Sunday, July 19, 2015

Gendered STEM Stereotypes

Cartoon credit: Laura Grover via Public Radio International

I saw this on my facebook feed the other day, and at first I thought, "oh, just another cartoon about gender gaps and recruiting women and girls into STEM fields..."

But, then I realized that a) my disenchanted reaction is a result from the overwhelming amount of media attention that has been dedicated to the subject of women in science lately (always?), and b) this cartoon pissed me off. In the 5+ years that I've been running this blog, I've maybe covered 3 political topics because that's not my main goal. There are enough blogs out there that overlap personal opinions and science or STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) topics, and really, who cares? But I'm going to talk about the issues of gender in science today, because there are some issues that aren't being discussed by most popular news and media outlets.

Let's address each of my reactions separately, shall we?

a) My disenchanted reaction due to the overwhelming amount of media attention that has been dedicated to women in science:
Everyone is eager to tell you that women are underrepresented in STEM fields. In a lot of places, women are still treated as diversity hires. There are societies for women in science, scholarships given to encourage young women to major in STEM degrees, organizations to help young girls find the path to STEM careers, and Google doodles dedicated to Marie Curie.

I think people love to believe that women are minorities in STEM because everyone hates statistics. I know, I am not a fan of statistics (exception: when you work super hard on some statistical analysis and get really satisfying results), but I can break some recent statistics down for everyone:

According to this economic briefing released in October of 2014 by the Council of Economic Advisers to the President of the United States, women are "now more likely than men to earn a bachelors degree and attend graduate school".

In fact, women 25-34 years old were 21% more likely to graduate from college than men, and 48% more likely to attend graduate school.

Image credit: US News
Speaking of minority populations, I'm happy to report that this trend of women being more likely to attend college and graduate with an undergraduate degree has been shown across Hispanic, Black, Asian, and Caucasian populations.

Statistics associated with women obtaining degrees in STEM fields are EVEN BETTER, according to an NSF study released this year. According to the report:
 "Women have earned 57% of all bachelor's degrees and about half of all science and engineering (S&E) bachelor's degrees since the late 1990s. However, women's level of participation in S&E fields varies, and within fields it tends to be consistent over every degree level. In most fields, the proportion of degrees awarded to women has risen since 1993. The proportion of women is lowest in engineering, computer sciences, and physics. Women earn about one-third of the doctorates in economics and slightly more than one-fourth of doctorates in mathematics and statistics."
 I'm curious, would you have guessed that women earn approximately half of the science and engineering undegraduate degrees conferred in the US?

My point is HELLO WE ARE HERE. WE ARE DOING SCIENCE RIGHT NOW. Women are represented in STEM fields. We are in the lab, in the field, in the workshop, in space, published in leading scientific journals, on computers, on advisory boards, at conferences, and in classrooms and lecture halls. Quite frankly, every time an article comes out about the need to recruit women into STEM, a young girl gets discouraged and decides that science hates women.

Ella Tyree, image credit: cliotropic

Also, every time an article comes out about the need to recruit women into STEM careers, someone of an actually underrepresented population in STEM fields loses hope. Example:
Despite considerable progress over the past two decades, the gap in educational attainment separating underrepresented minorities from whites and Asians remains wide. In general, underrepresented minorities are less likely than whites and Asians to graduate from high school, enroll in college, and earn a college degree. Among underrepresented minorities who do graduate from college, the overall degree patterns are similar to those of whites. Asians are more likely than whites and underrepresented minorities to earn a college degree in a science and engineering (S&E) field. Although whites' share of S&E degrees has declined over the past 2 decades, they continue to earn a majority of degrees in all broad S&E fields.
This example is from the same NSF survey cited above. When I worked for NASA, I worked in a building that was full of white men and women. There were a ton of women (in fact, our lab was 75% women!), but I can't say that I ever interacted with any Black or Hispanic researchers, primary investigators, or division chiefs. When I started working at Stanford, I went weeks until I saw a black person on campus -- not just my building, but on the entire campus. I have other examples, but they all seem redundant. I attended a college where Black students were the majority, yet the halls of the science buildings were mostly white.

If you really want to continue talking about women in science, maybe our attention should be diverted from recruiting and instead, focus on fixing the anti-women culture that surrounds STEM fields. Actually, we shouldn't be recruiting women into fields where a majority of them feel they need to leave because they are repeatedly sexually harassed or verbally discredited. Its not sustainable, and its not safe. We shouldn't have to laugh at things like the #distractinglysexy hashtag. We should laugh because we can laugh at ourselves, not because its an uncomfortable situation that no one really wants to talk about.

b) The above cartoon pissed me off.
When I was a young girl, I played with barbies and cabbage patch dolls. I acted out my ridiculous dreams by "playing Ninja Turtles" with my best friend, a young boy that lived across the street. I was a gymnast and I loved birds. I built furniture while listening to AC/DC with my dad. My favorite color was purple, not pink. As a teen, I found punk rock and would go into mosh pits. I wore men's pants one day and a mini skirt the next. I played water polo on a co-ed team and drew anatomically-correct cadavers in art class. I loved math until I hated it. I helped one of my high school boyfriends work on his '72 chevelle malibu and drove it more than he did. I shaved my legs and armpits, or I didn't. I dyed my hair every color imaginable. I dressed like a pin-up girl sometimes, and other times I'd be mistaken for a man (well, a young man).

