Context Of Discrimination Research Articles

Gender Discrimination in South Korea: Exploring the Role of Leadership, Gender, and Family Cultures

Increasing gender equity and representation of minority groups has long been recognized as a core condition of achieving social equity. This is especially because gender inequality, manifested through adverse treatment such as discrimination, imposes large costs on employees, employers, and societies. In this context, it is not surprising that organizations large and small have been engaged in diversity management efforts as a way to increase organizational equity. However, diversity itself may not always lead to equitable outcomes, especially if it is not accompanied with changes to organizational cultures, norms, and leadership. The focus of this paper is on the determinants gender discrimination. Using a unique panel dataset of managers from South Korea, we examine whether and how workgroup gender context, leadership, supervisory behaviors, and family supportive cultures predictor gender discrimination. The findings shed light on the importance of gender representation at different levels of the organization, and cultural change as ways to mitigate gender based discrimination.

Sex differences in contextual pattern separation, neurogenesis, and functional connectivity within the limbic system

BackgroundFemales are more likely to present with anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared to males, which are associated with disrupted hippocampal integrity. Sex differences in the structure and function of hippocampus exist. Here, we examined sex differences in contextual pattern separation, functional connectivity, and activation of new neurons during fear memory.MethodsTwo-month-old male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with the DNA synthesis markers, iododeoxyuridine (IdU) and chlorodeoxyuridine (CldU) 3 weeks and 4 weeks before perfusion, respectively. One week after CldU injection, the rats underwent a context discrimination task in which rats were placed in context A (shock) and context A’ (no shock) every day for 12 days. On the test day, rats were placed in the shock context (context A) to measure fear memory and expression of zif268, an immediate early gene across 16 different limbic and reward regions. Repeated-measures or factorial analysis of variance was conducted on our variables of interest. Pearson product-moment calculations and principal component analyses on zif268 expression across regions were also performed.ResultsWe found that females, but not males, showed contextual discrimination during the last days of training. On the test day, both sexes displayed similar levels of freezing, indicating equivalent fear memory for context A. Despite similar fear memory, males showed more positive correlations of zif268 activation between the limbic regions and the striatum, whereas females showed more negative correlations among these regions. Females showed greater activation of the frontal cortex, dorsal CA1, and 3-week-old adult-born dentate granular cells compared to males.ConclusionsThese results highlight the importance of studying sex differences in fear memory and the contribution of adult neurogenesis to the neuronal network and may contribute to differences in susceptibility to fear-related disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder.HighlightsFemale rats, but not male rats, show faster discrimination during a contextual pattern separation task.Three-week-old adult-born neurons are more active in response to fear memory in females compared to males.Females had greater neural activation compared to males in the frontal cortex and dorsal CA1 region of the hippocampus in response to fear memory.Males and females show distinct patterns in functional connectivity for fear memory across limbic regions.Males have many positive correlations between activated new neurons of different ages between the dorsal and ventral hippocampus, while females show more correlations between activated new neurons and other limbic regions.

MTORC1 function in hippocampal parvalbumin interneurons: regulation of firing and long-term potentiation of intrinsic excitability but not long-term contextual fear memory and context discrimination

Hippocampal CA1 parvalbumin-expressing interneurons (PV INs) play a central role in controlling principal cell activity and orchestrating network oscillations. PV INs receive excitatory inputs from CA3 Schaffer collaterals and local CA1 pyramidal cells, and they provide perisomatic inhibition. Schaffer collateral excitatory synapses onto PV INs express Hebbian and anti-Hebbian types of long-term potentiation (LTP), as well as elicit LTP of intrinsic excitability (LTPIE). LTPIE requires the activation of type 5 metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR5) and is mediated by downregulation of potassium channels Kv1.1. It is sensitive to rapamycin and thus may involve activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1). LTPIE facilitates PV INs recruitment in CA1 and maintains an excitatory-inhibitory balance. Impaired CA1 PV INs activity or LTP affects network oscillations and memory. However, whether LTPIE in PV INs plays a role in hippocampus-dependent memory remains unknown. Here, we used conditional deletion of the obligatory component of mTORC1, the Regulatory-Associated Protein of mTOR (Raptor), to directly manipulate mTORC1 in PV INs. We found that homozygous, but not heterozygous, conditional knock-out of Rptor resulted in a decrease in CA1 PV INs of mTORC1 signaling via its downstream effector S6 phosphorylation assessed by immunofluorescence. In whole-cell recordings from hippocampal slices, repetitive firing of CA1 PV INs was impaired in mice with either homozygous or heterozygous conditional knock-out of Rptor. High frequency stimulation of Schaffer collateral inputs that induce LTPIE in PV INs of control mice failed to do so in mice with either heterozygous or homozygous conditional knock-out of Rptor in PV INs. At the behavioral level, mice with homozygous or heterozygous conditional knock-out of Rptor showed similar long-term contextual fear memory or contextual fear memory discrimination relative to control mice. Thus, mTORC1 activity in CA1 PV INs regulates repetitive firing and LTPIE but not consolidation of long-term contextual fear memory and context discrimination. Our results indicate that mTORC1 plays cell-specific roles in synaptic plasticity of hippocampal inhibitory interneurons that are differentially involved in hippocampus-dependent learning and memory.

