A tough woman around tender men: Dilma Rousseff, gendered double bind, and misogynistic backlash

Dilma Rousseff\u27s presidency ended in controversial form. The first woman elected to the position in Brazil, Rousseff\u27s 2016 impeachment was seen as a coup by her supporters and as a necessary step for democracy by her detractors. With the Brazilian economy facing its worst recession in history and the Car Wash corruption scandal ravaging the political class, critics continually raised questions about Rousseff\u27s leadership style and abilities. This article analyzes how this criticism in part can be attributed to gendered subjective understandings of preferred leadership traits. Using a thematic analysis of interviews with political actors in five different Brazilian states conducted in 2017 and 2018, we demonstrate that gender stereotypes and sexism fueled criticisms about women\u27s political leadership. While Rousseff\u27s presidency was riddled with problems, the president\u27s leadership style and abilities were scrutinized in distinct gendered ways, indicating a gendered double bind and a backlash against women in politics

Life history linked to immune investment in developing amphibians

The broad diversity of amphibian developmental strategies has been shaped, in part, by pathogen pressure, yet trade-offs between the rate of larval development and immune investment remain poorly understood. The expression of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in skin secretions is a crucial defense against emerging amphibian pathogens and can also indirectly affect host defense by influencing the composition of skin microbiota. We examined the constitutive or induced expression of AMPs in 17 species at multiple life-history stages. We found that AMP defenses in tadpoles of species with short larval periods (fast pace of life) were reduced in comparison with species that overwinter as tadpoles and grow to a large size. A complete set of defensive peptides emerged soon after metamorphosis. These findings support the hypothesis that species with a slow pace of life invest energy in AMP production to resist potential pathogens encountered during the long larval period, whereas species with a fast pace of life trade this investment in defense for more rapid growth and development

Engineered Orthogonal Quorum Sensing Systems for Synthetic Gene Regulation in Escherichia coli

Gene regulators that are controlled by membrane-permeable compounds called homoserine lactones (HSLs) have become popular tools for building synthetic gene networks that coordinate behaviors across populations of engineered bacteria. Synthetic HSL-signaling systems are derived from natural DNA and protein elements from microbial quorum signaling pathways. Crosstalk, where a single HSL can activate multiple regulators, can lead to faults in networks composed of parallel signaling pathways. Here, we report an investigation of quorum sensing components to identify synthetic pathways that exhibit little to no crosstalk in liquid and solid cultures. In previous work, we characterized the response of a single regulator (LuxR) to 10 distinct HSL-synthase enzymes. Our current study determined the responses of five different regulators (LuxR, LasR, TraR, BjaR, and AubR) to the same set of synthases. We identified two sets of orthogonal synthase-regulator pairs (BjaI/BjaR + EsaI/TraR and LasI/LasR + EsaI/TraR) that show little to no crosstalk when they are expressed in Escherichia coli BL21. These results expand the toolbox of characterized components for engineering microbial communities

A Racial/Ethnic Performance Disparity on the Facial Recognition Test

The Facial Recognition Test is a widely used psychometric instrument for assessing visuoperceptual functioning. Only two prior studies have examined the effects of race/ethnicity on this test. Given that the United States has become more culturally diverse since the creation of the test, it is important to re-visit the effects of this demographic variable on performance. Participants were 75 males and 75 females between the ages of 18 and 43 years (M = 21.91, SD = 5.33). Racial/ethnic categories utilized by the U.S. Census Bureau were equally represented. No gender differences were observed. The race/ethnicity main effect was significant. The gender x race/ethnicity interaction was not significant. The data revealed a clear racial/ethnic performance disparity on the Facial Recognition Test

Proximal tibial replacement in revision knee arthroplasty for non-oncologic indications.

Proximal tibial metaphyseal bone loss compromises the alignment and fixation of components during revision total knee arthroplasty. In massive, segmental defects with loss of collateral ligamentous support and lack of bone to support the use of prosthetic augments or metaphyseal cones or sleeves, a hinged proximal tibial replacement or a so-called megaprosthesis should be available. While proximal tibial replacement is the reconstructive method of choice in the setting of bone tumor resection, applications in non-oncologic joint arthroplasty are rare and may offer an opportunity for limb salvage in dire clinical scenarios with massive proximal tibial bone loss. This report reviews 6 cases of proximal tibial replacement

Neural Systems Underlying RDoC Social Constructs: An Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis

Neuroscientists have sought to identify the underlying neural systems supporting social processing that allow interaction and communication, forming social relationships, and navigating the social world. Through the use of NIMH’s Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework, we evaluated consensus among studies that examined brain activity during social tasks to elucidate regions comprising the “social brain”. We examined convergence across tasks corresponding to the four RDoC social constructs, including Affiliation and Attachment, Social Communication, Perception and Understanding of Self, and Perception and Understanding of Others. We performed a series of coordinate-based meta-analyses using the activation likelihood estimate (ALE) method. Meta-analysis was performed on whole-brain coordinates reported from 864 fMRI contrasts using the NiMARE Python package, revealing convergence in medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, temporoparietal junction, bilateral insula, amygdala, fusiform gyrus, precuneus, and thalamus. Additionally, four separate RDoC-based meta-analyses revealed differential convergence associated with the four social constructs. These outcomes highlight the neural support underlying these social constructs and inform future research on alterations among neurotypical and atypical populations

Energy Reallocation to Breeding Performance through Improved Nest Building in Laboratory Mice.

Mice are housed at temperatures (20-26°C) that increase their basal metabolic rates and impose high energy demands to maintain core temperatures. Therefore, energy must be reallocated from other biological processes to increase heat production to offset heat loss. Supplying laboratory mice with nesting material may provide sufficient insulation to reduce heat loss and improve both feed conversion and breeding performance. Naïve C57BL/6, BALB/c, and CD-1breeding pairs were provided with bedding alone, or bedding supplemented with either 8g of Enviro-Dri, 8g of Nestlets, for 6 months. Mice provided with either nesting material built more dome-like nests than controls. Nesting material improved feed efficiency per pup weaned as well as pup weaning weight. The breeding index (pups weaned/dam/week) was higher when either nesting material was provided. Thus, the sparing of energy for thermoregulation of mice given additional nesting material may have been responsible for the improved breeding and growth of offspring

US Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter 2017: Community Report

This white paper summarizes the workshop "U.S. Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter" held at University of Maryland on March 23-25, 2017.Comment: 102 pages + reference