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Word embeddings are a powerful machine-learning framework that represents each English word by a vector. The geometric relationship between these vectors captures meaningful semantic relationships between the corresponding words. In this paper, we develop a framework to demonstrate how the temporal dynamics of the embedding helps to quantify changes in stereotypes and attitudes toward women and ethnic minorities in the 20th and 21st centuries in the United States. We integrate word embeddings trained on 100 y of text data with the US Census to show that changes in the embedding track closely with demographic and occupation shifts over time. The embedding captures societal shifts-e.g., the women's movement in the 1960s and Asian immigration into the United States-and also illuminates how specific adjectives and occupations became more closely associated with certain populations over time. Our framework for temporal analysis of word embedding opens up a fruitful intersection between machine learning and quantitative social science., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Excellence in research requires careful attention to sex and gender analysis. The Gendered Innovations project, initiated in 2009, develops state-of-the-art methods of sex and gender analysis for basic and applied research. This chapter reviews recent developments in cardiovascular disease for (1) analyzing sex, (2) analyzing gender, and (3) policy initiatives.

Gender and sex analysis is increasingly recognized as a key factor in creating better medical research and health care 1-7 . Using a sample of more than 1.5 million medical research papers, our study examined the potential link between women's participation in medical science and attention to gender-related and sex-related factors in disease-specific research. Adjusting for variations across countries, disease topics and medical research areas, we compared the participation of women authors in studies that do and do not involve gender and sex analysis. Overall, our results show a robust positive correlation between women's authorship and the likelihood of a study including gender and sex analysis. These findings corroborate discussions of how women's participation in medical science links to research outcomes, and show the mutual benefits of promoting both the scientific advancement of women and the integration of gender and sex analysis into medical research.

In June 2015, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released a Guide notice (NOT-OD-15-102) that highlighted the expectation of the NIH that the possible role of sex as a biologic variable be factored into research design, analyses, and reporting of vertebrate animal and human studies. Anticipating these guidelines, the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health, in October 2014, convened key stakeholders to discuss methods and techniques for integrating sex as a biologic variable in preclinical research. The workshop focused on practical methods, experimental design, and approaches to statistical analyses in the use of both male and female animals, cells, and tissues in preclinical research. Workshop participants also considered gender as a modifier of biology. This article builds on the workshop and is meant as a guide to preclinical investigators as they consider methods and techniques for inclusion of both sexes in preclinical research and is not intended to prescribe exhaustive/specific approaches for compliance with the new NIH policy.-Miller, L. R., Marks, C., Becker, J. B., Hurn, P. D., Chen, W.-J., Woodruff, T., McCarthy, M. M., Sohrabji, F., Schiebinger, L., Wetherington, C. L., Makris, S., Arnold, A. P., Einstein, G., Miller, V. M., Sandberg, K., Maier, S., Cornelison, T. L., Clayton, J. A. Considering sex as a biological variable in preclinical research., (© FASEB.)

This article examines a large cohort of previously suicidal adolescents, identifying those that surpassed threshold criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD), according to the Abbreviated Diagnostic Interview of Borderlines (Ab-DIB), and determining the stability, correlates and predictors of BPD from early-to-late adolescence. Two hundred and eighty-six youth (mean baseline age 14.6 years; SD 1.5), presenting consecutively to a metropolitan pediatric hospital emergency department for evaluation of suicidality, were assessed at initial consultation for Axis I and II disorders and demographic and clinical variables. Two hundred and twenty-nine (80%) were re-assessed for those variables 4 years later and 204 (70.3%) had complete data sets at recruitment and follow-up. Previously suicidal youths who met BPD threshold on the Ab-DIB at recruitment were distinguishable at baseline from those who did not in conduct disorder symptoms (p < 0.003), lower levels of functioning (p < 0.001), drug use (p < 0.001), stressful life events (p < 0.003) and family relations (p < 0.001). The BPD diagnosis was consistent, according to this measure, at baseline and follow-up for 76% of participants. Four groups with respect to borderline pathology (persisting, remitting, emerging and never) were identified (ICC = 0.603, 95% CI = 0.40-0.78). Persistent BPD status was predictable by older age at presentation (p < 0.01) and level of functioning (p < 0.05). Eight percent were also suicidal at the 4-year follow-up. Using a self-report measure of BPD, we suggest that suicidal youth can indeed be diagnosed with the disorder at 14 years old, supporting the shift from DSM-IV to DSM-5, given what appears to be its temporal stability, differentiation of those suffering with considerable symptomatology or not, and predictors of its status in late adolescence. The low suicidality rate at follow-up indicates a good short-term prognosis.