Discrimination in Latinx families' linked lives: Examining the roles of family process and youth worries.

Our goal was to test a prospective indirect effects model to examine whether maternal and youth exposures to discrimination were linked to adolescent adjustment (i.e., grade point average [GPA], internalizing symptoms and externalizing symptoms) via maternal warmth and family anti-immigrant behavior modifications and whether youth anti-immigrant worries qualified these relations. Prior research has demonstrated that individual exposures to ethnic-racial discrimination are associated with poor adjustment among Latinx adolescents. Less research has evaluated the impact of discrimination from a family lens or focused on identifying the mechanism via which discrimination impacts adolescent adjustment. Data from a school-based sample of 547 Latinx adolescents (55% female; 88.1% U.S. born) across 2 years were used. Study hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) in Mplus. Whereas adolescents' discrimination exposures were associated with poorer adjustment via disruptions to maternal warmth, mothers' discrimination exposures were associated with lowered adolescent internalizing symptoms via family anti-immigrant behavior modifications. Further, prospective negative relations between warmth and internalizing and GPA were attenuated in the context of adolescents' greater anti-immigrant worries. By exploring discrimination in the family context and examining mechanisms via which discrimination impacts adolescent adjustment, the study offers a more comprehensive picture of the pernicious toll discrimination can have on the family lives of Latinx youth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Discrimination in Context: Examining Neighborhood-Level Variation in the Incidence and Adverse Effects of Perceived Racial and Ethnic Discrimination Among Chicago Youth.

A growing body of research links interpersonal racial and ethnic discrimination to adverse youth outcomes. Yet, studies examining the relevance of neighborhood context for discrimination are sparse. This study examines neighborhood-level variation in the incidence and impact of perceived racial and ethnic discrimination on depressive symptoms, suicidal behavior, violent behavior, and substance use. Hierarchical regression models on a sample of 1333 African American and Hispanic youth (52.44% female; x̄ = 13.03 years, SD = 3.25 at wave 1) residing in 238 Chicago neighborhoods from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods indicated little to no neighborhood-level variation in the incidence and impact of discrimination. Findings suggest that the experience of discrimination among youth of color is ubiquitous.

The effects of excess salt consumption on contextual fear generalization in mice

Excess salt (NaCl) consumption is prevalent worldwide. Most Americans consume more than twice the daily recommended amount of sodium (Na; 2300mg). Excessive salt intake is a risk factor for cardiovascular pathology such as hypertension. Anxiety is often comorbid with cardiovascular diseases. Research has been done to examine the relationship between salt consumption and cardiovascular and other related peripheral diseases. However, far less research has been done to examine the relationship between salt consumption and brain health or anxiety. To examine this, mice were used because their salt intake and stress exposure can be rigorously controlled, unlike in humans. Specifically, we focused on fear generalization, a key characteristic of anxiety symptoms involving contextually inappropriate fear of situations not currently present. We hypothesized that mice consuming a diet with excess salt would exhibit higher levels of fear generalization relative to mice consuming a low salt diet. Adult (9 wk old) male and female C57BL/6J mice were given either a low (0.4% NaCl, w/w) or high (4.0% NaCl) salt diet ad libitum. Mice underwent contextual fear training 2 or 6 wks after commencing diet manipulation. Testing for contextually appropriate (fear expression) and contextually inappropriate (fear generalization) fear behavior occurred either 2 days (2 and 6 wk groups) or 4 wks (6 wk group) after training. Regardless of diet condition, mice of both sexes acquired contextual fear similarly when trained at the 2 wk timepoint, and exhibited equivalent fear expression and contextual discrimination when tested 2 days later. Similarly, and as expected, male mice consuming a low salt diet expressed normal levels of fear generalization at 4 wks. Contrary to our hypothesis, however, male mice consuming a high salt diet did not exhibit fear generalization at 4 wks. Female tests of 4 wk fear generalization, and both sexes in the 6 wk group being tested after 2 days, are ongoing. Thus far, our findings indicate that male mice consuming a high salt diet do not generalize their contextual fear after a standard time delay (4 wks), or alternatively display enhanced contextual discrimination at the 4 wk timepoint post‐training. Our findings suggest intake of salt, a non‐caloric dietary component, can have a significant effect on a measure directly related to anxiety symptoms. Future experiments will evaluate the contribution of neuroinflammation to these behavioral changes, as well as investigate cued fear responses in both sexes.

