Nanoscale engineering is one of the most dynamically growing areas at the interface between electronics, physics, biology, and medicine. As there are no safety regulations yet, concerns about future health problems are rising. We investigated the effects of citrate/gold nanoparticles at different concentrations and exposure times on human dermal fibroblasts. We found that, as a result of intracellular nanoparticle presence, actin stress fibers disappeared, thereby inducing major adverse effects on cell viability. Thus, properties such as cell spreading and adhesion, cell growth, and protein synthesis to form the extracellular matrix were altered dramatically. These results suggest that the internal cell activities have been damaged.

Although much literature has focused on the status of female physicians in the United States, limited Englishlanguage studies have examined the role of women in the medical profession elsewhere in the world. This article synthesizes evidence regarding the status of female physicians in three purposively selected regions outside the United States: Japan, Scandinavia, and Russia and Eastern Europe. These three regions markedly differ in the proportion of female physicians in the workforce, overall status of the medical profession, cultural views of gender roles, and workforce policies. Through a review of studies and articles published between 1992 and 2012 examining women's representation, status measures such as salary and leadership positions, and experiences of female physicians, the authors discuss potential relationships between the representation of female physicians, their status in medicine, and the overall status of the profession. The findings suggest that even when women constitute a high proportion of the physician workforce, they may continue to be underrepresented in positions of leadership and prestige. Evolving workforce policies, environments, and cultural views of gender roles appear to play a critical role in mediating the relationship between women's participation in the medical profession and their ability to rise to positions of influence within it. These insights are informative for the ongoing debates over the impact of the demographic shifts in the composition of the medical workforce in the United States.

The use of peer support for persons with mental illness has been gaining force. While research has demonstrated the benefits of peer support, few studies have investigated the qualitative characteristics of how peer support aids persons recovering from mental illness. Therefore, this study sought to clarify the characteristics that constitute peer support and its contribution to recovery. We conducted ethnographic fieldwork and semi-structured interviews with nine peer advocates at a consumer-run organization in New York City, and identified three themes that describe how peer support influences recovery: transforming experience into expertise, understanding the mechanics of peer support, and launching peers towards their own recovery. Peer support plays a critical role in helping clients move beyond their patient role to an empowered sense of personhood. Additionally, the value of peer support highlights current deficiencies within the mental health system and how a bolder shift towards recovery might repair them.

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IntroductionAlthough women have entered medical school and internal medicine residency programs in significant numbers for decades, women faculty remain underrepresented in senior and departmental leadership roles. How residents perceive this gender disparity is unknown. We sought to assess resident perception of gender parity among departmental leadership and teaching faculty in our internal medicine department, and to determine the actual gender distribution of those faculty roles.MethodsAn anonymous cross-sectional survey was distributed to evaluate resident perception of gender representation of various faculty roles. Using conference schedules, resident evaluations, and our department website, we determined the actual representation of women faculty in department leadership roles, and in clinical and educational activities.Results88 of 164 residents (54%) responded. Women residents were less likely than men to perceive that women faculty were equally represented in department leadership (45% men agreed vs. 13% women, p < 0.05), clinical teaching roles (55% men agreed vs. 28% women, p < 0.05), or facilitating educational conferences (45% men agreed vs. 28% women, p = 0.074). In 2017, the internal medicine department at our institution comprised 815 faculty members, 473 men (58%) and 342 women (42%). At that time, women faculty held 5% of senior departmental leadership positions and 21% of educational leadership positions. During the year preceding survey distribution, women faculty attended on internal medicine inpatient wards for 33% of the total number of weeks, staffed 20% of morning reports, and facilitated 28% of noon conferences.DiscussionWomen residents in our internal medicine training program perceived a gender disparity among faculty in leadership and educational positions to a greater extent than male residents. The perception of women trainees was accurate. In addition to disproportionate underrepresentation in leadership positions, women faculty were underrepresented in prominent educational positions, including attending on inpatient services and serving as discussants at educational conferences.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s40037-019-00532-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.