Open science, communal culture, and women’s participation in the movement to improve science

Science is undergoing rapid change with the movement to improve science focused largely on reproducibility/replicability and open science practices. This moment of change—in which science turns inward to examine its methods and practices—provides an opportunity to address its historic lack of diversity and noninclusive culture. Through network modeling and semantic analysis, we provide an initial exploration of the structure, cultural frames, and women’s participation in the open science and reproducibility literatures (n = 2,926 articles and conference proceedings). Network analyses suggest that the open science and reproducibility literatures are emerging relatively independently of each other, sharing few common papers or authors. We next examine whether the literatures differentially incorporate collaborative, prosocial ideals that are known to engage members of underrepresented groups more than independent, winner-takes-all approaches. We find that open science has a more connected, collaborative structure than does reproducibility. Semantic analyses of paper abstracts reveal that these literatures have adopted different cultural frames: open science includes more explicitly communal and prosocial language than does reproducibility. Finally, consistent with literature suggesting the diversity benefits of communal and prosocial purposes, we find that women publish more frequently in high-status author positions (first or last) within open science (vs. reproducibility). Furthermore, this finding is further patterned by team size and time. Women are more represented in larger teams within reproducibility, and women’s participation is increasing in open science over time and decreasing in reproducibility. We conclude with actionable suggestions for cultivating a more prosocial and diverse culture of science

Vascular density and phenotype around ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of the breast

Up to 50% of recurrences of ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast are associated with invasive carcinoma but no pathological or molecular features have yet been found to predict for the development of invasive disease. For a tumour to invade, it requires the formation of new blood vessels. Previous studies have described a vascular rim around ducts involved by ductal carcinoma in situ, raising the possibility that the characteristics of periductal vascularisation may be important in determining transformation from in situ to invasive disease. Periductal vascular density and phenotype were determined using morphometry and a panel of anti-endothelial antibodies (von Willebrand factor, CD31, CD141 and CD34) and related to the presence of invasive carcinoma and other histological features. Compared to normal lobules, pure ductal carcinoma in situ exhibited a greater density of CD34+ and CD31+ vessels but a decrease in those that were immunopositive for vWF, indicating a difference in phenotype and in density. Ductal carcinoma in situ associated with invasive carcinoma showed a profile of vascular immunostaining similar to that of pure ductal carcinoma in situ but there were significantly greater numbers of CD34+ and CD141+ vessels and fewer staining for vWF. There was a significant negative correlation between vascular density and both the cross-sectional areas of the ducts involved and the extent of the necrosis of the tumour they contained. A correlation between vascular density and nuclear grade was also noted, being highest in the intermediate grade. The greater density of CD34+ and CD141+ vessels around ductal carcinoma in situ associated with invasive carcinoma could reflect a greater predisposition to invade but a direct effect of co-existent invasive carcinoma cannot entirely be ruled out in the present study. The relationship between vascular density, grade, duct size and nuclear grade suggests that periductal angiogenesis increases with tumour growth rate but is unable to keep pace with the most rapidly growing lesions

[Photograph 2012.201.B1398.0619]

Photograph used for a story in the Oklahoma Times newspaper. Caption: "Rough Rider aircraft heads into heads into an Oklahoma thunderhead north of Enid.