Acute (R,S)-Ketamine Administration Induces Sex-Specific Behavioral Effects in Adolescent but Not Aged Mice.

(R,S)-ketamine is an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist that was originally developed as an anesthetic. Most recently, (R,S)-ketamine has been used as a rapid-acting antidepressant, and we have reported that (R,S)-ketamine can also be a prophylactic against stress in adult mice. However, most pre-clinical studies have been performed in adult mice. It is still unknown how an acute (R,S)-ketamine injection influences behavior across the lifespan (e.g., to adolescent or aged populations). Here, we administered saline or (R,S)-ketamine at varying doses to adolescent (5-week-old) and aged (24-month-old) 129S6/SvEv mice of both sexes. One hour later, behavioral despair, avoidance, locomotion, perseverative behavior, or contextual fear discrimination (CFD) was assessed. A separate cohort of mice was sacrificed 1 h following saline or (R,S)-ketamine administration. Brains were processed to quantify the marker of inflammation Cyclooxygenase 2 (Cox-2) expression to determine whether the acute effects of (R,S)-ketamine were partially mediated by changes in brain inflammation. Our findings show that (R,S)-ketamine reduced behavioral despair and perseverative behavior in adolescent female, but not male, mice and facilitated CFD in both sexes at specific doses. (R,S)-ketamine reduced Cox-2 expression specifically in ventral CA3 (vCA3) of male mice. Notably, (R,S)-ketamine was not effective in aged mice. These results underscore the need for sex- and age-specific approaches to test (R,S)-ketamine efficacy across the lifespan.

Adult neural stem cells and schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a devastating and complicated mental disorder accompanied by variable positive and negative symptoms and cognitive deficits. Although many genetic risk factors have been identified, SCZ is also considered as a neurodevelopmental disorder. Elucidation of the pathogenesis and the development of treatment is challenging because complex interactions occur between these genetic risk factors and environment in essential neurodevelopmental processes. Adult neural stem cells share a lot of similarities with embryonic neural stem cells and provide a promising model for studying neuronal development in adulthood. These adult neural stem cells also play an important role in cognitive functions including temporal and spatial memory encoding and context discrimination, which have been shown to be closely linked with many psychiatric disorders, such as SCZ. Here in this review, we focus on the SCZ risk genes and the key components in related signaling pathways in adult hippocampal neural stem cells and summarize their roles in adult neurogenesis and animal behaviors. We hope that this would be helpful for the understanding of the contribution of dysregulated adult neural stem cells in the pathogenesis of SCZ and for the identification of potential therapeutic targets, which could facilitate the development of novel medication and treatment.

Acute nicotine treatment enhances compulsive-like remifentanil self-administration that persists despite contextual punishment.

Opioid use disorder (OUD) and opioid-related deaths remain a significant public health crisis having reached epidemic status globally. OUDs are defined as chronic, relapsing conditions often characterized by compulsive drug seeking despite the deleterious consequences of drug taking. The use of nicotine-containing products has been linked to increased likelihood of prescription opioid misuse, and there exists a significant comorbidity between habitual nicotine use and opioid dependence. In rodent models, nicotine administration nearly doubles the amount of opioids taken in intravenous self-administration paradigms. Here, we examined the effect of acute systemic nicotine administration in male rats on responding for the synthetic opioid remifentanil (RMF) in a contextual punishment paradigm using either an exteroceptive punisher (foot-shock) or an interoceptive punisher (histamine). Nicotine administration, relative to saline, increased RMF intake in both unpunished and punished contexts, regardless of form of punishment, and resulted in significantly higher motivation to obtain RMF in the previously punished context, as measured by progressive ratio breakpoint. Additionally, regardless of context, nicotine-treated rats were slower to extinguish RMF responding following drug removal and displayed higher levels of cue-induced reinstatement than saline-treated controls. Furthermore, these data support that, compared with histamine adulteration, contingent foot-shock is a more potent form of punishment, as histamine punishment failed to support contextual discrimination between the unpunished and punished contexts. In contrast to RMF administration, augmentation of responding for an audiovisual cue by nicotine pretreatment was lost following contextual punishment. In conclusion, acute nicotine administration in adult male rats significantly enhances compulsive-like responding for RMF that persists despite contingent punishment of drug-directed responding.

