Legislated Equality: Gender Quotas in a Latin American Context and the Story of Mexico

Female legislators are becoming much more common and so are legislative acts focusing on increasing the number of women in elected bodies. These acts are an attempt at creating rules, designed in a positive way, to foster social change and fix one of the most predominant issues in society. A prevalent strategy for greater female representation in decision-making bodies is electoral gender quotas. Electoral gender quotas are one method that attempts to raise the descriptive representation (raw numbers) of women in elected within legislative bodies. These quotas have been enacted around the world beginning in the early 1990s. Because electoral gender quotas have only started becoming more prominent during the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century, research on them has been very limited. This paper hopes to add to the existing research by asking the question: what factors influence the implementation of electoral gender quotas. Under what political circumstances are gender quotas formally adopted by national legislatures? This thesis tackles that question by looking at the region of Latin America and more specifically the case of Mexico. It begins with a numerical analysis of the impact of quotas on Latin American nations as a whole. Many Latin American nations have instituted successful gender quotas and seen a large increase in the proportion of female legislators. Following this analysis is a more in-depth analysis of the factors leading to the passage of a specific gender law, the Mexican quota of 2002, looking specifically at the role of political parties, political culture, and interest groups in motivating a nation to pass a quota. Understanding what factors lead to the passage of gender quotas will not only allow us to better understand the motives of legislative bodies in passing quotas, but also allow us to create environments more accepting of legislated quotas

Accessibility of Pregnancy Termination: A Pilot Study of Genetic Counselors and Abortion Providers Throughout the United States

Recent literature suggests that availability and accessibility of pregnancy termination services affects patient care and decision-making. Because of this, there is a need to evaluate the impact of new legislation on accessibility. This study evaluated the accessibility of pregnancy termination throughout the United States by surveying prenatal genetic counselors and abortion providers. 116 responses from currently practicing prenatal genetic counselors and 30 responses from abortion providers within the United States were used in data analysis. Accessibility of pregnancy termination was assessed using the variables of cost, time, and distance. The degree of legislative impact was estimated using Guttmacher Institute’s Policy Trends in the States 2017, which categorizes states into four regions: supportive, middle-ground, hostile, and extremely hostile, based on the number of abortion restrictions enacted. Overall, the findings show some evidence indicating that access to abortion is more limited in states with increased legislation. Genetic counselors in hostile states were more likely to refer patients to outside providers at every evaluated gestational age range than counselors in supportive states, with 89.9% of counselors referring to providers greater than 4 hours away for referrals over 24 weeks gestation compared to 56.5% in supportive states. Counselors in hostile states were also more likely to report factors such as insurance coverage, out of pocket costs, wait times, travel, and the availability of appointments as having an impact on patients’ decisions to terminate a pregnancy than counselors in supportive states

Design and validation of a physiologically-adapted bioreactor for tissue engineering of the nucleus pulposus

A novel multi-axial bioreactor was designed and developed to deliver combinations of the following dynamic mechanical stimulation conditions: hydrostatic pressure, pulsatile perfusion flow and uniaxial compression in order to mimic in vivo conditions. This mechanical arrangement simultaneously allows triaxial stimulation and characterization of mechanical properties of samples, in particular simulating the conditions experienced by the nucleus pulposus in vivo. A series of initial experiments were performed on this prototype system using consistent, commercially-available, three dimensional scaffolds in combination with human dermal fibroblasts. Our results show that while such bioreactors hold much promise in tissue engineering of desired organs, achieving the right combination of mechanical stimuli and other conditions required in order to enhance the final properties of the cell-scaffold systems is challenging

Impact of Perfectionism, Social Media, and Sleep Hygiene, on Stress in Students from Health Professions Programs

Title: Impact of Perfectionism, Social Media, and Sleep Hygiene, on Stress in Students from Health Professions Programs Purpose: Explore the impact and relationships of perfectionism, sleep, and social media on stress in health profession students. Methods: After IRB approval, 62 health pre-professional/professional students completed this non-experimental survey via Qualtrics. The survey consisted of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), questions about social media usage, and demographic characteristics. Surveys were completed in 2021. Results: Participant demographics included: 50 female, 12 male; Mean Age (24.16); Program of Study (23 PT, 9 OT, 13 PA, 17 Undergraduate); GPA (3.00-3.49=10, 3.50-3.99=36, 4.00=16). The FMPS average was 89.2742 (76.0619 percentile). Correlations between Perfectionism and PSS (r = .463), Daily Screen Time and PSS (r=.294), and PSQI and PSS (r=.611) were significant. Mean global score for PSQI was 6.77. Average sleep per night was 7.32 hours. Mean total PSS score was 22.500 with 4.8% in the low-stress category (0-13), 69.4% in the moderate-stress category (14-26), and 25.8% in the high-stress category (27-40). 52.2% of the variability seen in perceived stress was related to perfectionism, sleep, and social media. Conclusion: A majority of students reported moderate stress, poor sleep quality, and higher than average perfectionism scores. There are other factors related to stress than what was included in this study. Faculty should be aware of the impact that sleep, perfectionism, and social media have on student stress and should provide strategies to assist with stress management

