the idea that BDNF may be an important factor related to the development of diseases and criminality in women who are victims of childhood trauma, becoming a possible biological marker.

Ethical Issues in Research and Development of Epigenome-wide Technologies

To date, few scholarly discussions on ethical implications of epigenetics and epigenomics technologies have focused on the current phase of research and development, in which researchers are confronted with real and practical ethical dilemmas. In this article, a responsible research and innovation approach, using interviews and an expert meeting, is applied to a case of epigenomic test development for cervical cancer screening. This article provides an overview of ethical issues presently facing epigenomics researchers and test developers, and discusses 3 sets of issues in depth: (1) informed consent; (2) communication with donors and/or research participants, and (3) privacy and publication of data and research results. Although these issues are familiar to research ethics, some aspects are new and most require reinterpretation in the context of epigenomics technologies. With this article, we aim to start a discussion of the practical ethical issues rising in research and development of epigenomic technologies and to offer guidance for researchers working in the field of epigenetic and epigenomic technology.

The Brain of Dexter Morgan: the Science of Psychopathy in Showtime's Season 8 of Dexter

This article identifies and discusses on the ways in which biological influences to psychopathy are thematically portrayed in the eighth season of Dexter to describe Dexter's psychopathy, particularly focusing on fatalism and the inevitability of succumbing to one's "biological self." This paper, utilizing traditional content analysis, focuses on seven qualitative themes surrounding "biological fatalism" and psychopathy in this final season of Dexter. As lay theories of psychopathy are thought to originate from the media's conceptualization of the disorder, such thematic portrayals serve to potential affect lay understandings of psychopathy and correspondingly, how the disorder is treated and perceived in the criminal justice process as a modern psychopathy-related "CSI Effect." The conclusion focuses on the messages that this final season of Dexter sends to the lay public about the biological influences to psychopathy and how this may create implications for the criminal justice system.

Epigenetics, ethics, law and society: A multidisciplinary review of descriptive, instrumental, dialectical and reflexive analyses

Epigenetics, defined as 'the study of mitotically and/or meiotically heritable changes in gene function that cannot be explained by changes in DNA sequence', has emerged as a promissory yet controversial field of scientific inquiry over the past decade. Scholars from many disciplines have formulated both optimistic and cautionary claims regarding its potential normative implications. This article provides a comprehensive review of the nascent literature at the crossroads of epigenetics, ethics, law and society. It describes nine emerging areas of discussion, relating to (1) the impact of epigenetics on the nature versus nurture dualism, (2) the potential resulting biologization of the social, (3) the meaning of epigenetics for public health, its potential influence on (4) reproduction and parenting, (5) political theory and (6) legal proceedings, and concerns regarding (7) stigmatization and discrimination, (8) privacy protection and (9) knowledge translation. While there is some degree of similarity between the nature and content of these areas and the abundant literature on ethical, legal and social issues in genetics, the potential implications of epigenetics ought not be conflated with the latter. Critical studies on epigenetics are emerging within a separate space of bioethical and biopolitical investigations and claims, with scholars from various epistemological standpoints utilizing distinct yet complementary analytical approaches.

Developmental impairments in moral competence as mitigation in capital cases

In this article we propose a mitigation approach in those capital murder cases where traditional mitigation themes such as mental illness or low IQ are not present. To avoid prosecution characterization of these defendants as simply evil or antisocial personalities, we suggest reframing the issue as one of moral incompetence, based not on character defect but rather stemming from profoundly neglectful or abusive parenting. Under this reframing, defense teams would present evidence about the many antecedents of poor moral competence, its origins in neglect or abuse, its neurophysiological basis, and, most importantly, its potential for change. Evaluation in such cases would pay close attention to early childhood and family characteristics. We also recommend presentation of research findings showing how moral competence can be improved in adulthood, given appropriate guidance and support. This approach to mitigation is consistent with much of the developmental literature. But juror responses to these mitigation themes are as yet unknown.

A new legal treatment for psychopaths? Perplexities for legal thinkers

Public perception, fueled not only by popular and news media but also by expert claims that psychopaths are archetypes of evil: incorrigible, remorseless, cold-blooded criminals, whose crimes manifest in the most extreme levels of violence. But is there empirical evidence that psychopaths truly are what they are portrayed to be? If so, should the law respond, and adjust its treatment of psychopaths in court - permitting psychopathy to be admitted under an insanity defense and/or resulting in mitigation? In this paper, we demonstrate that fundamental questions from the law to science remain unanswered and must be addressed before any alternative treatment of psychopathy can be considered. As it stands, psychopaths cannot be reliably defined or diagnosed and, as we will demonstrate, even the presumed link with criminal dangerousness is problematic. We conclude that the current legal approach should not be modified, however, if preliminary findings regarding impairments in impulsivity/self-control are confirmed, some, but not all individuals who fall under one definition of psychopathy may merit different treatment in future.