‘This isn’t forever for me’: Perceived employability and migrant gig work in Norway and Sweden

Information asymmetry regarding local job prospects, imperfect portability of qualifications and a lack of host country language skills combine to reduce migrants’ perceptions of their own employability. As a result, platform mediated gig work has become a common labour market entry point for new migrants. However, there is a near-universal expectation among workers is that gig work will be undertaken short-term, rather than as the first step of a longer gig-career. While research has explored the individual and structural factors, there has been limited attention as to how the specific occupational context in which a worker is embedded can also shape workers’ perceived employability. In this article, I therefore present the results of 37 semi-structured interviews with migrant Foodora couriers across Norway and Sweden, exploring how the specific occupational context of gig work intersects with migrants’ perceived employability. This article identifies, firstly, that obtaining employment in gig work was not perceived to be a reflection of workers’ own local employability. Secondly, workers’ short-term temporal orientations shape how participants are able to cope with the physical, emotional and identity demands of gig work. Thirdly, workers have to re-frame their perceived employability in the face of what is perceived to be widespread discrimination in the local labour market context. Lastly, the specific occupational context of gig work was considered to be either of no value to future local employers, or a negative signal as to a worker’s skills and labour market integration.

Lateral entorhinal cortex lesions impair odor-context associative memory in male rats.

Lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) has been hypothesized to process nonspatial, item information that is combined with spatial information from medial entorhinal cortex to form episodic memories within the hippocampus. Recent studies, however, have demonstrated that LEC has a role in integrating features of episodic memory prior to the hippocampus. While the precise role of LEC is still unclear, anatomical studies show that LEC is ideally placed to be a hub integrating multisensory information. The current study tests whether the role of LEC in integrating information extends to long‐term multimodal item‐context associations. In Experiment 1, male rats were trained on a context‐dependent odor discrimination task, where two different contexts served as the cue to the correct odor. Rats were pretrained on the task and then received either bilateral excitotoxic LEC or sham lesions. Following surgery, rats were tested on the previously learned odor‐context associations. Control rats showed good memory for the previously learned association but rats with LEC lesions showed significantly impaired performance relative to both their own presurgery performance and to control rats. Experiment 2 went on to test whether impairments in Experiment 1 were the result of LEC lesions impairing either odor or context memory retention alone. Male rats were trained on simple odor and context discrimination tasks that did not require integration of features to solve. Following surgery, both LEC and control rats showed good memory for previously learned odors and contexts. These data show that LEC is critical for long‐term odor‐context associative memory.

Intersex Stigma and Discrimination: Effects on Patient-Centred Care and Medical Communication

Individuals with intersex variations fall outside the normative sex binary of male and female for various reasons. These individuals are highly stigmatized and discriminated against in the legal, medical and social spheres. In this paper, we analyze manifestations of such discrimination in the healthcare context and hypothesize that Patient Centred Care (PCC) and Shared Decision Making (SDM) approaches are improperly practiced with intersex individuals. Through a narrative review of current literature, we present evidence of improper practice of PCC and SDM and its effects on intersex individuals and, in the pediatric context, their parents. Misinformation by medical practitioners to parents of intersex individuals promotes the perpetuation of unnecessary surgical interventions. We propose strategies to improve intersex medical care, including better adherence to SDM and PCC guidelines as well as the sociocultural normalisation of intersex identity. Current perceptions of surgical interventions done on intersex infants and children need to better align with evidence-based physical and psychological health risks. All these strategies are part of preserving the autonomy and physical integrity of intersex individuals and ensuring that their well-being remains at the heart of their care in the medical context.

