ABSTRACT
Gender equity is far from being achieved in most academic institutions worldwide. Women representation in scientific leadership faces multiple obstacles. Implicit bias and stereotype threat are considered important driving forces concerning gender disparities. Negative cultural stereotypes of weak scientific performance, unrelated to true capacity, are implicitly associated with women and other social groups, influencing, without awareness, attitudes and judgments towards them. Meetings of scientific societies are the forum in which members from all stages of scientific careers are brought together. Visibility in the scientific community stems partly from presenting research as a speaker. Here, we investigated gender disparities in the Brazilian Society of Neuroscience and Behavior (SBNeC). Across the 15 mandates (1978-2020), women occupied 30% of the directory board posts, and only twice was a woman president. We evaluated six meetings held between 2010 and 2019. During this period, the membership of women outnumbered that of men in all categories. A total of 57.50% of faculty members, representing the potential pool of speakers and chairs, were female. Compared to this expected value, female speakers across the six meetings were scarce in full conferences (χ2(5)=173.54, P<0.001) and low in symposia (χ2(5)=36.92, P<0.001). Additionally, women chaired fewer symposia (χ2(5)=47.83, P<0.001). Furthermore, men-chaired symposia had significantly fewer women speakers than women-chaired symposia (χ2(1)=56.44, P<0.001). The gender disparities observed here are similar to those in other scientific societies worldwide, urging them to lead actions to pursue gender balance and diversity. Diversity leads not only to fairness but also to higher-quality science.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Gender Equity , BrazilABSTRACT
New neurons are constantly added to the olfactory bulb of rodents from birth to adulthood. This accretion is not only dependent on sustained neurogenesis, but also on the migration of neuroblasts and immature neurons from the cortical and striatal subventricular zone (SVZ) to the olfactory bulb. Migration along this long tangential pathway, known as the rostral migratory stream (RMS), is in many ways opposite to the classical radial migration of immature neurons: it is faster, spans a longer distance, does not require radial glial guidance, and is not limited to postmitotic neurons. In recent years many molecules have been found to be expressed specifically in this pathway and to directly affect this migration. Soluble factors with inhibitory, attractive and inductive roles in migration have been described, as well as molecules mediating cell-to-cell and cell-substrate interactions. However, it is still unclear how the various molecules and cells interact to account for the special migratory behavior in the RMS. Here we will propose some candidate mechanisms for roles in initiating and stopping SVZ/RMS migration
Subject(s)
Animals , Astrocytes , Cell Differentiation , Cell Movement , Cerebral Ventricles , Neurons , Stem Cells , Animals, Newborn , Cell Communication , Cell Division , Chemotaxis , Gap Junctions , Neuroglia , Olfactory BulbABSTRACT
Neurons from the anterior subventricular zone (SVZ) of the cerebral cortex migrate tangentially to become interneurons in the olfactory bulb during development and in adult rodents. This migration was defined as neuronophilic, independent of a radial glial substrate. The cortical SVZ and the rostral migratory stream to the olfactory bulb were shown to be rich in 9-O-acetyl GD3 gangliosides (9-O-acGD3), which have been previously shown to be implicated in gliophilic migration in the rodent cerebral cortex and cerebellum. In the present study, we performed SVZ explant cultures using rats during their first postnatal week to analyze the expression of these gangliosides in chain migration of neuronal precursors. We characterized migrating chains of these neuroblasts through morphological analysis and immunocytochemistry for the neural cell adhesion molecule. By using the Jones monoclonal antibody which binds specifically to 9-O-acGD3 we showed that migrating chains from the SVZ explants express 9-O-acGD3 which is distributed in a punctate manner in individual cells. 9-O-acGD3 is also present in migrating chains that form in the absence of radial glia, typical of the neuronophilic chain migration of the SVZ. Our data indicate that 9-O-acetylated gangliosides may participate in neuronophilic as well as gliophilic migration