Power and the gendered division of contraceptive use in Western European couples

Recent research has approached contraceptive use, or “fertility work”, as another household task that is primarily managed by women. Building on the theoretical frameworks of relative resource theory and gender perspectives, this study investigates the association between partners’ power (measured as their relative education, division of housework and decision-making) and the choice of male versus female, or no contraception. Data from the Generations and Gender Survey for four Western European countries (Austria, Belgium, France and Germany; 2005-2010) are used to examine the hypotheses with multinomial logistic diagonal reference models. The results show that man’s and woman’s educational level are equally important predictors for a couple’s contraceptive method choice. Furthermore, the findings suggest that households in which the man performs more housework or the woman has more say in decisions are more likely to rely on male methods or female sterilization, rather than on the more commonly used female reversible methods

Gender inequalities and depression

More gender-equal societies promote better mental health among both men and women and reduce the gender gap in depressive symptom

Gender specific effects of financial and housework contributions on depression: a multi-actor study among three household types in Belgium

Studies that focus on the effects of both the division of household chores and of financial contributions on the mental health of couples are scarce. This paper expands on previous research by paying attention to the variation of this relationship among three types of households: male breadwinner, one-and-a-half-earner and dual-earner. Using paired data from the tenth wave of the Panel Study of Belgian Households, collected in 2001, we perform separate linear regressions for men (N = 1054) and women (N = 1054). The results suggest that in one-and-a-half-earner households, women’s employment has a negative effect on their partner’s depression level and that in dual-earner households, the effect of women’s employment is only negative if men are not the major breadwinner. Crossover effects of depression between partners seem to mediate part of the aforementioned associations

Macrophage activation and human immunodeficiency virus infection: HIV replication directs macrophages towards a pro-inflammatory phenotype while previous activation modulates macrophage susceptibility to infection and viral production

AbstractMacrophages are pivotal for the regulation of immune and inflammatory responses, but whether their role in HIV infection is protective or deleterious remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the effect of pro- and anti-inflammatory stimuli on macrophage sensitivity to two different aspects of HIV infection: their susceptibility to infection stricto sensu, which we measured by endpoint titration method, and their ability to support virus spread, which we measured by using an RT activity assay in infection kinetics. We show a partially protective role for pro-inflammatory agents as well as for IL-4. We also illustrate that various different stimuli display differential effects on macrophage susceptibility to HIV and on virus replication that occurs thereafter. On the other hand, HIV replication strongly repressed CD206 and CD163 expression, thus clearly orientating macrophages towards a pro-inflammatory phenotype, but independently of TNF. Taken together, our results emphasize that HIV infection of macrophages sets up inflammation at the cell level but through unexpected mechanisms. This may limit target susceptibility and participate in virus clearance but may also result in tissue damage

Reprise de l'embryogenèse adventive à partir d'embryons somatiques de caféier (Coffea arabica L.) après leur congélation dans l'azote liquide

Des embryons somatiques de caféiers (#C. arabica$ L.), obtenus à partir d'explants foliaires, survivent à une congélation à -196°C. Les jeunes embryons sont isolés puis cultivés pendant 24 heures sur un milieu enrichi en saccharose (0,75 M). Ils sont ensuite mis à incuber pendant 2 heures dans une solution cryoprotectrice contenant la même concentration en saccharose et 5 % de diméthysulfoxyde. Placés dans des ampoules cryobiologiques, ils sont alors congelés lentement, jusqu'à -40°C, avant d'être plongés et conservés dans de l'azote liquide. Après un réchauffement rapide dans un bain-marie à 40°C, les embryons sont repiqués chaque jour sur des milieux dont la concentration en saccharose est progressivement abaissée jusqu'à la valeur standard de 0,1 M. Le taux de reprise de l'embryogenèse adventive atteint 50 %, 17 semaines après le réchauffement. Les premières plantules, obtenues in vitro à partir de matériel congelé, ont un développement apparemment normal. Dans un proche avenir, la technique mise au point pourrait être élargie à d'autres espèces actuellement entretenues en champ par les stations de recherche caféière. (Résumé d'auteur