Zabrana diskriminacije i govora mržnje u obrazovno-vaspitnom kontekstu u srbiji

The right to education, as one of the rights inherent to all human beings, necessarily implies an educational process that takes place in an institution that does not tolerate discrimination or hate speech. During the previous decades, both at the European and global level, relevant standards have been established in order to obtain an educational system that adequately opposes the phenomenon of discrimination, while nurturing a climate and culture conducive to the full development of students' personal potential. Having in mind the importance of preventing discrimination and hate speech in educational context, the authors have conducted a study aimed at the comparative analysis of the international and Serbian anti-discriminatory regulatory framework in the educational settings. Normative-dogmatic and comparative methods have been applied, with the focus on the systematic interpretation of the meaning and content of the studied norms. The key results of the research indicate that the domestic national framework corresponds with the relevant international standards. However, national regulations, contrary to internationally accepted paradigms, do not pay adequate attention to the intercultural elements of the educational process, because they are focused on prohibitions and post festum interventions on discrimination and hate speech.

Gender Equality in Employment Perquisites with Reference to Sweden, GCC and India

The scope of social policy today is extensive. With the changing global scenario there is a rediscovery of “social” in it. Indubitably, there is a gender perspective on social policy globally. The world Economic Forum states that there are only six countries in the world (Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxembourg and Sweden) where women have equal work rights to men. It is noted that the situation in different countries vary when it comes to the working benefits of different genders whether for native or expatriate workers in those places. Though there are rooms to enjoy attractive income and favorable working conditions such as job security, generous retirement plan, and other welfare benefits, there are still various factors that might lead to gender-based differences or gender discrimination in the unique labor market context of the GCC countries. The scenario is distinct in many Scandinavian nations like Sweden. Those countries are often considered as the role model for gender equal work allowances. When it comes to India there is still disparity and difference in many areas despite of the social security system the country offers in its policies. This paper aims at a descriptive and qualitative study on the causes, consequences and conclusion of the gender disparity in employee allowances of these nations. The study would imply simple random method of interrogations to examine gender differences empirically within the labor market of the mentioned nations. The economic benefits of a gender equal nation in the framing of social policy will be emphasized and focused.

Are witnesses able to avoid highly accessible misinformation? Examining the efficacy of different warnings for high and low accessibility postevent misinformation.

The reliability of eyewitness memory continues to be an area of concern, particularly in situations that involve conflicting sources of information (e.g., the misinformation effect; Loftus et al., 1978, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 4[1], 19-31). To mitigate the negative effects of misinformation, researchers have examined the efficacy of warnings that highlight the unreliability of postevent information. However, warnings have proven less effective for highly accessible misinformation (Eakin et al., 2003, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 29[5], 813-825). In the present study, we examined the effects of different types of warnings for low accessibility misinformation in a standard single test misinformation paradigm, and highly accessible misinformation in a repeated testing misinformation paradigm (Chan et al., 2009, Psychological Science, 20[1], 66-73). We modeled these warnings after Eakin et al. (2003) to include both general warnings and specific question-by-question warnings. We found that warnings were effective in both types of misinformation paradigms. Additionally, memory accuracy in situations where participants were exposed to misleading information was improved when specific and general warnings were combined. We argue that both retrieval blocking of low accessibility items and enhanced contextual discrimination account for these findings.

Gradual decorrelation of CA3 ensembles associated with contextual discrimination learning is impaired by Kv1.2 insufficiency.

The associative network of hippocampal CA3 is thought to contribute to rapid formation of contextual memory from one-trial learning, but the network mechanisms underlying decorrelation of neuronal ensembles in CA3 is largely unknown. Kv1.2 expressions in rodent CA3 pyramidal cells (CA3-PCs) are polarized to distal apical dendrites, and its downregulation specifically enhances dendritic responses to perforant pathway (PP) synaptic inputs. We found that haploinsufficiency of Kv1.2 (Kcna2+/-) in CA3-PCs, but not Kv1.1 (Kcna1+/-), lowers the threshold for long-term potentiation (LTP) at PP-CA3 synapses, and that the Kcna2+/- mice are normal in discrimination of distinct contexts but impaired in discrimination of similar but slightly distinct contexts. We further examined the neuronal ensembles in CA3 and dentate gyrus (DG), which represent the two similar contexts using in situ hybridization of immediate early genes, Homer1a and Arc. The size and overlap of CA3 ensembles activated by the first visit to the similar contexts were not different between wild type and Kcna2+/- mice, but these ensemble parameters diverged over training days between genotypes, suggesting that abnormal plastic changes at PP-CA3 synapses of Kcna2+/- mice is responsible for the impaired pattern separation. Unlike CA3, DG ensembles were not different between two genotype mice. The DG ensembles were already separated on the first day, and their overlap did not further evolve. Eventually, the Kcna2+/- mice exhibited larger CA3 ensemble size and overlap upon retrieval of two contexts, compared to wild type or Kcna1+/- mice. These results suggest that sparse LTP at PP-CA3 synapse probably supervised by mossy fiber inputs is essential for gradual decorrelation of CA3 ensembles.

