Gender balance in committees and how it impacts participation : evidence from Costa Rica's legislative assembly

Artículo originalWe examine participation by women and men in legislatures in a critical case. Previous studies found that women often participate less than men in committee hearings and plenary debates. Yet these studies were conducted in cases where women held a fairly small share of seats and generally did not hold leadership positions or have seniority – factors expected to decrease participation. We use data from the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly (2010-2012) to assess whether women still participate less than men when placed in conditions of (near) institutional equality. Costa Rica has a successful 40% gender quota, a woman president, and no immediate reelection to the Assembly so all deputies lack seniority, thus many sex barriers have been broken in Costa Rican politics. In this apparently favorable environment, do women deputies participate equally with men? We answer this question using data from two standing committees, which offer variance on the percentage of women in attendance at each session. Empirical findings suggest that women participate as much as men in committee, even when the number of women on the committee is few. We also find that committee leaders are very active participants, which underscores the importance for women of obtaining committee leadership positions

What Should Congress Members Do? Using Survey Embedded Experiments to Study Citizens’ Clientelistic Expectations in Mexico

How do citizens view the work of their legislators? Do they think representatives should legislate and oversee the executive, or do they believe representatives should deliver resources to their community and help individuals with problems? Do they expect both? In Latin America surveys typically show that popular evaluations of the national congress are overwhelmingly negative but are not able to explain why. Are congresses held in low esteem because people think that congress is not legislating well or efficiently overseeing the executive, or because citizens do not know what legislators are supposed to do and want them to deliver pork for their district and personalistic benefits for themselves? Since clientelism targets the poor and plays an important role in elections in developing democ- racies, it is important to know if poor citizens truly have different views than wealthier citizens about what a member of congress should do once elected. We use quasi-experimental procedures in a public opinion survey administered in Mexico City to begin to address these questions. Our findings indicate that poorer citizens, people with no or very little education, have greater expectations of clientelism than wealthier citizens but that their view of a legislator’s job is more subtle, and more democratic than would be predicted by clientelism theory.How do citizens view the work of their legislators? Do they think representatives should legislate and oversee the executive, or do they believe representatives should deliver resources to their community and help individuals with problems? Do they expect both? In Latin America surveys typically show that popular evaluations of the national congress are overwhelmingly negative but are not able to explain why. Are congresses held in low esteem because people think that congress is not legislating well or efficiently overseeing the executive, or because citizens do not know what legislators are supposed to do and want them to deliver pork for their district and personalistic benefits for themselves? Since clientelism targets the poor and plays an important role in elections in developing democ- racies, it is important to know if poor citizens truly have different views than wealthier citizens about what a member of congress should do once elected. We use quasi-experimental procedures in a public opinion survey administered in Mexico City to begin to address these questions. Our findings indicate that poorer citizens, people with no or very little education, have greater expectations of clientelism than wealthier citizens but that their view of a legislator’s job is more subtle, and more democratic than would be predicted by clientelism theory

A modern scleractinian coral with a two-component calcite–aragonite skeleton

Until now, all of the ca. 1,800 known modern scleractinian coral species were thought to produce skeletons exclusively of aragonite. Asymbiotic Paraconotrochus antarcticus living in the Southern Ocean is the first example of an extant scleractinian that forms a two-component carbonate skeleton, with an inner structure made of high-Mg calcite and an outer structure composed of aragonite. This discovery adds support to the notion that the coral skeletal formation process is strongly biologically controlled. Mitophylogenomic analysis shows that P. antarcticus represents an ancient scleractinian clade, suggesting that skeletal mineralogy/polymorph of a taxon, once established, is a trait conserved throughout the evolution of that clade.One of the most conserved traits in the evolution of biomineralizing organisms is the taxon-specific selection of skeletal minerals. All modern scleractinian corals are thought to produce skeletons exclusively of the calcium-carbonate polymorph aragonite. Despite strong fluctuations in ocean chemistry (notably the Mg/Ca ratio), this feature is believed to be conserved throughout the coral fossil record, spanning more than 240 million years. Only one example, the Cretaceous scleractinian coral Coelosmilia (ca. 70 to 65 Ma), is thought to have produced a calcitic skeleton. Here, we report that the modern asymbiotic scleractinian coral Paraconotrochus antarcticus living in the Southern Ocean forms a two-component carbonate skeleton, with an inner structure made of high-Mg calcite and an outer structure composed of aragonite. P. antarcticus and Cretaceous Coelosmilia skeletons share a unique microstructure indicating a close phylogenetic relationship, consistent with the early divergence of P. antarcticus within the Vacatina (i.e., Robusta) clade, estimated to have occurred in the Mesozoic (ca. 116 Mya). Scleractinian corals thus join the group of marine organisms capable of forming bimineralic structures, which requires a highly controlled biomineralization mechanism; this capability dates back at least 100 My. Due to its relatively prolonged isolation, the Southern Ocean stands out as a repository for extant marine organisms with ancient traits.Mitogenome sequences data have been deposited in GenBank (MT409109). All other study data are included in the article text and supporting information

