RESUMO
Worldwide, parenthood remains a major driver for the reduced participation of women in the job market, where discrimination stems from people's biases against mothers, based on stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding the vision of motherhood in our society. In academia, parenthood may be perceived as negatively affecting scientists' commitment and dedication, especially women's. We conducted a survey amongst Brazilian scientists and found that mothers self-reported a higher prevalence of negative bias in their workplace when compared to fathers. The perception of a negative bias was influenced by gender and career status, but not by race, scientific field or number of children. Regarding intersections, mothers with less than 15 years of hiring reported having suffered a higher rate of negative bias against themselves. We discuss implications of these results and suggest how this negative bias should be addressed in order to promote an equitable environment that does not harm women in science.
RESUMO
Maternal deprivation (MD) leads to long-lasting memory deficits. Conversely, maternal exercise could potently modify the offspring's cellular machinery. Here, we tested whether starting to run or reducing the intensity of running during pregnancy can protect prepubertal female offspring against MD-induced memory deficits. Female rats were divided into different groups submitted or not to MD: one started to run before pregnancy and reduced the intensity during the pregnancy (PGE); another started to run at the beginning of pregnancy (GE); and, finally, a control group (CT) was not submitted to exercise. All the rats but those of the CT ran on a treadmill until the delivery day (PND 0). Subsequently, MD was performed from PND 1 to 10. We assessed object recognition (OR) and spatial memory (SM) of female offspring after weaning (PND22, pre-pubertal stage). MD caused OR memory deficit; GE female offspring did not present this deficit, but PGE did. Both PGE and GE alone enhanced offspring spatial learning, but their combination with MD impaired it. MD promoted hippocampal lipid peroxidation increase, which both PGE and GE prevented. Total antioxidant capacity in the hippocampus was higher in both MD-exercised groups compared to all others. Although the antioxidant effects of exercise were similar in both MD exercise groups, we observed better results in the memory tests in the GE group than in the PGE group. These results suggest that starting to exercise during pregnancy is better than reducing the exercise intensity during pregnancy to prevent MD-induced memory deficits in female offspring.
Assuntos
Privação Materna , Corrida , Gravidez , Ratos , Animais , Feminino , Transtornos da Memória/etiologia , Transtornos da Memória/prevenção & controle , Aprendizagem Espacial , Percepção Visual , HipocampoRESUMO
Memory extinction has been used in behavioral therapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorders. It was demonstrated that memory reactivation before extinction could facilitate this process. However, the mechanisms involved are still unclear. Here, we investigated the participation of two regions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), the infralimbic (IL) and prelimbic (PL), in the memory reactivation modulatory effect of fear extinction. We confirmed that the reactivation facilitates the fear extinction in an inhibitory aversive task; however, when the muscimol (a GABAergic agonist) is infused in IL or PL vmPFC after reactivation, extinction's facilitation was not observed. These findings support the idea that the reactivation can modulate the fear extinction process, facilitating it, and that this effect requires the activation of both IL and PL regions of vmPFC.
Assuntos
Aprendizagem da Esquiva/fisiologia , Extinção Psicológica/fisiologia , Memória/fisiologia , Córtex Pré-Frontal/fisiologia , Animais , Aprendizagem da Esquiva/efeitos dos fármacos , Extinção Psicológica/efeitos dos fármacos , Agonistas de Receptores de GABA-A/farmacologia , Masculino , Memória/efeitos dos fármacos , Muscimol/farmacologia , Córtex Pré-Frontal/efeitos dos fármacos , Ratos , Ratos WistarRESUMO
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is altering dynamics in academia, and people juggling remote work and domestic demands - including childcare - have felt impacts on their productivity. Female authors have faced a decrease in paper submission rates since the beginning of the pandemic period. The reasons for this decline in women's productivity need to be further investigated. Here, we analyzed the influence of gender, parenthood and race on academic productivity during the pandemic period based on a survey answered by 3,345 Brazilian academics from various knowledge areas and research institutions. Productivity was assessed by the ability to submit papers as planned and to meet deadlines during the initial period of social isolation in Brazil. The findings revealed that male academics - especially those without children - are the least affected group, whereas Black women and mothers are the most impacted groups. These impacts are likely a consequence of the well-known unequal division of domestic labor between men and women, which has been exacerbated during the pandemic. Additionally, our results highlight that racism strongly persists in academia, especially against Black women. The pandemic will have long-term effects on the career progression of the most affected groups. The results presented here are crucial for the development of actions and policies that aim to avoid further deepening the gender gap in academia.
