Career and parenting satisfaction among medical students, residents and physician teachers at a Canadian medical school.

BACKGROUND: Studies of career and parenting satisfaction have focused separately on medical students, residents and practising physicians. The objective of this study was to compare satisfaction across a spectrum of stages of medical career. METHODS: A survey of incoming medical students, current medical students, residents and physician teachers at the University of Saskatchewan was conducted in the spring of 1997. Response rates were 77% (43/56), 81% (177/218), 65% (134/206) and 39% (215/554) respectively. Factors assessed in the stepwise regression analysis were the effect of sex, parenting and level of training on the likelihood of recommending parenting to medical students or residents, and on parenting dissatisfaction, job dissatisfaction, career dissatisfaction and the importance of flexibility within the college program to accommodate family obligations. RESULTS: More male than female physician teachers had partners (92% v. 81%, p < 0.01) and were parents (94% v. 72%, p < 0.01). Female physician teachers spent equal hours per week at work compared with their male counterparts (mean 52 and 58 hours respectively) and more than double the weekly time on family and household work (36 v. 14 hours, p < 0.01). Physician teachers were the most likely respondents to recommend parenting to residents and their peers. Residents were the most dissatisfied with their parenting time. At all career stages women were less likely than men to recommend parenting, were more dissatisfied with the amount of time spent as parents and were more likely to regard flexibility within the college program as beneficial. There were no sex-related differences in job dissatisfaction and career dissatisfaction. However, married women were more dissatisfied with their jobs than were married men. Job dissatisfaction was greatest among medical students, and career dissatisfaction was greatest among residents. INTERPRETATION: The optimal timing of parenthood appears to be upon completion of medical training. Women were less likely to recommend parenting, less satisfied with the time available for parenting and more likely to value flexibility within the college program to accommodate family needs. These differences did not translate into women experiencing more job or career dissatisfaction.

The influence of gender and specialty on reporting of abusive and discriminatory behaviour by medical students, residents and physician teachers.

INTRODUCTION: The perception of whether a given behaviour is abusive differs between students and teachers. We speculated that attitudes towards reporting abusive and discriminatory behaviour may vary by specialty as well as by gender. METHODS: We report a cross-sectional survey of incoming medical students, medical students, residents, and teaching faculty at one Canadian medical school. The discrimination and abuse questions were in the following domains: (i) psychological abuse, (ii) sexual abuse, (iii) physical abuse, (iv) gender discrimination, (v) racial discrimination, (vi) disability discrimination, (vii) derogatory remarks regarding homosexuality. The frequency of self-reported witnessed or experienced abusive and discriminatory behaviour was compared by gender, specialty choice and stage of training. RESULTS: The response rates varied by respondent group: 44/56 (79%) of incoming medical students, 177/218 (81%) of medical students, 134/206 (65%) of residents and 215/554 (38%) of physician teachers. The frequency of these behaviours was perceived to be low by both male and female respondents. Abusive and discriminatory behaviour by physician teachers was noted more frequently by residents (P < 0.001) and physician teachers themselves (P < 0.001) compared with incoming medical students. As well, in general, women noted more abusive and discriminatory behaviour by all teachers, compared with men (P < 0. 003). Each response to the abuse/discrimination questions was also modelled as the independent variable using stepwise multiple regression. The area of specialization (surgical versus non-surgical) altered the reporting of abusive and discriminatory behaviour by women. CONCLUSION: We conclude that female surgical residents and medical students undergo a process of acclimatization to the patriarchal surgical culture. As female surgeons become physician teachers they revert to a culture more similar to that of their female non-surgical colleagues. Although a process of deidealization occurs in medical training, these attitudes are not necessarily retained throughout the practising lifetime of physicians as they regain autonomy and more personal control.

Effects of seed-specific expression of a cytokinin biosynthetic gene on canola and tobacco phenotypes.

The Agrobacterium tumefaciens isopentenyl transferase gene (ipt), a cytokinin biosynthetic gene, was placed under the control of 1.9 kb of promoter sequence from the 2S albumin AT2S1 gene isolated from an Arabidopsis thaliana library. The construct was introduced into canola (Brassica napus) and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). ipt transcripts were followed during embryo development of transgenic plants by northern hybridizations. The phenotype of transformed plants from the T1 generation was analysed and we observed an increased branching of inflorescences in tobacco and canola plants expressing the ipt gene. Comparing with controls, the average number of capsules and siliques in AT2S1-ipt plants was 82.6 and 24.8% higher, respectively. This result was correlated with an increase in cytokinin levels in transgenic plants, as revealed by RIA. Indeed, cytokinin contents of T1 AT2S1-ipt B. napus seeds were found 2.2-fold higher than cytokinin contents of control seeds, and T1 AT2S1-ipt N. tabacum capsules contained 2.6-fold more cytokinins than control capsules. In tobacco, the average seed weight per capsule was lower in AT2S1-ipt plants while the seed number per silique and the average seed weight were not modified in canola carrying this construct. The average seed yield per plant was not significantly increased in AT2S1-ipt tobacco or canola plants.

Cytoplasmic ribosomal protein S15a from Brassica napus: molecular cloning and developmental expression in mitotically active tissues.

We have isolated two cDNA clones which appear to encode the 40S ribosomal subunit protein S15a from Brassica napus (oilseed rape). The open reading frame in both clones contains 390 bases, encoding a deduced polypeptide sequence of 130 amino acids (100% homology between clones) with 76% sequence identity to the N-terminal 37 amino acids of the rat ribosomal protein S15a and 80% identity to the S24 polypeptide of yeast. Both the yeast and rapeseed proteins have a net positive charge of +9 and the rapeseed S15a protein has a molecular mass of 14778 Da compared to 14762 Da for the yeast protein. The rapeseed ribosomal protein S15a is encoded by a small multi-gene family with at least two actively transcribed members. A single transcript of ca. 1.0 kb, corresponding to ribosomal protein S15a, is abundant in actively dividing tissues such as apical meristem, flower buds and young leaves and less abundant in mature stem and fully expanded leaves.