Explorations in sex role stereotypes

The investigation was undertaken to examine in a broad-based exploratory fashion four of the most salient factors in contemporary sex role research (differential evaluation of the sexes, the motive to avoid success, psychological androgyny, and attitudes toward women's roles in society) in an effort to achieve synthesis in a comprehensive theory of sex role ideology. The theory advanced here rests on the supposition that pervading sex role stereotypes are uncritically accepted by males and females and readily incorporated into emergent self concepts. While the assimilation of this artificial dichotomy of masculinity and femininity is restrictive to both sexes, the problem is more acute for the female due to the underlying notion of inferiority and adversely affects attitudinal, motivational and personality dispositions. The theory is corroborated by evidence which demonstrates he prevalence of stereotypic views in men and women varied in age, marital status, religion, educational and occupational history and its high correlation with unitarily stereotypic masculine or feminine self concepts, respectively. Dichotomized, sex appropriate self concepts are also associated with inflexible, conservative attitudes towards women's roles and behavioral potentials in society. Finally, the notion of feminine inferiority is illustrated by the devaluation of women in areas of professional expertise and motivational ambivalence and conflict concerning female achievement. In conclusion, sex role research is criticized on its neglect of critical synthesis of empirical data, and problems with theoretical validation are discussed in terms of phenomenology and methodological variation

Normative Multiculturalism in Socio-Political Context

Normative multiculturalism refers to individuals’ perceptions about the extent to which interactions between culturally diverse groups, multicultural policies and practices, and diversity-valuing ideologies are common or normative in one’s society. In this paper, we explore these dimensions of normative multiculturalism as predictors of social connectedness (trust) and psychological well-being (flourishing) in two socio-political contexts: The United States and the United Kingdom. Two hundred and eighty-four residents (143 Hispanics and 141 non-Hispanic Whites) in the United States and 375 (125 British Indians and 250 British Whites) participated in the research. The results revealed that normative Multicultural Ideology predicted greater trust and normative Multicultural Contact predicted greater flourishing in both countries; however, minority-majority group status moderated the effects in different ways in the two contexts. The positive effects of normative multicultural ideology were confined to Hispanics in the United States, while in the United Kingdom it held for both groups with the effects being stronger for Whites. In addition, the positive effects of normative multicultural contact on flourishing was stronger for Indians than for Whites in the United Kingdom. The findings are discussed in relation to socio-political context and group characteristics along with limitations of the research

Sojourner expectations: Are they met and does it matter if they’re not?

This research examines the association between cross-cultural travelers’ well-being and the discrepancy between expected and experienced adaptation, in a longitudinal study of intercultural exchange students (N = 1762; Mage = 17 years; 70 % female). Specifically, two competing hypotheses were tested. Whereas the accuracy hypothesis suggests that unmet expectations lead to poorer outcomes, the directional hypothesis proposes that the outcome of unmet expectations will depend on whether expectations are overmet or undermet. Both sojourners’ adaptation expectations (pre-travel) and adaptation experiences (during the sojourn) were measured alongside general well-being. Controlling for baseline, well-being during the sojourn was regressed on the direction (undermet or overmet) and the magnitude (extent of discrepancy) of the adaptation expectation-experience discrepancies. These analyses were conducted across time (at entry or 5 months into the sojourn), different types of adaptation (psychological and sociocultural adaptation), and different measures of well-being (stress and satisfaction with life). Across analyses, results indicate that the direction of mismatch appears to matter little for small mismatches. However, for larger mismatches a positive effect emerged for sojourner well-being when the experience was better than expected, but a negative effect when the experience was worse than expected. Overall, the results support a directional hypothesis

A tight spot: How personality moderates the impact of social norms on sojourner adaptation

When living abroad, how do you navigate the norms of your new culture? Taking an interactionalist perspective, we examine how contextual factors and personality traits jointly affect sojourner's adaptation. We hypothesized that tightness (strong, rigidly imposed norms) of the host culture would be associated with lower levels of adaptation, and that tightness of the home culture would be associated with higher levels of adaptation. Further, we proposed that the impact of tightness should be dependent on personality traits associated with navigating social norms (agreeableness, conscientiousness, and honesty-humility). Longitudinal data were analyzed from intercultural exchange students (N = 889) travelling from and to 23 different countries. Multilevel Modeling showed that sojourners living in a tighter culture had poorer adaptation than those in a looser culture. In contrast, sojourners originating from a tighter culture showed better adaptation. The negative effect of cultural tightness was moderated by agreeableness and honesty-humility, but not conscientiousness