Rethinking Title VII's Protections Against Sex Discrimination in an Employment Context

Rethinking Title VII's Protections Against Sex Discrimination in an Employment Context

Context value updating and multidimensional neuronal encoding in the retrosplenial cortex

The retrosplenial cortex (RSC) has diverse functional inputs and is engaged by various sensory, spatial, and associative learning tasks. We examine how multiple functional aspects are integrated on the single-cell level in the RSC and how the encoding of task-related parameters changes across learning. Using a visuospatial context discrimination paradigm and two-photon calcium imaging in behaving mice, a large proportion of dysgranular RSC neurons was found to encode multiple task-related dimensions while forming context-value associations across learning. During reversal learning requiring increased cognitive flexibility, we revealed an increased proportion of multidimensional encoding neurons that showed higher decoding accuracy for behaviorally relevant context-value associations. Chemogenetic inactivation of RSC led to decreased behavioral context discrimination during learning phases in which context-value associations were formed, while recall of previously formed associations remained intact. RSC inactivation resulted in a persistent positive behavioral bias in valuing contexts, indicating a role for the RSC in context-value updating.

Nursing practice environment and employee silence about patient safety: The mediating role of professional discrimination experienced by nurses.

To examine the associations between nurse work environment with nurses' silence about patient safety and the mediating effects of professional discrimination experienced by nurses. Multicentre cross-sectional study. Between January and April 2019, 607 nurses and nursing assistants from seven hospitals in Greece assessed their clinical environment using the 'Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index Revised-PES-NWIR', and the silence about patient safety. The 'Experiences of Discrimination Index' was adapted to specifically address experienced discrimination based on the nursing profession. The PROCESS macros for SPSS were used to examine the above associations. Better nurse practice environment, with the exception of 'staffing and resource adequacy' dimension, was directly associated with less experienced professional discrimination, and directly and indirectly associated with less silence about patient safety, through the mediating role of professional discrimination experienced by nurses. Silence about patient safety is dependent on the clinical work environment and may be a response of nurses to discrimination in the work context. Both an improvement in the nurse work environment and a decrease in professional discrimination would minimize silence about patient safety. On many occasions, nurses are directly or indirectly discouraged from voicing their concerns about patient safety or are ignored when they do, leading to employee silence and decreasing the standard of care (Alingh et al., BMJ Quality & Safety, 2019, 28, 39; Pope, Journal of Change Management, 2019, 19, 45). Nurses' work-related determinants for silence are not clearly understood in the patient safety context. A favourably evaluated nurse practice environment is associated with less experienced professional discrimination and less silence about patient safety. To minimize silence about patient safety, both the nurse work environment and the experienced professional discrimination should be taken into consideration by nurse and healthcare managers.

Family-specific chemical profiles provide potential kin recognition cues in the sexually cannibalistic spider Argiope bruennichi.

Kin recognition, the ability to detect relatives, is important for cooperation, altruism and also inbreeding avoidance. A large body of research on kin recognition mechanisms exists for vertebrates and insects, while little is known for other arthropod taxa. In spiders, nepotism has been reported in social and solitary species. However, there are very few examples of kin discrimination in a mating context, one coming from the orb-weaver Argiope bruennichi. Owing to effective mating plugs and high rates of sexual cannibalism, both sexes of A. bruennichi are limited to a maximum of two copulations. Males surviving their first copulation can either re-mate with the current female (monopolizing paternity) or leave and search for another. Mating experiments have shown that males readily mate with sisters but are more likely to leave after one short copulation as compared with unrelated females, allowing them to search for another mate. Here, we ask whether the observed behaviour is based on chemical cues. We detected family-specific cuticular profiles that qualify as kin recognition cues. Moreover, correlations in the relative amounts of some of the detected substances between sexes within families indicate that kin recognition is likely based on subsets of cuticular substances, rather than entire profiles.