Different patient subgroup, different ranking? Which quality indicators do patients find important when choosing a hospital for hip- or knee arthroplasty?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Patients are increasingly expected to become active, critical consumers in healthcare. They can use comparative healthcare information presented on websites to make informed choices for healthcare providers. However, the use of this information has been limited so far. An obstacle can be that the information is not perceived as relevant by patients. Presenting only the most important quality indicators might improve the usefulness of this information. The aim of this study was to explore which quality indicators different subgroups of patients find important when choosing a hospital for total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this explorative, cross-sectional study, questionnaires were distributed to 265 patients who underwent or had to undergo THA/TKA. Participants were asked to rank the importance of three types of quality indicators: patient experience indicators, clinical performance indicators, and indicators about hospital services. We used random effects regression analyses to assess the relative importance of the indicators in different subgroups of patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>110 patients (response rate 41.5%) who underwent or had to undergo THA/TKA participated. Conduct of doctors, the presence of procedures to prevent adverse effects of thrombosis and information about the specialist area of orthopaedists were the most important patient experience indicator, clinical performance indicator and indicator about hospital services, respectively. We found a few differences between patient subgroups in the importance attached to the quality indicators.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study provides a first insight into which quality indicators patients find important when choosing a hospital for THA/TKA, and shows that subgroups of patients differ in the value they attach to these indicators. More extended research is needed to establish the indicators that should at least be presented in succinct overviews of comparative healthcare information for patients choosing a hospital for THA/TKA.</p

Beyond Committees: Parliamentary Oversight of Coalition Government in Britain

A legislature's ability to engage in oversight of the executive is believed to derive largely from its committee system. For example, powerful parliamentary committees are considered a necessary condition for the legislature to help police policy compromises between parties in multiparty government. But can other parliamentary instruments perform this role? This paper suggests parliamentary questions as an alternative parliamentary vehicle for coalition parties to monitor their partners. Questions force ministers to reveal information concerning their legislative and extra-legislative activities, providing coalition members unique insights into their partners’ behaviour. To test our argument, we build and analyse a new dataset of parliamentary questions in the British House of Commons covering the 2010-15 coalition. As expected, government MPs ask more questions as the divisiveness of a policy area increases. Legislatures conventionally considered weak due to the lack of strong committees may nevertheless play an important oversight role through other parliamentary devices, including helping to police the implementation of coalition agreements

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Equity at sea: Gender and inclusivity in UK sea-going science

Today, we can celebrate a strong representation of women in sea-going science in the United Kingdom, providing positive role models for early-career female marine scientists. However, women continue to face challenges to their progression in their marine science careers, especially those who are also members of other under-represented groups. In this article we consider gender equity and equality in participation and leadership in sea-going marine science in the UK, discussing successes and lessons learned for the future. After a brief history of UK women in ocean science, and a summary of some recent advances in gender equality, we look at further areas in need of improvement, and ask whether successes in improved gender equality can be transferred to tackling other forms of under-representation in sea-going science

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Water T2 as an early, global and practical biomarker for metabolic syndrome: an observational cross-sectional study

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a highly prevalent condition that identifies individuals at risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Prevention of these diseases relies on early detection and intervention in order to preserve pancreatic β-cells and arterial wall integrity. Yet, the clinical criteria for MetS are insensitive to the early-stage insulin resistance, inflammation, cholesterol and clotting factor abnormalities that char- acterize the progression toward type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis. Here we report the discovery and initial charac- terization of an atypical new biomarker that detects these early conditions with just one measurement. Methods: Water T2, measured in a few minutes using benchtop nuclear magnetic resonance relaxometry, is exqui- sitely sensitive to metabolic shifts in the blood proteome. In an observational cross-sectional study of 72 non-diabetic human subjects, the association of plasma and serum water T2 values with over 130 blood biomarkers was analyzed using bivariate, multivariate and logistic regression. Results: Plasma and serum water T2 exhibited strong bivariate correlations with markers of insulin, lipids, inflamma- tion, coagulation and electrolyte balance. After correcting for confounders, low water T2 values were independently and additively associated with fasting hyperinsulinemia, dyslipidemia and subclinical inflammation. Plasma water T2 exhibited 100% sensitivity and 87% specificity for detecting early insulin resistance in normoglycemic subjects, as defined by the McAuley Index. Sixteen normoglycemic subjects with early metabolic abnormalities (22% of the study population) were identified by low water T2 values. Thirteen of the 16 did not meet the harmonized clinical criteria for metabolic syndrome and would have been missed by conventional screening for diabetes risk. Low water T2 values were associated with increases in the mean concentrations of 6 of the 16 most abundant acute phase proteins and lipoproteins in plasma. Conclusions: Water T2 detects a constellation of early abnormalities associated with metabolic syndrome, provid- ing a global view of an individual’s metabolic health. It circumvents the pitfalls associated with fasting glucose and hemoglobin A1c and the limitations of the current clinical criteria for metabolic syndrome. Water T2 shows promise as an early, global and practical screening tool for the identification of individuals at risk for diabetes and atherosclerosis