The molecular products and biogeochemical significance of lipid photooxidation in West Antarctic surface waters

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2018. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here under a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license granted to WHOI. It is made available for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 232 (2018): 244-264, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2018.04.030.The seasonal depletion of stratospheric ozone over the Southern Hemisphere allows abnormally high doses of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) to reach surface waters of the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) in the austral spring, creating a natural laboratory for the study of lipid photooxidation in the shallow mixed layer of the marginal ice zone. The photooxidation of lipids under such conditions has been identified as a significant source of stress to microorganisms, and short-chain fatty acids altered by photochemical processes have been found in both marine aerosols and sinking marine particle material. However, the biogeochemical impact of lipid photooxidation has not been quantitatively compared at ecosystem scale to the many other biological and abiotic processes that can transform particulate organic matter in the surface ocean. We combined results from field experiments with diverse environmental data, including high-resolution, accurate-mass HPLC-ESI-MS analysis of lipid extracts and in situ measurements of ultraviolet irradiance, to address several unresolved questions about lipid photooxidation in the marine environment. In our experiments, we used liposomes — nonliving, cell-like aggregations of lipids — to examine the photolability of various moieties of the intact polar diacylglycerol (IP-DAG) phosphatidylcholine (PC), a structural component of membranes in a broad range of microorganisms. We observed significant rates of photooxidation only when the molecule contained the polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). As the DHA-containing lipid was oxidized, we observed the steady ingrowth of a diversity of oxylipins and oxidized IP-DAG; our results suggest both the intact IPDAG the degradation products were amenable to heterotrophic assimilation. To complement our experiments, we used an enhanced version of a new lipidomics discovery software package to identify the lipids in water column samples and in several diatom isolates. The galactolipid digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG), the sulfolipid sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol (SQDG) and the phospholipids PC and phosphatidylglycerol (PG) accounted for the majority of IP-DAG in the water column particulate (≥ 0.2 μm) size fraction; between 3.4 and 5.3 % of the IP-DAG contained fatty acids that were both highly polyunsaturated (i.e., each containing ≥ 5 double bonds). Using a broadband apparent quantum yield (AQY) that accounted for direct and Type I (i.e., radical-mediated) photooxidation of PUFA-containing IP-DAG, we estimated that 0.7 ± 0.2 μmol IP-DAG m-2 d-1 (0.5 ± 0.1 mg C m-2 d-1) were oxidized by photochemical processes in the mixed layer. This rate represented 4.4 % (range, 3-21 %) of the mean bacterial production rate measured in the same waters immediately following the retreat of the sea ice. Because our liposome experiments were not designed to account for oxidation by Type II photosensitized processes that often dominate in marine phytodetritus, our rate estimates may represent a sizeable underestimate of the true rate of lipid photooxidation in the water column. While production of such diverse oxidized lipids and oxylipins has been previously observed in terrestrial plants and mammals in response to biological stressors such as disease, we show here that a similar suite of molecules can be produced via an abiotic process in the environment and that the effect can be commensurate in magnitude with other ecosystem-scale biogeochemical processes.J.R.C. acknowledges support from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) STAR Graduate Fellowship (Fellowship Assistance agreement FP-91744301-0). This work was also supported by U.S. National Science Foundation awards OCE-1059884 and PLR-1543328 to B.A.S.V.M., NSF award PLR- 1341479 to A. M., the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through grant GBMF3301 to B.A.S.V.M., and a WHOI Ocean Ventures Fund award to J.R.C

Genome Rearrangements Detected by SNP Microarrays in Individuals with Intellectual Disability Referred with Possible Williams Syndrome