De Novo ZMYND8 variants result in an autosomal dominant neurodevelopmental disorder with cardiac malformations

Purpose: ZMYND8 encodes a multidomain protein that serves as a central interactive hub for coordinating critical roles in transcription regulation, chromatin remodeling, regulation of superenhancers, DNA damage response and tumor suppression. We delineate a novel neurocognitive disorder caused by variants in the ZMYND8 gene. Methods: An international collaboration, exome sequencing, molecular modeling, yeast twohybrid assays, analysis of available transcriptomic data and a knockdown Drosophila model were used to characterize the ZMYND8 variants. Results: ZMYND8 variants were identified in 11 unrelated individuals; 10 occurred de novo and one suspected de novo; 2 were truncating, 9 were missense, of which one was recurrent. The disorder is characterized by intellectual disability with variable cardiovascular, ophthalmologic and minor skeletal anomalies. Missense variants in the PWWP domain of ZMYND8 abolish the interaction with Drebrin and missense variants in the MYND domain disrupt the interaction with GATAD2A. ZMYND8 is broadly expressed across cell types in all brain regions and shows highest expression in the early stages of brain development. Neuronal knockdown of the Drosophila ZMYND8 ortholog results in decreased habituation learning, consistent with a role in cognitive function. Conclusion: We present genomic and functional evidence for disruption of ZMYND8 as a novel etiology of syndromic intellectual disability

The Effect of Electronic Cigarettes on Objective Vocal Measures as Compared to Users’ Perceptions

University Honors Capstone Project Paper, University of Minnesota Duluth, 2021.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the impacts of electronic cigarette use on vocal parameters compared to the impacts of tobacco cigarette use. In addition, this study served to determine participants’ perceptions of harm and benefits associated with electronic and tobacco cigarette use and their perceptions of their vocal qualities. Participants: Participants were between the ages of 18-25 and belonged to one of the following three groups: sole electronic cigarette user, sole tobacco cigarette user, or nonuser. Methods: The participants provided acoustic samples on their personal computers through the acoustic analysis application, Praat. The participants were given a survey and questionnaire to assess their perceptions of their vocal quality and the risks and benefits of smoking. Results: No significant differences were found in objective vocal parameter measures between the groups (p > 0.05). In general, the nonuser group rated their voices as the least healthy, and the e-cigarette and tobacco cigarette users rated their voices as healthier. While the groups demonstrated knowledge of some of the risks of smoking, many were unsure of whether smoking could damage the vocal folds or change the perceptual quality of the voice. Implications: While there were no significant findings, patterns indicate that e-cigarette and tobacco cigarette users have poorer objective vocal qualities than nonusers. The surveys demonstrated that these users perceive their voices as healthy and are not aware of the impacts of smoking on the voice, meaning that more should be done to research the impacts and inform individuals of the potential risks of use

A study of pheniramine maleate and verapamil hydrochloride by 2-D NMR techniques

Includes bibliographical references (pages [95]-96)Pheniramine maleate is the antihistamine component of Dristan nasal spray. ‘H and 13C chemical shift assignments were obtained using 2-D NMR spectroscopy. This work provides the first 13C chemical shift assignments for this molecule. In order to maximize peak separation in the 'H spectrum, these experiments were performed in DMSO-d6. A combination of 13C DEPT (Distortionless Enhancement by Polarization Transfer) plus one-bond and long-range 2-D heteronuclear NMR experiments allowed for the assignments of all l3C peaks in the molecule. A double-quantum filtered COSY (correlated SpectroscopY) experiment was performed for proton-proton correlation. Trends in the chemical shifts were also observed in D20 under protonation (pH = 2.0 to pH = 8.7). A change in conformation is postulated as the molecule is protonated: the monoprotonated ion in DMSO-d6 is believed to be in a folded conformation, while the diprotonated ion (pH =2.0) is believed to be in an extended conformation. Verapamil hydrochloride is a calcium channel antagonist used to treat cardiac dysrhymias. Under conditions of slow proton exchange, the hydrochloride possesses two chiral centers and is therefore diastereomeric. 2-D NMR was used to assign the 'H and 13C chemical shifts at room temperature. 2-D COSY and double quantum filtered COSY experiments were performed for the proton-proton correlation and assignments. One-bond and long-range 2-D heteronuclear NMR experiments were used to assign the resonances in the 13C spectrum. Deprotonation of the amine nitrogen was performed by adding small amounts of triethylamine to verapamil hydrochloride in a solution of CD2C12, which was the best solvent for peak separation at room temperature. However, (CDC12)2 (1,1,2,2- tetrachloroethane-d2) was used for high temperature studies. High temperature NMR studies were performed in order to increase the rate of exchange of the amine proton and increase the rotation about the bonds in the alkyl portions of the molecule, thus simplifing the spectra.M.S. (Master of Science

Studies of a mate recognition gene and its product from the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis

Ph.D.Terry W. Snel