I wasn't a stereotypical girl, but to be honest, I don't know many women who ever followed a stereotypical path. Maybe that's because the roles and actions expected of women have changed rapidly with each decade, thanks to our ever growing ability to collectively stand up for the things we don't like. But, really, what does feminine mean anymore? Does it mean pink? Does it mean being a mom? Does it mean working, not working? Does it mean wearing skirts and high heels all the time? Does it mean feeling bad about yourself and your body, or living by the rules of magazines like Cosmopolitan,  or any other magazine that's actually owned and funded by a group of men?

I'm going to have to say I don't actually know, but I do know that my heart didn't always lead me to science. I found it eventually, but I wasn't actively recruited. Science found me. I think that's what really makes me mad about cartoon above, actually. I did like dolls (and no, I never ripped the heads off of any of my barbies), and I also liked to do fun things. I liked to do things that made me feel smart, and challenged what I understood about the world. Science is about exploration, and when you are young, so is playing with dolls! I like science because its gross and beautiful at the same time, which is oddly how being a women makes me feel most of the time. 

The cartoon really makes me mad because I don't see the point in trying to emphasize gender in science. It's an issue if you are harboring an unsafe culture full of harassment, but it shouldn't be an issue when recruiting kids into science. We're hearing about more kids deciding to transition between genders, and who is to say what they'll be interested in doing as adults? No one, because its 2015 and your gender shouldn't define what you can and cannot do.

If we educate girls and boys and everyone in between on an equal level, then people will find their own path. We shouldn't be forcing science, but showing everyone why it is awesome and for everyone. Saying women who aren't stereotypically feminine are better suited for careers in STEM is like saying you have to be quirky, rude, and somewhere "on the spectrum" to be a scientist (like the Big Bang Theory leads many people to believe). Also, can we please talk about other women in science instead of only praising Marie Curie all the time? Yes, she was great, but other women in STEM were/are great too.

I currently work in a lab with two other women. Both of them wear lipstick and dresses all the time. I don't ever, unless its required of me. One of them loves the color pink so much that I ordered her a hot pink ice bucket and tube racks for the lab. She also has a PhD. We both bleach our hair. At NASA, our analytical chemist was (is still) a mom, a runner, and someone who volunteers with her church every weekend. Another chemist at NASA, a researcher with her PhD, looked like a Puerto Rican version of Taylor Swift and ruled everything just the same. Just because I have tattoos, and choose to wear jeans and no makeup every day doesn't mean I'm more or less qualified to be a scientist than any of these other women, or any of the men in STEM fields either.

We all attack our lives differently, and our interests or career choices shouldn't have anything to do with the gender we prefer for ourselves. What should matter is what you bring to the table, or the lab, or the field, or the operating room, or wherever it is that you want to work. Science isn't (always) about putting things in boxes, it's about discovering what makes things unique.

and that's all I have to say about that.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Cat! Scratch! Fever! bowwnownow wowww

Sunset and moon over the Atacama desert (photo by me)

I apologize for missing my June update, but I was traveling through Chile. I have to admit, I didn't know that much about Chile before going there. The famous government coup occurred before I was born, and wasn't "resolved" until I was 4. High school history classes in the US don't really pay any attention to Chile whatsoever.

Lincanbur volcano (left) and desert vegitation (photo by me)

My itinerary centered around the northern regions of Chile, specifically the Atacama desert. The Atacama desert is the driest desert in the world, and is known for its abundance of copper and lapiz lazuli, a rare blue stone that you can really only get in Chile and Afghanistan. The Atacama desert is also a great place for meteorites, because the super dry atmosphere preserves them in their natural "space-state" (scientific term), and the flat neutrally-colored desert make them easy to find.

Valle de la Muerte (photo by me)

Disease-wise, Chile's had pretty excellent luck compared to its neighbors of the South American continent. Of course, after booking my flights, the first thing I did was hit the books (err..internet) to look for diseases in Chile. Its winter there right now, so mosquitoes and other disease-spreading insects aren't really an issue until the warm months return. Actually, the Atacama desert environment isn't all that great for mosquitoes, since it's dry and at a higher altitude than they generally enjoy. Sandflies, on the other hand, are the perfect candidates to spread certain infections.

