Gender difference on spatial visualization by college students’ major types as STEM and non-STEM: a meta-analysis

Gender difference on spatial visualization has been considered an important factor that impacts the gender gap in academic performance in STEM-related disciplines. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the gender difference on spatial visualization between STEM and non-STEM undergraduate majors. Twenty effect sizes representing STEM majors’ spatial ability and 14 effect sizes representing non-STEM majors’ spatial ability were included in the present meta-analysis. Results indicated that the overall effect size equalled 0.613 (95% CI?=?[0.444, 0.782]) in STEM and 0.481 (95% CI?=?[0.359, 0.604]) in non-STEM. These findings showed that the gender differences on spatial visualization were statistically significant in both STEM and non-STEM majors. The gender difference on spatial visualization in STEM was larger than the gender difference on spatial visualization in non-STEM. In addition, male students’ spatial visualization ability was higher than female students’ spatial visualization in both STEM and non-STEM majors.     

Interactive effects of age and gender on levels of toxic and potentially toxic metals in children hair in different urban environments

Children growth and development may be affected by metal exposure. The objective of the present study was to investigate the interactive effects of age and gender on children hair toxic metal levels in urban environment of two Russian cities. A total of 2021 children living in Moscow and Novosibirsk aged 1–18 years old were examined. Hair Al, As, Cd, Hg, Ni, Pb and Sn levels were assessed using inductively-coupled plasma mass-spectrometry in dynamic reaction cell mode. Children from Novosibirsk were characterised by higher hair Al (37%), As (385%), Cd (127%), Hg (11%), Ni (23%), Pb (72%) and Sn (25%) in comparison to Moscow values. In the general cohort, boys had higher Al (13%), As (51%), Cd (65%), Pb (63%) and Sn (18%) levels, whereas hair Ni was higher in girls (17%). Further analysis demonstrated age-specific gender differences. In particular, only hair Ni and Cd levels were higher in male toddlers and pre-schoolers from Novosibirsk as compared to females. No gender difference was detected in Moscow. Maximal gender differences in hair metal levels were detected in adolescents for both locations. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) reference values for all groups were also calculated. The overall reference limits for the studied children population were Al (1.335–3.340 µg/g), As (0.021–0.384 µg/g), Cd (0.000–1.389 µg/g), Hg (0.024–0.722 µg/g), Ni (0.076–0.701 µg/g), Pb (0.050–1.490 µg/g) and Sn (0.070–1.026 µg/g). Two-way ANOVA demonstrated significant effects of age, gender and age*gender interaction on hair metals in both cities. At the same time, the age-specific changes in hair metal content were more expressed in children from Novosibirsk, being exposed to higher metal pollution. The obtained data demonstrate that age, gender as well as the particular rate of pollution in each location should be taken into account during interpretation of hair test results.     

核磁共振技术测试不同性别大鼠尿液代谢物的研究

采用核磁共振波谱技术测试不同性别大鼠尿液代谢物,分析性别因素对大鼠尿液代谢成分的影响.大鼠尿液核磁共振氢谱（1HNMR谱）结果采用主成分分析（principal component analysis,PCA）和正交偏最小二乘判别分析（orthogonal to partial least squares discriminant analysis,OPLS-DA）方法分析,得到不同性别大鼠尿液中的差异性代谢物.PCA分析结果显示2组尿液代谢成分有明显的差异,进一步进行OPLS-DA分析可以判别出2组尿液中具有差异性的代谢物.结果显示,雌性大鼠尿液中的丙氨酸、缬氨酸、鸟氨酸等氨基酸类以及乙酸、硫胺、氨基马尿酸、苯乙胺、氧氨嘧啶等代谢物含量高于雄性大鼠,差异有统计学意义（p〈0.05）.雄性大鼠尿液中的甲胺、二甲胺、三甲胺、肌酸酐、尿囊素、延胡索酸、甲酸等代谢物则明显高于雌性大鼠,差异有统计学意义（p〈0.05）.性别因素对大鼠尿液中的代谢成分有一定的影响.     

基于1H NMR代谢组学方法分析马兜铃酸I诱导的雌雄小鼠急性肾毒性

基于¹H NMR的代谢组学方法, 分析了C57BL/6J小鼠尿样的代谢特征, 揭示出马兜铃酸I(AAI)导致急性肾毒性的分子机理及其在雌性和雄性小鼠上差异的根源. 研究结果表明, AAI的急性肾毒性主要来自AAI给药后抑制了体内的三羧酸(TCA)循环和能量代谢, 破坏了体内肠道菌群的生态平衡, 改变了肾脏细胞内外的渗透压, 从而引起了肾小管的损伤. 代谢模式分析显示雄性小鼠对AAI的肾毒性比雌性小鼠更敏感, 可能源于雄性小鼠本身更低的能量代谢. 结果表明, 基于尿样¹H NMR代谢组学方法有可能为药物的毒性机制和毒性性别差异研究提供新思路.     

