Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) of exogenous origin refer to compounds that disrupt the regular functioning of the endocrine system responsible for maintaining hormonal balance in the body. These disruptors are prevalent in our surroundings and are present in various consumer products, including cosmetics, plastics, and pesticides. The means of action vary depending on the specific chemical and target hormone receptor. EDCs can mimic, obstruct, alter hormone production, transport, and metabolize, leading to a range of health risks such as metabolic disorders, immune system dysfunction, and endocrine-related cancers, as well as reproductive abnormalities. Interference with the production, transport, and function of hormones responsible for the menstrual cycle and pregnancy, including estrogen, progesterone, and luteinizing hormone, leads to reproductive problems. EDCs also cause permanent alterations in the development of the female reproductive system during fetal and early childhood stages. Some of the most widely known EDCs include bisphenol-A (BPA), phthalates, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which have been found in human tissue and fluids, such as urine and breast milk. Researchers continue to discover and analyze EDC prevalence and the effects on human health. While efforts have been made to reduce exposure to these compounds, they remain prevalent in the environment. There are lifestyle interventions that can help with the prevention and exposure to EDCs. Such interventions include healthier eating habits, avoiding the use of plastic containers containing EDCs, choosing safer personal care products, filtering drinking water, reducing exposure to air pollution, and supporting policies and regulations that promote the use of safer chemicals.

Thesis advisor: Philip E. Strahan / The essays on the gender gap in entrepreneurship examine the trade-offs between women's family formation choices and career aspirations in the setting of small businesses and entrepreneurship. The first essay titled ``Family Comes First: Reproductive Health and the Gender Gap in Entrepreneurship,'' uses Census data to show how better access to reproductive care increases women's propensity to become entrepreneurs, correlates positively with female entrepreneurial activity, and negatively with female entrepreneurial age. Examining firm size and personal income suggests it also improves the success of female-led businesses. Finally, it shows how policies securing better reproductive care enable more women to become entrepreneurs and, potentially, drive economic growth. The second essay titled ``Reproductive Rights and Women's Access to Capital,'' explores the impact of reproductive care restrictions on female entrepreneurs seeking to raise capital. It tests the hypothesis that better access to reproductive care enables women to plan their family formation better, avoid unexpected pregnancies, and gain access to cheaper capital as a result of this reduced risk. This hypothesis is analyzed using restricted data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) in a difference-in-differences setting around the enactment of state-level legislation limiting access to reproductive care. It finds restrictions on reproductive care to be detrimental to women seeking to raise capital and open their own firms. Women who have limited reproductive care access are less likely to borrow, end up taking smaller loan amounts, and have lower leverage ratios. The main contribution of the first essay is that it establishes a direction and causal relationship between reproductive care and entrepreneurship, and of the second essay is that it shows how the increased risk of unplanned pregnancy translates into reduced credit availability for female entrepreneurs at childbearing age. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Finance.

Background: Women across many ethnicities and backgrounds experience a lower quality of care compared to men, and have reported lower levels of patient satisfaction, and negative health outcomes. Women of various ethnic backgrounds often have health, cultural and religious needs during pregnancy that are not met by their care providers. While addressing patient needs is a priority, providers also face challenges in understanding, accommodating, and addressing women’s needs due to limited understanding of their cultures and available resources in caring for diverse populations. Objective: The purpose of this study is to describe and synthesize information from the literature regarding the perceptions and experiences of healthcare providers in delivering maternity care to ethnically diverse women. Methods: A scoping review was conducted, and database searching occurred in Ovid Medline, Ovid Embase, Ovid Emcare and Web of Science. Primary studies and literature reviews in English were included if they discussed the perspectives of healthcare providers in delivering maternity care to either ethnically diverse women, immigrant women, or a specific ethnic group of women. No time restrictions were placed on articles. Thematic analysis was applied to analyze the data, and results were reported in tabular format. Results: A total of 11 themes were generated across findings, namely, provider-patient communication difficulties, family involvement, lack of health and health system awareness, delays in care, limited time and resources, cultural conflicts, preference for a female provider, creation of stereotypes, prejudice and superior thinking, motivation to help ethnically diverse women, and cultural sensitivity training. Conclusion: Healthcare providers face challenges in addressing the needs of ethnically diverse women, due to resource and time limitations, lack of awareness of cultural norms, and lack of adequate cultural sensitivity training and education. Therefore, there is a need to increase the number of supports for providers as well as improve cultural sensitivity training in medical education. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Women of different backgrounds who are pregnant or who have given birth sometimes like to practice certain cultural traditions during pregnancy and birth such as eating cultural foods, fasting, and having family involved. When healthcare providers do not know about these practices or do not have the time or resources to help women practice their cultural traditions, this can cause them and the women they care for to have conflicts. This can cause other problems which can lead to poor mental and physical health. While there is a great amount of research on women’s experiences with their health providers, there is not much research on healthcare providers’ experiences with women. To address this, a scoping review was conducted to summarize research on healthcare providers’ experiences in caring for women of diverse cultures, during and after pregnancy. This review can help bridge the gap between women’s needs and healthcare providers’ abilities in meeting them.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of low input development protocols on Southeastern replacement beef females and their offspring. Fall and spring calving crossbred beef heifers managed through one of two heifer development programs (low input, LOW or conventionally developed, CON) were evaluated for metrics of uterine artery hemodynamics, patterns of heifer and offspring growth, postpartum reproductive performance, and economic efficiency. There were significant treatment × season (P = 0.0001) and season × day (P = 0.003) interactions on heifer body weight (BW) during gestation. There was a season × day interaction on total blood flow (TBF; P = 0.05) whereby TBF increased as gestation progressed and spring calving heifers displayed increased TBF. When adjusted for BW, an additional main effect of treatment was observed (P = 0.0007) in which LOW heifers had increased TBF compared to CON heifers. There were no significant main effects of treatment or season or interactions thereof on the proportion of females cycling at the start of the breeding season (P > 0.05). Additionally, there were main effects of treatment (P = 0.0095; P = 0.02) and season (P = 0.012; P = 0.007) on calf ADG and weaning weights, respectively whereby calves born to CON females grew faster than calves born to LOW heifers, and SPRING calves gained more rapidly than FALL calves. Partial budgeting demonstrated that LOW bred heifers were $250/hd less expensive to purchase than CON heifers due to lighter BW. Calves born to LOW females yielded $6.38 less per calf compared to CON calves. The discrepancy in reproductive efficiency coupled with the failure of LOW females to achieve BW similar to CON females resulted in a difference of $403/hd in average cull value between LOW and CON females in which CON females were worth more. Thus, CON females were $159.18 more profitable than LOW females when purchased as bred heifers and sold at the weaning of their first calf. In conclusion, though uterine artery BF was not negatively affected, low input heifer development resulted in sub-optimal heifer growth, poor first calf performance, and inadequate reproductive efficiency.

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