No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

In recent years there has been more focus on investigating sex differences across all medical fields, including cardiology. There are sex differences in disease presentation, treatment and baseline function. These differences are critical to understand in order to properly treat both men and women. Even with an increased focus on this field, research has a male bias and there is more work to be done. Cardiac conduction is a highly synchronized process. Electrical signals are passed cell to cell through two mechanisms, ephaptic coupling and gap junctional coupling. These methods of electrical communication rely on gap junctions, sodium channels and the perinexus. When conduction is disrupted it causes arrhythmias. When investigating these three critical determinants of cardiac conduction in guinea pig hearts, we determined that there are sex differences in two of three investigated determinants. It appears that females are more susceptible to sodium channel modulation while males are more susceptible to gap junction modulation. Understanding these differences is critical to clinical care. It has been shown that females have higher mortality following cardiothoracic surgery and the reason for this is unknown. During cardiothoracic surgery the heart is arrested and maintained by a fluid, cardioplegia solution. Cardioplegia solutions contain components that are known to modulate conduction. We investigated the sex differences in cardiac electrophysiology with a focus on cardiac conduction and components of a common cardioplegia solution; we determined that there are electrophysiologic sex differences in response to both magnesium and mannitol. The sex substrates in three of the major determinants of conduction (sodium channels, gap junctions and perinexal width) and the differences in the effects of cardioplegia components on males and females may help to explain the higher mortality of females post cardiothoracic surgery. / Master of Science / In recent years there has been more focus on investigating sex differences across all medical fields, including cardiology. There are sex differences in disease presentation, treatment and baseline function. These differences are critical to understand in order to properly treat both men and women. Even with an increased focus on this field, research has a male bias and there is more work to be done. Cardiac conduction is a highly synchronized process. Electrical signals are passed cell to cell through two mechanisms, ephaptic coupling and gap junctional coupling. These methods of electrical communication rely on gap junctions, sodium channels and the perinexus. When conduction is disrupted it causes arrhythmias. When investigating these three critical determinants of cardiac conduction in guinea pig hearts, we determined that there are sex differences in two of three investigated determinants. It appears that females are more susceptible to sodium channel modulation while males are more susceptible to gap junction modulation. Understanding these differences is critical to clinical care. It has been shown that females have higher mortality following cardiothoracic surgery and the reason for this is unknown. During cardiothoracic surgery the heart is arrested and maintained by a fluid, cardioplegia solution. Cardioplegia solutions contain components that are known to modulate conduction. We investigated the sex differences in cardiac electrophysiology with a focus on cardiac conduction and components of a common cardioplegia solution; we determined that there are electrophysiologic sex differences in response to both magnesium and mannitol. The sex substrates in three of the major determinants of conduction (sodium channels, gap junctions and perinexal width) and the differences in the effects of cardioplegia components on males and females may help to explain the higher mortality of females post cardiothoracic surgery.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to explore gender differences in adult perceptions of sexual abuse encounters between an adult male and children of both genders and of various ages. Subjects were four hundred and fifty three students from a northwestern university. They were recruited from a lower-level human development course and from introductory courses in the arts and humanities department. One hundred and seventy-nine males and 274 females participated in the study. Participants were randomly given one of four vignettes that contained a scenario describing an "ambiguous" sexual encounter between a neighbor man and a child. The age of the child (5 or 13) and the child's gender differed between the scenarios. Results showed that female respondents were more likely than their male counterparts to perceive that the encounter was serious in nature (p=.022) and to expect the child in the scenario to be negatively impacted by the encounter (p=.001). Other results indicated that female respondents perceived the encounter with the older child, regardless of the child's gender, as more serious in nature (p=.008) and would have more negative outcomes (p=.002) than the encounter with the younger child. Male respondents also perceived that the encounter with the older child would have more negative outcomes for the child (p=.003) than the encounter with the younger child. Gender of child in the scenario was not predictive of perceived seriousness of the encounter nor of the negative impact of the encounter for either male or female respondents. Conclusions and implications are discussed. / Graduation date: 1998