Lutzomyia genus Sandfly, responsible for transmitting Bartonellosis and Leishmaniasis.

Bartonellosis is an disease caused by Bartonella baciliformis, and has many manifestations. Oroya Fever, also known as Carrión's disease, is mainly found in Peru, Ecuador and Columbia, but with vector migration, movement and spread of the disease is possible. Some travel books about Chile have warnings about Bartonellosis when traveling to the north.

Oroya Fever occurs when B. baciliformis infects endothelial cells and red blood cells. Acute phase (Carrión's disease) occurs when the infection persists in the bloodstream, causing sustained fever, malaise, hepatomegaly, jaundice, lymphadenopathy, splenomegaly, and severe hemolytic anemia. Fatality rates are high, up to 40% of patients, when acute phase infections go untreated. Risks of fatality increases dramatically by the presence of opportunistic infections, specifically by Salmonella species, as a result of transient immunosuppression.

Chronic phase, or "Verruga Peruana" or "Peruvian Warts", is an eruptive phase that occurs when endothelial cells are involved.  In addition to fever, malaise, arthralgias (joint pain), myalgias (muscle pain), lymphadeopathy (lymph node involvement), hepatomegaly (enlarged liver), and splenomegaly (enlarged spleen), patients develop a cutaneus rash produced by a proliferation of endothelial cells.The cutaneous rash involves raised lesions that can rupture and bleed.

Illustration of verruga peruana from 1926, via Sci ELO Peru

Verruga peruana on a child

Cat Scratch Disease, also known as "Cat Scratch Fever", on the other hand, occurs worldwide, and is caused by Bartonella henselae. I couldn't help thinking of Ted Nugent while writing this post. I like to think this song is about Bartonellosis.

Cat Scratch Disease is usually spread by fleas and ticks. Cats, being the scrappy beings that they are, can develop an immunity after being exposed at a young age. Dogs present severe symptoms. Humans are susceptible to Cat Scratch Disease infection if they are scratched by an infected cat or bitten by a flea or tick carrying B. henselae. Antibiotics can successful treat Bartonellosis.

Image "borrowed" from Galaxy Diagnostics Webinars

While I was in Chile, I discovered the abundance of stray animals that inhabit every city. It was really shocking and sad, especially to see so many stray dogs in urban cities. Santiago and San Pedro de Atacama had primarily stray dogs, while Valparaiso had some stray dogs and a TON of stray cats (that could have been outdoor pets without collars...but...). This article from last year claims there are initiatives for mass sterilization of stray dogs to help stop the growth of homeless dog populations in Santiago, but there weren't any signs of progress when I visited last week.

That's all I have for you today. Check back in a few weeks for a new update (I'm going to do two for July since I skimped out on my blogging responsibilities in lieu of vacation!).

Valle de la Luna (photo by me)

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Sentenced to Death by Spores

One of the things I find most irritating about social media is that a lot of people post articles that they either didn't read before linking to them, or when you see them in person, they can't have a follow up conversation about the subject matter. If we aren't exploiting the hyperaccessibility of information with which the internet has graced us, then what's the point? (Don't get me wrong, I love videos of cute animals, too.)

The hot topic this week that was really reminiscent of this personal irritation of mine was the sentencing of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for his role in bombing the 2013 Boston Marathon finish line. Tsarnaev, only 21, was given the death penalty.

As you can imagine, the internet started to stir with articles about the history of the death penalty in the U.S., and infographics about how the U.S. is the only developed country that still uses the death penalty. I'll admit, the people I associate with tend to lean towards a specific side on the political scale, so I didn't really see anyone posting relief or word art of "JUSTICE" in red, white, and blue. I didn't really go looking for it either.

I couldn't find any word art, but this is clearly the next best thing. Thank you, internet.

I did see a lot of people posting about the broader concept of execution, whether or not it is moral, or representative of justice. Obviously an age-old issue that I'm not really going to discuss in this blog. But, I will ask: if you post these articles, is that enough? I mean, especially for an issue like this, where someone's life is at stake. Is it ok to say you are pro-choice, but to never donate to a clinic that provides full-scale reproductive health services? Are you standing up for what you believe in if you say you love children and want them all to be happy and healthy, but refuse to vaccinate your own child?

Image courtesy of The New Yorker
I'll admit, standing up for the rights of incarcerated people can be a tricky subject, especially if you don't live near a prison (there are a lot of them, but they tend to usually be in the middle of nowhere), or if you have no knowledge of the legal issues involved. Our society is very quiet when it comes to talking about prisoners, regardless of their sentencing current. But so many of these issues that communities are so polarized about have to do with life versus death.

