Women’s Health in/and Work: Menopause as an Intersectional Experience

This paper employs an intersectional lens to explore menopausal experiences of women working in the higher education and healthcare sectors in Australia. Open-text responses from surveys across three universities and three healthcare settings were subject to a multistage qualitative data analysis. The findings explore three aspects of menopause experience that required women to contend with a constellation of aged, gendered and ableist dynamics and normative parameters of labor market participation. Reflecting on the findings, the paper articulates the challenges of menopause as issues of workplace inequality that are rendered visible through an intersectional lens. The paper holds a range of implications for how to best support women going through menopause at work. It emphasizes the need for approaches to tackle embedded and more complex modes of inequality that impact working women’s menopause, and ensure that workforce policy both protects and supports menopausal women experiencing intersectional disadvantage.

Non-Hermitian Electronics Multipods of Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) and Absorption (EIA)

We study a non-Hermitian electronic dimers system based on an imaginary resistor (Z) in a (N+2) level atomic multi-pod configuration. Non-Hermitian systems depend on a gain/loss parameter and are specifically marked by a degeneracy exhibited at an exceptional point (EP) separating different phases of complex modes dynamics. Interestingly, the structural characterization and the dispersive properties reveal a broad range of strong coupling where the interplay between the control and the probe field induce a simultaneous EIT, EIA and ATS. Here, by identifying the underlying physical mechanisms, we show that multiple windows of transparency can be strongly enhanced by the incorporation of several dimers in the multipod network. On the other hand, if the pumping field is resonant in the weak regime, multiple EIT and EIA windows result in the number of dimers. Remarkably, the proposed system embedded a multiple coupling mechanism whose modulation induces a couplingless point whereby the energy cross. At this point EIT and related phenomena vanish.

Distinctive Properties and Powerful Neuromodulation of Nav1.6 Sodium Channels Regulates Neuronal Excitability

Voltage-gated sodium channels (Navs) are critical determinants of cellular excitability. These ion channels exist as large heteromultimeric structures and their activity is tightly controlled. In neurons, the isoform Nav1.6 is highly enriched at the axon initial segment and nodes, making it critical for the initiation and propagation of neuronal impulses. Changes in Nav1.6 expression and function profoundly impact the input-output properties of neurons in normal and pathological conditions. While mutations in Nav1.6 may cause channel dysfunction, aberrant changes may also be the result of complex modes of regulation, including various protein-protein interactions and post-translational modifications, which can alter membrane excitability and neuronal firing properties. Despite decades of research, the complexities of Nav1.6 modulation in health and disease are still being determined. While some modulatory mechanisms have similar effects on other Nav isoforms, others are isoform-specific. Additionally, considerable progress has been made toward understanding how individual protein interactions and/or modifications affect Nav1.6 function. However, there is still more to be learned about how these different modes of modulation interact. Here, we examine the role of Nav1.6 in neuronal function and provide a thorough review of this channel’s complex regulatory mechanisms and how they may contribute to neuromodulation.

Complex Modes of Inheritance in Hereditary Red Blood Cell Disorders: A Case Series Study of 155 Patients

Hereditary erythrocytes disorders include a large group of conditions with heterogeneous molecular bases and phenotypes. We analyzed here a case series of 155 consecutive patients with clinical suspicion of hereditary erythrocyte defects referred to the Medical Genetics Unit from 2018 to 2020. All of the cases followed a diagnostic workflow based on a targeted next-generation sequencing panel of 86 genes causative of hereditary red blood cell defects. We obtained an overall diagnostic yield of 84% of the tested patients. Monogenic inheritance was seen for 69% (107/155), and multi-locus inheritance for 15% (23/155). PIEZO1 and SPTA1 were the most mutated loci. Accordingly, 16/23 patients with multi-locus inheritance showed dual molecular diagnosis of dehydrated hereditary stomatocytosis/xerocytosis and hereditary spherocytosis. These dual inheritance cases were fully characterized and were clinically indistinguishable from patients with hereditary spherocytosis. Additionally, their ektacytometry curves highlighted alterations of dual inheritance patients compared to both dehydrated hereditary stomatocytosis and hereditary spherocytosis. Our findings expand the genotypic spectrum of red blood cell disorders and indicate that multi-locus inheritance should be considered for analysis and counseling of these patients. Of note, the genetic testing was crucial for diagnosis of patients with a complex mode of inheritance.

Short-chain fatty acids as a potential treatment for infections: a closer look at the lungs

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are the main metabolites produced by the gut microbiota via the fermentation of complex carbohydrates and fibers. Evidence suggests that SCFAs play a role in the control of infections both through direct action on microorganisms and on host signaling. This review summarizes the main microbicidal effects of SCFAs and discusses studies highlighting the effect of SCFAs in microorganism’s virulence and viability. We also describe the SCFA’s diverse and complex modes of action on the immune system in face of infections with a specific focus on bacterial and viral respiratory infections. A growing body of evidence suggests that SCFAs protect against lung infections. Finally, we present potential strategies that may be leveraged to exploit the biological properties of SCFAs for increasing effectiveness and optimizing patient benefits.

Complex rotated CCA: a method to correlate lagged geophysical variables

<p>The nature of the climate system is very complex: a network of mutual interactions between ocean and atmosphere lead to a multitude of overlapping geophysical processes. As a consequence, the same process has often a signature on different climate variables but with spatial and temporal shifts. Orthogonal decompositions, such as Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA), of geophysical data fields allow to filter out common dominant patterns between two different variables by maximizing cross-correlation. In general, however, CCA suffers from (i) the orthogonality constraint, which tends to produce unphysical patterns, and (ii) the use of direct correlations, which leads to signals that are merely shifted in time being considered as distinct patterns.</p><p>In this work, we propose an extension of CCA, complex rotated CCA (crCCA), to address both limitations. First, we generate complex signals by using the Hilbert transforms. To reduce the spatial leakage inherent in Hilbert transforms, we extend the time series using the Theta model, thus creating an anti-leakage buffer space. We then perform the orthogonal decomposition in complex space, allowing us to detect out-of-phase signals. Subsequent Varimax rotation removes the orthogonal constraints to allow more geophysically meaningful modes.</p><p>We applied crCCA to a pair of variables expected to be coupled: Pacific sea surface temperature and continental precipitation. We show that crCCA successfully captures the temporally and spatially complex modes of (i) seasonal cycle, (ii) canonical ENSO, and (iii) ENSO Modoki, in a compact manner that allows an easy geophysical interpretation. The proposed method has the potential to be useful especially, but not limited to, studies on the prediction of continental precipitation by other climate variables. An implementation of the method is readily available as a Python package.</p>