Bio-analytical methods for investigating the effect of age,body mass index and gender on the PK/PD ratio of antibiotics

The effectiveness of antibiotics (ABs) is governed by achieving the adequate pharmacokinetic (PK)/pharmacodynamics (PD) ratio. In this study, fast LC–MS/MS methods were developed and validated for the bioanalysis of cefaclor (CFC), ciprofloxacin (CFC), roxithomycin (RXM) and clindamycin (CLD). Chromatographic separation was performed on a C₁₈ Zorbax-Eclipse Plus (3.5 μm, 100 × 4.6 mm) using isocratic elution. Detection was performed by positive electrospray ionization. The methods were applied for the assessment of PK parameters in volunteers (n = 101, 64 male and 37 female) and the effects of age, body mass index (BMI) and gender were investigated. Good linearity (r ² ≥ 0.99), accuracy (>86%), precision (CV% ≤ 11) and extraction recovery (>83%) were observed for CFC, CFX, RXM and CLD. Application to PK studies revealed that age and BMI affected the T_half and the AUC of RXM and CLD (p < 0.023). Gender difference affected the critical PK parameters of the four ABs (T_half (U = 18; P = 0.036) of CFC, the C_max of CFX (U = 30; P = 0.017), the T_half (U = 23; P = 0.009) and AUC (U = 26; P = 0.008) of RXM and CLD), respectively. These results highlight the significance of age and BMI variations for RXM and CLD dosing. Furthermore, it indicates that the gender difference may be considered when adjusting the AB dose.     

Gender differences in mathematics achievement in Jordan: A differential item functioning analysis of the 2015 TIMSS

This study is within the framework of the United Nations sustainable development goals related to equitable quality education. The total score on the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study that indicated eighth‐grade girls in Jordan significantly outperformed boys is hiding many details related to the quality of mathematics learning that reflect a gender gap. Data were analyzed using the Mantel–Haenszel differential item functioning analysis procedure to investigate test items that favored either boys or girls. The results showed that boys were more likely than girls to correctly answer the more difficult, unfamiliar, life‐related mathematical problems. In contrast, girls were more likely than boys to correctly answer the familiar, less difficult, and not life‐related problems. Some recommendations were suggested to diminish this gender gap that goes each way.     

Who succeeds in STEM? Elementary girls' attitudes and beliefs about self and STEM

With ongoing underrepresentation of women in STEM fields, it is necessary to explore ways to maintain girls' STEM interest throughout elementary and middle school. This study is situated within the context of Designs in STEM (pseudonym), an out-of-school program that engages urban youth in authentic STEM experiences. Participants were 30 girls attending Designs in STEM in grades four and five. Participants were interviewed about their STEM interest, out-of-school versus in-school STEM learning experiences, and how gender relates to STEM success. Several key findings emerged. First, although students' prior school experiences with mathematics resulted in less positive dispositions toward mathematics than other STEM disciplines, their experiences at Designs in STEM revealed that mathematics could be fun and valuable when used for real-world purposes. Second, students found Designs in STEM to be more engaging and inspiring due to the context and pedagogies employed by Designs in STEM instructors. Third, despite observing girls' behavior that was more aligned with academic success, participants still identified STEM advantages for boys. Finally, participants defined success and intelligence in STEM based on speed and tracking. Discussion focuses on the need to consider how school-based mathematics instruction may serve as a barrier to girls' STEM interest and involvement.     

HPLC‐fluorescence determination of thiol compounds in the serum of human male and female subjects using HILIC‐mode column

High‐performance liquid chromatography–fluorescence detection using a hydrophilic interaction chromatography‐mode column (ZIC®‐HILIC) was used to determine four kinds of thiol compounds in human serum. Sera were obtained from 34 subjects for this study (17 male subjects aged 22–38 years and 17 female subjects aged 18–38 years). Serum cysteine, cysteinylglycine, glutathione, and γ‐glutamylcysteine, derivatized with ammonium 7‐fluoro‐2,1,3‐benzoxadiazole‐4‐sulfonate, were separated on the ZIC®‐HILIC column and quantified. The serum concentrations of cysteine, cysteinylglycine, glutathione and γ‐glutamylcysteine were 226 ± 4.7, 23.4 ± 1.3, 3.7 ± 0.2 and 3.2 ± 0.1 μm , respectively. In addition, the concentrations of serum thiol compounds from male subjects were significantly higher than those of the female subjects (p < 0.05). Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Grammatical Gender Disambiguates Syntactically Similar Nouns

Recent research into grammatical gender from the perspective of information theory has shown how seemingly arbitrary gender systems can ease processing demands by guiding lexical prediction. When the gender of a noun is revealed in a preceding element, the list of possible candidates is reduced to the nouns assigned to that gender. This strategy can be particularly effective if it eliminates words that are likely to compete for activation against the intended word. We propose syntax as the crucial context within which words must be disambiguated, hypothesizing that syntactically similar words should be less likely to share a gender cross-linguistically. We draw on recent work on syntactic information in the lexicon to define the syntactic distribution of a word as a probability vector of its participation in various dependency relations, and we extract such relations for 32 languages from the Universal Dependencies Treebanks. Correlational and mixed-effects regression analyses reveal that syntactically similar nouns are less likely to share a gender, the opposite pattern that is found for semantically and orthographically similar words. We interpret this finding as a design feature of language, and this study adds to a growing body of research attesting to the ways in which functional pressures on learning, memory, production, and perception shape the lexicon in different ways.