Sex, a biological variable, and gender, a cultural variable, define the individual and affect all aspects of disease prevention, development, diagnosis, progression, and treatment. Sex and gender are essential elements of individualized medicine. However, medical education rarely considers such topics beyond the physiology of reproduction. To reduce health care disparities and to provide optimal, cost-effective medical care for individuals, concepts of sex and gender health need to become embedded into education and training of health professionals. In September 2012, Mayo Clinic hosted a 2-day workshop bringing together leading experts from 13 U.S. schools of medicine and schools of public health, Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Women's Health (HRSA OWH), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH), and the Canadian Institute of Health and Gender. The purpose of this workshop was to articulate the need to integrate sex- and gender-based content into medical education and training, to identify gaps in current medical curricula, to consider strategies to embed concepts of sex and gender health into health professional curricula, and to identify existing resources to facilitate and implement change. This report summarizes these proceedings, recommendations, and action items from the workshop.

Objective: This study evaluated land preparation interventions (new short- and long-handled hoes), developed in a participatory manner with women vegetable farmers in West Africa, and identified indicators of long-term adoption of these interventions., Methods: Subjects (n = 48) engaged in timed trials, alternating between using an intervention tool and their traditional hand hoe to till specified plots of land. Heart rates were measured and subjects reported the relative ergonomic comfort and safeness of the tool after each trial. Follow-up interviews and focus groups were held one, two, and three months after the trials., Results: Compared to the traditional hoe, the new long-handled hoe required 22% less time (p = 0.01), while the new short hoe took 20% more time (p = 0.05) to till the standard plots in this study. Two months after the initial trials, 94% of subjects preferred the new hoes over the traditional hoe. Most subjects (75%) preferred the new short hoe over the new long hoe and thought it was faster (81%), despite measurements to the contrary., Conclusions: While the new long-handled hoe performed better in the timed trials in this study, most subjects preferred the new short-handled hoe. Subjects should be sensitized on the benefits of the long-handled hoe., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.)

Background: Academic couples constitute 36% of the US professoriate. Universities are in the midst of a major transition in hiring practices to support these and other faculty with working partners. However, less is known about academic couples among medical school faculty and surgical specialties specifically. This study was designed to address this gap., Study Design: In 2006-2007, the Michelle R Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University designed and administered the "Managing Academic Careers Survey" to nearly 30,000 full-time faculty across all academic fields at leading research universities nationwide. This study included 2,475 medical school faculty survey respondents at 12 participating institutions. Main outcomes measures were academic partner status; number of journal articles/chapters during career; and applications to other academic position(s) in last 5 years., Results: A total of 73.3% of medical school faculty respondents were in dual-career partnerships (where both partners actively pursue employment) and 32.2% had an academic partner. Sixty-nine percent of academic partners were also in medical schools. Women faculty were more likely than men to have an academic partner. Among surgery faculty, 40% of women had an academic partner, as compared with 29.3% of men. In fully adjusted regression models, faculty with academic partners had higher publication counts than other faculty, and had higher odds of applying to other academic positions., Conclusions: Academic couples constitute one-third of all medical school faculty. They represent a productive and potentially mobile component of the medical faculty workforce. Because women had a higher rate of academic partnering, dual-career academic hiring policies are especially important for recruitment and retention of female faculty in surgical specialties., (Copyright © 2011 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: This paper describes the qualitative, community-based participatory approach used to identify culturally-acceptable and sustainable interventions to improve the occupational health, safety, and productivity of smallholder women vegetable farmers in The Gambia (West Africa)., Materials and Methods: This approach was used to conduct: 1) analysis of the tasks and methods traditionally used in vegetable production, and 2) selection of interventions., Results: The most arduous garden tasks that were amenable to interventions were identified, and the interventions were selected through a participatory process for further evaluation., Conclusions: Factors contributing to the successful implementation of the participatory approach used in this study included the following: 1) ensuring that cultural norms were respected and observed; 2) working closely with the existing garden leadership structure; and 3) research team members working with the subjects for an extended period of time to gain first-hand understanding of the selected tasks and to build credibility with the subjects.

Considerable sex and gender bias has been recognized within the field of medicine. Investigators have used sex and gender analysis to reevaluate studies and outcomes and generate new perspectives and new questions regarding differential diagnoses and treatments of men and women. Sex and gender analysis acts as an experimental control to provide critical scientific rigor; researchers who ignore it risk ignoring a possible source of error in past, current, and future science. In this article, the authors introduce some tools of sex and gender analysis and illustrate the concept of gendered innovations by demonstrating through examples how this type of analysis has profoundly enhanced human knowledge in health and disease. The authors also provide recommendations for incorporating the concepts of sex and gender analysis into nursing education and research.