RESUMO
Antioxidant supplementation and physical exercise have been discussed as strategies to minimize neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We investigated the neuroprotective effects of strength exercise (StrEx) and green tea (GT) supplementation, combined or not, on memory impairments induced by ß-amyloid characterizing an AD-like condition in rats. Wistar rats were submitted to 8 weeks of StrEx, GT supplementation, or StrEx and GT combined. AD-like condition was induced by injection of Aß (25-35) in the hippocampus. We evaluate object recognition (OR) and social recognition (SR) memory, and removed the rats' hippocampus for biochemical analysis. StrEx improved OR and SR. StrEx combined with GT improved OR and did not improve SR. GT reduced antioxidant capacity and improved acetylcholinesterase activity. Both strength exercise and green tea are neuroprotective against impairments resultant of ß-amyloid, but benefits do not add up when the two interventions are associated.
Assuntos
Doença de Alzheimer , Fármacos Neuroprotetores , Treinamento Resistido , Doença de Alzheimer/prevenção & controle , Peptídeos beta-Amiloides/metabolismo , Animais , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Hipocampo/metabolismo , Humanos , Transtornos da Memória/prevenção & controle , Fármacos Neuroprotetores/farmacologia , Estresse Oxidativo , Fragmentos de Peptídeos/farmacologia , Ratos , Ratos Wistar , CháRESUMO
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia in the world, accounting for 50-75% of cases. Currently, there is limited treatment for AD. The current pharmacological therapy minimizes symptom progression but does not reverse brain damage. Studies focused on nonpharmacological treatment for AD have been developed to act on brain plasticity and minimize the neurotoxicity caused by the amyloid-beta (Aß) peptide. Using a neurotoxicity model induced by Aß in rats, the present study shows that physical (PE) and cognitive exercise (CE) reverse recognition memory deficits (with a prominent effect of long-term object recognition memory), decrease hippocampal lipid peroxidation, restore the acetylcholinesterase activity altered by Aß neurotoxicity, and seems to reverse, at least partially, hippocampal tissue disorganization.
RESUMO
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative pathological process that causes memory loss and cognitive impairment. One of the pathological characteristics of Alzheimer's disease is the amyloid-ß protein aggregation on the brain. The regular practice of physical exercise is a consolidated strategy on the prevention of cognitive deficits; however, little is known about the effects of acute exercise on memory. We hypothesize that one physical exercise session could act as a modulator of learning. Here we investigated the effects of one single session of running (aerobic) or strength (anaerobic) exercise on memory deficits related to neurotoxicity induced by amyloid-ß. Male Wistar rats were submitted to stereotaxic surgery to intrahippocampal infusion of amyloid-ß protein or saline (control). Ten days after the surgery the rats were submitted to the object recognition (OR) memory task. Immediately after the OR learning session, some rats were submitted to one treadmill running or strength exercise session. Then, the animals were submitted to memory tests 24 h, 7, and 14 days after the OR learning. We demonstrated that one physical exercise session, both aerobic as anaerobic, performed after learning improves learning and memory, promoting memory persistence in control rats and memory consolidation in rats submitted to amyloid-ß neurotoxicity model. Notably, the effects of the aerobic exercise session seem to be more prominent, since they also reflect in an improvement of object discrimination index for 7 days in control animals. We verified that the mechanisms involved in the effects of aerobic exercise include the dopaminergic system activation. The mechanisms involved in the anaerobic exercise effects seem to be others since no alterations on hippocampal dopamine or noradrenaline levels were detected.