Ethnic and Racial Diversity Among Surgeon and Non-Surgeon Deans of Allopathic Medical Schools.

INTRODUCTION: Previous publications have assessed the diversity among medical students, residents, faculty, and department leaders in surgery and medicine overall. We aim to evaluate the diversity among medical school deans in the United States. We quantify and compare the representation of women and underrepresented minority surgeon and non-surgeons. METHODS: 151 allopathic medical schools were included. Data regarding demographics, education, training, and previous leadership position were collected from institutional websites, online resources, and July 2021 Association of American Medical Colleges Council of Deans. Demographics for surgeon and non-surgeon were compared using chi square and logistic regression with 5% significance interval. RESULTS: 21.9% (n = 33) of all medical school deans were surgeons. 21.2% (n = 7) were women, which was not significantly different from non-surgeons (22%, P = .92). All the women surgeons were non-Hispanic white, similar to all deans (P = .83). 78.8% (n = 26) of all surgeon deans were non-Hispanic White compared to 84.7% (n = 100) overall (P = .28). There were 13 Black deans, four of whom were surgeons, and only one Hispanic dean, who was not a surgeon. Surgeons were more likely to be fellows of their professional society (P = .012). CONCLUSION: The demographic diversity of surgeon and non-surgeon US medical school deans is not significantly different. The deficiencies in leadership diversity in medicine persists among medical school deans. There remains substantial room to improve the representation of women and underrepresented minorities as deans.

Characteristics of medical students interested in emergency medicine with intention to practice in underserved areas.

OBJECTIVES: Emergency departments serve a wide variety of racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender backgrounds. It is currently unknown what characteristics of students who express interest in emergency medicine (EM) are associated with a simultaneous desire to work in medically underserved areas. We hypothesize that those who are underrepresented in medicine, are female, learn another language, and have more student debt will be more likely to practice in a medically underserved area. METHODS: Data from the National Board of Medical Examiners, Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Student Record System, and the AAMC Graduation Questionnaire were collected on a national cohort of 92,013 U.S. medical students who matriculated from 2007 through 2012. Extracted variables included planned practice area, intention to practice in underserved areas, race/ethnicity, sex, medical school experiences, age at matriculation, debt at graduation, and first-attempt USMLE Step 1 score. RESULTS: EM-intending students who identified as female, non-Hispanic Black/African American, or Latinx/Hispanic; had a larger debt at graduation; had experiences with health education in the community; had global health experience; and had learned more than one language were more likely to report an intention to practice in underserved areas. CONCLUSION: With the increasing importance of physician diversity to match those of the community being served, this study identifies factors associated with a desire of EM students to work in underserved areas. Medical schools and EM residencies may wish to consider these factors in their admissions process.

Working memory for emotional facial expressions: role of estrogen in humans and non-human primates.

In recent years, numerous studies focusing on the role of sex steroid hormones on neuropsychological functions have been reported. The influence of estrogens on cognition can be explained by the widespread presence of estrogen receptors (ERs) in limbic and cortical areas, and the modulator role of estrogens on numerous neurotransmitter systems. There is a great deal of evidence suggesting that estrogen can enhance memory processes and improve performance in working memory (WM) tasks, including face-tasks, delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) and delayed non-matching-to-sample (DNMTS). The modulator effects exerted by estrogens are complex and may vary according to task, gender, and phase of the menstrual cycle. For many years, physiological hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle, postpartum, and menopause have been said to influence mood, cognition, and affective disorders. In addition, it has been hypothesised that estrogens have a protective role in schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Taking into account that women's performance in memory tasks can also fluctuate with circulating hormone levels across the menstrual cycle, data related to the cognitive performance in a WM task for emotional facial expressions were reported. The findings described in this review can contribute to clarifying the role of the steroid hormone estrogen in the modulation of cognitive functions, particularly memory, and indicate the possible usefulness of applying a new paradigm, employing a DNMTS task with emotional facial expressions, in studies focused on emotional WM in relevant models of nonhuman primates. Such data could also represent a useful tool in individualizing effective therapy for the treatment of disturbances linked to menstrual cycle phases and menopause in women.

Effects of intra-nasally administered testosterone on sexual proceptive behavior in female capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella).

Sexual dysfunction in the female has been associated with a decrease in androgen levels, which can be reversed by testosterone treatment, however, bearing the risk of adverse side effects. Nasally administered testosterone could be an effective method for androgenic treatment avoiding the first-pass intestinal and hepatic metabolism and side effects. Here we examined the effects of chronic intranasal administration of testosterone on sexual behavior in female capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) that lived with male cohorts. During 8 days of baseline 10 females were observed for their sexual and non-sexual behavior without drug. They then received daily intranasal testosterone (0.24 mg per nostril, n=5 per group) or placebo gel for 5 days, followed by 5 days of wash out, followed by 5 days of daily intranasal application, whereby the animals that had received testosterone before, now received placebo and vice versa. Diverse sexual and non-sexual behaviors were scored. Blood samples were collected and analyzed for testosterone, estradiol, dihydrotestosterone and progesterone using EIAs. The results revealed an increase in sexual behavior (eyebrow raising, chest rubbing, courtship behavior, masturbation) in the females during testosterone treatment, which seemed to be prolonged even when testosterone treatment was discontinued. These behavioral results were accompanied by an increase in plasma testosterone levels. This study demonstrates the efficacy of testosterone in enhancing sexual behavior in female capuchin monkeys by means of intranasal application, which may be a useful alternative compared to other forms of administration.