The Pink and Blue Problem: Altercasting in Gendered Advertising

When you meet a baby for the first time, and you don’t know its sex, if its wearing pink clothes, most people will automatically assume it’s a girl; or if they’re wearing blue clothes, it’s automatically a boy. The pink and blue problem is the enforcing of gender stereotypes through color, associated roles, and imagery. The root of this problem is that many people are unaware of the difference between “sex” and “gender”, and that they can be mutually exclusive. Your sex is the body you’re born with, and all the parts that come with it, while your gender is how you identify as a human being. Your sex and your gender do not have to match, though many times it’s assumed that they do when a child is born. As they develop, kids are surrounded with gendered toys, clothes, and products that continue to enforce what each gender should be: pink for girls, blue for boys. This immediately puts the child in a box, as they are given no room to figure out their gender identity for themselves. They are forced onto certain items and associations because of their sex, and shown the norm through pink and blue. For my thesis, I will be analyzing advertisements for different products, analyzing the discourse used, and using the theory of altercasting to demonstrate how this pink and blue problem has a serious impact on developmental youths

Affective biases and their interaction with other reward-related deficits in rodent models of psychiatric disorders

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the leading global causes of disability. Symptoms of MDD can vary person to person, and current treatments often fail to alleviate the poor quality of life that patients experience. One of the two core diagnostic criteria for MDD is the loss of interest in previously pleasurable activities, which suggests a link between the disease aetiology and reward processing. Cognitive impairments are also common in patients with MDD, and more recently, emotional processing deficits known as affective biases have been recognised as a key feature of the disorder. Studies in animals have found similar affective biases related to reward. In this review we consider these affective biases in the context of other reward-related deficits and examine how affective biases associated with learning and memory may interact with the wider behavioural symptoms seen in MDD. We discuss recent developments in how analogues of affective biases and other aspects of reward processing can be assessed in rodents, as well as how these behaviours are influenced in models of MDD. We subsequently discuss evidence for the neurobiological mechanisms contributing to one or more reward-related deficits in preclinical models of MDD, identified using these behavioural assays. We consider how the relationships between these selective behavioural assays and the neurobiological mechanisms for affective bias and reward processing could be used to identify potential treatment strategies

Trends in future health financing and coverage: future health spending and universal health coverage in 188 countries, 2016–40

Background: Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) requires health financing systems that provide prepaid pooled resources for key health services without placing undue financial stress on households. Understanding current and future trajectories of health financing is vital for progress towards UHC. We used historical health financing data for 188 countries from 1995 to 2015 to estimate future scenarios of health spending and pooled health spending through to 2040. Methods: We extracted historical data on gross domestic product (GDP) and health spending for 188 countries from 1995 to 2015, and projected annual GDP, development assistance for health, and government, out-of-pocket, and prepaid private health spending from 2015 through to 2040 as a reference scenario. These estimates were generated using an ensemble of models that varied key demographic and socioeconomic determinants. We generated better and worse alternative future scenarios based on the global distribution of historic health spending growth rates. Last, we used stochastic frontier analysis to investigate the association between pooled health resources and UHC index, a measure of a country's UHC service coverage. Finally, we estimated future UHC performance and the number of people covered under the three future scenarios. Findings: In the reference scenario, global health spending was projected to increase from US$10 trillion (95$20 trillion (18 trillion to 22 trillion) in 2040. Per capita health spending was projected to increase fastest in upper-middle-income countries, at 4·2% (3·4–5·1) per year, followed by lower-middle-income countries (4·0%, 3·6–4·5) and low-income countries (2·2%, 1·7–2·8). Despite global growth, per capita health spending was projected to range from only $40 (24–65) to$413 (263–668) in 2040 in low-income countries, and from $140 (90–200) to$1699 (711–3423) in lower-middle-income countries. Globally, the share of health spending covered by pooled resources would range widely, from 19·8% (10·3–38·6) in Nigeria to 97·9% (96·4–98·5) in Seychelles. Historical performance on the UHC index was significantly associated with pooled resources per capita. Across the alternative scenarios, we estimate UHC reaching between 5·1 billion (4·9 billion to 5·3 billion) and 5·6 billion (5·3 billion to 5·8 billion) lives in 2030. Interpretation: We chart future scenarios for health spending and its relationship with UHC. Ensuring that all countries have sustainable pooled health resources is crucial to the achievement of UHC. Funding: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Development of a novel rodent rapid serial visual presentation task reveals dissociable effects of stimulant versus nonstimulant treatments on attentional processes

The rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task and continuous performance tasks (CPT) are used to assess attentional impairments in patients with psychiatric and neurological conditions. This study developed a novel touchscreen task for rats based on the structure of a human RSVP task and used pharmacological manipulations to investigate their effects on different performance measures. Normal animals were trained to respond to a target image and withhold responding to distractor images presented within a continuous sequence. In a second version of the task, a false-alarm image was included, so performance could be assessed relative to two types of nontarget distractors. The effects of acute administration of stimulant and nonstimulant treatments for ADHD (amphetamine and atomoxetine) were tested in both tasks. Methylphenidate, ketamine, and nicotine were tested in the first task only. Amphetamine made animals more impulsive and decreased overall accuracy but increased accuracy when the target was presented early in the image sequence. Atomoxetine improved accuracy overall with a specific reduction in false-alarm responses and a shift in the attentional curve reflecting improved accuracy for targets later in the image sequence. However, atomoxetine also slowed responding and increased omissions. Ketamine, nicotine, and methylphenidate had no specific effects at the doses tested. These results suggest that stimulant versus nonstimulant treatments have different effects on attention and impulsive behaviour in this rat version of an RSVP task. These results also suggest that RSVP-like tasks have the potential to be used to study attention in rodents

Effects of systemic NMDA antagonists on the number of correct responses and response latencies during a short stimulus challenge.

<p>The effect of MK801 (0.03 mg/kg, i.p.), PCP (0.3 mg/kg, i.p.), and ketamine (1.0 mg/kg, i.p.) on correct responses and response latencies in a VITI version of the 5CSRTT under an acute attentional challenge. Results are for the total population, mean ± SEM, n = 12 animals per group, within-subject,</p><p>*p<0.05,</p><p>**p<0.01.</p><p>5CSRTT 5-choice serial reaction time task, Csec centiseconds, VITI variable inter-trial interval.</p><p>Effects of systemic NMDA antagonists on the number of correct responses and response latencies during a short stimulus challenge.</p

Effects of systemic NMDA antagonists in a VITI version of the 5CSRTT.

<p>The effects of MK801 (0.0–0.1 mg/kg, i.p.), PCP (0.0–3.0 mg/kg, i.p.), memantine (0.0–3.0 mg/kg, i.p.), and ketamine (0.0–6.0 mg/kg, i.p.) on accuracy (a), omissions (b), and premature responses (c) in a VITI version of the 5CSRTT. Results are shown for the total population, mean ± SEM, n = 12 animals per group, within subject, *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 versus vehicle. 5CSRTT 5-choice serial reaction time task, VITI variable inter-trial interval.</p

Injector tip placement for mPFC infusions and pre- and post-operative baseline performance.

<p>Schematic diagrams showing the location of the injector tips (a) in the prelimbic (n = 10) and infralimbic cortices (n = 6), reconstructed from Paxinos and Watson (2007). Representative image of the mPFC showing the position of the infralimbic injection site (b, asterisk). Pre- and post-operative baseline performance (c), data presented for the total population, n = 12, mean ± SEM. mPFC medial prefrontal cortex, PL prelimbic cortex, IL infralimbic cortex.</p

Effects of systemic NMDA antagonists during a short stimulus challenge.

<p>The effect of MK801 (0.03 mg/kg, i.p.), PCP (0.3 mg/kg, i.p.), and ketamine (1.0 mg/kg, i.p.) on accuracy (a), omissions (b), and premature responses (c), in animals trained in a VITI version of the 5CSRTT during an acute attentional challenge. Results are shown for the total population, mean ± SEM, n = 12 animals per group, within subject. 5CSRTT 5-choice serial reaction time task, VITI variable inter-trial interval.</p

Effects of systemic NMDA antagonists on the number of correct responses and response latencies in a VITI version of the 5CSRTT.

<p>The effect of MK801 (0.0–0.1 mg/kg, i.p.), PCP (0.0–3.0 mg/kg, i.p.), memantine (0.0–3.0 mg/kg, i.p.), and ketamine (0.0–6.0 mg/kg, i.p.) on correct responses and response latencies in a VITI version of the 5CSRTT. Results are shown for the total population, mean ± SEM, n = 12 animals per group, within-subject,</p><p>*p<0.05,</p><p>**p<0.01,</p><p>***p<0.001 versus vehicle.</p><p>5CSRTT 5-choice serial reaction time task, Csec centiseconds, VITI variable inter-trial interval.</p><p>Effects of systemic NMDA antagonists on the number of correct responses and response latencies in a VITI version of the 5CSRTT.</p

Effects of MMPIP, LY341495, and MK801, mPFC infusions on the number of correct responses and response latencies in a VITI version of the 5CSRTT.

<p>The effect of intracerebral infusions into the prelimbic and infralimbic cortices of MMPIP (0.0–1.0 µg/µL), LY341495 (0.0–10.0 µg/µL), and MK801 (0.0–10.0 µg/µL) on correct responses and response latencies in a VITI version of the 5CSRTT. Results are shown for the total population, mean ± SEM, prelimbic MMPIP n = 10, LY341495 and MK801 n = 9, infralimbic n = 6 animals per group, within-subject, *p<0.05 versus vehicle.</p><p>5CSRTT 5-choice serial reaction time task, Csec centiseconds, VITI variable inter-trial interval.</p><p>Effects of MMPIP, LY341495, and MK801, mPFC infusions on the number of correct responses and response latencies in a VITI version of the 5CSRTT.</p