Intellectual disability (ID) affects 2-3% of the population and may occur with or without multiple congenital anomalies (MCA) or other medical conditions. Established genetic syndromes and visible chromosome abnormalities account for a substantial percentage of ID diagnoses, although for approximately 50% the molecular etiology is unknown. Individuals with features suggestive of various syndromes but lacking their associated genetic anomalies pose a formidable clinical challenge. With the advent of microarray techniques, submicroscopic genome alterations not associated with known syndromes are emerging as a significant cause of ID and MCA.High-density SNP microarrays were used to determine genome wide copy number in 42 individuals: 7 with confirmed alterations in the WS region but atypical clinical phenotypes, 31 with ID and/or MCA, and 4 controls. One individual from the first group had the most telomeric gene in the WS critical region deleted along with 2 Mb of flanking sequence. A second person had the classic WS deletion and a rearrangement on chromosome 5p within the Cri du Chat syndrome (OMIM:123450) region. Six individuals from the ID/MCA group had large rearrangements (3 deletions, 3 duplications), one of whom had a large inversion associated with a deletion that was not detected by the SNP arrays.Combining SNP microarray analyses and qPCR allowed us to clone and sequence 21 deletion breakpoints in individuals with atypical deletions in the WS region and/or ID or MCA. Comparison of these breakpoints to databases of genomic variation revealed that 52% occurred in regions harboring structural variants in the general population. For two probands the genomic alterations were flanked by segmental duplications, which frequently mediate recurrent genome rearrangements; these may represent new genomic disorders. While SNP arrays and related technologies can identify potentially pathogenic deletions and duplications, obtaining sequence information from the breakpoints frequently provides additional information

Assessing the carcinogenic potential of low-dose exposures to chemical mixtures in the environment: the challenge ahead.

Lifestyle factors are responsible for a considerable portion of cancer incidence worldwide, but credible estimates from the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) suggest that the fraction of cancers attributable to toxic environmental exposures is between 7% and 19%. To explore the hypothesis that low-dose exposures to mixtures of chemicals in the environment may be combining to contribute to environmental carcinogenesis, we reviewed 11 hallmark phenotypes of cancer, multiple priority target sites for disruption in each area and prototypical chemical disruptors for all targets, this included dose-response characterizations, evidence of low-dose effects and cross-hallmark effects for all targets and chemicals. In total, 85 examples of chemicals were reviewed for actions on key pathways/mechanisms related to carcinogenesis. Only 15% (13/85) were found to have evidence of a dose-response threshold, whereas 59% (50/85) exerted low-dose effects. No dose-response information was found for the remaining 26% (22/85). Our analysis suggests that the cumulative effects of individual (non-carcinogenic) chemicals acting on different pathways, and a variety of related systems, organs, tissues and cells could plausibly conspire to produce carcinogenic synergies. Additional basic research on carcinogenesis and research focused on low-dose effects of chemical mixtures needs to be rigorously pursued before the merits of this hypothesis can be further advanced. However, the structure of the World Health Organization International Programme on Chemical Safety 'Mode of Action' framework should be revisited as it has inherent weaknesses that are not fully aligned with our current understanding of cancer biology

Prognostic utility of sestamibi lung uptake does not require adjustment for stress-related variables: A retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Increased (99m)Tc-sestamibi stress lung-to-heart ratio (sLHR) has been shown to predict cardiac outcomes similar to pulmonary uptake of thallium. Peak heart rate and use of pharmacologic stress affect the interpretation of lung thallium uptake. The current study was performed to determine whether (99m)Tc-sestamibi sLHR measurements are affected by stress-related variables, and whether this in turn affects prognostic utility. METHODS: sLHR was determined in 718 patients undergoing (99m)Tc-sestamibi SPECT stress imaging. sLHR was assessed in relation to demographics, hemodynamic variables and outcomes (mean follow up 5.6 ± 1.1 years). RESULTS: Mean sLHR was slightly greater in males than in females (P < 0.01) and also showed a weak negative correlation with age (P < 0.01) and systolic blood pressure (P < 0.01), but was unrelated to stress method or heart rate at the time of injection. In patients undergoing treadmill exercise, sLHR was also positively correlated with peak workload (P < 0.05) but inversely with double product (P < 0.05). The combined explanatory effect of sex, age and hemodynamic variables on sLHR was less than 10%. The risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or death increased by a factor of 1.7–1.8 for each SD increase in unadjusted sLHR, and was unaffected by adjustment for sex, age and hemodynamic variables (hazard ratios 1.6–1.7). The area under the ROC curve for the unadjusted sLHR was 0.65 (95% CI 0.59–0.71, P < 0.0001) and was unchanged for the adjusted sLHR (0.65, 95% CI 0.61–0.72, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Stress-related variables have only a weak effect on measured sLHR. Unadjusted and adjusted sLHR provide equivalent prognostic information for prediction of AMI or death