Haemophilus somnus is an important cause of bovine respiratory disease and septicemia with all it's sequelae. The role of immune responses in protection and immunopathogenesis is not well understood. We showed that infection with bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) 6 days before H. somnus increased clinical scores and levels of IgE antibody to H. somnus over that of infection with H. somnus alone. To determine whether antigenic specificity of IgE responses differed from IgG responses, Western blots were done with sera from the infected calves, at 0 time and at 21 days post infection. Thus each calf was its own control. IgG antibodies recognized primarily a 40 kDa outer membrane protein (OMP) in whole cell H. somnus preparations and a 270 kDa immunoglobulin binding protein (IgBPs) in culture supernatants but generally not the 41 kDa major OMP (MOMP). IgE antibodies recognized primarily the 41 kDa MOMP in whole cell pellet preparations. Results were consistent among calves. With culture supernatants, IgE antibodies recognized both the 270 kDa IgBPs and the MOMP. Since some H. somnus strains from asymptomatic carriers (including strain 129Pt), do not have IgBPs and express a truncated MOMP (33 kDa rather than 41 kDa), reaction of strain 129Pt cells with serum from calves infected with H. somnus or BRSV and H. somnus was studied. IgE did not react with the truncated MOMP even at much lower (1:100) dilutions than in Western blots with virulent strain 2336 (serum dilution of 1:500). Reactions of IgE with the 40 and 78 kDa antigens in strain 129Pt were noted but since the major reactivities with the IgBPs and the MOMP were not detected, this strain may be useful for inducing protective rather than immunopathogenic responses.

Background: We evaluated a patient's understanding of his or her cancer (diagnosis, location, stage, status) as a function of age, race, education, income, and marital status., Methods: Patients with cancer were prospectively recruited and surveyed during their outpatient chemotherapy. Survey questions related to demographics, cancer status, location of cancer, stage of disease, prescribed treatment, the treating oncologist, and satisfaction with both the oncologist and medical staff. Each patient's answers to the survey questions were then compared with his or her medical chart. Data analysis was performed with the Chi-square test, logistic regression, and multivariate analysis., Results: Study participants included 284 patients (38% male, 62% female) (56% African American, 42% Caucasian, 3% others) with a median age of 62 years. Patients correctly answered in regards to their diagnosis (98%), cancer location (91%), and name of their doctor (99%). However, only 23% scored correctly when asked the stage of their cancer. In univariate analysis, younger age (P = 0.006) was the only significant variable in answering the question correctly, while higher income (P = 0.065) and female gender (P = 0.092) approached statistical significance. In multivariate analysis, all three variables were shown to be significant (P values of 0.016, 0.028, and 0.041, respectively). Increasing age resulted in a reduction of 2.5% per year, higher income resulted in an increase of 1.3% per 1000 dollars, and females were 49% more accurate, in the ability to correctly identify the cancer stage., Discussion: Although patients seem to know their condition well, many of them do not understand the stage of their cancer. Older patients, patients with lower income, and male patients seem to have less understanding of the stage of their cancer.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a primary disease of cardiac muscle characterized by a thickening of the left ventricular wall and often predominantly affecting the interventricular septum. This paper presents a case study of a 53-year-old female with a dynamic and obstructive form of HCM. The study includes a case presentation, clinical findings, investigations, and management. Patient findings were obtained before and after alcohol septal ablation, a novel interventional therapy. The article reviews the various forms of HCM and describes the currently available treatment modalities for obstructive HCM. Further research will be necessary to determine the comparative efficacy between past, present, and future therapies.

Women have traditionally been underrepresented in clinical trials. In order to translate recent advances in our understanding of the molecular and physiological bases of sex differences into new therapeutics and health practices, sound sex-specific clinical data are imperative. Since the founding of the Office of Research on Women's Health within the Office of the Director at the NIH in 1990, inequities in federally funded biomedical research, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases affecting women in the US have been reviewed. Discussed herein is the evolution of gender-related research innovations, primarily within the last decade, and strategies and challenges involved in the success of this recent development.

Michael Stolberg claims there was a broad movement in the sixteenth century toward sexing skeletons and offers Felix Platter's singular 1583 female skeleton and Caspar Bauhin's 1597 reproduction of that skeleton as evidence. He admits that these illustrations did not become a standard feature of anatomical textbooks, though he maintains (erroneously) that the descriptions of these skeletons became "canonical." Stolberg does not appreciate the extent to which Platter's female skeleton was an anomaly. Distinctively female-sexed skeletons flooded Europe after about 1730, and, importantly, anatomists at the time perceived that these depictions were radically new. Indeed, widespread and protracted debates erupted over the exact features of the female skeleton. These anatomical illustrations emerged within a novel political climate, where sex in the body was newly seen as grounding gender roles in new social regimes. The story of the European study of sexual differences is not one of slow and steady accretion of positive knowledge, as Stolberg implies. That story is fraught with changing reinterpretations and relocations of difference, and new meanings attached to new kinds of sameness and difference within differing cultural contexts. It is wrong to judge foundational shifts in scientific culture merely by firsts.

The voyages of scientific discovery conjure in our minds images of Sir Hans Sloane bioprospecting in Jamaica in 1687 or Joseph Banks voyaging aboard the Endeavour to Tahiti and New Zealand in 1768. But women also set foot on rickety and unsure ocean-going vessels in the 18th century in the service of science. The German-born Maria Sibylla Merian voyaged from Amsterdam to Surinam in South America in 1699 to search for exotic caterpillars. She sought one that would produce a thread to rival silk, a costly and much sought-after fabric in early-modern Europe. In the process, she produced one of the most celebrated 18th-century natural history books.