Photo courtesy of Afro Punk and their coverage of the #ManifestJustice exhibit.
The prison system is a weird in-between. Are you really still living life in prison? Even if you are sentenced to death, you usually aren't executed the very next day, either. I know, you're probably thinking "why is she writing about this? what does this have to do with disease at all?"

The answer to that is EVERYTHING. Most people don't think about how diseases spread rapidly through the prison system, just like they do with agricultural livestock and in refugee camps. Any environment with a lot of living beings in small, enclosed spaces is a hotbed for communicable diseases. Also, many prisons have inadequate health care and clinics to properly serve all of the inmates accordingly.

There's one infectious disease that specifically targets incarcerated people that hasn't received enough attention as it should (I wonder why...): Coccidioidomycosis.

Coccidioidomycosis, or "Valley Fever", is a fungal infection that is really tricky to diagnose, and is often fatal because of that fact. Coccidioides immitis, the causative agent for Coccidioidomycosis, is a soil fungus that loves warm, dry climates because it's spores can be carried far distances by the wind. It's usually found in the southwestern U.S., Mexico, and some parts of South America.

C. immitis spores are carried from dry soil patches, through the air and dust, making it really easy to inhale. Most people inhale these spores and never have any complications or present any symptoms. This is most likely because they were exposed to small amounts of spores that weren't successful at mounting an infection, but it was enough exposure for their immune systems to recognize the treat and prepare a response for future exposures. Some people may also have genes that influence their resistance to Coccidioidomycosis.

Spherules of C. immitis, courtesy of University of Utah School of Medicine.

But some people aren't as lucky. People who have compromised immune systems (HIV/AIDS, autoimmune disease, organ recipients, etc.), people with diabetes, and people who are Black or Filipino are at higher risk for successful infection with complications. Children are at risk, too.

Pulmonary Cavitary Lesions caused by chronic C. immitis infection. Image courtesy of  University of Pittsburgh Department of Pathology.
Symptoms are almost always non-specific, including fatigue, cough, fever, headaches, night sweats, shortness of breath, muscle and joint pain, and rash. Yet, 5-10% of people have severe symptoms, wherein the develop long term respiratory problems due to high fungalemia (which means there's a ton of fungus in your lungs). Approximately 1% of Coccidioidomycosis cases spread to other organ systems, including the central nervous system. This can cause seizures, coma, or death.

Treatment for Coccidioidomycosis involves antifungal medication and symptom-specific management to help ease the illness and stop the spread to other organ systems. As always, treatment depends on how severe the infection is, and what organ systems it is affecting. 

There is a huge problem with inmates getting Coccidioidomysis and not getting proper treatment. Many lawsuits have been filed against the California prison system specifically, because many inmates in the 18+ prisons in the Bakersfield area have contracted Coccidioidomysis, many of which were misdiagnosed or not given proper treatment. California has even dedicated funding to routine inmate screening for Valley Fever.

The dedicated funds for screening came as a result of the lawsuits and the inmates' families advocating for better care. When I say advocating, I'm referring to writing letters to their elected government officials, working with prison system administrators, and encouraging doctors and wardens to listen to the inmates that they care for as a part of their jobs (that are paid for with state taxes)... not posting about it on facebook, per say.

If you want to read a long, drawn out story about Valley Fever, the New York Times published one about a year and a half ago. They even hyphenate "Valley Fever", which is cute?

If you think about a lot of the controversial issues we are constantly arguing about in the U.S., they can all be linked to health and disease in some way. Access to adequate housing reduces the spread of seasonal infections, some parasitic infections, and bacterial infections. Access to proper sanitation reduces the spread of countless infections. Access to education can help limit the spread of all diseases, because sometimes we aren't aware of the risks we are subjecting ourselves to, or ones that may be avoided with some extra steps (hand washing, condom usage, etc.). Access to reproductive rights can help people detect infections or other diseases and get the treatment they need. These are only a few.

What issues are you passionate about?

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Get the Rift of it



So, let's talk about Rift Valley Fever!



Cows in Kenya - photo from Wildlife Direct



An unfortunate casualty - Image from The Travel Doctor


Saturday, March 21, 2015

Taenia solium and the leaky brain cyst


Image from Daily Mail.






T. solium scolex. Image from UNAM.




Dr. Cristina Guerra-Giraldez.




Edited to add:

The Triple Whopper Environmental Impact of Global Meat Production: TIME



2500 gallons all wet?: EarthSave

Saturday, February 28, 2015



I wanted to bring this up for two reasons:


So, back to my friends and their pregnancies!

Toxoplasma gondii. Image from National Geographic.








Sunday, January 25, 2015

A two'fer



Anyway...back to our regularly scheduled program:





In 2000, _________ was declared eliminated in the US.


Still stumped? Here's one last hint:

Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention







Speaking of taking the bus, here's your second subject!!




